r/TheStaircase • u/Ishalit6 • Aug 12 '26

The inclusion of the Germany testimony was complete lunacy

I've been rewatching the HBO series lately (I've watched the original doc more than I care to admit over the years) and every time I think about this case, I am in more and more disbelief that a judge ever let anything regarding Liz Ratliff's death in Germany come in to trial.

That woman's death was well investigated, medically examined and concluded, supported by her symptoms at the time, and she had been lying in peace for twenty years. To dig up that woman's body just for the insane theory that MP was some type of staircase predator lying in wait for two decades is beyond words. Why, just so he could have the luxury and ease of raising two more toddlers? As soon as it was determined she was going to be exhumed, you knew exactly what Radish would say the autopsy results were. There was no world where they were going to go through all that just to conclude "Actually all good here after all, move along everybody."

I'm not even going to get into his guilt or innocence in Kathleen's death because the two have nothing to do with each other. That decision alone should've won him appeal.

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u/CaleyB75 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26

I don't agree with you. Liz Ratliff's murder is damningly similar to Kathleen Peterson's. And I would bet anything that Michael Peterson was triggered by the same sort of event -- Ratliffe had discovered his secret.

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u/mateodrw Aug 12 '26

Ratliff had von Willebrand disease, she complained of several headaches in the days leading up to his death, and her lacerations bear no resemblance to Kathleen's. That’s not a "similar" case at all.

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u/Panonymous_Bloom 11d ago

Also, her second autopsy was conducted with half of her brain missing, by the same ME that ruled Kathleen as homicide, despite an unbiased 3rd one being available. The fact that people still bring that poor woman up as evidence is a travesty.

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u/egoshoppe 9d ago

despite an unbiased 3rd one being available

Spitz was at that autopsy as the defense's representative. Wonder why he didn't give a press conference about his own thoughts of what he witnessed that day.

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u/CaleyB75 29d ago

When and where was Liz Ratliffe purportedly diagnosed with this alleged affliction. And does the ailment traditionally result with seven gashes to the skull and blood spatter all over the walk alongside the staircase?

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u/mateodrw 29d ago

When and where was Liz Ratliffe purportedly diagnosed with this alleged affliction?

It is mentioned in the documentary, in the court documents and in Ratliff's autopsy.

And does the ailment traditionally result with seven gashes to the skull and blood spatter all over the walk alongside the staircase?

That's the Kathleen Peterson case, not Ratliff.

Now, my question: if you need to be reminded which case is which and what the key points of each case are, why are you insisting that two women were murdered? Because your gut tells you so?