thank you so much for being here with us. have a good weekend and good night from our nbc news headquarters in new york. new new it's been 15 years of frustration, of tears. and fighting for what we wanted. how long can you keep reliving your sister's murder? >> it all began when this best-selling author married this elegantho executive. >>eg they brought us together. they madey us a family. >> not only did she raise these children and have quite an accomplished corporate career, dinner for 50, she would do it. >> but in the wee hours of a winter night -- >> iig found her at the base of the stairs. >> kathleen peterson dead. >> was this a fall or was this murder? >> a mystery we covered for more than a decade comes to a

shattering end. >> itri did not look like a fal. >> michael peterson under suspicion. then aer bombshell revelation about another woman from his past. >> liz was on the floor, and there was a puddle of blood under the staircase. >> two people that appeared to die the same way, two women associated with michael peterson. >> at trial, one expert would make a slam dunk case for peterson's guilt. >> the jurors were captivated by his testimony. >> but were his dramatic experiments legit? >>ri it's not scientific at all. >> michael peterson on the twist that might finally lead to the twist. >> t the most difficult decisioi ever made in my life. >> aer writer at the center of storey even he couldn't make up. i'm lester holt and this is "dateline." ♪

>> here's dennis murphy with "down the back staircase." >> you might take him for a retireda english professor fro one of the universities in the raleigh-durham area. preppy, witty. but now adays in this part of north carolina, michael peterson is known not as the novelist he in fact is, but as that man, the notorious husband. the one with the wife dead at the t bottom of the staircase. you were not only the prime suspect, you were the only suspect. >> the only one. >> there was massive amounts of blood. was this a fall or murder? >> reporter: exactly. what did happen on that staircase? and what is the truth about michael peterson?n ha a man once sentenced to die in prison for the commission of a homicide, he's always maintained was nothing but an accident. innocent, he a asserts. but the novelist in him knows

full wellow the irresistible sty line here got swept up in. >>ep sex, money, murder, what me could you have? >> one of the most compelling mysteries we've ever covered as you haven't heard it before. >> people believe in you will always believe in you. people that don't, never will. >> michael peterson in his own words, on his marriage, the blood spatter expert who wasn't, and the family friend found deld at the bottom of a staircase. there's even a theory about an owl. whhoo odone it, huh? >> it's awful. >> we're going to need some time here. it's complicated and a simple question. if i asked you, did you bludgeon kathleen that night and cause her death? >> no, no, no.t

>> let's go back to the night. early december 2001, and scroll up the driveway of the rambling house in one of durham's better neighborhoods. michael and kathleen are out back by the pool as the story goes, finishing off a bottle of wine. in the living room, the christmas tree isg already up. theup grown peterson children expected home for the holiday. christmas was big for kathleen? >> oh, lord, yes. and valentine's day, halloween. shey, made a celebration out of everything, everything. >> reporter: ytkathleen's daughter, caitlin, stepdaughter to michael, says her mom was always happiest h at the holida. >> she loved christmas. she loved playing christmas muse frick the start of december through newar year's. >> it was the kids who brought kathleen and michael together. his first marriage had started to fall maapart. she was separated. michael was raising his two boys and two young girls, margaret and martha. the girls became neighborhood

playmates with kathleen's daughter, caitlin. played, oh, my god, barbie's, and those my little ponies all the time, all the time. and then kathleen came over to borrow a book one night. that's when it began. >> reporter: as the kids spent more and more time together, so did michael and kathleen. it wasn't long before they approached the kids about becoming a family together. >> they sat me down and said, you know, caitlin how would you like it ifd martha and margare came to live with you. i justli thought a permanent sleepover. >> that's exactly how michael presented it to his two girls. margaret is the older. >> i think he put it, we're going to have a long sleepover. and we said, yeah! >> reporter: her younger sister, martha. >> of coursete we want to live with caitlin and kathleen and play barbie's and be a family together. >> reporter: so michael and his four kids and kathd leleen and

daughter became a friended family. he was aht former marine turned writer. he liked to draw on his wartime experiences in vietnam. one ofin his vietnam books got big b advance, money that went towards buying that house. >> heho said we're thinking abo moving to thisnk house. we just looked and we thought, oh, my goodness. this is amazing. >> reporter: there in his office, hete wrote his war stors and turned out sharp columns on city politics. stick inty the eye stuff. he e had even been a losing candidate for mayor of durham. kathleen was a top business executive at nortel. she had received a masters degree in engineering from duke anded afr appears on the cover a university magazine. >> she was aty smart, smart wom. but most of all, she was funny. and sexual. but had this marvelous sense of

life and vitality. >> you were in the swirl of the local society. >> yeah.er >> charity pal balls and partie. >> absolutely. she would invite people over. shepl cooked meals. she would do the desserts. she did it all. >> so michael was all too happy to say yes, but after years of living together, kathleen suggested the t couple make it official. >> soakit we got married. and it was a gigantic wedding. it was in theti house, and ther must have beennd 150 people the. it was just wonderful. >> i always thought, you know, this is what y i'll register as the happiest day of my life. >> kathleen's younger sister, candice, says kathleen was over the aymoon, as well. >> she was thrilled to be marrying t michael. all three girls were bridesmaids. i'll remember thems. singing "we're going to the chapel." the day theye married, my sist glowed. >> and candice watched as

kathleen did it all over the next several years. >> notne only did she raise the children and have quite an accomplished corporate career, oh,ra dinner for 50? she would do it.ee >> reporter: and so it was, on that mildas december evening, 2001, with kathleen juggling it all. she hadng been preparing for th holidays while fending off the latest f crisis at work. michael says she made dinner. they sat down to watch a movie, then headed out back to enjoy a midnight glass of wine. >> we wentmi to the pool, and w talked. >> what time would you guess, 10:00, 11:00? >> 11:00, 12:00, somewhere in there. >> reporter: in a morning conference call, kathleen turned inhl first. >> she gets up from the pool, and goes in and seize i'll see you later. >> reporter: an hour went by, maybe two. michaele says he may have doze

off. when he went back inside the house sometimek after 2:00 a.m there was kathleen at the bottom of the stairs. a ghastly sight. >> and i saw her lying on the staircase, and there was blood, there was blood everywhere. >> was she breathing? >> she was at the time. >> she was? >> yeah. >> she's conscious? >> no, she's not conscious. >> i knew she was dying. i had seen enough of that in vietnam. i knew she was dying. >> please, get somebody here right away. >> send ems right away. called them again. but apparently it's two minutes later but it seemed like forever. >> a long few minutes. but nothing compared to the many, many years of questions that would follow. what had happened on that back staircase now pooled in blood?

>> the answer would be in the eye of the beholder. coming up -- what a husband called an accident, an investigator would see very differently. >> i've seen falls. i've had family members fall, and to me, it did not look anywhere like a fall. >> and then -- >> the police emailed me a couple days before saying mike, you don't know how much damage you've done to the morale of the police department. >> so the cops giving you and the family attitude, you understand why. >> when "dateline" continues. understand why >> when "dateline" continues honey? yeah? i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad... try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love... plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? robitussin honey. because it's never just a cough. oh, hi, samantha. you look more like a heather. do you ever get that? it's nice to finally meet you in person. you're pete nocchio? oh, the pic? that was actually a professional headshot. i'm sure that's it, yeah.

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>> reporter: michael peterson told us he had come been the unimaginable. his wife at the bottom of their back staircase covered in blood. emt saw michael cradling his wife, weeping so hard, he had to be pulled away. >> that was the worst. i mean, that was worse than

anything in war, anything. anything. because you expect that. this is entirely different. i wasn't ready for this at all, at all. >> reporter: did anything explain itself to you? >> she fell down the stairs. somebody is at the bottom of the stairs, your automatic response is she fell down the stairs. >> detective art holland was called to the mansion in the wee hours. we first spoke to him more than a decade ago. >> first officers arrived, ems arrived. >> reporter: the medical examiner was called in, too. he looked at the victim and said a fall down the stairs was possible. >> he couldlacerations on the back of her head and said it could the result of a fall. >> reporter: by dawn, news of the fall started rippling through the family. details were vague when details

reached the girls at college. >> she said something has happened. >> your mom has fallen down the stairs, it was an accident. you should come home. >> reporter: by the time kathleen's daughter caitlin got the word, it was as shocking as it was definitive. her college roommate delivered the news. >> she looked at me and says caitlin, it's your mom. she's dead. those words still ring clearly in my head. kathleen's sister, candace, couldn't believe what she was hearing. michael called her directly. >> it was still vague or she -- we couldn't tell if she fell down the stairs or she fell off a ladder, but there was no question i kept saying, "are you sure she's dead?" >> reporter: yes, michael was sure. candace headed to her sister's house. >> the whole thing was sealed off with crime scene tape. and this is a -- this is a mansion, huge property. so the police kept saying, you know you may not want to go in. there's so much blood. this is really awesomely scary. >> reporter: the police were not exaggerating.

when candace finally got inside, she says, michael brought her to the back staircase where it happened. >> my sister's blood is washed in pools up against the wall. i mean, her blood was everywhere. >> reporter: the image would be seared in her mind. it didn't look right. she couldn't go there. >> i still wanted to believe it was an accident. i didn't want to think something horrible happened. >> reporter: but all that blood, up the walls, could it all be from a fall down the stairs? and that's precisely what was gnawing at detective holland. >> i've seen falls. um i've had family members fall and to me it did not look anywhere like -- like a fall. >> reporter: something to him seemed off about kathleen's body position, too. >> her body was definitely not in the position that it would be in if she came to a final resting position after the fall. >> reporter: they processed the scene, photographing the stairwell, documenting the pool of blood and spray up the wall. outside, drops on the walkway

and a smear on the front door. in the kitchen, blood stains on a cabinet, and underneath, a drop of blood on the counter. and right beside it, an opened wine bottle and two glasses. >> it was, you know, very, very time consuming. you don't want to, you know, go through it real speedy. you want to make sure that you cross all your ts and dot all your is. >> reporter: it would take investigators a couple of days to go through the 9,000 square foot estate. while they did, michael and the kids took refuge at a neighbor's house. >> just spent most of the time in bed then -- margaret came in, martha, caitlin, everybody flew in, everybody. >> reporter: he says from the moment the police arrived at the house, they were aggressive towards him and his family. but even in his haze of shock and grief, peterson says, he thought he knew why. >> i had written some really negative comments. i'd -- i'd been a columnist. and i've really, really been hammering the police. >> you -- you -- you lit out at

the cops, huh? >> oh many times. >> reporter: his accusations of the city cops ranged from their failure to get a handle on drug trafficking to only solving a small fraction of crimes. >> the chief of police had emailed me just a couple days before saying, "mike, you don't know how much damage you've done to the morale in the police department," and all this. >> if you're seeing the cops giving you and the family some attitude, you think you understand why. >> that's what i thought. sure. sure. i understood it. yeah. of course, they're pissed at me. [ laughs ] i got -- i got it. >> reporter: but, he says, one of his sons read the police's behavior differently. he thought the police were zeroing in on his father from the get-go. >> he immediately called my brother, his uncle, who is an attorney in reno and said -- "uh uncle bill, kathleen's dead. they think mike did it." and my brother got on the phone. and he said, "i'm representing michael peterson, do not talk to him." >> reporter: michael's daughters were also worried. they knew very well their father relished being the provocateur.

and now the police were swarming their house. walking the yard. looking under bushes and trees. >> i remember feeling that something was going badly with the police. >> reporter: michael called a family meeting. >> he sat down with us and said, you know, "girls, i don't know what's going on, but it seems bad. and i -- i just want you to know i didn't do anything wrong. i didn't do anything." and we said, "of course, dad, we know." >> reporter: but police weren't so sure. they seemed intent on peeling away the veneer of the peterson's marriage. what was going on behind the closed doors in the mansion on cedar street? >> they were asking me questions about kathleen and michael's relationship. and if i knew of anything. i thought they were happily married. she was very much in love with him. >> reporter: but the detectives were beginning to believe the perfect marriage was anything but. coming up, despite that gorgeous house, maybe they weren't exactly rolling in dough. >> if he wasn't writing a book

or had any royalties coming in, he had no income. >> there was a lot of financial problems. i sensed the stress of that. >> and then what the autopsy revealed. >> seven huge lacerations that basically scalped her. it was murder. that one picture, that was it. >> when "dateline" continues. th. >> when "dateline" continues is changing him... -[ gasps ] -up and at 'em! ...into his father. [ eerie music plays ] is it scary? -[ gasps ] -it's in eco mode. so don't touch it. mm-hmm. i can't stop this from swinging. must be a draft in here. but he did save a bunch of money bundling our home and auto with progressive. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. -hello? -sorry, honey. [ telephone beeps ] butt dial.

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michael peterson says he was certain that his wife, kathleen's death, had been a terrible accident. a slip and fall down their back staircase after a night of drinking. but as days passed, he started to realize that not only did police think kathleen's death was a case of murder, but also that he was the prime suspect. >> well, that's just nonsense, and i wasn't worried because when you're innocent, well, nothing can happen. >> reporter: but it was hardly nonsense to detective holland of the durham police department. from the start, he was investigating not an accident but what he believed was a suspicious death. and there were good reasons, he felt, to take a close look at michael peterson. reasons, he says, that had nothing to do with peterson's very public criticism of the police. >> he may have had some issues with -- with the p.d. you know, i don't -- my perception of that is that i don't -- i don't pay much attention to -- i -- i don't really like politics anyway. so therefore, it didn't affect me one way or the other. >> reporter: the detective wanted to know more about what

was going on inside the peterson home. >> in addition to the forensic evidence you're gathering, you got to ask this question, "what's going on in this marriage?" huh? >> right. >> that's a big part of your investigation? >> right. >> reporter: detectives pulled aside kathleen's sister candace to ask if she'd noticed any trouble in her sister's marriage. >> the police took me in a police van to interview me privately. >> reporter: in her grief, candace was hesitant to say anything bad about her now widowed brother-in-law. she'd always liked him. >> he was a fun person to sit and chat with across a dinner table. he was interesting. he's a little bit arrogant about his intelligence, but you know he was a very smart man. when i found out my sister was dead, i was his biggest defender. >> reporter: she told investigators that everything was fine between michael and kathleen. it was only later as she started replaying conversations in her head that she wondered if the couple had been fighting. kathleen certainly seemed stressed. >> she was very, very concerned

about her job stability at her company. and they were making layoffs. >> reporter: according to candace, job insecurity couldn't have come at a worse time. her sister told her the financial pressures on their lives were mounting. she and michael were drowning in credit card debt. and that big house had turned into a money pit. and they'd invested heavily in her company's tech stock, only to lose a bundle when the dotcom bubble burst. then, there were the big college tuition bills. >> we've got three kids going to college, and good colleges, expensive private colleges. >> reporter: kathleen's daughter from her first marriage, caitlin, remembers it, too. >> there was a lot of financial problems. i sensed it. i sensed the stress of that. >> reporter: and when investigators looked at the couple's credit reports they saw just what kathleen's sister candace feared. >> it was living above their means. i mean, you know, if he wasn't writing a book or had any royalties coming in, he had no income. >> reporter: and, according to kathleen's sister, michael's

dabble in local politics had brought even more stress to the marriage. when he ran for mayor, he'd been called out publicly in a lie, a whopper of one. the war action novelist claimed to have been awarded a purple heart, only he hadn't. he got hurt, not by taking hills in vietnam, but in a car accident in japan. >> when it became public about his lies, it did cost kathleen these friendships. she had to decide whether to stand by michael or keep these friendships, and these friendships were lost. >> reporter: so if the true state of the petersons' marriage was murky, investigators thought the story told in blood was becoming clear. not only was there more of it in the stairwell than detectives would expect to see with a fall, but according to emts, much of it was dry when they arrived. >> so you have to wonder when the victim actually goes down those stairs. >> right, how long she'd been -- actually been there. >> reporter: a blood pattern expert analyzed the scene.

when he completed his initial findings, police suspicions were confirmed. >> he told me that he felt strongly that, um, this was a homicide. >> can you tell us how this has been for you and your family? >> reporter: just a few days before christmas, michael peterson was charged with the murder of his wife. >> they had the grand jury, and, of course, i was indicted. and so, i turned myself in. >> reporter: as the officers booked michael into the county jail, the blended family formed a unified block of support. >> my mother would just be absolutely appalled, and this is the last thing she would ever, ever want to happen to her husband. >> reporter: it was hardly the christmas that the peterson family had so looked forward to. kathleen dead, their father in jail. >> it was just us kids, you know, in that house by ourselves, you know, trying to piece together a christmas. >> reporter: but soon another bombshell, and this one would blow the family apart. two months after christmas, the coroner released the results of

the official autopsy. >> multiple lacerations to the back of her head, it looked like she was bludgeoned to death. severe, long, linear lacerations. >> not consistent with a fall? >> not consistent with a fall. >> reporter: if kathleen's sister candace had been harboring suspicions about what had really happened to her sister, the medical examiner's report was the thing that pushed her over the edge. >> i saw the seven huge lacerations that basically scalped her, she was murdered. that one picture. that was it. >> reporter: after reading the autopsy report herself, kathleen's daughter caitlin agreed with her aunt. she called her step-sister, margaret. >> i said, "you need to read this. you need to understand that mom -- she did not die from falling down stairs, that she was beaten to death." >> reporter: but caitlin's childhood playmates, her step-sisters margaret and martha, stood strong with their father.

>> dad told me that he didn't do it, and i believe him. i trust him. >> reporter: the step-sisters never spoke again. caitlin removed her belongings from the house. >> i've lost, obviously, far more than just my mother. i thought, you know, i -- i did lose martha, and margaret, and michael, my family, my home. >> reporter: could the family agony get any worse? well, it could and by a wide margin because now investigators were picking through michael peterson's past, turning the clock back some 20 years, and taking a peek at his previous life an ocean away. what they would discover was beyond eerie. >> how can michael have found two women dead at the bottom of a staircase? coming up -- >> she's saying something, like liz is dead or hurt. i don't know. she's screaming. and so i put some clothes on and i go over to the house. and in fact, liz is dead. >> dead at the bottom of the stairs?

>> bottom of the stairs. >> the story disturbingly familiar, and so were the suspicions. >> if you fell down the stairs, why would there be blood splurted up the side of the walls? it didn't make any sense to me. >> when "dateline" continues. ats

more's what's happening. nancy pelosi could transmit the articles of impeachment to the senate next week. in a letter to colleagues, she suggested the house move forward, despite senate leader mitch mcconnell's efforts to "stone wall a fair trial." the iranian military said they unintentionally shot down that jet liner that killed 176 people, citing human error. now back to "dateline." >> reporter: in police work, a

good tip can make your day and also make your life a lot more complicated. just such a tip came to the desk of the detective working the kathleen peterson case. >> i think it was two or three days after kathleen's death is when i first had contact with um the family members of elizabeth ratliff. >> reporter: and just who was elizabeth ratliff? to answer that question we have to turn the clock back almost twenty years in michael peterson's life and go across the atlantic to germany. in the early 1980's, michael peterson was living with his first wife near a u.s. air force base outside frankfurt. their good friend, elizabeth ratliff, a widow, lived nearby. >> liz has two children. and she's teaching school, has a great many friends who are, you know, all there. >> reporter: on november 24th, 1985, elizabeth went to the petersons for dinner. later, michael peterson says he drove her home. >> she got out and went upstairs.

i said, "night, liz, you know, see you tomorrow." >> reporter: the next morning, michael says he was fast asleep when elizabeth's nanny came running with urgent news. >> i'm upstairs in bed. and she's saying something that, in fact, you know, liz is dead or hurt or i don't know. she's screaming. and so i put some clothes on. and i go over to the house. and, in fact, liz is dead. >> reporter: dead at the bottom of the stairs. >> bottom of the stairs. >> reporter: another good friend in their circle, amybeth berner and her husband, were summoned to elizabeth's townhouse, too. she asked michael what happened. >> he said, "well, she probably had an aneurysm like her father." when i started to think about someone falling down the stairs, i thought well, that's possible. those stairs are, you know, pretty steep and, you know, they're slippery and wooden. >> reporter: but amybeth says as she looked around she noticed something. blood not just where elizabeth lay, but high up along the staircase walls, too.

too much blood, she thought, for a slip and fall. >> if you fell down the stairs, why would there be blood splurted up the side of the walls?" it didn't make any sense to me. >> reporter: and she says there were household details out of order: like the table that liz set out every night with the girls' breakfast plates. it was bare. the snow boots she routinely left by the front door, still on her feet. >> liz never wore her boots in the house. she'd always took her boots off. and that was another clue to me that something was wrong. it's obvious that she was either running from someone or trying to escape. >> reporter: amybeth thought a full-fledged investigation would ensue. but, as she tells it, michael peterson spoke to the authorities that day, relating that elizabeth had a hereditary bleeding disorder. perhaps she'd had a stroke and fallen down the stairs. the questions amybeth expected to be asked never were. >> i wondered, you know, "why aren't they talking to people? why aren't they asking questions?" no one did.

>> reporter: later that day, michael peterson phoned elizabeth ratliff's family in the u.s. with the dreadful news. margaret blair is elizabeth's sister. >> he said "um margaret, there's been an accident. liz fell down the stairs and died." "what are you saying?" i just totally went numb. i mean, my sister. he's saying she died. she's young. she's got two beautiful little children. babies, really. >> reporter: those baby girls? they are martha and margaret. michael took custody of the girls after the accident in germany. and then michael, along with his first wife patty, and then later with kathleen, raised them as his own. >> patty was saying that our birth mother was like a sister to her. she was her closest friend in the whole world. and it was said in our mother's will that we would go to mike and patty when they passed away. and, so, dad saw it as his responsibility and took us in. and stay -- we stayed with him for our whole lives.

>> reporter: you didn't think, "that's strange, the petersons? who are these people? >> well actually, you know, i can understand how that could happen. this was her world now. liz must love these people and trusted them to the nth degree. >> reporter: elizabeth ratliff's body was flown to texas for burial. at the funeral, margaret was desperate to hear further details from michael peterson about her sister's passing. but to her surprise -- >> michael was very aloof and very strange. >> reporter: did he speak? >> no, he didn't really say a lot at all. he never talked about the -- what happened to liz. >> reporter: but any questions regarding foul play in elizabeth ratliff's death were laid to rest by the results of an autopsy performed at the u.s. military hospital in germany. elizabeth died, the examiner said, from a brain hemorrhage, natural causes. so the story lay buried for nearly two decades. but when detective art holland

heard it, his head spun. >> i was overwhelmed with, you know, here i have two women that appeared to die the same way. two women that are associated with michael peterson. >> reporter: detectives wanted to dig a little deeper. what would they find? coming up -- for investigators, a risky move. >> a lot of people were very antsy about that. >> will it pay off? >> her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. >> i'm just thinking that my case is getting a whole lot better. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues i am totally blind. and non-24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424.

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so come ask, shop, discover at your local xfinity store today. >> reporter: as time went by, margaret blair had come to accept michael peterson's explanation of her sister's death years before, a tumble down the stairs in a german townhouse. >> i just believed what i was told about the cerebral hemorrhage and, you know, i'm presuming that a doctor had, you know, made this diagnosis. >> reporter: but when she learned that kathleen had also been found dead at the bottom of a staircase, margaret began wondering anew about how her sister died. she started reaching out elizabeth's old friends from germany. >> when i talked to her friends, i found out that blood had been dripping down the walls. well, that doesn't happen when you have a cerebral hemorrhage. >> reporter: authorities in north carolina were thinking the same thing.

if foul play had been involved in elizabeth ratliff's death, it might bolster their case. but the only way to know for sure, they concluded, was to dig up elizabeth's grave. assistant district attorney freda black. >> we decided that it probably would be worthwhile to try to exhume her body to determine whether the findings in germany were accurate or not. >> reporter: to do that, they'd have to get the okay from elizabeth's daughters, margaret and martha. the girls, who believed in their father's innocence as fiercely as they mistrusted the authorities, struggled with the decision. >> the hardest thing i've ever had to do was to write off on the exhumation of our birth mother. >> reporter: but ultimately, they agreed. >> and i signed off on it because we wanted to be, like, "there is no way this could've happened." like, please look at the evidence. i will do this to -- to free our dad of these

accusations. >> reporter: on a beautiful blue sky day, the remains of elizabeth ratliff were exhumed from their resting place in texas. >> ratliff's body -- >> reporter: julia sims, of nbc's raleigh-durham affiliate, wral-tv, has been covering the story since the beginning. >> and the bells started tolling right as they started pulling that casket out of the -- the ground. >> hmm. >> a lot of people were very antsy about that, about what they were gonna find. >> reporter: her body was driven to north carolina where it would be studied by the same medical examiner who'd ruled kathleen peterson's death a homicide. >> there was a risk here wasn't there? if you opened that coffin and found that the authorities in germany had been correct in ruling it a death by natural causes. >> we just decided that it needed to be done. >> roll the dice, basically. >> exactly. >> reporter: the detective peered through a morgue window as the top was pried off elizabeth ratliff's coffin. >> it was so airtight it was hard to use the crank to get the casket to open.

once it was raised you could see part of elizabeth ratliff's face and hair. it was remarkable. >> reporter: they were stunned. the body was practically intact. >> her fingernail polish was still on. her dress was still perfectly in place. >> reporter: the m.e. took a closer look at the injuries to elizabeth's head. she was finding lacerations, deep gouges in the scalp. seven of them. >> seven lacerations. you could -- >> it was amazing. >> count them. >> it was uncanny. the lacerations were very similar to the ones that had been perpetrated upon kathleen peterson. and in her findings, she made a decision that ms. ratliff had been -- had been murdered. >> reporter: investigators thought they'd hit pay dirt. in death, they thought kathleen peterson and elizabeth ratliff could have been twins. >> i'm just thinking that, that my case is getting a whole lot better. >> reporter: kathleen's sister candace thought that peterson had killed both women. >> i have a better chance of

being struck by lightning than finding two people who i intimately know at the bottom of a staircase. >> reporter: but to martha and margaret, the whole thing seemed absurd. the fact that michael was being accused of killing kathleen, the woman they called mom, was bizarre enough. but now, their birth mom, too? what would their father have gained by killing elizabeth ratliff? >> he would've gotten two screaming little ragamuffin kids out of it and that's it? like, there's nothing -- there's no reason for it. >> reporter: for the investigators in north carolina, though, the death in germany became a strong building block in their circumstantial case for murder. and what's more -- detectives learned that michael peterson had a secret life. secrets -- tawdry ones -- were about to spill out in the durham courthouse. coming up -- enter brad, the male escort. >> what types of services did you perform? >> oh, wow. that's -- that's pretty broad.

and then -- >> the individual wearing these pants at the time of that impact was in close proximity to the sort of blood. >> i remember the jurors were captivated by his testimony. and it all seemed to make perfect sense. >> when "dateline" continues. with our almond trees in our blue diamond orchard in california. my parents' job is to look after them. and it's my job to test the product. the best almonds make the best almondmilk. blue diamond almond breeze. thenot actors, people, who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. dupixent is a biologic,

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>> reporter: in the summer of 2003, michael peterson would stand trial for the bludgeoning death of his wife, kathleen. he'd pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. >> i am innocent of these charges, and we will prove it in court. >> reporter: with gavel-to-gavel coverage on live tv, the state versus michael peterson was a national spectacle. >> was it surreal, michael, to be in a courtroom charged with murder? >> well, it was surreal from the

first moment. i mean, you know, is there surreal beyond surreal? i don't know. >> reporter: reporter julia sims covered the proceedings in court. >> every single day of that trial the courtroom was packed, and not packed with just media, and not packed with just lawyers, but people off the street. people took vacation to come in and watch that trial. >> reporter: and michael peterson didn't shy away from all the attention. in fact, he allowed a documentary crew to film him every step of the way. but the only audience that mattered was the 12-person jury. and when the trial began, the prosecution introduced them to the man behind the professorial mask, the person they saw as the real michael peterson. >> this case is about pretense and appearances. it's about things not being as they seem. >> reporter: scratch beneath the glossy veneer, the beautiful house and sparkling dinner

parties, and prosecutors would tell the jury they'd find a marriage in shambles. more than the couple's money problems, more than the loss of social standing after michael got caught out lying about his military record, there was what investigators found when they searched his home office. >> it was just so -- so different than what everybody that knew michael peterson believed him to be, as far as a family man, a happily married man. it was jaw dropping. >> reporter: while kathleen toiled away at her executive job to pay the couple's mounting bills, michael's writing career was hitting a wall. >> he had some free time on his hands. and we believed that he, somewhere along the way, began to form relationships, let's say, with men that he particularly met on the computer. >> reporter: not women, but men. the prosecution's theory was this -- the night kathleen died, she went into michael's office to retrieve an email about that work conference call the next morning. there in his office, the prosecutors believe, she stumbled upon e-mail exchanges

between her husband and an escort. >> the e-mails were very specific about what they had planned on doing and what they wanted to do with each other. >> reporter: very graphic, steamy stuff? >> they were. >> reporter: the escort's user name? "soldiertop brad." you have great reviews and i would like to get together peterson wrote in one email. i've never done escort but used to pay to blank a super macho guy who played lacrosse." "i'm very bi, and that's all there is to it." >> what type of services did you perform? >> oh wow, that's pretty broad. >> reporter: in a sensational revelation, the prosecution called brad the escort to the stand. >> what type of sexual activities, sir? >> oh, just about anything under the sun. >> reporter: on the witness stand, the escort told the jury that just three-months before kathleen's death, he and michael peterson had arranged to meet. >> we were to hook up. >> and what were you all planning on doing? >> having sex. >> reporter: the hookup never

happened, but combine that with the other combustibles in the couple's life, the prosecution said, and you have all the ingredients for a fatal confrontation. >> it got out of control, and michael peterson snapped. and he was the only one who could have done it, according to the prosecution. >> reporter: further evidence that michael attacked kathleen ferociously, the prosecution stated, was as clear as the spray of blood up the staircase walls. >> the amount of blood, the positioning of the blood, the location of the blood, it was overwhelming. >> in general terms, the greater the force, the smaller the drop. >> reporter: to take the jury vividly up the back stairs, the prosecution called the state's blood pattern expert, duane deaver. he told the jury with certainty that kathleen peterson had been beaten to death. he testified the droplet pattern high up the walls was just what you'd expect to see with a weapon rising, striking, and casting off blood with each new blow. >> and i believe there is a minimum of four blows that have

occurred in this, uh -- in this scene. >> reporter: what's more, deaver testified, this blood stain was found on the inside of peterson's shorts. he'd done tests that he says proved that the only way it could have gotten there was if peterson had been standing over his wife, beating her. >> and the individual wearing these pants at time of that impact was in close proximity to the source of blood when it was impacted. >> i remember the jurors were captivated by his testimony. um, and it all seemed to make perfect sense. >> reporter: then there was all that dried blood the emts noticed around kathleen's body, suggesting she may have been attacked well before peterson called 9-1-1. according to prosecutors, lab tests backed that up. kathleen's head injuries had produced something called red neurons, which they say form after oxygen is withheld from the brain for at least two hours. >> that gives mr. peterson at least two hours to do things

before the 9-1-1 call is placed. >> reporter: what was he doing during all that time? the state argued he was staging the scene. detectives saw what they thought were wipe marks on the stairs. to them, it was an attempt at a clean up. and there were those two wine glasses on the kitchen counter suggesting an evening of maybe too much drink, followed by a tumble down the stairs. thing was, kathleen's fingerprints weren't on either glass. in fact, the prosecution said, kathleen's blood-alcohol content was low enough that she could have passed a roadside breathalyzer test. >> she wasn't drunk. she wasn't intoxicated. um, she did have a little in her system. but not enough, arguably, to have caused her to not be able to walk up stairs. >> reporter: was the writer of fiction, making up yet another story, covering up murder as an accident? coming up -- michael peterson speaking out about it all, including his interest in sex with men.

he says others knew all about it. >> this is not a family secret. >> and then why he thinks kathleen most likely fell. after a recent injury he says she was on major meds. do you remember her being won sfli >> oh, my god, yeah. >> when "dateline" continues. y . >> when "dateline" continues ol, is about to become your problem. ahh no, come on. i saw you eating poop earlier. hey! my focus is on the road, and that's saving me cash with drivewise. who's the dummy now? whoof! whoof! so get allstate where good drivers save 40% for avoiding mayhem, like me. sorry! he's a baby! your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best, with emergen-c.

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i've seen falls, it did not look like a fall. >> reporter: prosecutors have charged kathleen's husband michael with murder, telling the jury about his connection to another suspicious stairway death 20 years earlier in germany. >> do you really believe that lightning strikes twice in the same place? >> michael peterson sat down with us to refute the prosecution's case, including that other supposedly damming death. >> they said, my god, there was blood everywhere. well, no, the german police didn't see any blood, the american military didn't see any blood. >> and then a clash outside the

courtroom. >> pleading guilty. >> actually, we're not . >> here again, dennis murphy. >> prosecutors were laying out their case of michael peterson for the murder of his wife kathleen. if kathleen were bludgeoned to death, problem, investigators haven't found the murder weapon. prosecutors believed it was a hollow fireplace tool seen here in family photographs. it had been given to kathleen by her sister candace as a gift. >> i had given it to her about ten years prior, that's for sure, and that thanksgiving when i was at her house, i definitely saw it by the fireplace. >> prosecutors thought peterson had it out of the house that night after the attack. if he had, that could explain the blood droppings on the walkway. >> blood from the murder weapon outside the dwelling. >> the state thought the most powerful evidence is what the medical examiner found on the

top of kathleen's head, seven tears to the scalp. >> do you recall any case where someone died falling down the steps and there were multiple lacerations? >> no. >> were you able to determine in your opinion what the manner of her death was? >> the manner of death in this case is homicide. >> injuries that were eerily similar to those suffered by the peterson family friend from germany all those years before, and the jury almost in a trial within a trial heard that story, the long ago friends from germany, testifying to their suspicions about michael peterson's involvement in another stairway death, another one with so much blood. >> the blood was up so high that i couldn't figure out how did the blood get up there. >> michael peterson was the last person known to have seen his friend elizabeth alive, just like his wife kathleen. it was the bow that wrapped up the state's case.

>> do you really believe that lightning strikes twice in the same place. so there was the prosecution's case for conviction, blood evidence, a staged scene, and the trigger, the violent confrontation between husband and wife that resulted when a secret appetite for men was exposed. the state's case lasted more than two months and each day, michael peterson's girls, margaret and martha sat in court suffering as prosecutors labeled their dad a killer. >> they would accuse my father of double murders or the wife murder, or the staircase murders, and we couldn't stand up and say wait a second, this isn't true. >> michael peterson did not testify at his trial but he did sit down with us to answer questions about all the evidence against him. nothing was off limits. >> i know i did not kill kathleen so at a certain point, you think, well, this is just crazy. >> to understand the case, he

says, you have to go back to the very beginning, to the moment police arrived at the scene. and recognized him as the same michael peterson who liked to publicly criticize them in the local paper. >> you think the cops had it in for you, that's what set this in motion. >> absolutely. no question about it. >> that framed the narrative. >> there were delighted that something really bad had happened, and would have been even more delighted if i had anything to do with it. >> michael says the prosecution theory of what happened that night is total fiction. starting with the trigger, that explosive fight he and kathleen supposedly had after she saw those e-mails in his home office. the prosecution version of this evening, she goes to your office, logs in, and lo and be hold, tlhere's the traffic from bradley escort, he's not only cheating on me, he's cheating on me with a guy. >> right.

that was one of their theories. >> but just a theory. this whole story she stumbled on this information. >> absolutely not. of course not. >> michael insists, the supposed fight never happened though he doesn't deny he did try to set up that sexual encounter, in fact, he readily admits a sexual interest in both women and men. >> so you are bisexual. >> yeah. i first knew this when i was maybe 11. i was madly in love with this girl, oh, melanie grant, and it was during some mafantasy that there was melanie, and there was the shortstop on my ball team, whoa, wait a minute. how did the get a part of this fantasy. oh wait a minute, i had never had a man on man in my life. >> throughout his marriage, michael admits he did seek male

companionship from time to time, but it by no means affected his feeling for his wife. >> did i want a boyfriend? no. did i want to spend the night with one? did i want to cuddle? did i want to have a candle lit dinner, no, never, never, never, for me, it was strictly sex. it had nothing to do with love or a relationship. >> moreover, michael says his interest in men wasn't exactly hush hush in the family. perhaps kathleen had a hunch. >> this is not a family secret? >> no, it's not. >> was it known to kathleen, michael. >> i think it was one of these things that was not discussed but known. >> don't ask, don't tell. >> yeah. exactly. and of course when i was growing up, there wasn't any don't ask, don't tell, it was don't. period. >> had she known that there were as hookups, how do you think she would have taken it?

>> i wish i had told her. i wish we had discussed it. i was afraid, not that she would leave me, she wonlt. she was the most open minded, liberal, intelligent woman. >> as for the other piece of the prosecution's motive that the petersons were on the edge of financial ruin. >> a lot of money out on the cards, expensive schools that were bleeding, the wonderful house was something of a money pit. what's your reaction to all of that stuff? >> my reaction is exactly what the prosecution proved. >> in court, the financial expert who testified about their debts also noted that in the end, the petersons were still 1 1/2 million dollars. >> i had money and it's not a matter, it was not a financial problem. >> but what about that dramatic trial within a trial the jury had seen. michael implicated in not one murder but two, that friend elizabeth rafliff's death in germany. >> two important women in your life, and they're both dead in a

heap at the bottom of the stairs. >> exactly. has to be guilty. >> you're a writer of fiction, your editor would probably take that kind of coincidence out of the book. >> he would say come up with another one. she died in the bathtub or something. >> but you're not immune to the ir irony of this? >> no, of course not. >> during the course of the investigation. >> it didn't occur to me, honest to god, it didn't occur to me. >> did you kill her? >> liz, of course not. >> as for the witnesses who said the blood was all over the staircase walls, michael insists, their memories are wrong. >> they said, my god, there was blood everywhere. well, no there wasn't. the german police didn't see any blood. the german doctor didn't see any blood, the american military didn't see any blood. why didn't they see any blood, and if you saw this blood, why didn't you say something at the time to someone? >> he is certain liz ratlif died

of a streak, as for how his wife kathleen died years later, michael can't say for sure, but he thinks his first instinct was the right one. >> i guess i'm maybe the last person to believe it, i think she fell down the stairs, i don't know. >> michael believes alcohol must have played a role in her fall, and even though her blood alcohol levels weren't off the charts, he says there may have been another contributing factor. a few months before her death, she had suffered an injury diving into her swimming pool, and her doctor put her on several prescription meds. >> do you remember her being wobbly. >> she had to wear a neck brace, they put her on percocet to begin with. they brought her valium, flexeril, a muscle relax isn't. she was in a great deal of pain. >> for michael peterson, the trial was hard enough to bear but the family split made it worse. there was kathleen's daughter kaitlyn across the room in the prosecution's camp, and imphibe

him the whole time, his girls, margaret and martha. >> they loved one another, they helped one another, and that's been the biggest, to me the sad news that everything that kathleen wanted to make happen, and did happen as far as the family was torn asunder. >> michael's story is one he says those closest to him have noun for yeaknown for years, a his lawyer was about to present to the jury, and a moment up their sleeve, a moment out of perry mason, that would leave mouths agape. >> that's a blow poke, isn't it. >> coming up, he runs up to margaret who's in the house, i think i found the blow poke. >> the alleged murder weapon found, what will it reveal, and then. >> they said, we have a verdict, your heart stops. >> when "dateline" continues. . >> when "dateline" continues ...removes stains,... ...whitens in-between teeth...

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>> reporter: what had happened on that back staircase? from almost the moment he was retained, defense attorney david rudolf thought michael peterson was innocent. >> no one thought michael could've ever harmed kathleen. and indeed, there was never a shred of evidence that they had ever had so much as a loud argument. >> reporter: in court, he laid out a straightforward scenario for the jury. >> the truth is that kathleen peterson, after drinking some wine and some champagne and taking some valium tried to walk up a narrow, poorly lit stairway in flip-flops and she fell and she bled to death. >> reporter: just as the prosecution had, the defense put the couple's marriage front and center. telling the jury it was more or less perfect. >> everywhere they went, people noticed. michael looking at kathleen with

the kind of pride that you just don't fake. >> reporter: under cross-examination, even brad the escort said peterson had told him how much he loved his wife. >> in his e-mails unlike most of my clients he indicated that he had a great relationship. most clients don't want to say anything about the relationship. he indicated he had a warm relationship with his wife and nothing would ever destroy that. >> reporter: michael hadn't killed kathleen, the defense argued, and he certainly didn't kill family friend, elizabeth ratliff. they called their own medical expert who reviewed her autopsy reports and said it wasn't a murder. >> is blood in all of the ventricles of the brain consistent with a stroke from natural causes? expert: it is consistent. >> reporter: then, there was the mount everest of the case: the forensics, explaining to the jury all that blood in the peterson stairwell. >> the defense would call dr. henry lee to the stand. >> reporter: the defense called celebrity forensic expert dr. henry lee, of o.j. case fame, to show the jury in theatrical fashion just how

kathleen, falling, then staggering about, coughing up blood, could have accounted for the spray. >> an injured person can walking, can move, can shake their head. >> obviously, the blood all around was due to her being alive and moving around for some period of time. it didn't have to do with what inflicted the wounds. >> reporter: the blood on his shorts, that could have happened, the defense said, while michael peterson was cradling his wife. the fact that some of the blood was dry when first responders arrived, well, michael never said he knew what time kathleen fell. and as for those drops of blood in the house and on the walkway outside suggesting he staged the scene, the defense said none of that could be trusted. >> the blood in that area had been completely altered. the scene at the house had been completely contaminated. >> reporter: but what about

those ghastly lacerations on kathleen's head which the state's medical examiner attributed to a beating? defense attorney rudolf notes what he didn't find: though the cuts were deep, there were no skull or bone fractures. >> there was absolutely no fractures anywhere. no fractures to her fingers, to her arms to her skull. and there was absolutely no injury to the brain. and that's just almost an impossibility if what you're doing is beating somebody with a metal object. >> reporter: and for a final exclamation point, the defense had a "perry mason" moment up its sleeve. the prosecution had insisted throughout the murder weapon used to bludgeon kathleen peterson was the fireplace blowpoke, only police never found it. almost three months into the trial, one of michael's sons made a stunning discovery in the peterson's basement. >> he immediately runs up to margaret who was at the house and said, "margaret, i think i -- i -- i think i found the blowpoke."

in court, the defense played the moment for all it was worth, that the peter's blow poke was used to commit a salvage crime. >> see any dents in it, like a tiny indentation. >> that was the blowpoke, well, if it is, then what was the murder weapon? >> reporter: lawyer david rudolf had peppered doubt throughout the case. the peterson camp was positive. >> we were so positive he was going to get off because in our minds, it was the clearest thing in the world. >> reporter: but after sitting through the trial, kathleen's sister candace thought the brother-in-law she once admired both a killer and a liar. >> did i ever think he was

capable of murdering my sister, no, did i know he had found another woman found at the bottom of staircase no, he's a writer of fiction, and that's what i found, he makes things up as he goes to suit the situation. >> reporter: when the case went to the jury, three days passed without a verdict. finally on day four. >> they came out and one of them said, you know, we have a verdict. your heart stops. >> reporter: a hush, then the clerk began to read. >> we the 12 members of the jury unanimously find the defendant to be guilty of first-degree murder. >> it's guilty. i just. >> as soon as we heard the first juror say guilty, i just was weeping like i was being taken over by grief and shock. >> is there anything you want to say before the court imposes justice? >> michael peterson turned to his kids. he said, it's okay, it's okay. >> on his part, he was just trying to calm himself down but

also i think like he felt his role was to protect us. >> i was the only continuity in their life, and to see them, you know, it's okay. and i could. and i could do it. >> reporter: michael peterson turned back to face the judge for the reading of the sentence. >> the defendant is in prison in north carolina department of corrections for the remainder of his natural life without the benefit of parole. >> i believed that michael was innocent. i continue to believe michael is innocent. and i thought we won that trial. so when that guilty verdict came out, i was pretty devastated. >> reporter: for kathleen's sister candace, the verdict was nothing to celebrate. >> it makes me cry. i mean, i was happy we were getting justice but there's no joy in this. there's just great sadness. >> reporter: the peterson children resigned themselves to the harsh reality that prison was now their father's home.

they sold the dream house on cedar street and tried to get on with their lives. they visited their dad whenever they could. >> i would just sob every time i left. you hold it together for dad because why would you cry in front of dad. that's not going to help him but then when you leave, you know, you're sobbing in your car. >> reporter: they watched his lawyer file a series of appeals. >> we would have hope for every single appeal, and every single time, it would get beaten down. >> reporter: his case went all the way up to the north carolina supreme court, and was rejected. but michael says he never lost hope. >> i told everyone, i am not going to die in prison. >> reporter: the odds were certainly stacked against him but then life can take some very strange twists and turns. >> coming up, a wild new theory about what happened to kathleen. >> the owl flew down and landed

on kathleen's head. >> and the fresh evidence backing it up. >> you have to magnify them 400 times just to see. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues the unbeatable strength of advil. what pain? ( ♪ ) hey there! i'm lonnie from lonnie's lumber. if you need lumber wood, lonnie's is better than good. we got oak, cherry, walnut, and more. and we also have the best selection of plywood (clattering) in the state... hey! (high-pitched laughter) man: dang woodchucks! (wood clattering) stop chuckin' that wood! with geico, the savings keep on going. just like this sequel. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. that's a reason to switch to jackson hewitt,. conveniently located in walmart. now enjoy a bonus gift card up to $100...

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here's what's happening, the impeachment trial of president trump could be happening as early as next week. in a letter, lan si pelosi asked the judiciary to take steps. and two days after prince harry and meghan markle announced plans to step back as senior members of the royal family, meghan has left the uk for canada. buckingham palace held an emergency meeting to address the couple's decision. now back to "dateline." there are pleasant places to idle away your golden years, but

north carolina nash correctional institution isn't one of them, but that's where michael peterson, father, novelist and wife killer, according to a jury of his peers was incarcerated. just another number in a cell block with other felons. >> life without parole, and they meant it, too, and they did everything they could to make that happen. >> reporter: after he had exhausted his appeals, it looked as though prison was where he would stay, but out in nevada, michael has a look alike younger brother bill peterson who's also an attorney. >> reporter: did the lawyer in you say that's it, that's when i'm done. >> the real hard work started, we were out of money, out of lawyers. that's when the burden fell on me and whoever would help me. >> reporter: bill peterson spent hours in the durham county courthouse combing through the district attorney's piled high boxes of evidence. was there something that had been overlooked and he wasn't the only supporter nursing alternate theories of kathleen peterson's death.

there's a neighbor, an attorney who has an intriguing idea of what happened. his scenario of an accidental death has come to be known as the owl theory. >> we have seen owls in the area. he thought this was very plausible. he put together this whole theory himself! here's how the neighbor's theory goes. kathleen who has spent the day putting up christmas decorations, goes out front while michael is back by the pool. she's checking on her lawn display beneath the trees. >> >> the owl flew down and landed on kathleen's head. and tore her scalp with a manner consistent with the lacerations on her head. >> reporter: getting only as as far as the staircase where she joins the defenses depiction of falling, passing out, coming to, and rising again, only to fall for the final time. the owl theory was not completely new. it had been floated years

earlier. >> the cops were making a big joke of this. they put a picture of the owl in their most wanted list. >> reporter: back then without any forensic owl evidence, the defense didn't want to confuse the jurors, so the peterson jury never did hear about an owl theory. but five years into peterson's sentence, the neighborhood advocating for it was still looking for something to back it up. sure enough, there it was in the original case notes file, a mention of a feather. >> you have to magnify them 400 times just to see them. >> reporter: tim thompson, owner of associated microscopes was asked by the neighbor to examine a slide of that feather. >> they grow under the claws of an owl, when they attack something, they leave behind these small particle feathers. >> reporter: thompson peered through his microscope studying

bloody hands of hair, tangled in the hair were not one but two minute bird feathers, a surprise he says to the detectives and an assistant da watching in the room. >> i think they were surprised because the lab had not found the second feather. >> reporter: bill peterson was interested in the results too. a review of the slide showed what, traces of bird feather. >> yes, exactly right. in her hair. another very very compelling fact. >> reporter: what was most compelling about the idea that an owl attacked kathleen supporters thought was how it accounted for the distinctive lacerations on her scalp. had the three main talons of an owl caused a bleeding head wound when it swooped down. >> we had an or natologist who said they were consistent. as we know, scalp wounds cause plenty of bleeding, that she

panicked, obviously you would run in the house to get away from the owl, that she did, and ran down the stairwell. >> reporter: if an owl attacking humans sound like so much urban legend, don't tell that to b byron unger. he was leaving work with his manager when an owl swooped down from the trees and swiped his colleague on the head. this surveillance camera caught the entire freakish event and if that weren't strange enough, it happened to byron himself two weeks later. >> i have never been hit so hard byingsome, felt like a baseball bat, knocked ne to the ground, scattered me on the ground. i was bleeding so bad, i thought i lost my eye. >> his wife waiting for him in the car dialed 911. >> they didn't believe me wife, they thought we were crazy when they said my husband has been attacked by a bird, an owl. >> reporter: show me where you think it got you. >> the talons got me here into mie, and all the way into my

hair. all of this was black and blue. the whole side of my face was hit by talons. >> reporter: is that what happened to kathleen peterson, critics see problems like why isn't there more of a trail of blood from the front door to the staircase, and wouldn't michael have heard kathleen being attacked. kathleen's sister doesn't believe it for an instance. >> i'm supposed to believe an owl ripped her apart. the thing is so ludicrous. >> reporter: and even michael peterson understands the skepticism. >> who done it. >> oh, it's just awful. >> reporter: but he says the evidence is worth considering. >> there are feathers and where were they, in kathleen's hand. >> with strands of her hair. >> with strands of her hair. did does that mean an owl did it. >> reporter: i'm surprised to hear you say it's not as ludicrous. >> i have seen the photographs,

is it possible, certainly it's possible. i don't know. did an owl do it. i can't tell you that. >> reporter: in the summer of 2009, peterson's attorney neighbor helped him file a motion, requesting a new trial based on the owl theory but the trial judge dismissed it. the owl theory was dead in court but lives on in the court of public opinion. >> there are people less smart than me that are absolutely convinced this is what happened. >> reporter: with the motion denied, with the owl hooted out of court, it really did seem finally to be the last chapter for the novelist, but a development was in store that would call the heart of the case into question, and no one, not even michael peterson could have seen it coming. coming up, dramatic revelations about the scientific evidence against peterson. did the blood expert manipulate one of his experiments. >> his assistant does a little

jig. >> reporter: a happy end zone dance? >> exactly. >> reporter: when "dateline" continues. "dateline" continues. all day strong.

>> reporter: by 2010, his daughter martha had given up hope that her father would ever be released from nash correctional institution. >> dad was probably going to be in prison until he died. this was a reality that was never going to change. >> reporter: but in michael's cell block, an interesting story was circulating, a series of articles have been published in raleigh's news and observers alleging misconduct at the state bureau of investigations crime lab, the sbi. >> in prison, you don't really care much about international affairs or political, they don't have any affect, that the sbi who were behind many guys being in there, oh, they're under investigation. oh, we cared about that. >> reporter: it turns out one of the experts at the center of the

storm is a name you've heard before, special agent dwayne dever, remember him. >> my opinion is this is the scene of a beating. >> reporter: he was a star witness for the prosecution in the peterson trial. the blood pattern expert who put michael peterson in the staircase bludgeoning his wife. reporter julia sims. you talked to the jurors in this case, julia, how important was the blood expert, dever's testimony. >> that blood evidence was critical. here's a guy who has been doing this for years for the state, look what his experiment showed, it's got to be the truth. >> reporter: the newspaper recounted the story of a man who was sent to prison for murder after dever's lab report suggested a stain on the man's car was the victim's blood. >> and it turned out not to be blood. >> reporter: it wasn't blood at all. >> no. >> reporter: and dever knew and didn't disclose it. >> dever knew that that was not blood and didn't disclose it. >> reporter: that man's conviction was overturned.

>> innocent of the charge of first-degree murder. >> reporter: and there was more evidence of questionable conduct linked to dever, the newspaper investigation suggested that the methodology behind some of the blood pattern experiments he was involved in were flawed, designed to produce pro prosecution results, like this test conducted for a 2009 murder case. dever video taping the experiment was attempting match a bloodstain on the shirt of the accused. >> that's a wrap. >> reporter: peterson's attorney says it does not look to him like objective science. >> they come to the belief that someone is guilty. they don't have the evidence that they think they need to convict the person. and so they make it up. >> reporter: rudolf signed back on to michael's case, this time without pay, and began to dig.

he discovered that at the peterson trial, dwayne dever had not been truthful about his professional experience on the stand. >> he said he had been involved in 500 cases involving blood spatter. >> reporter: was that true? >> no, in fact he had been involved in 54 cases. he said he had written 200 reports, regarding blood spatter analysis, not true. he said he had been to the scenes of falls, 15 times, in fact, he had never been to the scene of a fall. >> reporter: what's more, remember dever's conclusion that the bloodstain on peterson's shorts prove he had been standing over her beating her. >> the individual wearing the pants at the time of the impact was in close proximity to the source of blood when it was impacted. >> reporter: turns out he conducted an experiment pretrial and it was video taped too. on the second attempt, peterson says it looks as though dever and another agent got what they

wanted. >> his assistant, he does a little jig. >> reporter: like a happy end zone dance? >> exactly. >> reporter: we got it. >> got you moment. >> reporter: when peterson's brother bill saw the experiment details, he couldn't believe it. >> it's all designed to get a result. to me, it's not scientific at all. >> reporter: for michael's defense, the implication was clear, the jury had been duped. after all in its karclosing argument, the state had played on dever's credibility to secure a conviction. >> you have to believe that dwayne dever is a liar, and he has no reason to come here and lie to you. >> who you going to trust, dwayne dever, of course he would never lie, turns out he did lie. >> reporter: defense attorney rudolph filed a motion asking for a new trial, and the judge this time was ready to listen. coming up, yet another jolt for michael's children. >> i was weeping with shock.

>> and a critical decision that could change everything. >> i said, well, that's just not going to happen. i won't do it. >> when "dateline" continues. hes i wanted more from my copd medicine that's why i've got the power of 1, 2, 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved once-daily 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy ♪ the power of 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy ♪ 1,2,3 ♪ trelegy woman: with trelegy and the power of 1, 2, 3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works three ways to open airways, keep them open and reduce inflammation, for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed.

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>> reporter: a decade after he was arrested for killing his michael peterson was back in a north carolina courtroom arguing for a retrial on the grounds that the state's crucial blood pattern expert had given false testimony against him. but as far as kathleen's sister, candace, was concerned, prison was where peterson deserved to rot. >> my sister's dead for eternity. oh, no, no, no. he murdered my sister. he took the prime of her. he needs to be held accountable for what he did. b but. >> reporter: but peterson's attorney was just as concerned with freeing him from prison r. rudolph dissected the original testimony of blood pattern expert dwayne dever. >> did dwayne dever misrepresent himself to the jury? yes.

did dwayne dever's testimony make a difference in this case? yes. >> reporter: after listening to the arguments about due process violations and per jered testimony, the judge ruled michael peterson was entitled to a new trial, and there it was, michael peterson's conviction was tossed out. his family was overwhelmed. >> i was weeping with joy and shock and could not believe that there was hope. >> i was like, my dad's getting out. we're going to have our dad back. >> for the peterson children, now there was only joy. >> lots of hugs, lots of happy, happy photographs and so we're all like jumping up into the air in a silly picture of just so so happy. >> reporter: 24 hours after the judge issued his decision sharply criticizing the blood pattern expert's work on the case, 68-year-old michael peterson was released on a $300,000 bond. >> i imagine you remember the

day, hour and date. >> i do, december the 15th. all my kids were there. oh, my god, my grandson had been born, a sweet little baby, and i go out and hold, and i'm crying of course. it was wonderful. >> reporter: you were meant to die in prison. >> that was the plan. absolutely. >> reporter: and now you're outside. >> and now i'm out. >> i have waited over eight years, 2,988 days, as a matter of fact, and i counted, for an opportunity to have a retrial. i want to thank judge hudson for giving me that opportunity so that i can vindicate myself and prove my innocence in a fair trial this time. >> reporter: so michael peterson was out of prison but not exactly free. the state had promised to try him for murder again. and he was placed under house arrest. his every move monitored by an

electronic ankle bracelet. but that hardly mattered to his girls margaret and martha. for them, the dark cloud that lay over the family name for nearly a decade had lifted. >> we're part of the peterson family, and we are not afraid to say it. we were so stigmatized before, you know, and like hiding it. >> reporter: still, the second trial loomed but working in michael's favor was the fact that the prosecutor would have to try a very different, much weaker case. dwayne dever had been fired from his job, and some of the state's critical blood evidence would be inadmissible. >> i think their case is very very badly compromised because of dever. he was all over the crime scene. >> reporter: and there was another important victory for peterson's side. >> what types of services did you perform? >> oh, wow, that's pretty broad. >> reporter: brad the male escort, a sensational center piece of the prosecution's case wouldn't be part of a second trial either. the escort had been revealed in a search that was deemed

illegal. >> the search warrant that resulted in the seizure of the computer was found to be invalid. >> reporter: further more, that dramatic trial within a trial about michael's long dead friend in germany, well, a change in north carolina state law regarding the admissibility of evidence meant a second jury might not hear that story either. >> the male escort is gone, the death in germany is gone, the expert blood testimony is gone, you're left with the autopsy pictures. >> reporter: yeah. >> the medical examiner's testimony, and maybe the prosecution's theory for motive. is that enough? >> reporter: the stars seemed to be aligning for michael peterson. perhaps vindication was at hand, but one final twist was on the way. >> i said, well, that's just not going to happen. i would go back to prison before that happens. i won't do it. >> coming up, michael makes a choice that rocks everyone in the case.

>> that was wow. >> including michael himself. >> that was the most difficult decision i ever made in my life. >> when "dateline" continues. ats when you move homes, you move more than just yourself.

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go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. >> reporter: michael peterson's days in the mansion on cedar street were long gone. as he awaited trial number two, he passed his days in a durham condo writing about his experiences in prison. meanwhile the prosecution was forging ahead, a new trial was scheduled for the spring of 2017. as it got closer, the reality hit daughters martha and margaret hard. >> and that was actually devastating for me, it was pretty much a nightmare to live the first trial, and to have to go through that a second time would be even worse of a nightmare. >> i can't go through that again. i can't go through another guilty verdict. >> reporter: kathleen's sister, candace, knew a second murder trial would

dredge up all the pain again. but there was no way that she was backing down. >> i have to relive how my sister died. she died one of the worst, worst ways. she was beaten and she knew the person who she loved was beating her. >> there is no way i'm not going to get justice for her. >> reporter: but there was one other option that could avoid a trial -- something that had been floated a few years earlier. the d.a. and the defense could hammer out a plea deal whereby peterson could walk away with time served. but the negotiations went nowhere. >> and candace, no. under no circumstances. he must stand up and say, "he's guilty." and i said, "well, that's just not gonna happen. that will never happen ever ever, i would go back to prison before that happens. >> reporter: so it seemed the hopelessly divided families were destined to face off again on opposite sides of a north carolina courtroom all these years later. >> the district attorney was one hundred percent willing to go to

trial, they felt they had a strong case. >> reporter: but as the trial approached, michael found himself rethinking a possible plea deal and how it would affect his family. >> and im all the time thinking, you got some responsibility. i got two grandsons now, four and six. you didn't wanna spin that wheel again, huh? >> exactly. my son -- clayton's the one who said it perfectly. he said, "dad, you're playing a game at a crooked table. you're never going to win. the odds are against you. pick up your chips, and go home. >> reporter: and so that's what michael peterson agreed to do. >> i was a little surprised we were preparing to go to trial again then the district attorney said he had heard from michael peterson's attorney and they wanted to make a plea. and that was wow, he's going to say the word guilty? ok. we'll take the plea. >> reporter: well, it was a little complicated. peterson was going to take what's referred to as an alford plea. >> an alford plea is when you don't admit guilt, but you

acknowledge there is enough evidence there that a jury could convict you. in the books, it goes down as a guilty plea. in february of 2017, 73-year-old michael peterson ri arrived at the durham county courthouse for what would be the final saga of this. kathleen's daughter kaitlyn came to durham to see it happen, and of course kathleen's sister candace was there. she ran into michael's chief defender outside the courthouse. >> oh, david, good to see you today. pleading guilty, pleading guilty. thank you, that's what i always wanted. >> actually, we're not pleading guilty. >> you're pleading guilty. >> michael peterson would like to walk around and proclaim his innocence, but he can't. he can play with these words, but he can't play with the facts. >> the courtroom was eerily reminiscent of the 2003 trial,

packed with tv cameras. >> everybody's a little bit older, but there's so much that's the same. the emotion, the tension, the anger, all of it was still there. >> how does mr. peterson plead to the charge of voluntary manslaughter. >> he enters a plea of guilty pursuant to alford. >> mr. peterson you're pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, that's a class d felony, do you understand, sir? >> yes, sir. >> and do you now personally plead guilty pursuant to the alford case? >> yes, sir. >> that was the most difficult decision i ever made in my life was to take the alford plea. >> reporter: and that's going to give kathleen's family an opportunity for what they call the victim impact statement. >> you are pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter, you will be treated as guilty for murdering my sister kathleen, and you will be a convicted felon forever. >> it was very cathartic to say

this is what i fought for. we weren't quilting until we heard the word guilty. we thought we were going to hear it from another 12 jurors but we got to hear michael peterson. not only can you wear the scarlet for adultery but also the black letter g for guilty. not perfect justice, but justice. >> michael peterson was sentenced to time served. his daughters say that at long last, they can properly grieve kathleen's death together. >> i think a big piece that's important to our family is to be able to say good-bye to mom and to be able to honor her memory and let her go in peace. >> reporter: and they have accepted that their father is once again a convicted felon, but a free man who still maintains his innocence. >> so your plea allows you to take the position you have taken all these years, michael. >> exactly. >> reporter: and yet on the ledgers of the criminal justice system, you're -- >> guilty of manslaughter.

>> reporter: it's an ending that neither side had hoped for, the family saga of so much love, and so much loss, an imperfect conclusion. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." i just can't imagine. to be held in captivity. >> dad, just send the money. that's all they want. >> they have an american kid. a 14-year-old kid in the middle of the jungle. they're thinking they hit the jackpot. >> they were vacationers turned prisoners. a mother and son kidnapped by terrorists. >> we need 10 million u.s. dollars for the release of your family. >> 10 million from me? are you losing your mind?