When a woman mysteriously dies, investigator’s first suspect is almost always the husband or boyfriend as violence against women in relationships is sadly all too common.
After a North Carolina mother was found dead in her own home, the police immediately started building a case to prove that her husband was the culprit. However, in their haste to prove their own theory, the police may have overlooked another culprit who likely flew away from the scene of the crime…
The 911 Call
In the early morning of December 9, 2001, a man from Durham, North Carolina, called 911 claiming that he had just found his wife unconscious at the bottom of the home’s staircase. According to the caller, his wife appeared to have fallen down the steps.
A Tragic Discovery
According to the Durham-based father, he had been outside by the pool all night and had come in around 2:40 in the morning. When he went to walk up the stairs to go to bed, he discovered his wife’s body at the foot of the staircase in a pool of blood…
Too Late…
During the call, the husband told the 911 operator that his wife was unconscious but still breathing. However, by the time first responders arrived at the home, she had died from her injuries and her body was taken to be examined to check that her cause of death was an accident like her husband had claimed.
The Autopsy
During the autopsy, a toxicology report showed the 48-year-old mother had a blood alcohol content of .07 percent and valium was in her system at the time of her death. Those factors seemed to prove the husband’s claims, however, forensic experts noticed something that made police rethink those claims…
Red Flags
The autopsy report of 48-year-old Kathleen Atwater determined that she had suffered a variety of severe injuries including 7 lacerations to the top and back of her head, which were likely caused from blows from a blunt object, as well as a fracture of the thyroid neck cartilage.
The Cause Of Death
Ultimately, Kathleen died from blood loss as she was left lying at the foot of the staircase bleeding out for somewhere between 90 minutes to 2 hours before first responders arrived at the home. According to police, this was enough to believe Kathleen’s death was not an accident…
Not An Accident
Instead, investigators believed that Kathleen had actually been attacked and murdered. Since her husband, Michael, was the only other person home at the time of Kathleen’s attack, he became the police’s prime suspect.
The Prime Suspect
Police found that Michael Peterson, who was born to Australian immigrants near Nashville, Tennessee, had studied at Duke University and went on to study law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After that, he had a civilian job with the U.S. Department of Defense and moved to Germany after marrying his first wife, Patricia Sue, who was a teacher at an elementary school at an airbase in West Germany…
A Father And A Veteran
After that, police discovered Peterson enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served in Vietnam. After being honorably discharged after a car accident, he returned to Germany to live with his wife and their 2 sons. While in Germany, Peterson and his wife befriended another couple and ended up adopting their 2 daughters after the couple passed away.
A New Family
After Peterson and Patricia separated, Peterson moved back to North Carolina and became a novelist and columnist for a local newspaper. Shortly after, in 1989, Peterson met and fell in love with Kathleen Atwater. They ended up marrying in 1997 and lived together with Peterson’s sons, Clayton and Todd, his adopted daughters, Martha and Margaret, and Kathleen’s daughter, Caitlin…
The Charges
In the police’s eyes. Peterson was the murderer and they didn’t believe his wholesome family man persona. Shortly after, they charged Peterson with Kathleen’s murder and Peterson faced that charge in court in 2003, which ended up being the longest and most expensive trial in North Carolina’s history.
The Trial
Peterson pleaded not guilty, and during the trial, his defense had forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee testify that the blood-spatter evidence was consistent with an accidental fall. The prosecution, however, argued that Kathleen bled out from the lacerations on her scalp, not a fall, which they believed were the result of a homicidal assault and had Dr. Deborah Radisch, the medical examiner testify that Kathleen was beaten to death…
The Prosecution’s Argument
The prosecution also brought up scandalous details about Peterson’s personal life, like the fact that Peterson was bisexual and leading a secret ‘gay life’. They argued that when Kathleen found out, she demanded a divorce and Peterson snapped. “[Kathleen] would have been infuriated by learning that her husband, who she truly loved, was bi-sexual and having an extramarital relationship—not with another woman—but a man, which would have been humiliating and embarrassing to her. We believe that once she learned this information that an argument ensued and a homicide occurred,” Assistant District Attorney Freda Black said.
The Support Falters
The prosecution also argued that Peterson’s other motive was to collect Kathleen’s $1.5 million life insurance policy. After hearing the prosecution’s argument, Kathleen’s daughter, Caitlin, and her sister, Candace Zamperini, who both initially supported Peterson, were swayed to believe that he really did murder Kathleen…
The Sentence
The jury had also been convinced by the prosecution and charged Peterson with first-degree murder. After the 3-month trial concluded in 2003, Peterson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and was sent to the Nash Correctional Institution in Nashville, North Carolina to serve his sentence.
Clearing His Name
After all his attorney’s appeal attempts were denied, Peterson started to lose hope that he would ever get out of prison and clear his name. However, during that time Durham attorney T. Lawrence Pollard, a neighbor, started working a theory that he believed would clear Peterson’s name…
The Owl Thoery
According to Pollard, he believed Kathleen had really been attacked by an owl as owl attacks on people on common in the area and the SBI crime lab reported a feather in the evidence. They also found microscopic owl feathers and a wood sliver from a tree limb in a clump of Kathleen’s hair, which had been pulled out at the roots and was found held in Kathleen’s own hand.
An Unbelievable Explanation
Pollard argued that the scalp wounds were actually from an owl and the tri-lobed pattern was consistent with bird talons. “The multiple wounds present suggest to me that an owl and Ms. Peterson somehow became entangled. Perhaps the owl got tangled in her hair or perhaps she grabbed the owl’s foot,” Dr. Alan van Norman said in support of the theory. “The lacerations on Mrs. Peterson’s scalp look very much like those made by a raptor’s talons, especially if she had forcibly torn the bird from the back of her head. That would explain the feathers found in her hand and the many hairs pulled out by the root, broken or cut. The size and configuration of the lacerations could certainly indicate the feet of a Barred Owl,” said Kate P. Davis, director of Raptors of the Rockies, who also added that owls often kill species much larger than themselves and are known to attack people.
A Second Chance
On December 9, 2011, a judge granted Michael Peterson a new trial after it was discovered that Duane Deaver, a key witness for the prosecution, misrepresented important evidence. Even though Michael and his attorneys believed the owl theory, Michael was already 73 years old and didn’t want to risk a second trial.
A Free Man
Instead, Michael pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter under an Alford plea, which allowed him to maintain his innocence while also admitting that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict. “Accepting this Alford plea has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Michael said after submitting the plea on February 24, 2017. Michael was immediately released, and today, the 74-year-old lives in North Carolina. He spends his time working on another novel and reconnecting with his 2 sons and 2 adopted daughter.
Father Charged With Wife’s Brutal Murder Claims Real Killer Flew Away is an article from: LifeDaily