Stranger Than Fiction Time Line -- Michael Peterson Murder Trial





RETURN TO MENU







An Hour to Kill



Based on official testimony and available outside information, a time line of the events surrounding the Peterson's tragedy may be constructed that reveals about one hour that cannot be accounted for. Missing from the time line is the hour of activity between 12:30 and 1:30 AM.



Certain documents and bits of testimony suggest Elizabeth Ratliff died near 12:30 A.M. on November 25, 1985. Considering the novelist's love of book-ends, it's reasonable to speculate that Michael Peterson killed his wife, Kathleen, on December 9th, 2001 around 12:30 AM .







time of death



Friday -- December 7, 2001 afternoon Kathleen takes the day off

from work. The Petersons go

Christmas shopping. Defense evening Petersons attend N.C.

Independent party Defense Saturday -- December 8, 2001 3:30 P.M.? Hundreds of files are deleted

from Peterson's PC with

a disc-purging program

called "Quick Clean." Lawson 4:41 P.M. Michael arrives at gym Y.M.C.A. 6:00 P.M.? Michael speaks to Kathleen

about renting a movie Defense 6:59 P.M. Michael rents

"America's Sweethearts" Blockbuster Video ? Kathleen eats dinner autopsy 9:45 P.M. Christine Tomassetti arrives

to take Todd to a party. She

sees Kathleen and Michael

sharing a bottle of wine. Tomassetti 10:20 P.M. Christine and Todd leave for

the party. Tomassetti 10:40 P.M. Password "Atwater" logs

onto Peterson PC Lawson 11:08 P.M. Co-worker Helen Prislinger

speaks with Kathleen by

phone. Agrees to mail file. 11:53 P.M. Prislinger's e-mail arrives.

(The blank e-mail's

attachment is never opened. ) e-mail records /

Lawson Sunday -- December 9, 2001 Midnight ? Petersons drink and talk

outside near pool (50°) Michael Peterson

12:30 to

1:30 A.M.

. ? ? 1:45 or

2:00 A.M .? Kathleen leaves pool area,

headed inside for bed Michael Peterson ? Kathleen suffers multiple

deep, complex lacerations

and avulsions to the scalp,

multiple small abrasions and

contusions on the face,

early acute ischemic

neuronal necrosis, and a

fracture with associated

hemorrhage of the thyroid

cartilage in the neck

Debra Radisch 2:30 A.M.? Peterson leaves pool area Michael Peterson 2:41 A.M. Peterson calls 9-1-1 Pierce and Allen 2:48 A.M. Paramedics James Rose

and Ron Paige arrive, followed

by Todd Peterson and friends .

Kathleen Peterson is found

dead in a hallway .

Rose and Paige





3:00 A.M. Police and detectives begin

to arrive. 3:24 A.M. Investigators secure the

scene. Art Holland between

4:15 and

5:00 A.M. Peterson logs on to his office

computer and mumbles to

himself about e-mail. Officer

A.D. McCallop 5:00 A.M. Peterson phones attorney Kerry Sutton 5:20 A.M. Sutton arrives at Cedar St. Sutton/ Barry Winston

















What's missing? Footprints...

LUMINOL TESTING revealed bloody footprints leading from Kathleen Peterson's body -- into the laundry room -- then going to the kitchen refrigerator and sink -- then moving to a wineglass cabinet (which also had blood on it).



The footprints mysteriously stop there at the cabinet. They just stop -- as though the person with bloody feet somehow flew up and out of the kitchen like a bat.













What's missing? E-Mail... Nortel Networks co-worker Helen Prislinger testified that she talked to Kathleen Peterson at 11:08 p.m. and that Kathleen did not sound intoxicated and did not seem abnormal in any way. She did not sense that Kathleen and Michael Peterson were fighting and heard Kathleen ask her husband for the home e-mail address.



Ms. Prislinger said Kathleen needed a document for a tele-conference scheduled for 10 a.m. the next day, and was expecting an e-mail with that document attached. The e-mail was, in fact, sent to Michael Peterson's e-mail address but there is no evidence the e-mail was ever read, and the "PowerPoint" attachment to Helen Prislinger's letter was never opened.



The attachment was named "Readiness."











What was found? Red Neurons... "The earliest I've ever seen them is two hours after a documented period of loss of bloodflow or decreased bloodflow to the brain -- so in my experience, I would anticipate that the decreased blood flow to the brain was at least a couple of hours prior to death." -- Dr. Thomas Bouldin









Party People -- Christine Tomassetti



News & Observer



In a surprising moment, the prosecutor asked Sgt. Fran Borden a question that seemed to jolt the courtroom. Was he aware, Freda Black asked, that Todd Peterson was having an affair with a woman described in police reports as his girlfriend?



The judge struck the question from the record after the defense objected that no evidence had been presented that indicated Todd Peterson and the married woman, Christine Tomassetti, were anything more than friends who went to a party with a large group of people.

Black said outside the presence of the jury that Todd Peterson told members of Kathleen Peterson's family that he intended to have sex with Tomassetti at his father's home that night. Todd Peterson sat forward in his chair in the front row of the gallery but did not otherwise react to the salacious exchange.



"It shows the dire straits the prosecution's case is in," Todd Peterson later remarked.





Ben Maynor and Heather Wittsome



Soon after Todd and Christine Tomasetti returned from their party, other friends arrived at 1810 Cedar. Todd called his friend Ben Maynor, who was apparently drunk, and Ben's girlfiend, Heather Wittsome.



"That's been one of the tragic losses, not only for the family, but for the community," Ben Maynor would later comment, "Mike and Kathleen were involved with the Arts Council, the American Dance Festival and, as far as I know, Mike is not involved in those causes anymore; and I would think their advocacy is greatly missed."











America's Sweethearts -- Billy Crystal stars as Lee, a studio publicist desperately trying to keep several facts secret from reporters during a high-profile motion picture's press junket. Among the developments that Lee is trying to obscure from view . . . the film's high-profile, real-life married co-stars Gwen Harrison (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Eddie Thomas (John Cusack) who have acrimoniously split since filming.













12:50 A.M.





Karin Hamm



Elizabeth Ratliff's neighbor Karin Hamm claims she saw Peterson hurrying away from Ratliff's house the night she died.



Hamm said in an interview that the sound of a slamming door drew her to her bedroom window at 12:50 A.M. November 25, 1985. She looked out the window and saw Mike Peterson hurriedly leaving Liz Ratliff's home.



Hamm said: "I can still see him in front of me. I see his face."











Peterson and Mahar react to Hudson's ruling on Hamm's affidavit .















Link to . . .



And Murder Makes 60:

A Killer Chronology





















RETURN TO MENU





