1 week ago, by Eden Arielle Gordon I talked to the witnesses, I got the German police report and the DA's file. Story goes there was a lot of blood at the scene of Liz's death, according to the three women who testified at the trial The 43-year-old died in 1985 in Germany, found at the bottom of her stairs by her children's nanny Barbara Malagnino. At their request, Ratliff's body was exhumed in Texas in April. He did meet with Michael Stuhlbarg who portrayed him in the series and even lent him his real glasses to wear during the film. With two young children (Martha, the youngest, was just months old when her father passed away), Elizabeth relied on Michael and Patty's support more than ever. They were 2 and 1 years old when Ratliff died. The defence countered these claims, arguing that half of Elizabeth's brain was missing during the new autopsy and pushing against the idea that Michael was the last person to see her alive. Elizabeth Ratliff's Time of Death According to David Rudolf, the biggest flaw in the prosecution's theory regarding ER's death is the timeline and moreover that no one observed rigor mortis when they arrived on the scene. Elizabeth Ratliff's children Margaret (Ratliff) Blakemore and Martha Ratliff. Elizabeth Ratliff Wasn't Murdered It's been incredibly infuriating that people keep insisting that Michael Peterson killed Elizabeth. It was a unanimous decision by all 12 jury members. His appeal is rejected, but the documentary is a huge hit and renews interest in his case. However, things changed once her embalmed body was exhumed nearly two decades later, in April 2003. When producer Denis Poncet (Frank Feys) and director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Vincent Vermignon) come across the Peterson story, they wonder if there is a story there. I do however wished that Michaels lawyer wouldve let him testify because the jurors would've seen his true colors, but as seen in The Staircase on Netflix, even his lawyers knew his personality as they stated it would not be in his best interest to take the stand because his personality would be off-putting to the jury (Im not quoting, but basically they knew the jury would hate him). The two were buried side by side after Ratlitt died. Margaret and Martha would be raised by Michael and his second wife, Kathleen Atwater, whom he met in 1986. Elizabeth's death is a tragedy, but whether it was brought upon by an ill-fated accident or contemptuous murder, we'll never know. believed to have been the last person to see her alive, carried out a second autopsy on Elizabeth Ratliff's body. Elizabeth's updated autopsy report indicated that she died from homicidal assault. Newsweek has everything you need to know. Together, they go to the Durham Herald Christmas Ball. 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. In April 2003, a second autopsy was carried out by a Durham medical examiner, who concluded Ratliff's cause of death was "homicide". 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. Michael Peterson and his wife Kathleen were first married in 1997. One year on, how to donate to help Ukraine. Amongst them is the 1985 death of Elizabeth Ratliff, primarily because of the way she was found and how her two orphaned daughters soon ended up being adopted by the Petersons. David Rudolf represented Michael Peterson in the real-life murder trial depicted in the HBO Max series "The Staircase." Do any of us? To quote, 'help him' on his appeal. The nanny who found Elizabeth Ratliff's body in 1985 also took to the stand at Michael Peterson's murder trial and testified to witnesses about a large amount of blood at the scene. Appel-Schumacher will return to the stand for more questions from the defense when the hearing continues Wednesday at 3 p.m. ", 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". Elizabeth Ratliff and her husband, George Ratliff, were close friends of Peterson and his first wife, Patricia Peterson, when they lived in Germany in the 1980s. 10 votes, 25 comments. 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. She also remembered the copious amounts of blood near the staircase at the scene of Elizabeth's death. Whether the evidence about Elizabeth Ratliff's death had a particularly swaying influence on the jury or not is impossible to know - but Michael Peterson was convicted of murdering Kathleen Peterson in October 2003. Who was Elizabeth Ratliff, and how did her 1985 death become part of Michael Peterson's trial? Furious she confronts Michael with her findings. 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? I spoke with a German investigator. Why? The Staircase airs Thursdays on HBO Max and Sky Atlantic. Despite Michael Peterson's lawyer, David Rudolf, requesting that a "neutral" pathologist from Texas carried out the autopsy, the District Attorney had Dr. Deborah L. Radisch, the state pathologist, do it instead. German investigators ruled Ratliff had died due to a cerebral hemorrhage. To begin with, he said that the scene where he was introduced to Michael Peterson (played by Colin Firth) in a diner while eating pastrami did not happen in real life. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in October 2003. "Rather, they are indicative of multiple blunt force impacts, either from blows to the head caused by a blunt object or by the head being forcibly struck against a hard surface," Radisch concluded. Additionally, he was unimpressed with some of the early court scenes. So you know, the bottom line of all of that, is it creates this impression that this Academy Award-winning director, a documentarian was twisting his film for a completely unethical purpose to help the subject. Her husband, George Ratliff, died shortly before her in a secret military operation overseas in 1983, according to CourtTV. RELATED: Colin Firth & Toni Collette on 'The Staircase' and What They Hope Audiences Take Away From It. And no questions were raised when her close friend Michael Peterson adopted her daughters, Margaret and Martha. A second autopsy, conducted by Durham, North Carolina officials this time, revealed sufficient evidence to suspect the manner of death being clear homicide. With that said, no charges against Michael have ever been brought in connection to this matter, and he maintains his innocence. , Let's Break Down The Staircase's Deeply Frustrating 13 Episodes, The "Bel-Air" Cast Weren't Surprised by the Show's Success: "A Huge 'I Told You So' Moment", "Outer Banks" Had No Business Making Rafe Look This Fine With a Buzz Cut, Jazz Catches Hilary in a Lie in This Exclusive "Bel-Air" Season 2 Sneak Peek, Selena Gomez Says She Avoided Her "Wizards of Waverly Place" Costars After Series Due to Shame, "The Last of Us" Stars Storm Reid and Bella Ramsey Hit Back at Homophobes: "Don't Like It, Don't Watch", Jessica Chastain Tripped Over Her Dress at the SAG Awards, but It Didn't Take Away From Her Big Win, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. German police arrived at the scene and quickly deemed Elizabeth's fall an accident. != -1 ) { Death: July 29, 2018, Durham, North Carolina, USA (end-stage liver disease from alcoholism) Bio: Assistant District Attorney / Prosecutor Cullen Moss Born: July 8, 1975 Birthplace: Buffalo, New York, USA Jim Hardin Born: February 1957 Birthplace: Durham, North Carolina, USA Bio: District Attorney / Lead Prosecutor Rosemarie DeWitt In The Staircase, Patty recalls how they would all eat together and how Michael would regularly stay behind to help Elizabeth clean up and put her daughters to bed. We didn't get paid anything for the appeal. The author's ex-wife, Patty, maintains that their relationship was platonic and that her ex-husband is innocent. Prosecutors say the similarities are too many to be coincidental. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. Tragedy struck, however, in 1983, when Elizabeth's husband George was killed in a secret military operation overseas. But . The prosecution also discovers that back when Michael and Patty lived in Germany, Michael found ANOTHER woman at the bottom of a staircase Elizabeth Ratliff, the biological mother of Margaret and Martha. 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 Michaels daughter (as you can see the incredible similarities between she and Michael as well as his boys Todd & Clayton with Patty). } 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. "For another year, she was gone. Some speculate that Michael shared an illicit affair with Elizabeth. How much, I can't say," Appel-Schumacher testified outside the jury's presence. The pair "had a loving, almost familial relationship," Patty described. Together, Elizabeth and George Ratliff had two daughters, Margaret and Martha Ratliff, who Michael Peterson would adopt following their deaths. Elizabeth's updated autopsy report indicated that she died from homicidal assault. On April 16, 2003, the state medical examiner's office carried out a second autopsy on Elizabeth Ratliff's body. The widow grew even closer with the Peterson family. 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. Get the daily inside scoop right in your inbox. he spits. Rudolf pointed out how in one scene, Peterson's brother is seen selling the Peterson family belongings in order to pay for his appeal, an "offensive" detail Rudolph wants to correct. Elizabeth was just 43 years old when she died on November 27, 1985. Sophie remained the editor for several months on the out-of-court stuff. 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. I couldn't afford to live in Paris and my children, and grandchildren were in America," he said. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. The deceased's injuries were "inconsistent with a fall down a set of stairs", state pathologist wrote in her report. "It was a great blow to both of us, for which I feel not guilt, but sorrow," he continued. //-->. In 1985, a few years after George Ratliff's death, Elizabeth was found at the bottom of the stairs by the nanny, Barbara Malagnino. He was granted a new trial in 2011, which was scheduled to begin in May 2017. Just four days before her death, she was complaining of severe headaches. The coroner determined that she fell down the stairs after the brain bleed caused her immediate demise. With The Staircase retelling the tale of Michael Peterson and his alleged hand in wife Kathleen Petersons bizarre December 2001 demise, several related matters are coming back into the spotlight. Although Ratliff lost a lot of weight and mourned her husband's death deeply, Appel-Schumacher said Ratliff's mood lifted during 1985. Patricia has always vehemently backed him up. The couples lived close; just down the road from each other in the town of Graefenhausen. Just like with Petersons wife Kathleen, she suffered lacerations to the head which were attributed to her fall. On November 25, 1985, Elizbeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase in an eerily similar way to the way Kathleen Peterson was found on December 9, 2001. That is f***ing defamation because Sophie was off the project," Rudolf said. We charge Michael a fee for the trial. But, in February, just months before the scheduled retrial, Peterson submitted an Alford plea to the reduced charge of manslaughter. After Vietnam, retired Marine Captain Michael joined Patty in Germany and the couple quickly became good friends with Elizabeth Ratliff and her husband George, also a Captain in the military. "There was no pool of blood.". Thats where she first came across Captain George Ratliff, a navigator, only to tie the knot with him in 1981 before welcoming two adorable daughters into their lives Margaret and Martha Ratliff. Meanwhile, in France, two filmmakers are searching for their next project. "First of all, Sophie didn't edit any of the courtroom scenes. Michael Peterson is believed to have been the last person to see her alive. But I didn't say to her, 'You know, yeah, that works fine for me.'". At the time, the German police ruled her death an accident and an autopsy concluded that she died of a brain hemorrhage. Since her husband's death, Peterson would come over to visit her every evening after dinner, according to "The Staircase." 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