Real crime plays an important role on television right now, and shows based on special events in real life are on stage. But somehow, the stairs look different, because the tragic death of Kathleen Peterson is still shrouded in mystery. But what happened the night he died?
With Colin Firth and Toni Collette as Michael and Kathleen Peterson, The Staircase explores the life of Michael Peterson, who is accused of killing his wife Kathleen in his spacious North Carolina home after his death in suspicious circumstances in December. 2001. Michael called 911 the night Kathleen fell down the stairs, but Michael soon became a suspect in her death. Kathleen’s injuries were found to involve more than 15 steps before she fell.
It’s not the first time Michael Peterson’s story has appeared on television. This current adaptation follows many shows about the death of Kathleen, the most famous documentary series of 2004 available on Netflix, The Staircase.
Is The Staircase based on an actual story?
Yes. In December 2001, writer Michael Peterson called 911 and reported that his wife had fallen down the stairs and that alcohol and barium were the cause. However, when the police arrive, bloodstains found on Kathleen’s body quickly raise suspicion. After an autopsy, it was discovered that Kathleen had been bludgeoned to death with a club, and since Michael was the only person in the house at the time, he soon became the prime suspect in the murder.
Who is The Staircase’s murderer?
It’s a million-dollar question. Peterson has so far maintained his innocence and maintained that his wife’s death was a tragic accident, but prosecutors told a very different story in the 2003 trial. Michael is believed to have killed Kathleen after discovering pictures of the naked man and letters to his male escorts on a computer.
He is accused of killing her by hitting her in the face with a metal pipe used to start a fire. To this day, Michael says he never talked about Kathleen’s sexuality the night she died. In an interview with the British series This Morning, Michael told hosts, Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, “No, we didn’t talk about it.” But did he know? I’m sure he would have said… Sometimes there are things in marriage that don’t need to be said. And this was one of them. “
What led to Kathleen Peterson’s demise?
The coroner found Kathleen had been slapped in the cheek with a blunt object and her head had been cut several times. The blood on her head was dry, meaning she had been in this situation for some time, contradicting Michael’s claim that she was found at the bottom of the stairs 30 minutes after the incident. In his speech this morning, Michael Kathleen shared his theory about what happened the night he died.
“The pathologists looked at all the evidence and said, ‘No, he’s not dead.’ And I never understood [what happened] … An idea came to me and I find it hard to believe. But more than 20 years have passed. But the theory is. He fell, but tried to get up and slipped in all the blood.“I do not know what happened to him or what happened to him. There are countless theories, but I think it has fallen. He had alcohol, valium, plexerol … I don’t know. I want to be honest with you.”
Is the film The Staircase a documentary?
While this HBO dramatic adaptation of the true story of Kathleen’s death is a drama, an original documentary about the tragedy was also made. In the second episode of “Stairs”, we find out that some documentaries are interested in the chronology of the Peterson incident. This was first revealed in 2004 in a documentary called The Staircase.
Production of real crime documentaries began in 2002 after Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Denis Poncet won the Oscar for Best Documentary for Sunday Morning Murder. The film follows the trial of a 15-year-old African-American boy. Here Jacksonville was wrongfully convicted. They soon became involved in Michael Peterson’s case and the rest is history.
