Elizabeth Ratliff’s Daughters Still Defend Michael Peterson

TLDR: Elizabeth Ratliff died at the bottom of a staircase in Germany in 1985. Michael Peterson adopted her two daughters. Eighteen years later, prosecutors exhumed her body and found seven scalp lacerations identical to Kathleen Peterson’s injuries. Margaret and Martha Ratliff watched their mother’s body get dug up on camera. They still call Michael Peterson “Dad.”

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On November 25, 1985, Elizabeth Ratliff was found dead at the bottom of a staircase in her home in Graufenhausen, Germany.

She was 43 years old, a widow raising two young daughters alone. German authorities performed an autopsy and ruled the death natural causes, a cerebral hemorrhage.

Her close friend Michael Peterson helped arrange the funeral and later adopted her daughters, Margaret and Martha.

Eighteen years later, in April 2003, Durham prosecutors exhumed Elizabeth’s body as part of Michael Peterson’s murder trial for killing his second wife, Kathleen.

The second autopsy revealed something the German doctors had missed: Elizabeth Ratliff had seven deep lacerations to her scalp.

The exact same number, in the exact same pattern, as Kathleen Peterson.

Dr. Deborah Radisch, the medical examiner, concluded that Elizabeth Ratliff’s death was a homicidal assault, not a natural death.

Margaret and Martha Ratliff, now adults, watched prosecutors dig up their mother’s body. They saw the autopsy findings presented in court. They heard the statistical analysis showing the impossibility of two women Michael Peterson knew well both dying from identical staircase falls.

And they continued to defend him.

As of 2026, over 40 years after their mother’s death, Margaret and Martha Ratliff still call Michael Peterson their father. They have never wavered in their support.

This is their story.

Elizabeth Ratliff: The First Staircase Death

Elizabeth McKee was born in 1942 and grew up in Rhode Island. She met George Ratliff while he was serving in the U.S. Army, and they married in the early 1970s.

George was a career military officer, and the couple was stationed in Germany during the Cold War. They had two daughters: Margaret, born around 1981, and Martha, born around 1983.

In 1983, George Ratliff died suddenly of a heart attack while stationed in Germany. He was only in his early 40s.

Elizabeth was left to raise two young daughters alone in a foreign country.

The Ratliffs had become close friends with Michael and Patricia Peterson, who were also living in Germany at the time. Michael Peterson was working as a Department of Defense contractor and novelist.

The families spent significant time together. The Peterson boys, Clayton and Todd, played with Margaret and Martha. Michael and his first wife Patty helped Elizabeth navigate life as a military widow in Germany.

On the evening of November 25, 1985, Elizabeth hosted a dinner party. Michael Peterson was among the guests.

Later that night, Elizabeth was found dead at the bottom of her staircase.

The Night of November 25, 1985

The circumstances of Elizabeth Ratliff’s death were strikingly similar to what would happen to Kathleen Peterson 16 years later.

Elizabeth was found at the bottom of a narrow staircase in her home. There was a significant amount of blood.

Michael Peterson was one of the last people to see her alive. He had been at her home that evening for the dinner party.

A neighbor, Karin Hamm, later told prosecutors she saw Michael Peterson leaving Elizabeth’s house very early in the morning, around the time Elizabeth likely died.

German authorities investigated the death. They performed an autopsy and concluded Elizabeth had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, a natural death. They noted she had been taking medication and had complained of severe headaches in the days before her death.

The death was ruled accidental. No criminal investigation followed.

Margaret was 4 years old. Martha was 2.

Michael Peterson Becomes Their Father

After Elizabeth’s death, Michael and Patty Peterson took custody of Margaret and Martha.

There were no other immediate family members in Germany who could care for the girls. Elizabeth’s parents were elderly and in poor health back in the United States.

The Petersons formally adopted Margaret and Martha, bringing them into a blended family that already included Michael’s two biological sons, Clayton and Todd.

The family eventually moved back to the United States and settled in Durham, North Carolina, where Michael pursued his writing career.

By all accounts, Margaret and Martha were raised as full members of the Peterson family. They called Michael and Patty “Mom” and “Dad.”

When Michael and Patty divorced in the mid-1990s, the girls remained close to both of them.

When Michael married Kathleen Hunt in 1997, Margaret and Martha gained another mother figure and a new sister, Caitlin Atwater, Kathleen’s daughter from her first marriage.

The blended Peterson household at 1810 Cedar Street in Durham consisted of five children: Clayton, Todd, Margaret, Martha, and Caitlin.

For over a decade, this family functioned as a cohesive unit.

Then, on December 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of a staircase.

The Second Staircase Death

When Kathleen Peterson died, Margaret was around 20 years old and Martha was around 18.

Neither was living at home full-time. They were away at college but returned to Durham after Kathleen’s death.

Like their siblings, Margaret and Martha initially believed their stepmother’s death was a tragic accident.

When Michael was indicted for first-degree murder in December 2001, all five children stood by him publicly. They appeared together as a united front, supporting their father against what they believed were false accusations.

But as the investigation progressed, prosecutors began to notice something disturbing.

Two women Michael Peterson knew well had both died at the bottom of staircases. Both deaths had initially been ruled accidents or natural causes. Both involved significant amounts of blood.

Prosecutors requested permission to exhume Elizabeth Ratliff’s body.

April 2003: The Exhumation

In April 2003, eighteen years after Elizabeth Ratliff’s burial, her body was exhumed from Bay City, Texas, where she had been laid to rest near family.

Margaret and Martha opposed the exhumation. They viewed it as a violation of their mother’s remains and an unnecessary trauma.

But they had no legal standing to block it. The exhumation was ordered by the court as part of the evidence-gathering process for Michael Peterson’s trial.

The French documentary crew filming The Staircase captured footage of the exhumation process and the emotional toll it took on the family.

Dr. Deborah Radisch, the same medical examiner who had performed Kathleen Peterson’s autopsy, conducted the second examination of Elizabeth Ratliff’s remains.

What she found was shocking.

Elizabeth Ratliff had seven deep lacerations to her scalp, identical in number and pattern to Kathleen Peterson’s injuries.

There were no skull fractures. No significant brain bruising. Just the external scalp wounds.

Dr. Radisch concluded that Elizabeth Ratliff’s death was not a cerebral hemorrhage. It was a homicidal assault.

The German autopsy from 1985 had missed these injuries entirely, or they had been misinterpreted as consequences of the fall rather than the cause of death.

The Trial Testimony

During Michael Peterson’s 2003 trial, prosecutors presented the Elizabeth Ratliff evidence as proof of a pattern.

They argued that Michael had killed Elizabeth in Germany in 1985 and gotten away with it because German authorities had ruled it a natural death.

Eighteen years later, he used the same method to kill Kathleen.

The prosecution presented testimony from Karin Hamm, the German neighbor who claimed she saw Michael leaving Elizabeth’s house in the early morning hours.

They presented Dr. Radisch’s findings showing the identical injury patterns.

They presented statistical analysis showing that accidental stairway deaths almost never result in more than one or two scalp lacerations, let alone seven.

The defense fought back hard. They argued that the exhumation was scientifically questionable because the body had been embalmed and buried for 18 years.

They brought in their own experts who disputed Dr. Radisch’s conclusions.

They suggested the German autopsy was correct and Elizabeth had died of natural causes.

Throughout the trial, Margaret and Martha sat in the courtroom supporting Michael.

They watched prosecutors argue that their adoptive father had murdered their biological mother.

And they never wavered.

The Statistical Impossibility

During the trial, Dr. Deborah Radisch presented a study of 287 stairway deaths in North Carolina.

Of the 29 cases involving individuals in Elizabeth and Kathleen’s age range, none had more than three scalp lacerations.

None had the specific pattern of seven distinct impacts.

The probability of two women Michael Peterson knew well both dying from accidental stairway falls with identical injury patterns was astronomical.

Forensic experts testified that the similarities were so striking they could not be explained by coincidence.

Both women were found at the bottom of narrow staircases.

Both had seven scalp lacerations.

Both had significant blood at the scene.

Both deaths were initially ruled accidents or natural causes.

And Michael Peterson was the last person known to see both women alive.

Why Margaret and Martha Still Believe Him

The psychological complexity of Margaret and Martha’s situation cannot be overstated.

They lost their biological father, George Ratliff, to a sudden heart attack when they were toddlers.

They lost their biological mother, Elizabeth Ratliff, when they were 2 and 4 years old.

Michael Peterson became the only father they ever really knew. He raised them from early childhood. He paid for their education. He was there for every milestone.

To accept that Michael killed their mother would require them to rewrite their entire life narrative.

It would mean their entire childhood was built on a lie. That the man who tucked them in at night, who attended their school plays, who walked them down the aisle, was the person who murdered their mother and then adopted them to avoid suspicion.

Psychologists who study family dynamics in homicide cases describe this as an extreme form of cognitive dissonance.

The human mind will go to extraordinary lengths to avoid processing information that threatens core beliefs about safety and identity.

For Margaret and Martha, believing Michael is innocent is not just about loyalty. It is about psychological survival.

The Family Fracture

The Peterson case shattered the blended family that had functioned as a unit for over a decade.

When Caitlin Atwater filed her wrongful death lawsuit against Michael in 2002, she became estranged from all four of her step-siblings.

Margaret and Martha viewed Caitlin’s lawsuit as a betrayal of their father.

Caitlin viewed their continued support of Michael as a betrayal of her mother, Kathleen.

As of 2026, over 20 years later, they have not reconciled.

Margaret and Martha also remain estranged from Kathleen’s sisters, Candace Zamperini and Lori Campbell, who have been vocal critics of Michael Peterson.

The five siblings who once functioned as a family are now divided into two camps: Margaret, Martha, Todd, and Clayton on one side, supporting Michael. Caitlin on the other, convinced he murdered her mother.

Margaret and Martha’s Lives Today

As of 2026, Margaret Ratliff is approximately 45 years old and Martha is approximately 43.

Margaret lives in California. She has maintained a relatively private life, staying out of the media spotlight as much as possible.

Martha lives in Colorado. Like her sister, she has avoided public attention.

Both sisters have appeared in follow-up episodes of The Staircase documentary, reaffirming their support for Michael.

In these appearances, they have stated that their love for Michael is unaffected by the revelations about his personal life or the prosecution’s theories regarding their biological mother.

They continue to believe he is innocent of both deaths.

Neither sister has given extensive media interviews. They have requested privacy and have largely been granted it, living quiet lives far from Durham.

Michael Peterson, now 82, continues to live in Durham in a ground-floor apartment with no stairs. He maintains contact with Margaret and Martha, though the frequency of their visits is not publicly known.

The Questions That Remain

There are questions about the Ratliff case that may never be answered.

Did Michael Peterson kill Elizabeth Ratliff in 1985? The German investigation was closed decades ago. No criminal charges were ever filed in Germany.

Was the German autopsy simply incompetent, missing obvious signs of homicide? Or were the injuries less clear in 1985 before embalming and 18 years of decomposition?

Was Karin Hamm, the neighbor who claimed she saw Michael leaving Elizabeth’s house, telling the truth? Or was her memory corrupted by 18 years and media coverage of the Kathleen Peterson case?

If Michael did kill Elizabeth, why? There was no apparent financial motive. No life insurance payout. No romantic entanglement that anyone knew about.

And if he didn’t kill Elizabeth, how do we explain two women he knew well both dying from stairway falls with seven identical scalp lacerations?

The defense has suggested both deaths could be explained by the owl theory. That both women were attacked by birds of prey, fled inside, and fell down stairs in a state of shock.

Prosecutors dismiss this as absurd.

But the statistical alternative, that Michael Peterson is simply the unluckiest man alive, witnessing two identical freak accidents 16 years apart, is equally difficult to accept.

What The Staircase Documentary Didn’t Show

The Staircase documentary devoted significant time to the exhumation of Elizabeth Ratliff’s body and the emotional impact on Margaret and Martha.

What it didn’t fully explore was the prosecutorial theory that Michael had committed two murders 16 years apart using the same method.

The documentary framed the exhumation as a tragic but necessary part of the defense, showing how Michael’s legal team fought to exclude the evidence.

It showed Margaret and Martha’s distress at having their mother’s grave disturbed.

But it downplayed the forensic findings. It minimized the testimony of Karin Hamm. It presented the defense’s interpretation of the evidence as equally valid without fully exploring the statistical impossibility of the coincidence.

The documentary also didn’t explore the financial arrangements surrounding Elizabeth’s death and the adoption of her daughters.

Did Michael Peterson receive any money as their guardian? Were there military death benefits from George Ratliff’s service? Life insurance from Elizabeth’s death?

These questions were never fully answered in the documentary or in court.

The Daughters of Two Tragedies

Margaret and Martha Ratliff occupy a unique and tragic position in the history of American true crime.

They are the daughters of a woman who died under suspicious circumstances in 1985.

They were adopted by the man accused of killing her.

Eighteen years later, they watched their adoptive mother die under nearly identical circumstances.

They watched their adoptive father get convicted of murder.

They watched their biological mother’s body get exhumed and her death reclassified as homicide.

And through it all, they have remained loyal to the man prosecutors say killed both of their mothers.

Whether that loyalty represents the strength of genuine love and belief in his innocence, or the psychological inability to process an unbearable truth, is a question only Margaret and Martha can answer.

And they have chosen not to.

In 2026, over 40 years after Elizabeth Ratliff’s death and 25 years after Kathleen Peterson’s, Margaret and Martha Ratliff continue to live quiet lives far from the media spotlight.

They still call Michael Peterson their father.

They still believe he is innocent.

And the rest of us are left to wonder how two intelligent, educated women can look at seven identical scalp lacerations on two different women 16 years apart and see only terrible coincidence.

Margaret and Martha Ratliff: Frequently Asked Questions