"The Staircase" revolves around the death of Peterson's wife Kathleen Peterson, who was found dead at the bottom of a . However, he was given credit for time already served, which amounted to more than the sentence (98.5 months), so he was freed. Caitlin is portrayed by Olivia DeJonge in The Staircase HBO Max miniseries. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. She's still breathing. Anyone have any theories as to whether or not she's actually a Peterson/potential motivation for the death (murder?) Michael drove Liz to the hospital when she was in labor with Margaret. The Owl Theory was never heard in court and no motion for a new trial was filed because of it. Peterson entered an Alford plea in February 2017 while awaiting a new trial, allowing him to plead guilty to manslaughter while maintaining his innocence. And first, Caitlin also believed in Michaels innocence. But where are Martha and Margaret Ratliff today? DeWitt also starred in the 2015 Poltergeist remake. She filed a wrongful death claim against Michael Peterson in October 2002. Sophie Turner made her acting debut in 2011 playing Sansa Stark inGame of Thrones. He continues to do so . Todd Peterson, Martha Ratliff, Margaret Ratliff, Clayton Peterson, and his wife and son. From what we can tell, Caitlin has done her best to move on from the past, but of course, she hasn't let go of her mother, her memories, or her legacy. Aside from the obvious, striking, physical resemblance of Margaret to MP, Todd, and Clayton, here are five points that suggest that Margaret is MP's biological daughter. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Caitlin would go on to file a wrongful death claim against Michael Peterson, and she was awarded $25 million in 2008. Both Margaret and her husband. Soon after that, Michael and Patricia split up. Published on May 12, 2022 In the HBO Max series The Staircase, Sophie Turner plays Margaret Ratliff, one of Michael Peterson's adopted daughters. Bringing out her birthday cake was tone deaf & weird AF, yes? Jump To Who Is Margaret Ratliff? Hewas by his father's side from the very beginning of the case, helping him navigate both the immediate aftermath of Kathleen's death and the trial process. However, underneath, that wasn't the case. Margaret and Martha Ratliff have since tried their best to move on with their lives while also maintaining strong relationships with their father as well as their siblings (except Caitlin Atwater). I'm about 95% sure Michael is her real father. Why wouldnt they leave their kids to family? Defense attorney Mary Jude Darrow said that while it does appear that Kathleen Peterson's injuries could have been made by an owl's talons, "I would hate to risk my client's life or future on that argument." Strangely, Elizabeth's body had also been found at the bottom of the stairs. He served an honorable military career and became a published author, newspaper columnist, and mayoral candidate. Click to reveal Michael Peterson stayed behind afterward to help her clean up and put her girls, Margaret and Martha, to bed (NBC). Michael Peterson was the guardian of Margaret and her sister Martha, played by The Stands Odessa Young . This was the main motive that the prosecution argued. On December 9, 2001, according to Peterson, he was having a glass of wine with his wife by the pool of his home in Durham, North Carolina after watching a Blockbuster rental, "America's. Would Margaret not concede or cooperate?..and that's why they did it that way? The Petersons, by every account, were lively and loving: Michael, Kathleen, and her daughter by a previous marriage, Caitlin, Michael's two sons, Todd and Clayton, and their adopted daughters . Like her sister and adoptive brothers, Margaret is convinced that her father is innocent. The News & Observer reported that Martha had settled down in Colorado and Margaret moved to California, which meant both of them had decided to leave their home in Durham, North Carolina after their dad was convicted and sent to prison. Michael and Patty, along with their young boys, reportedly resided in Germany for quite a while around the 1980s, where they befriended their . Because, call me a conspiracy nut but Clayton looks a LOT like Martha. It was reportedly covered in cobwebs and dust and had been unmoved for too long to have been the murder weapon. Therefore, the plea to the reduced charge is the better option. His sons, Clayton and Todd, also appear in the show. Here is a cast and character guide. Todd says that his father is not only responsible for Kathleen Peterson and Elizabeth Ratliff's deaths, he is also responsible for the death of Patricia Peterson, Todd's mother and his father's first wife who passed away in July 2021 after suffering a massive heart attack. Olivia DeJonge began a career in the world of film and television starting withher 2014 feature film debut,The Sisterhood of Night. (2013-2017) WRAL Murder Trials Self - Audience Member / Self. Todd said that while his father did have good news about a possible movie, the chance it was actually going to happen was very slim. ", It remains unclear whether the BlockBuster bill was ever paid, who paid it or exactly how large the bill was. Growing up, Caitlin was close with Martha and Margaret. According to public record, Michael and Kathleen purchased their mansion in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Durham for $600,000 in 1992. The Staircase Netflix Documentary and HBO Max series about the death of Kathleen Peterson and which follows the trial of Michael Peterson. "I'm trying to [pass on the way I grew up] to my kids. Or a more sincere joke? She fell down the stairs." The Bizarre True Story Behind 'The Staircase', Caitlin's lawyer filed another complaint against him, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. The real Todd Peterson, Martha Ratliff, Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore, Clayton Peterson. Today, Margaret lives in California, and Martha lives in Colorado. Performance & security by Cloudflare. -Esquire. Todd, Clayton, Martha, and Margaret have stood by Michael and believe that Kathleens death was an accident. Martha and Margaret Ratliff, left, in an undated photo; Odessa Young and Sophie . According to News & Observer, he has come to terms with his fathers multiple hearings over the past few years. She is an actress and assistant director, known for Subject (2022), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). Patricia was known for being supportive of Michael and believing he was innocent.Todd says that his father saw that Patricia was having a heart attack and waited three hours without calling for an ambulance. Minutes later, he called 911 a second time and stated that his wife was dead. It is perhaps these puzzling details that could've potentially led Caitlin and Candace to remain convinced of Michael Peterson's guilt despite the eventual judgment. Both Margaret and Martha appeared frequently in interviews and documentaries in support of their father. Like Kathleen, Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of a staircase. He is at the pool, it's late evening. A secondary motive argued by the prosecution was Kathleen's $1.4 million life insurance policy. Michael and Kathleen Peterson seemed to live a normal life in Durham, North Carolina, but when she wasfound dead at the bottom of their staircase on the evening of December 9, 2001, the tragedy turned their family upside down. While Caitlin first supported her stepfather in the immediate days after her mothers death, she later turned suspicious of Peterson, and ended up becoming a key witness in the prosecution against him. The eldest of Michael and Kathleen Peterson's two adopted daughters, Margaret, now 36, got married in her late twenties and is now known as Margaret Blakemore. So much so that several times watching this I forgot that she wasn't. He supports his father in the . Liz names Michael and Patty in her will as the custodians of her daughters despite having two living sisters. This response confuses me because Michaels first wife isnt blood related to himso how would that affect Margarets features being almost identical to Michael. Here's what gets me: the fountain in the pool is left on although it's a late evening. The TV drama miniseries focuses on the real-life 2003 murder trial that saw Michael accused of . Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. The next morning, the girls' nanny found Elizabeth's body at the bottom of the stairs. Peterson adopted Margaret and Martha Ratliff after their mother Elizabeth "Liz" Ratliff died in 1985 in Germany at the age of 43. The deaths of Elizabeth Ratliff and Kathleen Peterson were so similar that that prosecution had Ratliffs body exhumed during Michael Petersons trial in the death of Kathleen, and the nanny who discovered Ratliffs body testified against Peterson. Rudolf firmly believed in Michael's innocence, continuing to represent him long after his client could afford his services. A combination of biology and psychology. Im at a talk by David Rudolph and he states that they had them DNA tested and he is NOT her father!!! Black passed away in 2018 as a result of end-stage liver cancer caused by chronic alcoholism. Pollard had not previously been involved in the case. And why he originally only wanted to take Margaret in.. Kathleen's sister, Candace Zamperini, changed her mind about his innocence after learning of his bisexuality.More recently, Michael Peterson's son, Todd Peterson, released a video in December 2021 in which he states that he changed his mind about his father's innocence. The couple also were legal guardians to Margaret and Martha, who lost their . 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Dropped Its First Trailer, 'Outer Banks' Season 4 Is Already In the Works, 'The Last of Us' Ep. Theincident and its subsequent murder trialdrew media attention as Michael was eventually convicted ofkilling his wife. Read on to learn more about Michael Petersons children. Michael apparently is attracted to people who resemble himself. I'm not sure if I heard any of this correctly so would love someone else's take on this. are you kidding? "She took care of us," Martha says. They claimed that Michael's son, Clayton Peterson, found it in the garage and that the police had overlooked it. Seems like something to be explored. Michael then married Kathleen. and Mr Pollard said the wounds on her head look like they . The series follows the trial of Michael Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson, in 2003. Both Margaret and Martha Ratliff seem to have moved on with their lives as much as they were able to after what happened. Yes. After all, just like The Staircase illustrates, while her husband Michael Peterson alleged her passing was the direct result of an accidental fall, the officials soon accused him of definite murder. - July 2016) (divorced) Trivia (4) Elder sister of Martha Ratliff. Born two years apart to Air Force Captain George Ratliff and military teacher Elizabeth Ratliff in Germany in the early 1980s, Margaret and Martha lost both their biological parents as toddlers. The biological parents of Margaret and her sister, Martha,died when the girls were young, and they were taken in by Michael and his then-wife, Patricia Peterson, while the couple was living in Germany. Althoughshe supported him in the beginning, autopsy photos of her mother's body turned her into a key witness for the prosecution. Yes, The Staircase on HBO Max is based on a true story. Today, Atwater is married with two children. In researching The Staircase fact vs. fiction, we confirmed that on the night of December 9, 2001, Michael claimed that his wife, Kathleen Peterson, fell down the service stairs of their North Carolina mansion. So. She can be found on Twitter @ejclute. Michael Peterson Is Writing. Todd and Clayton are Michael Peterson's sons from his first marriage to. Michael and his first wife Patricia had been good friends with George and Elizabeth Ratliff throughout the 1980s, and George Ratliff died in a military operation in 1983. Margaret Ratliff A friend pointed it out as I started watching The Staircase that Margaret Ratliff looks suspiciously like MP, Todd and Clayton. The National Audubon Society explained that according to the theory, a Barred Owl, which is common in the area, became entangled in Kathleen's hair and its talons are what caused the lacerations to Kathleen's scalp. Lestrade said that HBO's The Staircase falsely depicts him and editor Sophie Burnet (portrayed by Juliette Binoche) as being opposed to including in the documentary courtroom footage discussing possible strangulation attempts, despite their producer pushing for the footage to be included. Sophie Turner wears a cute daisy crocheted bucket hat while out to lunch at Wally's with husband Joe Jonas on Tuesday afternoon (May 17) in Beverly Hills, Calif.. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Powered by. As is portrayed in the HBO Max miniseries, the story was firstchronicled in a French documentary,also called The Staircase,whichwas later followed up whentwo new episodes were added to the original eight in 2013. Yes. Ultimately, he was not charged with the death of Elizabeth Ratliff, and her daughtersPetersons adopted daughtersstood by him through his trial. Defendant Michael Peterson uses a magnifying glass to look at an evidence photo Monday, Aug. 18, 2003, during his murder trial in Durham, N.C. Peterson is accused in the . Though neither young woman testified during the trial, they were both integral to the case, because the circumstances of their adoption were brought up by the prosecution to point towards Michael's possible guilt. Given the evidence, it seems plausible that Michael Peterson murdered his wife Kathleen with his bare hands. Kathleen had a $1.4 million life insurance policy that Michael stood to benefit from. In 2007, according to the AP, Atwater reached a $25 million wrongful death settlement, though he did not acknowledge any guilt in the case. She is also a cosplayer who has attended conventions of all kinds for almost ten years. Soon after that, Michael and Patricia split up. Michael Peterson was connected to the 1985 death of Elizabeth Ratliff, an elementary school teacher who taught military children on Rhein-Main Air Force base in West Germany. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. It's unclear whether this is still something she's pursuing. Margaret Ratliff was born on December 10, 1981 in Germany. He tried to stress that he was never engaged in extramarital relationships, only sex. He is probably the strongest person that Ive ever met.. Michael Peterson has spent the last 20 years explaining the death of his wife Kathleen. Disturbing. He claims that his father killed his mother for financial reasons, as he had done with Kathleen. With that said, both Margaret and Martha, who grew up under Michaels care following his divorce from Patty, have always believed in his innocence, whether it be in their mothers case or their stepmother Kathleens. At one point in Netflixs documentary, Martha says of her father, Sometimes it gets to us all, and thats when everybody starts worrying about everyone else. In 2017, he was granted a new trial, and just last year, Peterson took an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. The series follows the trial of Michael Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his wife, Kathleen Peterson, in 2003. Candace has remained outspoken about her beliefs, appearing in frequent interviews and documentaries to tell her side of the story. There are so many oddities- why were Michael and Liz shopping together for wine glasses (he told Margaret this in one of the episodes when he said your birth mother and I were shopping for these) why was he there at her birth as he stated in the documentary? She'd join them for dinner and Michael would help her with various chores.In researching The Staircase true story, we learned that in late November 1985, Elizabeth and the Petersons had dinner at Elizabeth's home. Like his older brother, Todd Peterson supported his father throughout the documentary series. The prosecutor suggested that Kathleen had found the photos and emails accidentally (NBC). Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. No one else I've talked to agrees with me. What if Michael and the girls father were homosexual lovers? Clayton is one of Peterson's two sons from Peterson's first marriage to Patricia Sue Peterson. -Inside the Staircase. It's fucking so god damn obvious. At the time of the incident, Toddran a websitecalled Futazi, which provided advice on various topics to teenagers. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. At some point, the sons stop living with Patty. Lips. So why does she look like him? ", Since his release from prison in 2017, he has written two independently published books about his case, Behind the Staircase (2019) and Beyond the Staircase (2020), donating all of the profits to charity. Jean-Xavier de . I suspect (without a shred of evidence) that there was a lot of free lovin' going on overseas and in the military and I wouldn't be surprised if George Ratliff (Liz's husband) was involved with BOTH MP and Patty. They had befriended Elizabeth and her husband, Captain George Ratliff, before he lost his life in a covert overseas military operation in 1983. What do you think? Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. At the time, it was determined that a cerebral hemorrhage caused her fall, but during Michael's trial her body was exhumed and autopsied again. The Staircase Netflix Documentary and HBO Max series about the death of Kathleen Peterson and which follows the trial of Michael Peterson. Or was he her brother in law? Martha tells her it was a brain aneurysm, and that Patricia Peterson had been a mother to her, but mostly it was Kathleen. A joke on the fact that she is not really his biological daughter? Margaret and Martha Ratliff are the adopted daughters of Michael and Patricia Peterson. Rudolf specializes in covering high-profile cases. Although they did not share any biological children, their children from previous marriages and even a completely separate marriage allowed them to come together to form a family. By that time in the mid-1980s, Michael's marriage to his first wife, Patricia Peterson, was in shambles. They commented in a episode how similar Elizabeth and Patty looked around the time of her death. The Staircase: A Complete Breakdown of the Peterson Family. I only came upon the site last night, so I cant vouch for its credibility. Yes. (Source: www.esquire.com) Kathleen's Death: On the night of Kathleen's death, according to Peterson, the two had eaten dinner, watched a movie and then sat by the pool. Martha's going home to Durham for. As for Martha, it is believed that she has taken inspiration from her own experiences and is thus focusing on helping others by serving as a mental health counselor/psychotherapist in Colorado these days. Holland's written notes reveal: "Michael Peterson was excluded as being the biological father of Margaret Ratliff. I truly think the Germany link is KEY to this- I truly believe hes guilty. 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