Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. He was sentenced to time already served and freed from prison. When watching The Staircase, it might be hard to keep track of the complicated Peterson family tree. Elizabeth Ratliff became good friends with Michael Peterson after meeting his first wife, Patty, when the women worked together at a school in Germany. Often, he'd help with the dishes or read to Ratliff's two young daughtersbefore returning home, according to the documentary series. Michael had two biological sons, Todd and Clayton, with his first wife, Patty. On November 25, 1985, Elizbeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase, in an eerily similar way to the way Michael Peterson's wife, Kathleen Peterson was found on December 1, 2001. Bush: Prosecutor taking up Schiavo inquiry. Its construction of the case emphasized prejudicial aspects, like the judge allowing evidence of Ratliff's death, which a state medical examiner also deemed a homicide, and the prosecution exposing Peterson's sex life so as to use jurors' potentially anti-gay attitudes against him. The critically acclaimed documentary of the same name came out in 2004 a few years after the trial and is now available to stream on Netflix, while this fictionalized version tells the tale of The Staircase through flashbacks to the Petersons' lives before the murder, the night of the murder, the times leading up to the trial, the trial, and beyond. The Staircase is the latest true-crime drama to land on HBO Max and viewers are still trying to process the jaw-dropping story of Michael Peterson who, in 2003, was found guilty of killing his wife Kathleen Peterson at their home on December 9, 2001. Michael and his ex-wife, Patty (Trini Alvarado), had become the legal guardians of Margaret and Martha after both of their parents died. RELATED: Colin Firth & Toni Collette on 'The Staircase' and What They Hope Audiences Take Away From It. Elizabeth Ratliff, 43, was a close Peterson family friend who died in Germany in 1985. The autopsy report found that Elizabeth Ratliff had died in 1985 from “blunt force trauma to the head” by a “homicidal attack,” rather than of a brain hemorrhage while . The details of Elizabeth Ratliff's second autopsy were submitted as prosecuting evidence in Michael Peterson's trial for the murder of his wife, Kathleen. document.write('Tuesday, August 19, 2003 Posted: 1440 GMT (10:40 PM HKT)
<\/span>'); I do feel that Michael was in a bit of shock as to what happened, it probably all happened very fast as it did back in 1985 with Liz. ", Speaking separately to Vanity Fair about the scenes in the fifth episode of HBO Max's The Staircase, Lestrade said: "We gave [Campos] all the access he wanted, and I really trusted the man. Her name was Elizabeth Ratliff (shown above in the blue shirt) and she died at the age of 43. When the Petersons resided in Germany, Elizabeth had worked in the same school as Michael's then wife Patty. The 43-year-old died in 1985 in Germany and was found at the bottom of her stairs by her children's nanny, Barbara Malagnino. Rudolf calls witnesses including the lead investigator from The Innocence Project and manages to convince the judge that Deaver lied about his qualifications on the stand. According to the second autopsy, seven deep lacerations on Elizabeth's head - just like those found on Kathleen's - were concluded to have been sustained as a result of blunt force trauma. Although Ratliff lost a lot of weight and mourned her husband's death deeply, Appel-Schumacher said Ratliff's mood lifted during 1985. Patty described what she saw when she entered the house. Please select the topics you're interested in: Would you like to turn on POPSUGAR desktop notifications to get breaking news ASAP? Elizabeth Ratliff and. Colin Firth as Michael Peterson in "The Staircase." Since her husband's death, Peterson would come over to visit her every evening after dinner, according to "The Staircase." "I don't know that you could possibly make a more serious and damaging claim against a documentarian than that, especially when it's completely and utterly false and demonstrably false. She was found by her children's nanny, Barbara Malagnino, who sought help from Patty shortly after making the grim discovery. Her life was thus incredibly different from her Rhode Island farm upbringing, especially as shed eventually found herself working at an elementary school at the Rhein-Main Air Force Base in West Germany. But . Peterson and friends maintained that their friendship was purely platonic. Lawyer David Rudolf (L) and Michael Peterson (R) address reporters after his court hearing in Durham, North Carolina, on February 24, 2017. It is only natural that a mother want custody of her children, but why not the girls as their mother was supposedly her best or very close friend?? (We'll get back to that.). The prosecution shockingly reveals to the jury that, at age 43, Ratliff turned up dead at the bottom of her stairs in 1985, some 16 years earlier. Above, the real David Rudolf (R) and Michael Peterson (L) appear in court. What we do know is that he was found guilty of the first degree murder of his wife, Kathleen. Michael had also been caught in a lie in the press when he claimed he won a Purple Heart in Vietnam when he had not. However, Rudolf did state he offered to come on board as a "technical consultant" for the series to consult on the courtroom and lawyer scenes but was not contacted by the team behind The Staircase. document.write('Tuesday, August 19, 2003 Posted: 1440 GMT
<\/span>'); Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. They believe their adopted father is innocent of killing both of their moms, according to the documentary. But if he lied about something that big what else did he lie about? Margaret and Martha would be raised by Michael and his second wife, Kathleen Atwater, whom he met in 1986. He continued: "In other words, by that point, Michael didn't have any assets and the court appointed us to represent him on appeal and paid U.S. court-appointed rates. She was the first woman in Michael Peterson's life found dead at the bottom of a staircase, and featured in the aptly titled Netflix series "The Staircase.". Noticing the uncanny similarities with Kathleen's case, prosecutors took a closer look at Elizabeth's death in 2003. Bill Peterson (Tim Guinee), Michaels brother, is his biggest ally and works with the lawyers and the family to try and keep everything in order while it feels like chaos. Elizabeth now feeling frustrated and not wanting to continue being alone with 2 small children told him she was going to go tell his wife that her daughter Margaret was Michael's daughter (as you can see the incredible similarities between she and Michael as well as his boys Todd & Clayton with Patty) https://flic.kr/p/JR7p1K }else { After knocking Kathleen out (with what exactly, there are so many possibilities-afterall if all your kids were no longer living at home, would they be able to identify what things were or werent missing?