But that summation fails to capture the enduring appeal of a case that yielded one gothic, head-turning twist after another. Fifteen years later, after a massive forensics scandal led to his original conviction getting overturned, he would enter an Alford plea, a plea of technical guilt while maintaining his innocence, in exchange for his freedom. Michael Peterson was first convicted of her murder in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison. The Staircase’s central question - who or what killed Kathleen Peterson? - has technically been answered. Two follow-up episodes on the case were filmed in 2011, with three more following in 2017, when the full series was finally released on Netflix. Initially released in 2004 with eight episodes, the series became an acclaimed sleeper hit within the true crime community before gaining wider popularity amid the post- Serial true crime boom. Durham police promptly charged Michael Peterson with Kathleen’s murder.Ī few months later, a French documentary team arrived to film the course of Peterson’s trial, little knowing they were about to witness one of the wildest cases on record and create an iconic true crime documentary series: The Staircase. On a chilly December night in 2001, novelist Michael Peterson found his wife, Nortel executive Kathleen Peterson, lying covered in blood at the foot of a narrow stairwell in their Durham, North Carolina mansion.
