When watching The Staircase, it might be hard to keep track of the complicated Peterson family tree. Michael had two biological sons, Todd and Clayton, with his first wife, Patty. He and Patty later adopted two young daughters, Martha and Margaret Ratliff, after their mother (and Peterson family friend), Elizabeth Ratliff, died in Germany in 1985. What's eerily coincidental is the nature of her death: Elizabeth was found at the bottom of a staircase in her home with severe injuries to her head.
The similar nature of Elizabeth's and Kathleen's deaths was enough to leave the jury serving on Michael's trial in Durham significantly suspicious. The two families were close friends while living in Germany together, 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. The next morning, the nanny, Barbara, discovered Elizabeth's body.
Elizabeth's death was initially ruled an accident, but when her body was exhumed during the trial for a second autopsy in April 2003, the coroner found sufficient evidence to categorize it as a homicide. Michael wasn't accused of murdering Elizabeth outright, but the fact her daughters — who he, again, adopted after her death — were the recipients of a hefty life insurance policy was enough to cast doubt in the jurors of his case.