Netflix's 'The Staircase': My Thoughts + Theories

If you keep up with me, you know how much I’m into true crime. To be honest, it’s almost all I watch and keep up with entertainment-wise! I completed the docu-series “The Staircase” on Netflix last week and it’s had me thinking ever since, so I thought I’d try out the concept of dedicating a post to it here on my blog to share thoughts and theories with those of you that may also be interested. Keep reading for what I think about the Peterson case, some theories that are out there, some great videos and articles I’ve found, and if I think Micheal really did it or not.

SPOILER ALERT!

I’m talking about the entire case and series from beginning to end, so if you haven’t watched it all yet and don’t want to know how it ends, you’ve been warned! You can get a taste of what the series is by watching the trailer above and you can always come back to this post after you’ve seen everything to join in on the conversation.

INITIAL THOUGHTS

For someone who keeps up with murder cases on a large scale all the time, I was so surprised this was one I hadn’t really heard about. I do recall some stair-fall cases I’ve seen, but I don’t think this was one of them. I saw the trailer for it on Netflix and knew instantly it was going to be my next binge, hugely because it’s from the same creators of Making a Murdered and The Keepers, which I loved so much. They’re two other documentary series I got SUPER into that you need to watch if you haven’t already! I went into this series with no prior knowledge of the case and an open mind of how everything went down and who was guilty of the crime, if anyone.

From the second I saw the crime scene photos, I thought there’s no way this guy isn’t guilty! Hearing how he described the night and seeing how much blood these really was, I couldn’t fathom how it could possibly be the result of just a fall down the stairs. She looked beaten to me, so that’s what I believed as they began describing the case.

Nothing really stood out to me about the 911 call, however, it’s hard for me to fully accept the timeline. He claims he was smoking a pipe outside while Kathleen was inside, but it was December and he was in shorts. Some people wear shorts year round I guess, but for 45 minutes outside at 2 a.m.? It’s a little fishy to me. And he didn’t hear a single thing? It’s possible, but makes me wonder. How long was she really laying there?! I craved more info and clarity.

MICHAEL’S CREDIBILITY

I think the discovery of him being bi-sexual is an irrelevant detail, though it does discredit his credibility when it comes to honesty. I don’t believe for one second that his wife knew he was soliciting sex online, though I think he claimed she did at one point. I think it’s definitely possible (and probably likely) she knew he was bi, but I think that’s as far as it went. This didn’t give him any reason to kill her in my eyes, but I can see how the jury thought he may be unreliable.

ELIZABETH RATLIFF

Wow, wasn’t this a wrench in the fire. Two women in his life found dead at the bottom of the staircase…? THIS LOOKS TERRIBLE. This family needs to stay away from stairs! Honestly, if I were his children, especially Elizabeth’s daughters who lost two mothers to “stair falls,” I would never buy a house with stairs. If this is just a coincidence, it’s a terrible one. I get why the prosecution included this in the trial because it’s definitely incriminating to Michael, but I lean toward thinking this event was an accident. Though the fact that he was included in her will and she signed her children off to him if anything ever happened to her does raise some eyebrows.

THE CONVICTION + AFTERMATH

I chose not to Google this case because while watching it because I didn’t want to know what the result of the trial would be until I got to it. I’m not going to lie to you guys, I was honestly shocked that he was convicted. I’m probably the only person out there that was, but I truly didn’t think they had enough concrete evidence against him. Watching his children’ reactions was so sad and I truly felt sorry for him and his family. This documentary was made by people who seemed to believe in his innocence so I’m aware that some things may be skewed, but I was more convinced of his innocence as the documentary continued. I’m not positive he’s innocent and so many things still make no sense to me, but that’s the side I lean on.

Regardless if he’s guilty or not, it was so sad to see how much he aged over those eight years in jail and how much of his children’s lives he missed out on. If he truly is innocent, it’s tragic to think he can never make up for that lost time. I think taking the Alfred plea was the way to go, but I would have loved to see how a second trial would have went. I love the insight Judge Hudson and Attorney Rudolf gave reflecting on the trial and how things may have changed if there were a second one.

THINGS THEY DIDN’T MENTION + OTHER THEORIES

I didn’t realize how much debt they were truly in, and if it was mentioned in the show, I didn’t catch it. Seriously, their money issues are stress me out — I don’t know how they lived like that! For how much money Kathleen was worth alive, it’s hard for me to believe money would be any kind of motive for her death. I know money can make people do crazy things, but in my opinion, her life insurance policy wasn’t big enough to push someone to murder her. Michael pretty much lost everything (the house included) due to their debt and spending every dime he had on his case, so he really didn’t get any financial benefit from it.

I mentioned to my mom that she should watch this series and she ended up finishing the whole thing before I did! She looked into the case further online and opened my eyes to some other theories that are out there, the most interesting being the owl theory. If you haven’t heard, check out this video.

Why did no one ever mention the feathers during the documentary or trial?! As crazy as this sounds, it’s a possibility and I wish people would have looked into it further. Also… if I wasn’t afraid of owls before, I certainly am now. Yikes. Though the owl theory could make some elements of her death make more since, there are still a lot of gaps to be filled. Personally, if a bird attached itself to my head, I’d be screaming bloody murder and I can only image Kathleen would have done the same. If that’s the case, wouldn’t Michael have heard her if it occurred outside? There were blood droplets found outside that no one has really talked about, and an attack outdoors would make sense as to why they’re there.

If you’d like to hear more aspects of the case that aren’t sourced from a documentary like “The Staircase” that leans more toward Michael’s innocence, check out theses articles and videos below:

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What are your thoughts on this case? I’d love to hear what you think really happened in the comments! If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more in the future, please do let me know because I’d be happy to do more of these — I just thought this would be something fun and different to share here on my blog. Thanks so much for reading!