Michael Peterson & the Staircase Murder

Killer Psyche

Wondery | Treefort Media

True Crime, Exhibit C

4.6 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Retired FBI agent and criminal profiler Candice DeLong examines the puzzling and polarizing case of Michael Peterson, the novelist accused of murdering his wife, Kathleen, after she was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home in 2001. What at first appeared to be a tragic fall quickly unraveled into a complex investigation filled with secrets, lies, and stunning revelations about Peterson’s past – and his double life. Candice investigates how Peterson’s narcissistic need for admiration and control may have been the psychological undercurrent that led to his undoing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Killer Psychey fans, curious what makes a killer tip?
0:04.3	Wondery Plus gets you early access, exclusive episodes with even deeper dives, and zero ads.
0:11.9	Start your free trial of Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:19.0	A listener note, this episode contains adult content and is not suitable for everyone.
0:25.5	Please be advised.
0:31.0	In Robert Lewis Stevenson's classic, the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the most unsettling
0:42.9	idea is not that one man has two sides. It is that he can live both of them at the same time.
0:52.7	By day, Dr. Jkkel is respectable, polished.
0:57.7	By night, he becomes Mr. Hyde, violent, unrecognizable, but no less real.
1:07.0	Now picture that duality not in Victorian London, but in a large suburban home in Durham, North Carolina.
1:15.5	Michael Peterson was a man with a charming smile, a decorated bookshelf, and the perfect family,
1:23.2	who also happened to be the last person to see not one, but two women alive before they died violently at the bottom of a staircase.
1:35.9	You have likely heard his name, and you may have heard his story.
1:40.9	It has been dissected in documentaries, dramatized on HBO, and debated for more than two
1:48.2	decades. And Peterson has spent several years trying to reshape the narrative, turning
1:55.4	murder into a media campaign. Michael Peterson wants the world to think that he is just a doting husband crushed by unimaginable
2:06.2	tragedy.
2:07.7	He claimed that his wife Kathleen fell, but the evidence told a different story.
2:15.1	In reality, he is a man who used his intellect, privilege, and performance to live in plain
2:23.4	sight, after committing the unthinkable.
2:28.5	And like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, when you live a double life long enough, eventually one of them catches up with you.
2:41.3	Whether you're starting or scaling your company's security program, demonstrating top-notch
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