The prosecution used the evidence to draw parallels in court but never formally charged Michael with Elizabeth's death. Michael had two biological sons, Todd and Clayton, with his first wife, Patty. More importantly, both Margaret and Martha Ratliff, whose custody was awarded to the Petersons as per their biological mothers final will, also support their father through and through. Odessa Young and Sophie Turner as Elizabeth Ratliff's daughters Martha and Margaret. Elizabeth Ratliff, a family friend of Michael Peterson and his first wife, Patricia, died in 1985, just two years after her husband, George. However, in reality, Rudolf stated he traveled to Germany to investigate what happened to Ratliff and knew about her death a year and a half before the trial. As per reports, Elizabeth often had dinner with the Petersons, and Michael would stay back to clean up or tuck her little girls to bed, which is precisely what they unwittingly did on her last evening alive. Michael placed two 911 calls, and emergency services attended the scene soon after. The SBI, the organization that recreated the crime scene, is placed under investigation for unethical practices, which opens up another opportunity for an appeal in Michael's case. "For another year, she was gone. He was granted a new trial in 2011, which was scheduled to begin in May 2017. A second autopsy, conducted by Durham, North Carolina officials this time, revealed sufficient evidence to suspect the manner of death being clear homicide. With that said, no charges against Michael have ever been brought in connection to this matter, and he maintains his innocence. For exhumation, she has to receive permission from Caitlin, who vehemently denies her request. In that case, it's thought that Ratliff succumbed to her blood clotting disorder via an intra-cerebral hemorrhage and then fell down the stairs after she was already deceased. "The blood was all the way up the staircase.". Why?? } else if ( host.indexOf("asia.cnn.com") != -1 ) { Meanwhile, in France, two filmmakers are searching for their next project. She was found by her children's nanny, Barbara Malagnino, who sought help from Patty shortly after making the grim discovery.. Under no circumstances would they have had a sexual relationship.". , Let's Break Down The Staircase's Deeply Frustrating 13 Episodes, The "Bel-Air" Cast Weren't Surprised by the Show's Success: "A Huge 'I Told You So' Moment", "Outer Banks" Had No Business Making Rafe Look This Fine With a Buzz Cut, Jazz Catches Hilary in a Lie in This Exclusive "Bel-Air" Season 2 Sneak Peek, Selena Gomez Says She Avoided Her "Wizards of Waverly Place" Costars After Series Due to Shame, "The Last of Us" Stars Storm Reid and Bella Ramsey Hit Back at Homophobes: "Don't Like It, Don't Watch", Jessica Chastain Tripped Over Her Dress at the SAG Awards, but It Didn't Take Away From Her Big Win, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Patty described what she saw when she entered the house. But if he lied about something that big what else did he lie about? He was an out bisexual man who had continuous affairs with men outside his marriage. The prosecution also discovers that back when Michael and Patty lived in Germany, Michael found ANOTHER woman at the bottom of a staircase Elizabeth Ratliff, the biological mother of Margaret and Martha. At the time, her death was investigated by the U.S. military police in Germany and an autopsy concluded she had died from an intracerebral hemorrhage. Michael's adopted daughters also believe that he did not kill their biological mother. ", Her death was eventually ruled a homicide. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in October 2003. 1 week ago, Here's the OTHER Death at the Centre of Netflix's The Staircase, A Tragic Twist in Part 2 of the "The Last of Us" Video Game Could Tease What's to Come on the Show, 12 Bone-Chilling Serial Killer Documentaries on Netflix Now, Selena Gomez Says She Avoided Her "Wizards of Waverly Place" Costars After Series Due to Shame, Eugene Levy Says a "Schitt's Creek" Movie Is Very Possible: "We're Open to Anything", "The Last of Us" Stars Storm Reid and Bella Ramsey Hit Back at Homophobes: "Don't Like It, Don't Watch", Jessica Chastain Tripped Over Her Dress at the SAG Awards, but It Didn't Take Away From Her Big Win. In April 2003, a second autopsy was carried out by a Durham medical examiner, who concluded Ratliff's cause of death was "homicide." Just like with Petersons wife Kathleen, she suffered lacerations to the head which were attributed to her fall. But, in February, just months before the scheduled retrial, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. He described the scene as "complete fiction" adding that "for anybody who knows anything about the criminal justice system, it totally undermines the credibility of the entire film.". They argued to keep the clip showing Peterson interacting with his son, Clayton Peterson (Dane DeHaan), whereas their producer wanted to include a scene that covered evidence presented at Peterson's trial that Kathleen Peterson may have been strangled. How is The Last of Us TV series different to game? Since her husband's death, Peterson would come over to visit her every evening after dinner, according to "The Staircase." Lawyer David Rudolf (L) and Michael Peterson (R) address reporters after his court hearing in Durham, North Carolina, on February 24, 2017. Investigators exhumed her grave in Bay City, Texas. Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time! He was granted a new trial in 2011, which was scheduled to begin in May 2017. And no questions were raised when her close friend Michael Peterson adopted her daughters, Margaret and Martha. "There was nothing out of place, except that she was no longer living," she recalled almost two decades later. In the documentary, Michael remembers he and his then-wife, Patricia, had dinner at the Ratliff home and he stayed behind to help Elizabeth put Martha and Margaret to. Tragedy struck, however, in 1983, when Elizabeth's husband George was killed in a secret military operation overseas. Thats where she first came across Captain George Ratliff, a navigator, only to tie the knot with him in 1981 before welcoming two adorable daughters into their lives Margaret and Martha Ratliff. As both their families grew, so did the bonds between them. Some speculate that Michael shared an illicit affair with Elizabeth. A widow, Elizabeth raised two daughters and her family grew close with the Petersons. Scott Stevenson was the editor on the in-court stuff, she had nothing to do with it. That's number one. And then when the appeal was over, for the next, whatever, eight years, I represent them for free, and never charge them a penny, I paid my own expenses. His only respite is his new relationship with Sophie, the documentary editor, and her letters. No, the will of the Ratliffs stated the girls would be left in the care of Michael Peterson. During her testimony, Appel-Schumacher told Hudson that Ratliff was happily married to George Ratliff, who died in a secret military operation overseas in 1983, and was devastated when he died. He has since insisted she was completely okay when he walked out the door, yet the following morning, the girls nanny found her dead at the bottom of the stairs Elizabeth passed away on November 25, 1985. At the time, the German police ruled her death an accident, and an autopsy concluded that she died of a brain hemorrhage. When they meet, they fall in love, and she leads the charge on the Owl Theory. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from POPSUGAR. Ultimately, Michael decides not to move to Paris in order to start a new life elsewhere with Sophie, and their relationship ends. Elizabeth Ratliff's Time of Death According to David Rudolf, the biggest flaw in the prosecution's theory regarding ER's death is the timeline and moreover that no one observed rigor mortis when they arrived on the scene. He and Patty later adopted two young daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff, after their mother, Elizabeth Ratliff (a Peterson family friend), died in Germany in 1985. document.write('Tuesday, August 19, 2003 Posted: 10:40 PM HKT (1440 GMT)
<\/span>'); "The worst of it, at least so far, is in Episode Five, when they paint a picture of Jean-Xavier, the director, and Sophie, conspiring to cut out a certain scene in order to make the documentary more favorable to Michael. She edited the scenes of us in the house, you know, meeting with experts, that sort of thing," he continued. At the time, her death was investigated by the U.S. military police in Germany and an autopsy concluded she had died from an intracerebral hemorrhage. Elizabeth's death was initially ruled an accident, but when her body was exhumed during the trial for a second autopsy in April 2003, the coroner found sufficient evidence to categorize it as a . } Elizabeth Ratliff's daughter, Martha and Margaret Ratliff stood by Michael Peterson and believed him to be innocent. Following Kathleen's death, which didn't look much like the accident Michael Peterson made it out to be, police almost immediately zoned in on him as the prime suspect. In 1985, a few years after George Ratliff's death, Elizabeth was found at the bottom of the stairs by the nanny, Barbara Malagnino. OR after heaving her down the stairs to make sure she indeed was dead, struck her again a few times with the same item as at the front door-he may not even have had to hit her fast, he could do it more slowly which would not end up leaving castoff on the ceiling, which was an issue at the trial-if he had struck her surely there would be castoff on the ceiling, but they were figuring on it being done in a fast frenzy-he then changed clothing and got rid of the clothing and the item he struck her with. Then I went and realized, no, I can't. With The Staircase's true-crime drama available to watch on HBO Max now and the original The Staircase documentary streaming on Netflix, it is ultimately up to viewers to form their own opinion on what they believe happened on the evening Kathleen Peterson died. I talked to the witnesses, I got the German police report and the DA's file. She also remembered the copious amounts of blood near the staircase at the scene of Elizabeth's death. Kathleen even has a brief run-in with Freda Black. The jury finds Michael guilty and sentences him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. What we do know is that he was found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife, Kathleen. "I could not give her what she really needed and deserved, and that would be a full-time partner living with her in Paris. The medical examiner found Kathleen Peterson and Elizabeth Ratcliffe suffered similar blows to the head, including seven lacerations which were sustained by blunt force trauma. "She wasn't actively dating, if that's the question," Appel-Schumacher said. In HBO Max's The Staircase, Brunet (played by Juliette Binoche) appears throughout the series, at first working to edit the documentary film released in 2004 and later as Peterson's romantic partner. The North Carolina medical examiner performed a second autopsy and concluded that Ratliff was beaten to death and that the German authorities missed the signs. He was sentenced to time already served and freed from prison. When the Petersons resided in Germany, Elizabeth had worked in the same school as Michael's then wife Patty. When producer Denis Poncet (Frank Feys) and director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Vincent Vermignon) come across the Peterson story, they wonder if there is a story there. Although she died in 1985, the death of Elizabeth Ratliff played a key role in Michael Peterson's trial after he was accused of murdering his wife Kathleen Peterson on December 9, 2001. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. It was after she left the project that she first sent him a letter. Elizabeth Ratliff's daughters continue to believe Mike Peterson. The final episode of the series is told through three time periods 2001, the day before Kathleens death, 2011, the night before Michaels retrial, and 2017, when Michael is contemplating the Alford plea. Three episodes in, drops 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. After her death, German officials concluded that Ratliff died of a cerebral hemorrhage which led to her falling down the stairs. The coroner determined that she fell down the stairs after the brain bleed caused her immediate demise. Although Ratliff lost a lot of weight and mourned her husband's death deeply, Appel-Schumacher said Ratliff's mood lifted during 1985. 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