Written in Blood (18 page)

Read Written in Blood Online

Authors: Diane Fanning

BOOK: Written in Blood
10.44Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
On December 31, the defense submitted a request to move up the bail hearing date. The district attorney agreed a week later. A new date was set for January 14. Three days before the hearing, Durham Superior Court Judge Ronald L. Stephens recused himself from the case on the grounds of conflict of interest. His youngest daughter, now a freshman in college, was in the same high school graduating class as Martha Ratliff. She knew all three of the girls in the Peterson household and had spent considerable time in their home. Visiting Superior Court Judge Henry Hight, Jr., of the Ninth Judicial District was selected to preside.
Fifty people with candles gathered outside of the Durham County Jail on the evening of Friday, January 11, to demonstrate their support for Michael Peterson. Martha Ratliff carried a sign that read: “FREE OUR FATHER.” Other signs in the crowd included: “A MAN WITH A FAMILY CAN ONLY RUN HOME” and “PETERSON WON'T FLEE.”
The icy wind filled with whispered words, carried them through the crowd and out to the media, who encircled them:
The district attorney will not seek the
death penalty
. Hardin would not respond to this rumor, reserving his comments for the courtroom the following Monday.
Michael Peterson could not see the crowd of wellwishers from his cell, but he passed a message out with his son Todd. “I want to thank everyone here and so many others who have shown their support,” Todd read. “I can't express what it means to me.”
Another rumor flashed through Durham that weekend. Michael Peterson's trial had caught the attention of Court TV. The cable network confirmed this story, but said the degree of their interest had not yet been determined.
Waving and smiling at his friends and neighbors, Mike Peterson entered the courtroom on Monday, January 14, escorted by deputies. He shuffled to his seat in shackles and a blue blazer. He sat between his two lawyers and never uttered a word on his own behalf.
The judge had letters from Peterson's supporters. They endorsed Todd's contention that Kathleen was a heavy drinker, insisted that Michael was no threat to the community and swore that the relationship between Kathleen and Michael was “idyllic.” And, of course, urged Mike's release from jail.
Several people testified in person, including former U.S. Representative Nick Galifanakis. Tears coursed down Peterson's face as they spoke on his behalf.
District Attorney Hardin responded by presenting autopsy photographs proving, he said, that Kathleen's death was not an accident. He gave the court a power of attorney document drawn up the day after she died which he suspected was written to allow Michael's sons
to aid in gathering the cash that would enable Peterson to flee the country. He also announced his decision not to seek the death penalty.
He surprised the courtroom by calling Todd Peterson to the stand. He questioned the witness about the power of attorney. Todd refused to answer, calling the questions baseless and irrelevant.
Judge Hight told him to respond. After a bit of squabbling and a flash of Todd's temper, Hight snapped, “Son, quit being smart and answer the doggone question.”
In the end, the judge released Michael Peterson on $850,000 bond. Mike signed papers on his home to cover the bail, relinquished his passport and agreed not to leave North Carolina.
A little after 6 P.M., he emerged from the jail carrying his possessions in a plastic bag. He told the gathered members of the press, “I really want to go home to see my kids. This is the first opportunity I have to grieve my wife and I'd really like to have that time.”
Friends came by the Cedar Street home with groceries and stayed to cry together and reassure one another. Live broadcast media trucks rumbled on the street while reporters looked in on the Christmas tree and its colored lights gleaming from the living room window.
Within a week, Margaret was back at Tulane and Martha returned to the University of San Francisco. Caitlin Atwater was not present for the hearing or the post-jailhouse reunion. In weeks, the one thin remaining thread that supported her belief in Michael Peterson's innocence would snap.
On January 26, Mike Peterson filed a claim on Kathleen's assets with her employer. In ten days, Nortel Networks issued the first check for $29,360—the balance after taxes were deducted from Kathleen's longterm investment funds. In the past two years, the value of this account had suffered a dramatic drop.
David Rudolf moved to have Kathleen's autopsy photos sealed and not released to the public. He claimed that the release violated the privacy of the victim's family. He lost that battle with this response from the attorney general's senior deputy on February 8: “The status of autopsy reports as public records was established more than 25 years ago by this office. Since then, it has been the attorney general's consistent opinion that autopsy reports constitute public records. Our office opined in 1995 that legislation would be the appropriate avenue to clearly exempt autopsy reports from the public records law.” The existing law dictated that only District Attorney Jim Hardin could have the records sealed.
Three days later, Candace sent a fax to Investigator Holland with a description and a drawing of a possible
murder weapon—a blowpoke, a gift Candace gave to her sister years earlier. She described it as a forty-inch-long hollow tube of solid brass. She explained that when you blow through the top, air comes out at the bottom through a small hole. It got airflow into a fire and was strong enough to move logs around in a fireplace.
She ended her fax with a solemn encouragement: “Be Careful!” Fear of Michael Peterson was now a constant and stressful presence in Candace's life.
Peterson's attorneys intensified the defense's efforts in February by hiring Dr. Henry Lee as an expert witness—a man many considered the world's foremost forensic scientist and whom others insisted was nothing more than a “hired gun” in the worst definition of the phrase. He was well known to the public at large from the work he did for O. J. Simpson's defense and the assistance he rendered to the prosecutors in the JonBenét Ramsey murder in Colorado. In the pasty thirty-five years, he had testified in more than a thousand cases.
Lee arrived in Durham on February 13, his face hidden by reflective sunglasses as he emerged from behind the tinted windows of a chauffeured limousine and entered the Cedar Street home. He spent the afternoon at the mansion examining the stairwell and other points of interest.
On Monday, February 17, the state medical examiner's office released Kathleen Peterson's autopsy report. In Ithaca, New York, Caitlin Atwater sat down at a
computer in the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority house at Cornell University. She steeled herself and went on line to view the document.
Bile rose in her throat as she glanced through the 11 pages of the report. She went back to the beginning and read each page slowly enough to absorb every word. A numbness settled in her mind as she detached the words from her emotions.
The diagram did not make sense to her. Although she understood some of the report, the technical language in other places obscured her understanding. One thing she knew with certainty when she finished reading was that her mother had not died from an accidental fall.
She placed a call to Tulane to talk with her stepsister, Margaret. She gave Margaret the Web site address for the autopsy and pleaded with her to look at it. “You need to read this. You need to understand this. Mom did not fall down the stairs. She was beaten to death.”
Margaret refused. First Caitlin's mother had died. Now, her childhood bond with Margaret was shattered, and like an old mirror, it left only distorted reflections of what used to be.
Soon, she received a telephone call from Michael Peterson. She refused to take it. She would not speak to him or see him until the trial. In an interview with Raleigh's
News & Observer
she said, “I don't want to see into the eyes of someone who could have done that to my mother.”
The defense responded with passion to the document from the medical examiner's office. Peterson denied the
allegations in the report that he called other people before he dialed 9-1-1. He insisted that his phone records would prove that he did not place those calls. The local telephone service provider said that local, toll-free calls cannot be traced at a later date and would not appear on the records.
Peterson also denied the medical examiner's contention that Kathleen lay bleeding for hours. “I had nothing to do with Kathleen's death,” he insisted. The lawyers urged the press and the public not to jump to hasty conclusions.
Candace Zamperini dropped a bombshell on the defense the week following the publication of the autopsy report and photographs. She said she felt that the release would lead to the discovery of the truth. She added, “Mr. Rudolf does not represent Kathleen's family, nor has he ever spoken to any family member. Although Michael Peterson was Kathleen's husband, he also stands accused of her murder. Therefore, the assumption that he is Kathleen's ‘family' no longer applies.”
On February 19, Nortel Networks released another check to Michael Peterson for Kathleen's pension fund. After taxes, he netted over $94,000. He went on a manic shopping spree. He bought items for every room of the house—rugs, artwork and furniture. He enhanced the family room with the addition of a $10,000 large-screen plasma TV. He bought a room full of exercise equipment and a small refrigerator for his bedroom to keep white wine chilled and his wine glasses frosted—all right by his side.
On March 1, 2002, at 10 A.M., Christina Tomasetti, Todd Peterson's date on the night of Kathleen's death, was scheduled for her third interview at police headquarters. Instead of Christina, a letter arrived for Investigator Holland. Thomas Loflin II, Christina's new lawyer, was the author of the correspondence.
He advised Holland that the meeting was cancelled and that all communication would now be with him. Loflin requested all notes of the prior interviews and a list of questions that the police would like to ask his client.
The defense submitted paperwork on the afternoon of Monday, March 4, claiming that there was not enough evidence to obtain a search warrant and that police withheld evidence from the magistrate who issued it. The document also asserted the sole motivation of the police was retaliation against Michael Peterson for the critical columns he penned about the department. It called the whole search process invalid and demanded that all evidence seized be thrown out of court.
On March 31, Judge Hudson ruled that Peterson's rights were not violated in the searches of his home. The evidence the defense wanted suppressed would be part of the trial.
Nortel Networks issued a final check for $212,790 to Michael Peterson for the amount of Kathleen's deferred income. Michael Peterson received about
$340,000 from Nortel as a direct result of Kathleen's death.
He still had hopes of getting his hands on his wife's $725,000 life insurance policy, which paid double for accidental death. Yet the defense team maintained from the time of Michael's arrest and all throughout the trial that no financial motive existed.
Wacky rumors about the Michael Peterson case raced up and down the streets of Durham and rippled through Internet chat rooms. Not one person, not one shred of evidence ever surfaced to give the least bit of credibility to the lethal stories that circulated. It did, however, point to one truth—Durham was obsessed with the most sensational case in recent memory and the residents had no clue yet of how much more was in store.
ABC's
20/20
aired a profile of Dr. Henry Lee on April 5, 2002. In it, there was footage of the forensic specialist walking through the Peterson house. The stairway where Kathleen died was the focus of that portion of the program.
Kathleen's family was outraged. Although the show did not identify the crime scene, the sisters recognized it. Veronica Hunt did not see the show, but she heard all about it, and she felt betrayed. She spoke out to Sonya Pfeiffer of WTVD news about the letter she received from Michael Peterson protesting his innocence.
“Things in the letter were totally new to me. My family has kept me sheltered from many details of my daughter's gruesome death.” She said that now that the crime scene and all the blood in it was shown on television, she was more aware and wanted to know the whole truth.
Patty Peterson granted an interview to the same reporter. Her selection of words was peculiar. She did not say that she knew her ex-husband did not kill Kathleen. Instead she said, “My assumption and my hope is they are going to find the truth and that he is innocent.”
When asked if she had ever known her ex-husband to
lie, she said, “No, not directly. I have no knowledge of that.”
“Did he ever hit you?” Sonya asked.
“I would say no,” Patty answered.
The reporter wanted to know if she would still support Michael if he admitted his guilt. Patty said, “It would be totally contrary to my experience with him as a human being for forty years. I've known him in his youth, his middle age, as a soldier serving his country, as a loving father, as a man who has loved me and other individuals.”
Her answer left questions in the air. Was the crime or a confession contrary to her experience? And would it be contrary to her experience with him as a husband?
In direct opposition to the families of victims of other crimes, Candace Zamperini appeared before the North Carolina legislature to urge them not to pass a bill that would limit public access to autopsy photos. It was these photos, she told the assembly, that convinced her that her sister was murdered. She knew if the law they were considering had been passed already, she would have never seen them, because Michael Peterson would refuse to allow their release. After her appearance at the hearing, Mike blasted her for sensationalizing the issue and for putting herself above medical experts.
The value of Kathleen's estate—over a quarter of a million dollars—was announced in early May 2002. She died without a will, making Michael Peterson and
Caitlin Atwater her heirs. Michael renounced his right to administer his wife's estate and the responsibility fell to Caitlin.
Then the other shoe dropped. The media learned of the death of Elizabeth Ratliff in 1985. They knew that the Durham police were looking into her demise and its possible connection to the murder of Kathleen.
All of Durham was atwitter. They could talk of nothing else but the similarities between the two women's deaths. Both suffered injuries and severe head trauma. Both were found at the bottoms of stairways. Michael Peterson, by his own admission, was the last person to see both of them alive. But strangest of all was the eerie physical resemblance of the two women whose deaths were separated by sixteen years and two continents.
Eleanor Peterson was shocked by the new information she learned about her son. Ann peered through a shroud of denial that now hung about her like a tattered veil. But to the media, the family presented a united front protesting Michael's innocence.
In early May 2002, Judge Orlando Hudson announced that he would be the jurist for the trial of
State of North Carolina vs. Michael Iver Peterson.
He warned attorneys to be more temperate in their comments to the press, but stopped short of issuing a gag order.
He granted Michael Peterson permission to leave the state to attend the sixtieth wedding anniversary celebration of his parents in Reno, Nevada, in July. Michael Peterson would take a trip to Reno that summer. But it would not be in July. And no one would be celebrating.

Other books

The Farther I Fall by Lisa Nicholas
Last Heartbreak by H.M. Ward
Danger! Wizard at Work! by Kate McMullan
Prince of Power by Elisabeth Staab
Last Breath by Rachel Lee
Dance on the Wind by Johnston, Terry C.