Elizabeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of her staircase on Nov. 25, 1985; the death was initially ruled natural after a cerebral hemorrhage led to a fall. Sixteen years later, similarities between Ratliff’s injuries and those sustained by Michael Peterson’s wife Kathleen prompted prosecutors to exhume Ratliff’s body and order a second autopsy, which described injuries inconsistent with a simple fall. No charges were filed in the 1985 death, but the comparison helped shape the prosecution’s case against Peterson in 2003; his conviction was later vacated and he ultimately entered an Alford plea in 2017, resulting in his release.
Friend Found Dead at Bottom of Stairs in 1985 — Same Pattern Revisited After Michael Peterson’s Wife’s Death
Michael Peterson in court in August 2003; a photo of Elizabeth Ratliff in Peterson's 2003 trialCredit: AP Photo/Chuck Liddy; AP photo by Sara Davis
Elizabeth "Betty" Ratliff, a close friend of Michael Peterson, was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her German home on Nov. 25, 1985. Her death — initially attributed to a cerebral hemorrhage that caused a fall — resurfaced in public attention years later when Peterson’s second wife, Kathleen Peterson, was found fatally injured at the bottom of a staircase in 2001.
Cheryl Appel-Schumacher holds a photo of Elizabeth Ratliff in August 2003Credit: AP photo by Sara Davis
Background
Ratliff lived in Germany in the 1980s with her husband, George Ratliff, and their two young daughters, Margaret and Martha. She worked as a teacher at a U.S. Department of Defense school. After George’s sudden death in 1983 during a military operation, Elizabeth grew close to Michael and his first wife, Patricia "Patty." According to the 2004 documentary series The Staircase, Peterson often spent evenings with Ratliff and her children; he has maintained that the relationship was platonic.
Defense attorney David Rudolf holds up an illustration of a section of Elizabeth Ratliff's brain during Michael Peterson's murder trial in 2003Credit: AP Photo/Bill Willcox
1985 Death and Initial Investigation
On the morning of Nov. 25, 1985, Ratliff, then 43, was found at the foot of her stairs. Investigators initially ruled the cause of death a cerebral hemorrhage that led to a fall, and the death was recorded as natural. Friends later said Ratliff had complained of headaches. One friend, Cheryl Appel-Schumacher, testified at a later trial that she and her husband cleaned extensive blood at the scene after Ratliff’s body was moved.
The Peterson Family.Credit: Netflix
"There was blood splatter all over those walls. How much, I can't say. The blood was all the way up the staircase."— Cheryl Appel-Schumacher, testimony
Reexamination During Peterson’s Trial
Sixteen years later, when Michael Peterson was tried for the death of his wife Kathleen, prosecutors argued similarities between Kathleen’s and Ratliff’s deaths could not be dismissed as coincidental. Ratliff’s body was exhumed from its Texas burial site and a North Carolina medical examiner conducted a second autopsy. Dr. Deborah L. Radisch concluded that Ratliff’s injuries were "inconsistent with a fall down a set of stairs" and more consistent with multiple blunt-force impacts to the head.
Elizabeth Ratliff's sister Margaret Blair at Peterson's trial in 2003Credit: AP photo by Sara Davis
Legal Outcome and Controversies
Despite the second autopsy and the prosecution’s theory, no criminal charges were filed in connection with Ratliff’s 1985 death. In the 2003 trial for Kathleen Peterson’s death, prosecutors used the alleged similarities to bolster their case; a jury convicted Michael Peterson of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life without parole. That conviction was later vacated when a judge found that key forensic testimony by an SBI agent, Duane Deaver, was misleading. In February 2017, Peterson entered an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter — acknowledging prosecutors likely had enough evidence for a conviction without admitting guilt — and was resentenced to time served and released.
Michael Peterson at his 2003 trialCredit: AP Photo/Chuck Liddy
Family Impact and Public Attention
Ratliff’s daughters were toddlers (ages 2 and 1) when she died. Peterson took them in, later adopting them and raising them as his own; they publicly referred to him as their father and supported him through legal proceedings. Family members of Ratliff expressed lingering doubts about the original investigation. Her sister Rosemary Kelloway testified that she sought justice for both women, and another sister, Margaret Blair, recounted being told Ratliff’s fall produced only a small amount of blood — a claim at odds with other recollections.
The case has remained in the public eye through documentaries such as the 2004 series The Staircase and the 2022 film Subject (produced by Ratliff’s daughter Margaret), which examine both the criminal case and the ethical questions surrounding documentary coverage of real-life tragedies.
Current Status
Forensic reexamination raised troubling questions, but no suspect has ever been charged in Ratliff’s 1985 death. The overlap between the two deaths remained a central element of the narrative in the broader Peterson saga, which included conviction, appeals, a vacated verdict, and the eventual Alford plea and release.
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