A Perfect Husband

by Aphrodite Jones

  Rudolf emphasized to Candace that the request to seal the autopsy results and photos had nothing to do with determining the truth about what happened to Kathleen. Rudolf said he fully respected Candace’s beliefs, but he wanted her to know that Michael was just as interested in determining the truth about what had happened to Kathleen as she was.

  Rudolf maintained that the autopsy photos would be available to all lawyers, experts, and jury members. He explained that the public release of such material would in no way contribute to the real search for the truth. The truth, Rudolf explained, would come from qualified experts who had reviewed all the evidence, who would testify in a court of law. The real truth of Kathleen’s death, Rudolf wrote, would not come “from armchair analysis by pseudo experts” who would be contacted by the media “to pump up their ratings for sweeps month, which happens to be February.”

  David Rudolf hoped that Candace and the rest of Kathleen’s family would keep open minds about the facts in the case, that they would wait until the trial to make their judgments.

  But already, the state’s experts had expressed opinions about the cause of Kathleen’s death, deeming it a homicide. Candace and Caitlin, as well as other members of Kathleen’s family, had been made fully aware of the details. While Rudolf insisted that other qualified experts might disagree with the state’s findings, he could never convince Candace Zamperini of that. Candace had been to Durham. At first skeptical and defensive of Michael Peterson, once Candace had seen the photos of the crime scene, once she read the autopsy reports, there were questions that couldn’t be answered so easily. The photos and reports detailed the seven severe lacerations to Kathleen’s head. And there appeared to be defensive wounds to Kathleen’s hands and wrists, indicating that she had been fending off an attack.

  As the attorney closed his letter to Candace, Rudolf spelled out the two questions that he considered to be key in the case regarding Michael Peterson. The first was, what actually happened? Rudolf said he needed to discover if there was an accident or a homicide. That was a question for his experts to determine, once they had the chance to review the reports of the medical examiners and other state’s witnesses. The second question was, assuming the state’s conclusion that Kathleen Peterson had been beaten to death was actually correct, “who did this?”

  In Rudolf’s opinion, that was a question he could address. In his letter, the attorney assured Candace that Michael was innocent of the charges against him, stating that if Kathleen was beaten, “it was certainly not by Michael,” who was still expressing his love for Kathleen.

  Twenty-one

  The first autopsy examination issued from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at Chapel Hill was signed by Dr. Kenneth Snell. The decedent, Kathleen Hunt Peterson, had been viewed at the Cedar Street house at 7:40 A.M. on December 9, 2001, when it had been determined that the probable cause of death was a closed head injury, blunt-force injury to the head, due to a fall down the stairs.

  The narrative summary Dr. Snell wrote stated that Mrs. Peterson was found at the bottom of the stairs by her husband or her son—and that friends and family members were notified before EMS was notified. When the EMS did arrive at 2:40 A.M., the husband admitted to having put towels under Mrs. Peterson’s head. Dr. Snell noted some blood had partially been wiped up on the stairs with paper towels. Dr. Kenneth Snell also made a notation that there had been alcohol consumption on the evening before her death.

  Dr. Snell recorded blood still present in the stairwell, and wrote that it appeared Mrs. Peterson hit her head on the top step above the corner, hit the floor in the corner of the stairs, and then landed at the base of the stairs on her back. The medical examiner further noted that the blood spatter appeared to support the scenario of a fall. His findings suggested Mrs. Peterson’s death was an accident.

  However, once Kathleen Peterson’s body was transported to Chapel Hill, a full autopsy examination was to be performed by Dr. Deborah Radisch. As a matter of record, the 120-pound body of Mrs. Peterson, an adult female clad in a brown fleece sweatshirt and white sweatpants, was determined to be in “good general condition.” There was evidence of medical intervention noted on the skin of her right lower abdomen, but otherwise, Mrs. Peterson’s body, with its brown hair and green eyes, was basically intact, prior to the event of December 9, 2001.

  Dr. Deborah Radisch, a seasoned pathologist with a stellar track record, would carefully write both an internal and external description of the body of Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson. Her pathological diagnosis included a long list of injuries:

  Multiple lacerations to the posterior scalp.

  Multiple contusions to the posterior scalp.

  Subarachnoid hemorrhage with cerebral convexities. Early acute ischemic neuronal necrosis.

  Fracture, with hemorrhage, of the left thyroid cartilage.

  Contusions of the back, posterior arms, wrists, and hands.

  Multiple small abrasions and contusions to the face.

  Dr. Radisch noted that hair was grasped in Mrs. Peterson’s right and left hands, which was collected and submitted as evidence. There was no visible tissue seen under her fingernails, but it was noted that Mrs. Peterson did have crusted blood beneath her nails. There was a small chip discovered on one tooth. There was also dried blood on the bottoms of her feet, and dried blood on her face.

  Mrs. Peterson had three contusions over her right eyelid, a contusion on her right ear, and a linear vertical abrasion on the right side of her neck. Beyond that, she had three linear horizontal abrasions over her left eyebrow. Also, there was a horizontal abrasion over the bridge of her nose, two small linear horizontal abrasions over her left eye, and a small abrasion over her lip.

  Dr. Radisch counted at least seven distinct lacerations on the posterior scalp of Mrs. Peterson. Several of those lacerations were complex: one was a tri-pronged linear laceration measuring 3 inches vertically. Located 2½ inches away, there was a second tri-pronged laceration measuring over four inches vertically. Continuing along Mrs. Peterson’s scalp, the lacerations were measured out in vertical and horizontal intersections, one of which had a deeply undermined edge. In addition, there was a 1-inch flap of skin removed from the left side of her scalp.

  There were no skull fractures found, and Mrs. Peterson’s brain was not swollen. Her system contained a blood alcohol concentration of .07 percent, just one point below the legal driving limit. There were trace amounts of chlorpheniramine, Cyclobenzaprine, and nicotine detected in her blood specimen, and Valium was present in a small concentration as well.

  While the initial examination by Dr. Kenneth Snell indicated the death was due to a fall down the stairs, Dr. Deborah Radisch listed the cause of death as being due to severe concussive injury of the brain, caused by multiple blunt-force impacts to the head.

  Blood loss from Mrs. Peterson’s deep scalp lacerations may also have played a role in her death, but Dr. Radisch’s final report concluded that the severity and location of the lacerations to Mrs. Peterson’s head were the primary cause of death. In her medical opinion, those lacerations were indicative of multiple impacts received as a result of a beating.

  About the final autopsy results, one particular item stood out to neuropathologist Dr. Thomas Bouldin, who later examined the body of Kathleen Peterson: consistent with the acute ischemic neuronal necrosis present in her cerebrum, there existed rare red neurons. Those red neurons would only appear if Kathleen Peterson had experienced a decreased blood flow to her brain for perhaps two hours before her death.

  Twenty-two

  At the request of the Durham Police Department, a bloodstain pattern examination was conducted on certain items of clothing submitted to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab. Special Agent Duane Deaver had taken possession of ten paper bags of evidence and had examined them in the Molecular Genetics Section of the bureau, and Criminal Specialist Dennis Honeycutt was present during the examinations. Agent Deaver’s report, filed just after Val
entine’s Day, on February 19, 2002, concluded the following:

  Item#1. A pair of shorts, collected from Michael Peterson, Brooks Sport brand, size 36, 100% cotton. The front of the shorts were heavily bloodstained. The blood had soaked through to the inside fabric of the pockets, and bloodstain on the front of the shorts, which had also been diluted, had formed a “V” pattern. There were smears, contact stains, and blood spatters visible on the shorts. Of particular interest was the blood spatter on the inside of the right leg of the shorts.

  Item#2. Four white athletic socks, collected at the bottom of the Peterson staircase, with soaking and smear stain in blood.

  Item #3. A pair of Converse brand men’s 8.5-size athletic shoes, low-cut, leather. The soles of each shoe were bloodstained. The right shoe had spatters, drips, smears, and contact stains in blood on it. The left shoe had the same. When the shoes were examined for a second time, by Special Agent Joyce Petzca, other points of interest came up. The toe of each shoe had blood spatter that came from a source of blood directly above the toes.

  Item #4. A knit short-sleeved shirt collected from Michael Peterson. Navy in color, size large, the shirt had a heavy odor of perspiration about it. Dark bloodstains were visible on the left chest, and on both sleeves of the shirt. The dark color of the shirt, however, prevented a complete examination of the bloodstain characteristics.

  Also in a sealed paper bag were items identified that had been collected from Todd Peterson. Of interest was a size-large shirt, gray in color, Structure brand, which had contact stains in blood over the top of the shoulders and the top of the sleeves. The front of the shirt had contact stains in blood from the collar down to the middle. The back of the shirt had contact stains in blood, along the left shoulder blade.

  Of further note was a pair of jeans collected from Todd Peterson, Perry Ellis brand, size 34” x 32”. On the front of the jeans, smears of blood could be seen above the right pocket. Contact stains of blood were found on the right side of the leg, in the crotch area. On the left side of the leg, contact stains could be seen along the inseam, just below the crotch. On the back of the jeans, a contact stain in blood was found near the hem of the right leg.

  Also collected in the brown paper bags were the items of clothing worn by Kathleen Peterson on December 9, 2001. A dark-colored fleece top, size petite, was stained heavily with blood around the collar, and down the back. The tail of the shirt was soaked in blood.

  There was also a pair of white sweatpants, size medium, L.L. Bean brand. Unlike the fleece top, which revealed very little, the pants collected from the body of Kathleen Peterson, had quite a few points of interest. The pants had a story to tell. On them were found:

  A) Soaking stains of blood on the front of the pants, primarily around the waist area.

  B) A diluted bloodstain visible along the crotch of the pants, down each side of the leg.

  C) Contact, drips, and smears visible on the front of the pants.

  D) Blood spatters visible on the front right and left legs of the pants.

  E) Diluted bloodstains in the seat area of the pants.

  F) Blood spatters visible on the back of the right leg of the pants.

  G) A shoe track, transfer stain in blood, found on the back of the right leg of the pants.

  The shoe track, it was later revealed, would match the size-8.5 Converse sneaker belonging to Mr. Michael Peterson.

  Twenty-three

  Also at the request of the Durham Police Department, a bloodstain pattern examination had been ordered for the stairwell, as well as in the kitchen area of the Peterson mansion. Conducted by Special Agent Duane Deaver, with Crime Scene Investigator Eric Campen and Crime Scene Investigator Angie Powell also present, the testing began at 5:07 P.M. on January 9, 2001.

  Duane Deaver, an SBI agent since 1985, had been involved in over five hundred criminal cases, and was the State Bureau of Investigation’s chief instructor for bloodstain pattern analysis. Briefed by Detective Art Holland, Deaver began an in-depth examination of the area. Being very cautious and conservative in his analysis, the testing of the crime scene took him almost six hours to complete.

  For the purpose of the report, Deaver numbered the stairs from top to bottom, one to eighteen. In the hall outside the staircase, blood spatters were found on the wall, and on the header over the hall leading to the kitchen area. There were two drops on the header, 114 inches above the floor, as well as three drops of blood on an adjacent wall. Each of these drops showed a downward path, an origin from above the drops. Agent Deaver believed this cast-off blood was created by some object being swung in an upward motion.

  In the front of the stairwell, there was a pair of foot-printlike transfers in blood. A photograph provided to Agent Deaver showed Kathleen Peterson’s body seated in the same spot. The photo showed that the victim’s feet were bare, and had bloodstains on the bottoms. To the expert, these stains indicated that Mrs. Peterson had stood up in her own pool of blood.

  Transfer stains in blood could be seen on the trim molding, and finger and hairlike transfer stains were visible on the trim. There were drips in blood going from the floor to forty-six inches in height. A light switch to the left of the trim molding had a transfer stain in blood on it. One particular piece of trim, along the inside of the stairwell above step fifteen, had fingerlike transfer stains in blood. There were three individual stains at the end of the handrail, making it appear as though someone had been trying to pull herself up.

  On the north wall at the bottom of the stairs, the area over steps sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen, a large smear of blood was noted. What was interesting about this was that this smear of blood had another blood spatter pattern on top of it. That meant there was fresh blood on top of dried blood.

  The blood spatter patterns that covered the north wall, including the entire width of the stairwell, were found to rise to a height of seventy inches above the highest step on the stairwell. On the east wall, an unstained area was found in the middle of a bloodstain pattern. This so-called “void” area was approximately ten inches long and four inches wide, and a careful reconstruction of the blood spatter patterns on this wall revealed two points of origin for the patterns.

  After measuring the two points of origin for the blood, Agent Deaver noted that a minimum of two blows were delivered to cause the source of blood in the corner of the wall above step seventeen. It was possible that these bloodstains resulted from Kathleen Peterson’s head being struck as she was standing.

  Blood spatters above steps sixteen and seventeen were also examined for points of origin. A line of blood spatter was noted in a pattern that ran above the steps, matching a place where a metal chairlift was located. The chairlift was an unused wheelchair-type device that had been installed by previous owners. The device had blood spatter on it and bloodstains behind it.

  Drips, smears, and transfers in blood were noted on the surface of numerous steps, and were found on the riser between steps sixteen and seventeen. Oddly, above step fifteen, when a reconstruction of a blood spatter pattern was made, a point of origin was found to be twenty-seven inches up from that step.

  Deaver concluded that a minimum of one blow had been delivered to cause the source of blood above step fifteen. In addition, a blood transfer on step fifteen was noted to have sharp edges and looked as if it had been created by a heavy object. Drips were also seen on a piece of floor molding in the stairwell, with a fingerprintlike transfer.

  On the landing at the top of the stairs, a transfer stain in blood was made just above the riser, on the underside of the wood flooring. According to Deaver’s measurements, that blood spatter came from a source directly above the stain.

  After further study, the SBI agent also concluded that someone attempted to clean the stairway near where Kathleen Peterson’s body was found. The wall next to her body showed certain runs in the pattern of blood, indicating that a liquid had been applied to that place. One particular step, toward the bottom of the stairwell, near wh
ere Mrs. Peterson’s head was resting, showed that an effort had been made to clean the step entirely.

  Based on the patterns of blood, the various locations of smears and cleanup, Agent Deaver had no doubt that someone had struck Kathleen Peterson repeatedly. After further analysis of the photographs taken of the victim’s clothes and of the crime scene, the expert also surmised that the bloodstain patterns on Mrs. Peterson’s pants showed that her body had been moved in positions other than what he observed at the scene.

  In the kitchen, Agent Deaver found further evidence of foul play. There were transfers in blood on a cabinet that contained two shelves of drinking glasses. The transfer stains were fingerlike and were discovered on the knob of the cabinet. Directly below the cabinet, Deaver found a drop of blood on the kitchen countertop, with two drinking glasses and an open wine bottle sitting near the sink basin.

  The sink looked messy, with a large pasta pot and a food strainer covering the drain in the sink. When Agent Deaver raised the pot, he could smell the odor of alcohol coming from the drain. The smell of alcohol was so strong, it was clear that someone had poured a good deal of wine down the drain, perhaps an entire bottle.

  As he concluded his findings, there was no doubt in Agent Deaver’s mind: someone attempted to stage the scene.

  Twenty-four

  Michael Peterson was born in Nashville, Tennessee, but his family moved to Virginia when he was young, where he graduated high school, moving on to earn a B.A. in Political Science from Duke University in 1965. When the intrigue of war drew the Duke graduate to Vietnam, Peterson felt it would be the perfect experience and setting for him. He expected to write “the great American war novel.”