Although Ratliff lost a lot of weight and mourned her husband's death deeply, Appel-Schumacher said Ratliff's mood lifted during 1985. "Prosecutors spent thousands of dollars transporting her boy 12,000 miles from Bay City, Texas to Chapel Hill," Defense AttorneyDavid Rudolf said on "The Staircase." Elizabeth Ratliff, a 43-year-old widow who taught second grade at a U.S. Department of Defense School, was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs on November 25, 1985. Rudolf is highly skeptical of the documentary crew following their every move but eventually has to relent. Todd, who has always been the responsible one, starts to unravel under the pressure of the trial. "I could not give her what she really needed and deserved, and that would be a full-time partner living with her in Paris. The two families were close friends while living in Germany, and Michael was the last person who'd seen Elizabeth alive following dinner at the Ratliff home one night, Michael offered to stay behind and help Elizabeth put her girls to bed. Just four days before her death, she was complaining of severe headaches. At the time, the German police ruled her death an accident, and an autopsy concluded that she died of a brain hemorrhage. An autopsy concluded Elizabeth died from a. Peterson has to hire a high-powered defense team for his trial. The defense maintains that the deaths are only similar on the surface, and Peterson plans to prove that to the judge--and the jury, if he rules against them--if necessary. He explained that he first met Peterson at this house in Durham, North Carolina, and holding a meeting in a diner with a client would just never happen. Shortly before Elizabeth passed away, George died of a heart attack during the US invasion of Grenada. Appel-Schumacher recalled that Ratliff had a severe headache four days before she died, severe enough that she made an appointment to see a doctor the following week. As Todd tries to explain social media followers to Clay and Martha finally comes out to Margaret, the family tries desperately to maintain a sense of normalcy. If you've reached episode three of Netflix's latest true crime addition, The Staircase, you'll have discovered one of many plot twists in the documentary series. Occasionally wiping tears from her eyes, Appel-Schumacher testified about the large amount of blood she and her husband cleaned up after Ratliff's body was moved. George and Elizabeth's daughters, Margaret and Martha - now orphaned - were taken in by Michael and Patty, and the expanded family continued as normal until the parents split the following year. Right about the time the trial ended, they didn't start putting the cuts together," Rudolph explained. Warning: This article contains spoilers about The Staircase on HBO Max. Elizabeth Ratliff Wasn't Murdered It's been incredibly infuriating that people keep insisting that Michael Peterson killed Elizabeth. ", However, for Michael Peterson's lawyer, David Rudolf, HBO Max's The Staircase fell short at moments surrounding its accuracy, describing moments as "inaccurate," "misleading" and "outright false". Aside, from being untrue, it's completely offensive.". } else if ( host.indexOf("edition.") His analysis of the crime scene suggested that most of the blood splatter on the . "Her injuries are indicative of multiple blunt force impacts". 17 hours ago, by Monica Sisavat However, things changed once her embalmed body was exhumed nearly two decades later, in April 2003. Around that same time, Elizabeth and George grew close to the Petersons, their neighbors, bonding over Michael being a Vietnam War veteran and his then-wife Patricia being her coworker. Stuhlbarg is seen above with Tim Guinee and Colin Firth in a scene from "The Staircase" in which the men prepare for Peterson's trial. But as Michael, again could not have this harmful information that could ruin his reputation get out, he flew into a rage again striking Kathleen as she was headed out the door, thus leaving the drops of blood on the porch which was what initially led to the owl theory (an owl latched onto Kathleens head with its sharp talons-crazy I know). While looking for something in the study or den, Kathleen either stumbled upon the emails exposing Michaels bisexual desires either on the computer or possibly a hard copy of something. Additionally, he was unimpressed with some of the early court scenes. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. he continued. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! From Rudolf's perspective, in HBO Max's The Staircase, it is implied Rudolf found out about Ratliff only a few weeks before the trial. Scott Stevenson was the editor on the in-court stuff, she had nothing to do with it. (We dont know if this is factual or just a dramatized coincidence.) Peterson and friends maintained that their friendship was purely platonic. ", Her death was eventually ruled a homicide. The defense will cross-examine Deaver Tuesday. German officials declared that she died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the scene of her death.
