their good friend, elizabeth ratliff, a widow, lived nearby >> liz has two children. chool, 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 thought about someone falling down the stairs i thought, well, that's possible those stairs are