This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children.

Listener discretion is advised. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Once Upon a Crime.

One of the most talked about true questions. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Once Upon a Crime.

One of the most talked about true crime documentaries in the early 2000s

was a multi-part series titled The Staircase.

The series followed the trial of Michael Peterson, who was charged with murdering his wife,

Kathline, whom he said had died after falling down the stairs in their North Carolina home.

Investigators quickly surmised that the 48-year-old technology executive had died not from a tragic

slip-and-fall accident, but had been bludgeoned to death by her husband.

The series provided an intimate portrait of a complex murder

mystery and a look into how the lengthy investigation and trial affected

Peterson, his family, and the family and friends of Kathleen.

Because the investigation was plagued with problems from the start,

the trial and subsequent conviction of Michael Peterson was hotly debated,

with some believing him to be a cold-blooded killer, and others thinking he'd

been railroaded by a biased justice department.

Later, an alternate theory was presented, one that many found bizarre and perhaps absurd.

But a new book titled Death by Talons makes a very detailed, researched, and compelling case

for this theory, namely that Kathleen Peterson was not

murdered nor the tragic victim of a common household accident, but rather that her

death was a direct result of an owl attack.

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