And then Michael had two adopted daughters, Margaret and Martha. Who is Viktor Bouts wife? But with only eight episodes, the show has to leave a few details out, including the aftermath of the initial trial, and what happened to Michael Peterson after the jury gave him their verdict. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Lestrades documentary played an important part in the Peterson affair and served as the main inspiration for Campos show. Michael purchased the 9,372-square-foot property in August 1992 for $600,000. The novelist spent the past almost eight years in prison after a jury found him guilty of murdering his wife, but in 2011, he was released and since then hes been living a quiet life in Durham, North Carolina, the same city he once lived with his second wife at the time of her death. Petersons wood-paneled office (which Aphrodite Jones describes as an imposing, ominous and intimidating space, saying It was understood that Michael Peterson didnt want people in there.) had a prominent role in the film and in a macabre foretelling was the site of a very bloody murder scene. They married in 1965 and moved to Durham, North Carolina. HBO Maxs true crime drama The Staircase is no exception to this rule. The company had also begun massive layoffs at the same time and Kathleens job security seemed tenuous at best. When investigators looked into her death though, they suspected foul play due to the shocking amount of blood on the scene, and that the only witness was her husband. "He's living in Durham I'm not sure why he's living in Durham, but he is," Rudolf told the audience at CrimeCon. Soon after Georges death in an overseas operation, in 1983, Elizabeth lost her life in circumstances so similar to Katherines death that her body was exhumed during Michaels trial in search of evidence of foul play. We all know that these characters have names of living people, but its very carefully calibrated to tell the story in a certain way. Michael and Kathleen led an extravagant lifestyle and were, by all accounts, happy. Even after his prison release, Peterson has maintained his innocence and lives in Durham, North Carolina. And what's his life like today? Like us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/TheSunUSand follow us from our main Twitter account at@TheSunUS, Serena Williams stepmom's debts continue to spiral amid crumbling home battle, 'Glaring error' left 'habitual liar' Alex Murdaugh 'boxed in' during trial, Alex Murdaugh jailed for life after disgraced lawyer guilty of murder, Murdaugh sentenced to LIFE in prison after being found guilty of double murder, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Michael Peterson was convicted of killing his wife Kathleen in 2003, A new HBO Max miniseries, The Staircase, will follow Peterson's murder trial. (Romper reached out to Michael Peterson's representatives and Netflix for additional statements. Black died in 2018, at age 57 of end-stage liver disease. The docu-series follows Petersons trial for the murder of his wife Kathleen,who was found dead at the bottom of their staircase in their Durham, North Carolina home on December 9, 2001 as well as the aftermath. As the first iteration of "The Staircase" detailed, Kathleen was found at the bottom of the titular staircase in the couple's Durham mansion in 2001, an incident which immediately raised the hackles of local law enforcement, who believed her death was the result of homicide on the part of her husband. According to CBS News, Peterson now lives in a 1,200 square foot condo, a big change from the mansion he once shared with his late wife, but as he told the news outlet, its a life hes happy to now live. Kathleen, the familys breadwinner, had deferred much of her income to purchase Nortel Networks stock and though its value once totaled almost $2.5 million, the 2001 crash whittled it down to about $50,000 by the time of her death. The miniseries will draw on the2018 Netflix documentarythat followed the same case. Currently, he resides in Durham, North Carolina but has since sold the house. As shown in the miniseries, Michael took the Alford plea in 2017, pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He donated all of the proceeds to charity. (The house was on the market for $1.9 million, according to ABC 11 News.). I can't live in Paris. Peterson's defense attorney David Rudolf told Oxygen in 2019 that Peterson is currently living in Durham in a ground floor apartmentso no staircase. He tried to fight it, but his firing was upheld in court in 2014. Throughout Michael Peterson's murder trial, his ex-wife was not only his emotional support but also his financial, and until her death, she believed him to be innocent. Michael opted out of the trial before it was due to begin in 2017. Even after his prison release, Peterson has maintained his innocence and lives in Durham, North Carolina. He concluded her death to be a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. So beloved was the residence that Kathleen and Michael decided to tie the knot there, surrounded by family and friends, on June 21, 1997. His character in the show is a troubled young man who decides to turn his life around. Stalk It: Michael Petersons former house, featured in The Staircase, is located at 1810 Cedar Street in Durham, North Carolina. Sophie and Michael were together from 2004 to 2017. One of the most puzzling revelations of his trial was that in 1985, Michael was the last person to see Elizabeth Ratliff before she was discovered dead at the bottom of a staircase. 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Since Deavers testimony was what eventually led the jury to agree upon Michaels guilt, the writer was released in 2011 under a $300,000 bail and placed under house arrest. In light of new developments surrounding the case, de Lestrade made a new installment to The Staircase saga in 2012, entitled The Last Chance.In this new installment, Peterson's legal team appeal to the courts for a new trial after it comes out that bloodstain analyst Duane Deaver, who was a key witness for the prosecution, had given false and . Therefore, Michael lives a modest life in Durham, North Carolina. Get the latest scoop directly in your inbox. Peterson was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with Kathleens death, and spent nearly a decade behind bars. In the film, made long before the popular Hulu series, the Colonial masks as the supposed Republic of Gilead residence belonging to Commander Fred (Robert Duvall) and his wife, Serena Joy (Faye Dunaway), where handmaid Kate (Natasha Richardson) is placed. While living together, Michael and Patricia became close with their neighbors-turned-friends George and Elizabeth Ratliff. He later met his first wife Patricia Sue, an elementary school teacher, in West Germany. He lives in Durham in a house without a staircase by Chege Karomo - on May 06, 2022 in People Netflix Michael Peterson is the subject of one of Netflix's most riveting and polarizing true crime documentaries, The Staircase . Rudolf said he agreed to participate in the documentary because the filmmakers had won an Academy Award in 2001 for Murder on a Sunday Morning, about a 15-year-old boy wrongfully accused of murder. Petersons overall nonchalant demeanor and regular giggling over aspects of the case are certainly perplexing. Created by Antonio Campos, the eight-episode long miniseries stars Colin Firth and Toni Collette as novelist Michael Peterson and his second wife, Nortel executive, Kathleen Peterson. Much like his client, Rudolf took issue with Campos version of events, especially with scenes that implied Michael kept information from him and that his professional relationship with Pfeiffer was unethical. I'm too old. And according to .css-16acfp5{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.125rem;text-decoration-color:#d2232e;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-16acfp5:hover{color:#000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;background-color:yellow;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}Newsweek, Peterson entered a relationship with an editor on the 2004 documentary The Staircase, and the two dated from 2011 to 2017. Disclaimer: Please remember this is a private home. According to a June report by The Sun, Peterson continues to live in Durham and has self-published two books about his life during the murder trial and his life following his release from prison. Colin Firth will play Michael Peterson, and Sophie Turner will play Margaret Ratliff, one of Michaels adopted daughters. Unlike Michael and Todd, he has never spoken publicly about The Staircase. Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of the staircase in her home in similar circumstances to Kathleen Peterson. I felt that I wanted to keep my inspiration, my motivation, and the sense of the source material, as much as possible contained within the script and the way it was written.. Since Michael cant profit from his crime, the proceeds from the books sales go to charity. Before that, she ran twice for District Attorney, in 2006 and 2008, but never got the job. As a result, he was re-sentenced to time served and released from prison at that time. In July 2020, the infamous five-story Cedar street mansion where Kathleen died was put up for sale. "You will be treated as guilty for murdering my sister Kathleen, and you will be a convicted felon forever.". Sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Kathleen Peterson, Michael was granted a new trial in 2011 when it was brought to light that a key prosecution witness had given misleading information under oath. Do not trespass or bother the residents or the property in any way. They wed in 1968 and had two boys together, Todd and Clayton. "We made plans to live in Paris. The writer produced a memoir in 2009 called Behind the Staircase, and a sequel Beyond the Staircase. Taking a cue from O.J. They lived together in Durham up until Pattys death from a heart attack in 2021. In fact, when his step-daughter Caitlin Atwater Clark attempted to sue him for $25 million in a wrongful death lawsuit, he specifically told his lawyer that he had no money at all. Nowadays, Margaret lives in California and works in the entertainment industry as an actor, assistant director, and production manager, among other things. Michael insists that he didnt kill either Elizabeth or Kathleen. Im innocent. HBO Max's latest true crime series, The Staircase, chronicles the lengthy saga of Michael Peterson, an author who was convicted of killing his wife, Kathleen, who died on the stairs in their Durham, N.C. home in December 2001. Usually when you're convicted of murder, you're sentenced to something like life, or close to it, in prison and that's essentially that. Michael J. Peterson Contributing Writer at Quora-active since 2013 , Former Indiana All State Choir Zone 3-B chairman 1989-2000, National Council of Japanese Language Teachers Association-board . Because of all of the twists and turns that developed in the case, from the death itself having multiple theories, to the news of another woman from petersons past dying in a similar fashion, The Staircase originally premiered on TV in 2004 with eight episodes detailing the case and trial. The same film crew began following Peterson yet again to make the multi-part docuseries for Netflix that will air on June 8 and follow the events that transpired with his 2017 plea deal and the aftermath. The couple also hosts a podcast together, Abuse of Power, which focuses on stories of people victimized by the justice system. Kathleen Peterson, ne Hunt, and Michael Peterson became acquainted when Kathleen Peterson moved to Durham and became one of Michael's neighbors. In 2010, he was found culpable of withholding crucial evidence from defense attorneys in other cases. Now Judge Clifton Newman will hand down the sentencing in the double murder trial Friday, March 3, at 9:30 a.m. Murdaugh, 54, faces 30 years to life in prison in his conviction on the murder count . Three episodes in, the series-runners drop a major bombshell: Peterson was the last person to see another woman who was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in Germany in 1985. Investigators swiftly homed in on Michael as a prime suspect as he was alone in the premises with Kathleen when she passed away. According to CBS News, Peterson now lives in a 1,200 square foot condo, a big change from the mansion he once shared with his late wife, but as he told the news outlet, it's a life he's happy. In 2019, he toldDr. Philthat Elizabeth fell down the stairs after suffering a stroke. Along with the aforementioned amenities, the 19-room home also boasts a 3.4-acre lot with a slate patio, an outdoor fireplace, and a large pool (though the latter was, for whatever reason, drained in the MLS pictures). He published his first memoir, Behind the Staircase, in 2019 and went on to write a follow-up, which was released that same year, titled Beyond the Staircase. Currently, he resides in Durham, North Carolina but has since sold the house where Kathleen died. As it turned out, thats what happened. His plans, he said, are to spend the time he lost behind bars with family and write a new book. At the time of her mother's death, Caitlin Atwater supported her stepfather and after his arrest told the press of his innocence. Michael was resentenced to 86 weeks in prison but was let free since he had already served more than that time. Their son, Clayton, shared that the former spouses cohabited an apartment in Durham, the same town in which Michael and Kathleen had lived. In 2017, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter and was released on time served. Then I went and realized, no, I can't. At a time when true crime is easily one of the more popular TV genres, Netflix, home of the ever popular Making a Murderer series, is now set to premiere The Staircase on June 8. With no takers, the price was cut to $975,000 in December and it finally sold the following July at a drastically reduced $640,000. In 2002, his film Murder on a Sunday Morning, about the wrongful accusation of a Black teenager for the murder of a tourist in Jacksonville, Florida, took home the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. They took care of each other.. Due to the impact of Duanes testimony, the court ordered a retrial for Peterson. Get our latest stories in the feed of your favorite networks. He was less than pleased with the HBO Max miniseries and claimed to feel betrayed by documentarist Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. Lestrade told Vanity Fair that he felt "betrayed" by show creator Anthony Campos' adaptation of his Peabody Award-winning docu-series and claimed the facts were altered for dramatic effect. RELATED: 'The Staircase' Ending Explained: What Is the Truth? Before the new trial commenced, Peter submitted an Alford plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter and was set free as hed already served time for murder. In a big twist that fans of the original documentary, The Staircase, wouldn't have seen coming, Peterson dated Sophie Brunet, an editor of Jean-Xavier de Lestrade's documentary series. Michael was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1943 before moving to work for the U.S. Department of Defense after college. In addition to losing the civil suit his step-daughter, Caitlin Atwater, brought against him, Peterson also lost out on Kathleen's $1.4 million life insurance policy, per WRAL, and the home that they shared was put on the market in 2020, per The Sun. He was sentenced to time already served, and it was decided he would never face another day in court, or prison, for his wife's death. In April 2001, they took out a second mortgage to help with the squeeze in finances. In 2002, Caitlin filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Michael. The new owners renovated the property and relisted it in 2007. Peterson, who shared a fortune with his wife Kathleen Peterson up until the time of her death, referred to himself as "indigent" during the later episodes of "The Staircase," which were filmed following his 2011 release from prison. At least three people are not fans of HBO's "The Staircase": Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, Michael Peterson, and attorney David Rudolf. Following Elizabeths death, Margaret and her younger sister Martha (Odessa Young) were adopted by the Petersons. Another constant during the lengthy legal ordeal was Michael Peterson's first wife, Patricia "Patty" Peterson. It's unclear where, exactly, Peterson is currently living, but signs point to Durham. According to News and Observer, Peterson sold the house in 2004. Peterson was charged with her murder, convicted at trial, and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. They were companions, Clayton told News & Observer. To be fair, according to A Perfect Husband, Aphrodite Jones 2004 book about the case, Petersons defense attorney David Rudolf had the staircase boarded up on December 14, 2001, just days after the killing, in order to preserve evidence. The case that dominated such a large part of his life still haunted him, however. Kathleen Peterson's death became a national, long-standing mystery with the 2004 documentary The Staircase. After spending eight years in prison, Michael Peterson was given an unexpected reprieve one granted by way of state corruption. After a years-long legal battle post-prison, which included almost three years under house arrest, Peterson finally attained freedom by entering an Alford plea for manslaughter and was officially given time served in exchange.