GUILTY NC - Kathleen Peterson, 48, found dead in her Durham home, 9 Dec 2001

What sale?

 

In America, is it compulsory to state a murder took place in a property when for up sale the first time since the crime happened?

 

Each State has different laws. In Florida, we do not.

 

A medium and psychic currently owns the house. I believe the attached link says that she bought it for $1.3 million. Who knew that line of work would be so lucrative...
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article244078042.html

eta: I see that other members have posted this information, too!

 

No way would I want to live in that house!!

 

The lacerations cause my head to spin about what really happened.

I think there is no way on earth that the lacerations were caused by the blow poke. I also find the blow poke to be a very specific and very bizarre choice of nominated murder weapon.

Laceration.....basically a splitting of the skin due to traumatic force. What was the force behind it though? As mentioned, something like a blow poke would be sure to leave bruising, fracture, etc.

So what could cause the laceration? On one hand, it could be argued that her head was split in certain places when met with the force of falling down the stairs, which still seems like a lot of bruising would be there. So if it was not a blow poke type weapon, could it have been a belt?

Whipping her on her head with a belt would not only hide bruising, but would more than likely cause laceration.

Last semi-idea....if she coughed blood at the bottom of the staircase, could it be because of internal injuries caused before she was pushed, or fell, down the stairs?

 

Thanks! I skimmed the article and missed that.

 

Wasn't it established that there was no blood in her airways or in her mouth during the autopsy? Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.I'm not going by what Dr.Henry Lee said about her spitting blood up.

 

I honestly cannot remember, very good questions.

 

I live in the neighborhood. The house is on three acres and land near downtown Durham has gotten very desirable for builders. It is a common assumption in our neighborhood that it will be purchased by a developer. The house is said to be in poor repair and many think it will be torn down. They could easily put 24 units on the land, perhaps more, and large condos/townhouses in the area are selling for $800k+.

 

Yes, the autopsy showed that. Dr Lee's theory was that the blood came from the lacerations, into Kathleen's mouth, so that when she was breathing out/coughing out spluttering etc is what caused the small multiple blood splatter.

 

I live in the neighborhood. Yes, we have owls. No, they do not fly into peoples' houses and attack them. This whole owl theory was dreamed up by the looniest of the loooniest neighbor in the neighborhood. It is not to be believed.

 

Oh, and the house was indeed bought by a developer.

 

Hmmmm. How 'bout that? Infill, infill, infill.

Re the owls -- I live approx. 30 miles from Durham, and we have owls here as well. They don't swoop down on people in houses; in fact, they don't come near houses; they sit in trees, looking for dinner -- a rabbit, or squirrel, or mouse.
A people-murdering owl -- you're absolutely right -- fuhgeddaboudit.

 

I agree, and would like to add:

Wouldn't there be like....I dunno....a feather somewhere? At least one?

I also highly doubt the owl would have committed a murder and fled the scene through the window immediately.

 

Hear, hear, @lonewanderer -- you said it. Where are the feathers?
And yeah, he would have been banging against the windows in a panic to get out, and he probably would've died trying.
Nope. Still not buying that one.
And every neighborhood has a nut, right?

 

Oh, ok..

 

To be fair, there was a feather which is why this story ever got any attention at all. Apparently it's really common to have feathers in our hair if we've been outside. They never ruled out any type of feather, it could even have been a feather from a pillow. A friend of mine in the office that did the investigation says that finding feathers is so routine that no one ever bothers to mention it. Ever since this story broke, I've become super conscious of feathers drifting down from trees, and now I notice them all the time.

 

That's cool info, @Skigirl -- Thanks!
It adds to the near-legendary reputation of this whole event.

 

I thought the same thing! How would he know she fell down the stairs when first looking at that scene? I feel like she found his emails, she brought it up and they got in a fight outside, they both went inside during the fight, and both went upstairs. Maybe he actually pushed her down the stairs and then finished her off (with what I’m still not sure), and then restaged the scene which would explain why the blood was dry.