Is ‘The Staircase’ based on a true story?
With the onset of December, Netflix added a handful of limited series to its library, including The Staircase, which originally aired on Canal+ from 2004 to 2013.
The documentary miniseries, currently streaming on Netflix, puts the spotlight on the Peterson family, who lived a seemingly perfect life in a quaint neighbourhood in Durham, North Carolina.
The family comprises Michael, a US Marine Corps veteran and an author with political aspirations, his second wife, Kathleen, Michael’s two biological sons, Clayton and Todd, Michael’s adopted daughters, Margaret and Martha, and Kathleen’s biological daughter, Caitlin. But their picture-perfect life crumbles down when Kathleen is found dead in their home in 2001, in what appears to be a devastating accident or a ruthless murder.
As law enforcement and authorities arrive at the scene, they are followed by Todd, who discovers his grieving father, the only person in the house present at the time of Kathleen’s death. While the family struggles to grapple with the unexpected fallout, investigators begin to probe into the inconsistencies in Michael’s story, regarding what happened that night and his past, ultimately making him the primary suspect when the autopsy report came with evidence of blunt-force trauma.
Now, coming to the question of whether The Staircase is based on a true story, the answer is yes. The limited series is actually based on the real-life situation surrounding Peterson and his second wife, Kathleen, whom he was accused of killing in 2001.
Director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade made an eight-episode docuseries about the events, which premiered in 2004. It was later updated in 2013 and 2018 with new episodes as more information surfaced around Michael’s case.
According to Peterson, the pair were at home on December 9, 2001, and he was allegedly sitting in the backyard near the pool. But the night turned for the worse when he reportedly found his wife unresponsive inside their home. He rang the authorities, subsequently informing them that Kathleen had apparently tumbled down from the stairs. However, when the autopsy report revealed that she had suffered intense head trauma, Peterson turned himself in on December 20th.
Michael was taken into custody on the charges of Kathleen’s murder, even though he insisted on his innocence. Since investigators didn’t find a murder weapon at the scene to implicate Michael, prosecutors built their case partly around his past, which included “an alleged affair, inconsistencies in his military record, and reports that he had also been the last person to see another woman alive – family friend Elizabeth Ratliff – before her death in 1985.”
It turns out that Ratliff had also suffered severe head injuries and fallen down a staircase in Germany, leading to her death. Peterson eventually adopted her two daughters, Margaret and Martha. Cut to 2003, Michael was given a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole after an elongated 14-week trial. While he continually appealed the verdict, the case regained public and media attention in 2008 after attorney Larry Pollar proposed the “Owl Theory.”
As per the theory, an owl attack could have been the reason behind Kathleen’s injuries. Pollard argued that her injuries and the microscopic feathers found in her hair could have been from a possible attack by a barred owl, which was common in the neighbourhood the couple lived in. In 2011, Peterson was released from imprisonment on bond, placing him under house arrest when a significant testimony was called for questioning in the trial.
“A Superior Court judge ruled that State Bureau of Investigation analyst Duane Deaver’s blood splatter analysis had misled jurors.” However, before the retrial could take place, Michael and his attorney entered an Alford plea to a reduced charge of voluntary manslaughter, which was ultimately successful. He was sentenced to a maximum of 86 months in prison before being released in February 2017.