The Staircase’s Finale Ends a Familiar Story With a Surprising Twist
Its documentary predecessor was exhaustive, but there’s one thing only fiction can do Image Source When Kathleen Peterson, a Nortel executive, was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in the Durham, North Carolina, mansion that she shared with her husband, novelist Michael Peterson, it has been more than 20 years. Her death has always been shrouded in mystery, and investigators are still searching for answers. The medical examiner ruled Peterson's death a homicide despite her claims that she had fallen. Michael Peterson had known another woman who fell to her death, and the fact that he was raising her two children fueled public interest in the conflict between Peterson and his wife's wealth and sexual encounters with men during their marriage. Kathleen Peterson's life ended that night in December 2001, but the true crime story that grew out of her absence was just getting started, unfolding mostly as a sensational did-he-or-didn't-he? Until a French documentary crew...