The Staircase ‘killer’ Michael Peterson speaks about wife’s death

Twenty-four years ago, the body of Kathleen Peterson was discovered in a pool of blood at the foot of a staircase inside her family home in Durham, North Carolina.

The grim discovery marked the beginning of one of the most polarizing cases in modern American criminal history.

What followed was a years-long legal saga that divided public opinion and placed Kathleen’s husband, Michael Peterson, under an unrelenting spotlight of suspicion.

He first stood trial for Kathleen’s murder in 2003 and was convicted, receiving a sentence of life in prison. He was released pending a new trial in 2011 after an appeals court found prosecutorial misconduct, and then, in 2017, he entered an Alford plea to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter.

The stranger-than-fiction case was first chronicled in the 13-part documentary The Staircase in 2004, which Netflix revisited in 2018. It was also dramatized in an HBO series of the same name in 2022.

Now 82, Michael Peterson sat down with the Daily Mail for an exclusive interview,  recounting his memories of the fateful night.

During the wide-ranging interview with Senior Reporter Luke Kenton, Peterson rejects claims that his marriage was in crisis, addresses the role his bisexuality played during his trial, and explains what he believes really happened to Kathleen and why. 

The story will be published first in The Crime Desk newsletter this Wednesday.

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