I'm an admitted true crime junkie - cannot get enough of the tawdry and trashy books, documentaries, etc. It's odd - I know.

That being said, are any of you following the Michael Petersen case out of North Carolina? I need someone to share my obsession. This case is soooo convuluted and sooo much more bizarre than Scott and Laci Peterson and it's currently being covered on court tv.

Any of you watching or following the trial? Do you think he's guilty of one or both murders? does the whole thing seem surreal to you?DO you think he's the most narcissistic controlling manipulative person of the history of the planet or just an unlucky jerk?

• RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Devious Weasel, 12:09 PM, 09-05-03
  • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Lisapooh, 01:19 PM, 09-05-03
    • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,true, 01:29 PM, 09-05-03
• RE: Micheal Petersen trial,SurvivinDawg, 01:36 PM, 09-05-03
  • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,ginger, 02:17 PM, 09-05-03
    • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Devious Weasel, 02:30 PM, 09-05-03
• RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Bebo, 02:03 PM, 09-05-03
  • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Devious Weasel, 02:32 PM, 09-05-03
    • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Lisapooh, 02:40 PM, 09-05-03
      • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Bebo, 04:55 PM, 09-05-03
        • Interesting...,tig_ger, 05:01 PM, 09-05-03
• Off topic,Coconut, 05:08 PM, 09-05-03
• RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Loree, 08:53 PM, 09-30-03
• RE: Micheal Petersen trial,mistofleas, 09:26 PM, 09-30-03
• RE: Micheal Petersen trial,Punkin, 10:06 PM, 09-30-03
  • Misc Ramblings of a Californian,Red Lady, 06:22 AM, 10-01-03
    • RE: Misc Ramblings of a Californian,ginger, 02:46 PM, 10-01-03
  • RE: Micheal Petersen trial,mistofleas, 11:06 AM, 10-01-03
• Closing arguments soon,Bebo, 12:51 PM, 10-01-03
  • Juror in drunk tank,Loree, 02:58 PM, 10-01-03
    • RE: Juror in drunk tank,mistofleas, 04:07 PM, 10-01-03
    • RE: Juror in drunk tank,Bebo, 05:18 PM, 10-01-03
      • RE: Juror in drunk tank,Lisapooh, 05:30 PM, 10-01-03
• 3rd Juror Replaced,Loree, 01:38 PM, 10-06-03
  • RE: 3rd Juror Replaced,Lisapooh, 01:49 PM, 10-06-03
    • RE: 3rd Juror Replaced,Loree, 03:42 PM, 10-06-03
  • RE: 3rd Juror Replaced,Bebo, 02:13 PM, 10-06-03
• Alternate juror speaks,Bebo, 10:41 AM, 10-07-03
  • RE: Alternate juror speaks,jkokoj, 01:56 PM, 10-07-03
• And more weirdness and stupidity,Bebo, 11:49 AM, 10-09-03
• VERDICT ON ITS WAY,Bebo, 10:57 AM, 10-10-03
• GUILTY,Bebo, 11:02 AM, 10-10-03
  • RE: GUILTY,Loree, 06:33 PM, 10-11-03
    • RE: GUILTY,Bebo, 08:44 AM, 10-13-03

Could you provide a few details for those of us who have never heard of this person or this case?

He's a novelist (Vietnam combat books I believe).

Twenty years ago, a nieghbor and a close friend of his then wife, Elizabeth Ratliffe, fell down the stairs of her home in Germany (they were all stationed there at the time). The officials ruled her death accidental although there were several lacerations and defensive wounds on her body that were not indicative of a fall. There was a ton of blood at the scene of the crime as well which is unusual for a fall.

Petersen and his wife were given custody of the woman's two young daughters (both preschool age at the time) because their father had died on a covert CIA mission that is still classified. Michael Petersen was the last person known to be with her alive. He walked her home in the snow at night. She was found by her nanny the next morning still in her snow boots from the night before. A witness has testified to seeing him running from her house.

Fast forwad twenty years, Petersen is divorced and now remarried to Kathleen Atwater, an executive with Nortel. They live in a mansion in NC with his two biological sons, the two Ratliffe daughters and Atwater's daughter Caitlin.

December 2001 Peterson calls 9-1-1 saying his wife has fallen down the stairs and is still breathing but hurt. Police arrive, she's dead, there's blood everywhere, she has seven lacerations on her head and defensive wounds on her arms and hands. She appears to have been dead for at least 2 hours (blood has dried). When the paramedics arrive, Petersen runs over to his wife and hugs her covering himself in her blood.

He's arrested several days later and is currently on trial for her murder. It was also discovered that Petersen (who had not brought in any income in 2 years) was soliciting gay "escorts" over the internet (he says for research on a book). Kathleen's job at Nortel was in jeopardy due to cutbacks and her income was used to support all five kids. They had 150K in credit card debt and a money pit of a house.

They exhumed Ratliffs body which has no been determined to be a homicide. Evidence from Ratliff has been admitted into this trial. All of the children except Caitlin are supporting their dad.

And that - believe it or not is the short version. It gets way more convuluted than that. The prosecution rests today and the defense will start their case.

Ooooo, I wasn't aware of this case, but I find this stuff really interesting too, Pooh. I just can't believe that these people are so dumb to think that because they got away with it once, they can do the exact same thing again and not get caught.

From what you described, it reminded me of the case of the woman who shot 2 husbands in their sleep. I can't recall her name, but I read the book, and a movie was made about it as well. The second husbands name was Russ. She was pretending to be a writer, and she was heavily in debt too.

There is a case in the Atlanta area where a woman is being tried for the murder of one of two men. She had a husband and he died under circumstances that were ruled as "natural".

Then her live-in boyfriend died. Someone got a wind up, and an investigation found that he might have ingested antifreeze.

Last I heard, the prosecutors were trying to have the husband's body exhumed to test for antifreeze poisoning. Problem is that a conclusive detection of antifreeze poisoning is difficult, even in the second case described above.

I'm not sure what the result was, if any. But reading the case above reminded me of this.

Contradictions don't exist. If you are faced with a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

I like the woman who was discovered to be poisoning her fiancee with arsenic; he nearly died and the police began investigating her for attempted murder. They then exhumed her ex-boyfriend's body (he had left her his insurance, etc.). Arsenic. Then her dead husband. Arsenic. Then her dad. Arsenic.
I guess if you find a really efficient way to do something, you stick with it.

>

Well, you can't argue with results...

Can't get away from it, since it happened in Durham County (right next door). It's on digital cable every day, and there are regular updates in the newspaper and on the news.

Other interesting details about the trial:
- The motive is that he killed her for the insurance money, since there were layoffs going on at Nortel and they were deep in debt. There are unconfirmed rumors that her name was on a layoff list, but the question is how he would know about that.
- In addition to the admission of the Ratliff murder evidence, the other main thing that the prosecution fought to include were questions about his sexual orientation. Gay porn was on his computer, and a male escort testified about contact he had with Michael Peterson.

Today, the defense is cross-examining the state medical examiner, who believes Kathleen Peterson was beaten to death, probably with a fire poker. The defense hasn't been able to poke a lot of holes in her testimony, as they've been trying to prove that she was missing a lot of wounds that beating victims would typically have.

The state may rest today. After all, the trial's only lasted 9 weeks so far.

Life is a game where we make up the rules as we go along.

who believes Kathleen Peterson was beaten to death, probably with a fire poker. The defense hasn't been able to poke a lot of holes in her testimony

Are they using a fire poker, too? Cause that would probably be a bad thing for his case...

LAST EDITED ON 09-05-03 AT 02:42 PM (EST)

well, since the Petersens' blowpoke is missing (tht sounds so dirty btw), they can't use it.

Other weird stuff:

he's a former newspaper columnist and mayoral candidate. He was very critical of the police in his column, so of course
his defense attorney is saying the police are a) inept or b) corrupt or c) both.

during his mayoral campaign he lied about his war record and medals

all his kids are pieces of work IMO. The oldest son went to jail for planting a bomb at Duke University. Served 4 years. The other one said reallly negative things about Kathleen after her death and allegedly was deleting stuff off his dad's computer the night she died.

AND (this is so nuts) when Ratliffe died, she had a poster of a black cat near where she fell. Petersen took that poster (which is fine since it would rightlfully belong to the girls) and hung it in the staircase of his home in Charlotte. So he puts the property woman who died from a fall on a staircase on his own staircase - and it got covered in blood when Kathleen died too. Creepy creepy creepy.

Hey Bebo - what is the water cooler take on this in NC? Do people think he's guilty?

edited to delete all 900 sig pics. Sheesh!

his defense attorney is saying the police are a) inept or b) corrupt or c) both.

The main ineptitude was letting both Peterson and his son have access to the crime scene the night of the murder.

The other one said reallly negative things about Kathleen after her death and allegedly was deleting stuff off his dad's computer the night she died.

Yeah, he was hanging around where he didn't need to be that night. Then again, it just makes his dad look guiltier.

Hey Bebo - what is the water cooler take on this in NC? Do people think he's guilty?

I'll let Mr. Bebo, who hasn't been keeping up with trial as closely, field this question...

"Uh, YEAH."

And as someone who's kinda keeping up with it, my answer would have been more along the line of "Hell, yeah."

Life is a game where we make up the rules as we go along.

Very interesting. What are the Vegas odds that this guy walks?

A Kyngsladye Original

Tig_ger: The Holy Mother of Inclusion