The Mysterious Death of Kathleen Peterson (Part 2)

Alaina Urquhart (0:00)

Hey, Weirdos, I'm Alina.

Ash Kelley (0:02)

I'm Ash.

Alaina Urquhart (0:03)

And this is Morbid.

Ash Kelley (0:20)

Let's do this. We're in part two, so I feel like we should just get right into it. Like I said, part two is going to be a little bit shorter, but there was a lot of pre-story to go through in part one.

But we're going to get into some more shocking, or not even more shocking details, but talk about those a little more in depth, and then obviously the trial.

Alaina Urquhart (0:40)

Yeah, get into what the hell happened here.

Ash Kelley (0:42)

Yeah, which I don't even really know.

Alaina Urquhart (0:45)

So nobody knows.

Ash Kelley (0:47)

No, truly the law does, but Alfred Plays are so confusing to me because the law knows, but they don't know kind of.

Alaina Urquhart (0:56)

I think the most, the infamous one is the West Memphis Three.

Ash Kelley (0:59)

Yeah, I actually, I put a little note at the bottom in case anybody's like confused, so that we can talk about it a little bit.

Alaina Urquhart (1:05)

Because that's one that I fully believe is they're innocent.

Ash Kelley (1:08)

Yeah, that's just 100 percent.

Alaina Urquhart (1:10)

We've gone over that. We, you know, if you know, you know our stance.

Ash Kelley (1:14)

But with this one, I don't know. Yeah, I could go either way on this one.

So here's the thing, when we last left off, there were, like I said, shocking details emerging in the case, one of which was hard to swallow for those who even previously had every confidence in Michael's innocence. Over a decade earlier, while living in Germany, Michael's friend Elizabeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home. Yeah. And Michael was the last person to see her alive.

Alaina Urquhart (1:39)

Unfortunate.

Ash Kelley (1:40)

And also now was the guardian of her two children.

Alaina Urquhart (1:44)

Yes.

Ash Kelley (1:44)

So once this came to light and came more out in the public, not only were friends and family members who didn't know that fact shaken up, but the district attorney's office also thought it was pretty suspicious that two women had died under very similar circumstances while in the presence of Michael Peterson.

Alaina Urquhart (2:02)

Yeah, it is strange.

Ash Kelley (2:03)

Around the time they were in the presence of him. So that October, Durham District Attorney Jim Harden petitioned a judge in Texas for an order to exhum Elizabeth Ratliff's body.

Alaina Urquhart (2:13)

Damn.

Ash Kelley (2:14)

He said it was in an effort to find out whether there are other similarities in the deaths.

Now, it wasn't just the court of law and the court of public opinion that were influenced by these new details about Michael Peterson's life. After so many shocking revelations about this man that they thought they all knew very well, unfortunately, the cracks in the Peterson's family bond were also beginning to show and form. After standing by her stepfather for nearly a year, the lingering questions about extramarital affairs, autopsy reports, and now another woman's death became too much for Caitlin Atwater to ignore. In late October, Caitlin filed actually a wrongful death lawsuit against Michael in civil court, alleging that he did intentionally, maliciously, willfully, and wantonly assault Kathleen Peterson, thereby causing her death.

Alaina Urquhart (3:02)

Damn.

Ash Kelley (3:03)

Yeah, she declined to speak to the press about the case at the time, but Michael didn't hesitate to provide a response. He said, I'm really, really saddened that the loving family that Kathleen worked so hard on for 13 years has been ripped apart.

The police have gotten to Caitlin and gave her their side. I'm sorry for Margaret, Martha, Clayton, and Todd, because not only have they lost a mother, now they've lost their sister as well. It is a family disaster.

Alaina Urquhart (3:27)

Oh damn.

Ash Kelley (3:27)

Which is really fucking sad.

Alaina Urquhart (3:29)

Yeah, and it's like, you can't blame anybody for looking at the pieces of the puzzle and coming to a conclusion. No, that's what you do. You know what I mean? Like, it's like, I can't, I can understand all the sides of this. Like, I can understand the people that are still standing by him, and I can understand how she would decide she wasn't going to anymore.

Ash Kelley (3:53)

Yeah, I can understand all of that.

And you also have to understand that, like, you know, Kathleen may have played a stepmother role in Clayton and Todd and Margaret and Martha's lives, but she was Caitlin's mother. She is Caitlin's mother.