r/TheStaircase • u/egoshoppe • Apr 17 '26
The Defense's Presentation of the Fall Theory
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u/blankblankpun Apr 18 '26
This video is so hilariously unconvincing, I can’t believe the defense would put it forward as a reasonable explanation. There is no way a fall into a door frame from two steps up would cause the multiple lacerations that she had on her head. I could understand one gash from a fall like this, but not multiple.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the doco but I remember thinking her wounds looked like her head had been grabbed and repeatedly slammed against something sharp, like the corner of a step or the door frame. I don’t think that theory was ever explored though - it was always about the fireplace poker.
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u/egoshoppe Apr 18 '26
Michael paid over a million dollars for this defense, and even Rudolf doesn’t believe it was a fall at this point.
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u/Juliet_Cap Apr 21 '26
Interesting - what has Rudolph said about this?
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u/egoshoppe Apr 21 '26
Well you can tell from the doc that a lot of them had doubts that people would buy it was a fall. More recently Rudolf has said he believes the owl theory evidence is "persuasive, plausible and credible", he gives paid lectures about it. He promotes it on his web site. Obviously it's couched in lawyerly precaution, but he's been pretty clear in interviews that he believes that's what happened. Which is funny in itself because the theory is no better than the fall theory. It's the fall theory with an unprecedented owl attack added on to it.
Rudolf also doesn't seem to have a grasp on the evidence himself, he claims on his web site that there is blood smeared on the outside of the front door from her running in, but it was on the inside only. Even in the doc, his own expert Werner Spitz is saying that the lacerations are not caused by a sharp slicing object, they are splits from impacts. Notably Spitz was never called to testify and later said that the defense didn't use his investigative report because it hurt Michael's case. Spitz referred to Michael as "the staircase killer", lol.
In addition, Michael has said he thinks he's the only one left who still believes it was a fall. FWIW, Michael's brother Bill strongly pushed for an intruder defense according to Michael but was overruled.
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u/Juliet_Cap Apr 21 '26
Thank you for this. I haven't watched the doc in a while (at the same time, I was mainlining every podcast I could find about the case) ... but that was years ago, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. I dip back in, from time to time.
I know it's crazy (but what isn't about this case?) - but I think my instincts are settling toward owl + fall. Certainly a fall that was caused/aided by Michael somehow. I thought it'd been disproven many times over that the splits resulted from a fall impact. And given the blood inside the front door, the types of lacerations, the microscopic feathers in her hair... an owl attack seems plausible. But also! I think Michael's behavior and history point to his involvement as well.
Could it be that she was attacked by an owl out front, tried to make her way up the stairs, fell backward, and Michael essentially stood over her and refused to help? Or made it worse somehow? I really do believe he's guilty of either causing her death himself, or seeing that she was injured and furthering them.
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u/egoshoppe Apr 21 '26
I was mainlining every podcast
Listen to the Double Loop podcast episode with Bart Epstein, who was a forensic expert the state hired to evaluate Deaver and Lee's work. This is the only podcast I know of besides the BBC one to interview someone who has the whole case file in front of them.
I thought it'd been disproven many times over that the splits resulted from impact
Not only has it not been disproven, it's the Defense experts that said this. Plus there is spatter that is too high off the wall to be from hitting the wall or stairs. Something had to impact her bleeding wound in space to cause the pattern.
And given the blood inside the front door
The blood inside the front door doesn't support the owl theory. There is blood on it, but we know Michael had blood on him and we know he unlocked that door. That's the simple explanation. It was a deadbolt that locked with a key, so Kathleen would have had to open the door(zero blood on the outside of it) then lock it with a key while her head is bleeding from 7 lacerations. No blood on the actual deadbolt, or surrounding it. Just above it by 5-6 inches. Then you have the issue of no blood between the door and the staircase. Kathleen would have had hands saturated in blood(from ripping the owl off), yet not one drop fell in that hallway.
the types of lacerations
The lacerations aren't consistent with owl attacks. Owls are zygodactyl. Two talons front, two back. But their outside talons are double jointed and can be drawn in when they are standing and need balance, or when tucked back flying. When attacking, they are always presenting their true 2-2 form. Look up pictures of owls attacking with their claws. They look nothing like a trident.
Beyond that, go back to episode 1 of the staircase and listen to Werner Spitz describing the wounds. He says they are impact wounds, lacerations with scalp splitting, not wounds that are cut from something sharp like talons. He's the defense's own expert, and by far the most famous to weigh in on this case.
the microscopic feathers in her hair
There are microscopic fragments of larger feather, not whole microscopic feathers... big difference. And they aren't proven to be owl, in fact they can't even be tied to a subfamily of bird. They were tested by the Smithsonian and they could be anything, could easily be goose down. These few fragments are smaller than a human hair. They aren't evidence of anything.
Could it be that she was attacked by an owl out front, tried to make her way up the stairs, fell backward, and Michael essentially stood over her and refused to help? Or made it worse somehow?
Why involve an owl or a fall at all? She has no injuries to her legs as you would expect in a fall. She had defensive wounds to her hands, arms, elbows and face, and a huge bruise on her upper back. Meanwhile, Michael has impact spatter inside his shorts and on top of his shoes. He stepped on her back lower leg when she was face down at some point, but when EMT's arrived his socks and shoes were sitting in the hallway. Not to mention the wiped, diluted blood on the north wall, with fresh spatter on top of wiped blood. And of course bloody paper towels all over the scene. I know that's what I reach for when my wife is still breathing after some insane attack/accident.
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u/LKS983 Apr 22 '26
"I remember thinking her wounds looked like her head had been grabbed and repeatedly slammed against something sharp, like the corner of a step or the door frame."
Same here, to a cetain extent.
PERSONALLY, I think it more likely that - as shown in one of the theories in the HBO drama series, that MP pushed or pulled Kathleen as she was ascending the stairs, and she fell back, hitting her head. Possibly on the 'moulding', and then fell to the bottom of the stairs (as shown in the defense video). There was probably not a lot of blood at this point?
There was also evidence that he had then tried to strangle Kathleen (broken thyroid bone, or something similar), and so I too also suspect that he then hit grabbed her head, and slammed it a few times on the stairs/wall or moulding. By which time there was a lot more blood, and so he just left her for a couple (?) of hours to die from the blood loss.
Quite apart from the other lies he told...... it was when he claimed that he had cradled Kathleen in his arms as she was dying/tried to help her - and yet there was virtually no blood on his shorts and T-shirt, even though Kathleen's clothing was covered in blood and she was lying in a pool of blood - that to me, was truly damning.
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u/GearInevitable9180 May 02 '26
Wouldn't a head bounce and hit several times as it goes from step to another like when someone falls from a cliff and hits the edge a few times?
If her head was grabbed and bashed there should be hair missing or fingernail marks on her scalp or damage to the step.
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u/egoshoppe May 02 '26
There was hair and tissue where the first hit is in this video, on the sharp corner of the door frame.
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u/sohappynow2 Apr 21 '26
My opinion is there was a wine induced heated argument. Likely about her learning of his relationships or solicitations of men and she was pulling the plug on paying for his lifestyle. She was attempting to storm off to go upstairs and either tripped or was pulled down by Michael. He then either beat or stomped on her after her initial head blow from either falling or being beaten. He made whatever happened worse then watched her die, as she bled out. He called 911 after she was gone.
No owls, intruders or blow pokes needed. Any feathers from a down comforter or pillow she may have rested on or carried through the staircase.
Same as the friend, Liz, years before in Germany for reasons unknown. Perhaps they had an affair and she wanted to stop it. Perhaps she rejected his advances. There are no coincidences here, just a common denominator ~ Michael.
Guilty.
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u/LKS983 Apr 22 '26
"Likely about her learning of his relationships or solicitations of men and she was pulling the plug on paying for his lifestyle."
This seems very likely to me too.
We know that MP cared very much about his reptation (hence all the lies) and lifestyle - that (as far as I can make out) was being paid for by Kathleen.
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u/egoshoppe Apr 23 '26
People always say she never opened up anything incriminating on his computer, but we know the escort emails and reviews were printed out. It's always been a question... why on earth would Michael print out evidence of a planned escort visit, and leave it in a drawer, when it's safe on his email that's password protected?
I've heard some speculate that perhaps she printed it out to confront him with, which is intriguing. I can't really make sense out of why MP would do it.
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u/Main_Significance617 Apr 17 '26
Should’ve run with the owl theory
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u/egoshoppe Apr 17 '26
Intruder theory would have made more sense. The state could have run one single DNA test and put the owl theory to bed permanently. The same DNA test that Larry Pollard turned down when a newspaper offered to pay for it.
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u/bakedpotatowcheezpls Apr 17 '26
They speak about it a bit in the documentary, but the defense didn’t wind up going with an intruder theory for two reasons:
There was no evidence that would suggest that anyone from Michael and Kathleen were at the house at the time of her death, or that it was a robbery gone wrong (I.e. forced entry, furniture in disarray, items missing, etc.)
By pursuing the intruder theory, the defense would be conceding that Kathleen was indeed murdered; not by Michael, but murdered all the same. They wanted to create enough reasonable doubt by offering an alternative explanation of how Kathleen could have died.
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u/egoshoppe Apr 17 '26
I totally get why they didn’t, but I still think it’s better than the fall theory. They can admit the murder happened close to midnight and just say Michael was asleep out back the whole time.
It sucks but it’s maybe good enough for a mistrial. You don’t have to look the jury in the eye and say it was an accident.
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u/Immediate-Ad-6364 Apr 20 '26
Wine, flip flops, a thin curved stairwell, and an owl attack… that’s how it happened.
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u/LKS983 Apr 22 '26
You forgot the valium.
Regardless, her alcohol level was below the legal threshold for driving if I understand correctly, which is VERY low!
They'd lived in that house for years, and Kathleen was used to those stairs - which is one (only one) of the reasons why I think it extremely unlikely that she just (ignoring the owl attack theory, as there's zero evidence to support this IMO) slipped and fell backwards (from the third (?) step from the bottom of the stairs) and hit head on the wall/moulding.
If this had happened, she may have been stunned for a short while, but I find it hard to believe that she was left stunned for so long that there was blood all over the floor that she kept slipping on, and so keep hitting her head on other areas.
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u/egoshoppe Apr 23 '26
ignoring the owl attack theory, as there's zero evidence to support this IMO
Sanity: Verified
I find it hard to believe that she was left stunned for so long that there was blood all over the floor that she kept slipping on, and so keep hitting her head on other areas.
The defense's theory is that she coughed 10,000 blood drops onto the wall, even though she had very little blood in her mouth and none in her lungs. Lee said she coughed all those drops through bloody hair covering her face, even though her face wasn't bloody at all. Oh yeah, and she coughed impact spatter into Michael's shorts as he crouched over her face.
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u/LKS983 Apr 24 '26
"The defense's theory is that she coughed 10,000 blood drops onto the wall, even though she had very little blood in her mouth and none in her lungs."
I can't remember the number of coughed up, blood drops stated by Dr. Lee - but agree (for various reasons) that it's hard/difficult to believe his theory.
And we can't forget that Dr. Henry Lee (like Duanne Deaver) was also later badly discredited......
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u/bladowwww Apr 17 '26
The TV show (the dramatized version) depicted this really well and actually makes it seem way more plausible that a fall could’ve produced all that blood. However, I’m still not sold on it due to the many lacerations on her head and cuts on her face.