A Perfect Husband

by Aphrodite Jones

  Rudolf and Maher had argued that the latest autopsy findings on Elizabeth Ratliff should not be entered into evidence, telling the court: “It is literally impossible at this time, eighteen years and thousands of miles removed from the death of Elizabeth Ratliff, to determine her true injuries.”

  Now in a separate hearing, the subject of Kathleen Peterson’s death halted for a moment. In the middle of the trial, the harrowing death of Martha and Margaret’s mother—who had been properly buried, exhumed, and buried again in Texas—had come before the court. Rudolf and Maher implied that the death of Elizabeth Ratliff would only bring chaos to jurors, that jurors already had too much information to sort through. They wanted to keep the focus on Kathleen Peterson alone.

  Rudolf told Judge Hudson that because it would be impossible to re-create the scene, he objected to having people brought in from Germany to try to recollect Elizabeth Ratliff’s death. Rudolf doubted that any witness would be able to articulate what might have happened so long ago, and objected to the prosecution’s attempts to “refresh” old recollections. Rudolf wanted to remind the court that this was a case about the death of Kathleen Peterson. There was no evidence against Peterson regarding the death of Elizabeth Ratliff. Rudolf felt he shouldn’t be in the position of having to defend a whole different case.

  But Judge Orlando Hudson Jr. ruled that the deaths were “sufficiently similar” for the testimony about Elizabeth Ratliff to have bearing in the trial. Prosecutors had argued successfully that the 1985 death would demonstrate “intent, knowledge, and absence of accident.” As the judge made his decision, the usual smile, the usual smug expression, completely disappeared from Mr. Peterson’s face. Peterson held his forehead in his hands, shaking his head, his eyes giving away a shadow of disbelief.

  It was unclear whether Peterson was acting or reacting. All throughout his trial, Peterson had been jovial. Peterson had been really good at hiding his emotions. Even during the awkward times, when his sexual e-mails were presented, Michael Peterson seemed to have his act down pat. He would enter the court each day, dressed up like a peacock, and smile to the cameras and the onlookers in the courtroom. His entourage behaved in a very smug, confident manner, often joking and laughing when the jury wasn’t present. The only ones who weren’t smiling very much were the Ratliff girls. During every court recess, Peterson would go over and whisper things to the girls, as if to assure them that everything was going to be okay.

  The Ratliff girls would nod, they would sometimes smile at Michael’s private remarks. But the girls didn’t seem to grasp the pathos, didn’t seem to understand the deep catastrophe of this culminating event. For most of the trial, they seemed to be under Michael’s watchful eye. Even as the evidence about the death of their mother came forward, they would stare blankly at the people who had come from Germany to testify. When their mother’s friends took the stand to speak of their concern for Elizabeth’s “baby girls,” neither Margaret, who had turned twenty-one, nor Martha, who was just nineteen, showed any visible reaction.

  Cheryl Appel-Schumacher would be the first of many to testify about the death of Elizabeth Ratliff. She and her husband, Tom, had been flown to the United States by the prosecution, and they had dodged reporters awaiting them at the airport. The couple had not wanted to be part of the media circus, but they had agreed to testify. They were not sure what they could offer, but they would provide details about the death scene, in order that the truth be known.

  Occasionally wiping tears from her eyes, and often choking up, Cheryl Appel-Schumacher told jurors about the large amount of blood that she and her husband cleaned up after Elizabeth’s body was moved. Cheryl testified that the blood stretched from the top of the landing to the bottom of the stairs, and she would break down sobbing as she described using a bowl of water, a rag, and some soap, cleaning each portion of the wall, bit by bit, constantly changing the bowl of water, as it turned bright red.

  Cheryl testified that Michael Peterson “took charge” during that very difficult time, which hadn’t surprised anyone, because Michael had “come to the rescue” after George Ratliff died, helping Liz manage all of her military affairs.

  Cheryl Appel-Schumacher spoke of Elizabeth’s daughters, who were then ages three and four, insisting that all of Liz’s friends had felt that the Petersons were the right people to be the girls’ guardians. Cheryl had vague recollections that “there was some suspicion that things were not as they seemed,” but never did she or her husband suspect Michael Peterson of any wrongdoing. Cheryl had a memory of neighbors mentioning an absence of “footprints in the snow” around the back of the house, but she testified that she herself had never questioned the authorities when they ruled Elizabeth’s death an accident.

  When Tom Appel-Schumacher took the stand, he confirmed his wife’s statements regarding Peterson, and then went on to describe the great amount of blood in Elizabeth Ratliff’s home. Tom told jurors that there was a lot of blood up and down the staircase wall, and there appeared to be blood “spattered in different places around the foyer area.” He said that he and his wife had “spent hours” cleaning up all the blood “so that the children would not see it.”

  Another witness, Billie Allen, had been flown in from Germany to testify about the floor-heating system in Elizabeth’s former home. Allen had become the current resident of Elizabeth’s house, and she testified that the house had a special type of floor-heating system, that it had heating tubes that ran under the floors. Prosecutors later pointed out that the floor-heating system would have accounted for Elizabeth Ratliff’s body being warm on the morning she was found dead.

  During her brief court appearance, Billie Allen handed prosecutors a doctor’s note on Karin Hamm’s behalf, which stated that Hamm had recent surgery and could not travel to the United States. Jim Hardin still hoped to introduce an English translation of the statement Karin Hamm had given to Art Holland months prior—in which she reportedly saw Michael Peterson hurriedly leaving Ratliff’s home the night before her body was discovered.

  To the defense attorneys’ chagrin, Judge Hudson ruled that Karin Hamm’s written statement—about what she saw from her daughter’s bedroom window on November 24, 1985—was not admissible in court. As it happened, there was no German translator available to fly into Durham, so at the last minute, Karin Hamm’s statement was pulled.

  Not that it mattered. The prosecution had a long list of people who came forward to tell the jury about their personal suspicions regarding the death of Elizabeth Ratliff. People flew into Durham to say that Elizabeth’s death had caused them emotional pain, that they had accepted the “official report,” which ruled her death an accident, primarily because the military was involved in the investigation, and they felt it was not their place to question protocol.

  Those who testified about the discrepancies at the scene, about the mistakes made, about the suspicions and the fabrications of Michael Peterson, included: Dr. Larry Barnes, former army investigator Steve Lyons, Margaret Blair, Barbara O’Hara Malagnino, and Amybeth Berner.

  Amybeth Berner told jurors that she had “questions and concerns” about Elizabeth Ratliff’s death from the moment she entered the house, testifying that back in 1985 she had called it “a crime scene” and wondered why the authorities hadn’t investigated the sudden death fully.

  In an attempt to censor any extraneous remarks from each Elizabeth Ratliff witness, the defense insisted on holding hearings outside the presence of to the jury. Even though these hearings were broadcast nationally on Court TV, witnesses would be prevented from detailing the most juicy elements to the jurors.

  For instance, in one hearing, Amybeth Berner would tell courtroom observers that she had come to believe, over time, that Michael Peterson was the prime suspect in the death of her friend Elizabeth Ratliff. Berner would also testify, outside the jury’s presence, that back in Germany, Peterson had once bragged to her about his “connections” in the CIA, claiming that he could have someone killed.<
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  The statement about Peterson being in the CIA would become a theme—others would bring up the issue privately, because for years Peterson claimed he held a job as a “government consultant.” Of course, it turned out that there was absolutely no truth in Peterson’s claims, that there was no evidence that the man ever held any full-time job after his stint with the marines.

  However, Peterson had bragged to many folks about his “involvement” with the CIA. He had a library full of books about the CIA; he wrote novels involving fictional characters in the CIA; he was obsessed with the CIA, the FBI, and all forms of special government agencies.

  Nonetheless, Amybeth Berner’s testimony about Peterson’s possible CIA connection was cause for laughter from the defense table, with Peterson leading the way. His defense team’s reactions were clearly meant to make Amybeth Berner look like she was a dreamer, like she was just making things up.

  “Michael told me he was in the CIA at some point,” Amybeth Berner testified at her hearing, “he said he murdered someone while he was in Vietnam, and that concerned me.”

  Forty-nine

  In many ways, the case had become a tale of two sisters. There were the Ratliff sisters, Margaret and Martha, who were standing by their legal guardian, the man they called Dad, Michael Peterson. There were Kathleen’s sisters, Candace Zamperini and Lori Campell, who had been waiting for twenty months to see justice, who, after seeing the evidence, had become convinced that their brother-in-law had killed their sibling. And there were Elizabeth’s sisters, Margaret Blair and Rosemary Kelloway, who had been misled at the time of Elizabeth’s death, and had been told that Elizabeth only suffered a small loss of blood behind her ear.

  Now all three sets of sisters would sit on opposite sides of the courtroom, each in her own private hell, each in her own state of denial, disbelief, and despair. The Ratliff girls were not speaking to any of their aunts—not Margaret or Rosemary, not Candace or Lori. It was as if the girls blamed their aunts for coming forward, as though the Ratliff girls felt their aunts were all part of this great conspiracy that had been launched against Michael Peterson.

  When state medical examiner Dr. Aaron Gleckman testified before the members of the jury, explaining that Elizabeth Ratliff’s death was not due to a medical condition or a fall, that her death was a result of a “homicidal assault,” the reality hit home with Liz’s sisters. They weeped as the results of the autopsy were explained, and they were subjected to graphic comparisons between the two deaths, photos being shown of the seven lacerations to the scalps of each murdered woman.

  Following Gleckman’s testimony, Dr. Thomas Bouldin, a UNC neuropathologist, testified about disturbing findings regarding Kathleen Peterson. Bouldin would tell jurors that “red neurons” were present in Kathleen’s brain, which was proof that she had experienced a decreased flow of blood to her brain for approximately two hours before her death. Kathleen’s sisters hung their heads and quietly sobbed as they thought of Kathleen lying helpless in her own blood, awake and fighting for her life, for a good part of that time.

  As for Michael Peterson, none of it seemed to faze him. On the day the evidence about Elizabeth Ratliff began, Peterson donned a fresh red carnation on his lapel, as if there were some special message he was sending to the universe. Michael Peterson was great at throwing kinks into the trial. He had certain things up his sleeve, and he would continue to make accusations behind the scenes. It was clear from the looks on their faces that his brothers, his sons, his few friends, and, of course, the Ratliff girls completely believed in him.

  Peterson and his defense team were wired with microphones throughout the trial. They all believed wholeheartedly that the jury would have much reasonable doubt in their minds. There were so many errors that police made; there was no tangible proof prosecutors could offer. There was no way a jury could convict him—could send a man to spend the rest of his life in prison—without being absolutely positive that he was guilty.

  And the jurors, the twelve members and the four alternates, were looking over at Peterson with favorable expressions. From looking at their faces, it was obvious that the jurors felt sorry for Peterson’s flock, that some of the female jurors seemed to dwell, particularly, on Margaret and Martha Ratliff, who, having lost their other parents, would be losing the only parent they had left.

  But the jurors seemed to shift their emotions. They certainly had harder expressions on their faces after they heard the testimony of Candace Zamperini. For months, Kathleen’s sister had driven from her home in Virginia to be present in the Durham Superior Court. Candace was a well-dressed, well-spoken woman, who sat in the front row behind the prosecutors. She was often seen holding Caitlin’s hand, or offering a shoulder for her sister, Lori, to lean on.

  Candace wanted justice. She wanted her sister to be able to rest in peace.

  From the evidence already presented, jurors had seen lacerations, bruises, and scrapes. In all, there were thirty-five wounds covering Kathleen Peterson’s body, and there was the crushed thyroid cartilage Kathleen suffered, which showed attempted strangulation. Before she testified, Candace had been forced to sit through months of testimony that would attempt to exonerate Michael Peterson. She would suffer his endless laughing, his whispered snide remarks, and his angry glares when the jurors weren’t present.

  But now, just after Labor Day weekend, it was her turn.

  Holding the brass fireplace tool in her hands, the blow poke that she herself owned, Candace told the jury that the blow poke had become a “fixture” in Kathleen’s home. Candace said she had bought the tool for herself, and had given the identical item to each of her siblings at Christmas in 1984. Candace had seen the item in her sister’s home over the years; she had even used it, recalling Thanksgiving 1999, when she and her sister decided to light a fire to make things festive as they prepared the holiday dinner.

  Candace showed the jury three pictures of Kathleen’s home, pointing out the blow poke, which was always sitting in the background near the fireplace. Jim Hardin then offered the blow poke to the jurors, so each of them could hold the hollow item. Two of the jurors actually gripped it and swung the blow poke, as if they were pounding something.

  Then Candace, who was fighting back tears, told jurors about a trip that she and her sisters made to Fort Myers, Florida. The family had joined up for a reunion in May 2001. It was a visit to see their mother, Veronica, and Candace and Kathleen were roommates, sharing a bedroom as they had when they were little girls growing up together.

  Candace testified that, while in Florida, she and Kathleen “talked for hours” about their lives, each giving away secrets. During their conversations, Kathleen had talked about the stress she was under at work. Kathleen said she was spending twelve-to-fourteen-hour days at her job, that she was unhappy having to lay off so many employees, and yet she felt she had to “stick it out to the bitter end.” Kathleen confided that she “would not have a job by the end of the year.” She expressed concerns about having to pay college tuition for three children, and she complained that she no longer had any time for herself. She was feeling run-down and having headaches, yet she had no time to go to a doctor. For the first time, ever, Kathleen had confided that she felt exhausted and tired, that she had been drinking and taking Valium because things were so dire at home.

  Kathleen talked about the falling price of Nortel stock, and she explained that she had lost her life’s blood in the stock market. Kathleen talked about the looming expenses at her home, and she admitted she no longer could afford the upkeep. There was water damage from a leaky roof, and also $10,000 in termite damage. There were major plumbing problems, there were bats in the attic, the problems seemed endless, and Kathleen couldn’t afford to fix any of it. Kathleen confided that she wanted a smaller home, but she said Michael wouldn’t consider that possibility.

  Candace told jurors that her sister “felt sick that nothing was turning around” at Nortel, and cried tears about losing over $1 million in stock
prices, which were continuing to fall. Candace explained that she tried to console her sister, that she had suggested that Kathleen look elsewhere for a job. But that didn’t seem to be a viable option for Kathleen. Kathleen had climbed to the top of the ladder at Nortel, and at her age, she felt she wouldn’t be hireable at the same salary elsewhere.

  Hours later, as Candace went through the events surrounding her sister’s death, describing the blood on the walls in the Peterson stairwell, explaining her attempts to clean up the blood, she told jurors about spraying Windex in the stairwell, about her desire to hide the horrific scene from other family members.

  “I found blood running down my arm,” Candace testified, her voice weakening. “I just really remember reaching my arm up and spraying the cat picture.”

  And with that, Candace Zamperini broke down in tears.

  As she sat on the witness stand in her black suit and pearls, the woman tried to compose herself. She made every effort to keep her head held high, but the court had to take a brief recess. Candace found herself being led away by her husband, Mark, and her sister, Lori. She had been whisked out of the courtroom so her tears could no longer be visible.

  When Candace took the stand again, she was grilled by David Rudolf. The attorney asked questions pointing to Candace’s initial belief in her brother-in-law’s innocence. He asked Zamperini to explain why she made statements to police, early on, about what a wonderful marriage her sister Kathleen enjoyed with Michael Peterson.

  But, in her final remarks to the jury, Candace testified that whatever opinion she ever had of Michael Peterson, whatever support she had shown him early on, was a result of misguided thoughts.