More on Petersons and their Marriage
Maggie
the wrong guy. From the Raleigh News and Observer:
Petersons seen as vibrant, devoted
Friends dispute his murder charge
By CRAIG JARVIS AND JOHN SULLIVAN, Staff Writers
DURHAM - Christmas Eve will not be the same this year on the stately old
streets of Forest Hills without Kathleen Peterson delivering her homemade
croissants late into the night.
Since she arrived in the neighborhood southwest of downtown in the early 1980s,
she had impressed her neighbors with thoughtfulness and energy that seemed
boundless.
"She was a very generous person," neigh-bor Maureen Barry said. "She came to
clean your chandelier on your birthday for you."
Skilled at everything she did -- in the telecommunications industry,
philanthropy, cooking, sewing and giving parties -- Kathleen and her husband of
4 1/2 years, novelist and raconteur Michael Peterson, were a perfect match for
Durham's high-society circles.
But this Christmas, their neighbors, relatives and friends are hollow with the
loss of the 48-year-old woman in a sudden and violent death, and the arrest of
her husband on a charge of premeditated murder.
Peterson, 58, was indicted Thursday despite his insistence that his wife
accidentally tumbled down a staircase in their mansion sometime after midnight
on Dec. 9 while he relaxed outside by the pool.
Their circle of friends are rallying around Peterson, a decorated war hero who
often boasted of the exotic adventures in his past, and who made a name for
himself locally as a combative critic of police and city officials. His
supporters say there is nothing in the couple's past that could have predicted
this ending.
"My brother-in-law is an amazing man and I am standing by his side," Kathleen's
sister Candace Zamperini said. "He's innocent -- he did nothing but love my
sister, and she loved him."
Even under the worst circumstances, many of their friends say, they cannot
imagine that Mike Peterson meant his wife harm.
"Where's the motive?" asked longtime friend and neighbor Andy Widmark, a
commercial real estate company owner who has known them both for many years.
"First-degree murder just sounds so absolutely absurd."
Mike and Kathleen were part of a close-knit group of about 16 neighbors, going
back to when they each lived there while married to other spouses. Many in the
neighborhood play bridge and have parties together, and the Petersons
frequently opened their mansion for socializing.
Although the couple had no children together, they brought five of them into
the family: two sons of Mike's from his first marriage, two girls that he had
taken in after their parents died, and Kathleen's daughter from the previous
marriage. The last of the children grew up and moved out this year; three are
in college.
Kathleen often put the children to work whitewashing the brick walls at the
driveway entrance and power-washing the slate patio, while she tended to three
dozen, multicolored rose bushes, Berry said. She was a gourmet who had no
trouble putting together 11 different desserts in a single day.
The 14-room mansion -- used as a set in the movie "The Handmaid's Tale" -- was
also home to as many as five dogs; now there are two bulldogs, Wilbur and
Portia. Mike, who became the neighborhood association president in June, was
adept at negotiating differences between some of the older and newer residents,
longtime neighbor Sioux Watson said.
To everyone, the Petersons seemed like proud parents and an enviably happy
couple, attentive to each other in public, exploring new restaurants and
shopping at Costco every Tuesday morning. "They finished each other's
sentences, they were eccentric in the same way -- they were made for each
other," Zamperini, of Lancaster, Pa., said.
They also loved to drink fine wine -- lots of it, several friends said.
"Both of them were real party, social animals," Widmark said. "It's that kind
of neighborhood, for one thing."
'Girl of the Year'
Kathleen's talent and ambition had surfaced long before she graduated at the
top of her high school class in Lancaster, where she also had been voted "Girl
of the Year" and "Lancaster Lass" in civic events in the 1960s.
"She was absolutely an amazing person; I'm still in awe of her," Zamperini
said. "She was an amazing executive and scholar and she could cook and sew. She
taught me how to clean house, not my mother: The first thing she did in the
morning was make her bed."
Their father stressed the value of a good education for the brother and three
sisters, and instilled a sense of self-confidence and success, especially in
the girls, Zamperini said.
She had no trouble getting into Duke University, where she was the first female
student accepted into the engineering school, earning a master's degree there
in 1975. Soon after, she married Fred Atwater, a physicist with a love of
sailing. Although they separated when their daughter, Caitlin, was 4 years old,
Atwater remained involved in his daughter's life.
Kathleen's career took off quickly, and she eventually became director of
information services at Nortel Networks, a job that at one point put her in
charge of 3,000 people as she managed offices in Dallas, Ottawa, Toronto and
Research Triangle Park.
She flourished in the Forest Hills neighborhood, where her friends called her
"a 48-hour-per-day woman," Berry said. "By that, we meant she fit more things
into 24 hours than any of us ever could."
She served on the board of the Durham Arts Council and hosted fund-raising
parties at her home for the American Dance Festival, the Carolina Ballet, the
Durham Art Guild and the Mallarme Quartet. She had been invited to attend a
special viewing of "The Nutcracker" at the Executive Mansion three days after
her death.
On the day she died, Kathleen was supposed to participate in a holiday function
for 100 underprivileged children.
Author, soldier, columnist
By the time Kathleen graduated from high school, Michael Peterson had already
been through the Vietnam War, which would inspire his later novels.
Born in Nashville, Tenn., to an Army officer, he and his two younger brothers
and younger sister moved about every four years. Peterson later recalled his
early years in newspaper columns he wrote for the Herald-Sun in Durham with a
sense of adventure. "I lived in Asia 14 years. I lived in Europe 12," he wrote.
"I can get by, linguistically and culturally, in most countries of the
civilized world."
He enrolled in Duke University and became editor of the school paper and
president of his fraternity. He finished in 1965 with a bachelor's degree in
political science and took a job as a systems analyst with a defense consulting
firm in Washington.
He married his first wife, Patricia Sue Balkman, the next year at Fort Belvoir,
Va. Shortly after his wedding, he was sent to Vietnam to study troop
strategies.
As a result of that experience, he enlisted the next year in the Marines and
was back in Vietnam as a lieutenant by 1968. There he earned a Silver Star and
a Bronze Star -- but he also claimed to have won two Purple Hearts, saying he
was shot once and was severely injured when a mine killed his radio-man. In
reality, Peterson was injured in Japan in a car accident, and many say the
publicity of that lie cost him the Durham mayor's race in 1999.
Peterson returned home in 1971 after being discharged as a captain and began to
write a novel. He moved back and forth between Durham and Germany, where his
wife taught in a Department of Defense school. An Air Force friend of
Peterson's died in Panama, leaving two toddler daughters; their mother died six
months later of a brain aneurism; and Peterson took the children in, eventually
becoming their legal guardians.
In 1983, he published his first book, "The Immortal Dragon." By 1990 he
published "A Time of War," which was a best seller. Friends said NBC wanted to
make a miniseries out of the movie and bought the rights three separate times
for several hundred thousand dollars.
The books allowed Peterson to buy the Cedar Street mansion, which he filled
with hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of antiques and collectibles,
including 200-year-old furniture from Germany and Japan, carved vases from
ancient Chinese dynasties, art and Christmas decorations from around the world.
David Perlmutt, a reporter with the Charlotte Observer, met Peterson about
1994. They shared an interest in Charlie Tsui, who after World War II was a
Chinese boy who endeared himself to a company of Marines stationed in China at
that time, and is now a Chapel Hill restaurateur. Perlmutt and Peterson spent
two years together writing a book about it -- "Charlie Two Shoes" -- and talked
almost every day.
About 1992, Kathleen moved into the Cedar Street mansion with him, although
Peterson did not officially divorce his first wife until 1996. Perlmutt
describes Peterson as a brilliant, frenetic man who loved his wife and family.
"He adored her," Perlmutt said. "He was constantly talking about her.
"The first round of bad publicity to strike the family came in 1994, when
Peterson's son Clayton was arrested for planting a pipe bomb at Duke University
and sent to federal prison for several years. He graduated last weekend from
N.C. State University and was the class valedictorian.
Peterson became a vocal critic of Durham government and ran unsuccessfully for
city council and mayor once. He needled city officials in his newspaper column
and later on his web site, http://www.hizzoner.com.
He was a visible partner to his civic-minded wife, but neighbor Watson said the
couple's philanthropy wasn't just for appearances' sake. She says last summer
he helped out a troubled teenager in danger of falling into gang life by paying
for him to attend a Marine camp.
"I think he did stuff like that all the time without asking for any kind of
recognition," Watson said.
Stress and misfortune
This year, the holidays began to swirl around the Petersons amid a series of
misfortunes and their usual hectic schedule: Kathleen Peterson had to lay off
employees at Nortel; their house and cars had been broken into several times;
and she had just returned from throwing a Thanksgiving feast for two dozen at
her mother's house in Florida. A week before she died, her own supervisor was
laid off, and Kathleen was devastated, her sister said.
"She very much felt the stress of the company regrouping," Zamperini said. "It
broke her heart every time she had to let someone go."
Kathleen complained that the stress might have caused fainting spells during
which she fell, according to a friend, Robert Cappelletti, vice president of an
architectural millwork firm. She told him that she had recently blacked out
while sitting on her bed, he said.
"She said, 'Thank God it happened then and not somewhere else, because God
knows what could have happened,' " Cappelletti said.
This summer, Cappelletti saw her driving her Jaguar wearing a neck brace and
found out later that she had fallen during a party, he said.
Cappelletti and his wife had dinner with the couple a week before she died, and
she said she didn't have time to see a doctor about the fainting spells until
after the holidays. The season was in full swing: Two nights before her death,
the couple learned that the book about Charlie Two Shoes had been optioned as a
movie, and so it was with buoyed spirits that they went to the annual Christmas
party for The Independent weekly newspaper.
Watson, the publisher of the paper, said she and Kathleen eagerly sampled the
food while her husband tagged along asking about a mutual friend. "They just
enjoyed each other's company," Watson said. "It was really clear how close they
were and what fun they had together."
On Saturday night, several people said, the Petersons stayed home to celebrate
the movie deal. Perlmutt said one of Michael Peterson's sons told him afterward
that the couple had been drinking a lot of champagne that night.
Mike Peterson said he was relaxing outside by the pool when his wife left to go
to bed. He said he found her at the bottom of the stairs with blood puddling
around her. Sobbing, he called 911. He cradled her body in the stairwell long
after she was pronounced dead, witnesses told his attorneys.
Friends who readily offer the Petersons' drinking as a plausible explanation
for how Kathleen might have lost her balance and fallen down the stairs, are
just as quick to insist the couple never fought when they drank.
"They were both fairly heavy drinkers -- not drunks," Widmark said. "Those are
the kind of people who don't hide anything. When you're sitting there drinking
a bottle of wine, you have a hard time keeping your emotions to yourself.
"I have been there many, many times when there were parties, there was lots of
wine being drunk by everybody. Even under those circumstances, I never once
heard them in a tiff, much less an argument."
Cappelletti said the rear staircase is narrow and drops to a landing with an
automatic chair lift. Kathleen could have struck her head on the chair or its
railing, he says.
"They were celebrating, and I know the way they celebrated and know it was
either a horrible accident or she fainted," Cappelletti said. "I can't believe
Mike can go on, she completed his life so much."
A pathologist, however, testified before a grand jury that Kathleen's injuries
did not appear to have been caused by a fall, but rather by a blow to the head.
Police have refused to disclose what other evidence they might have, but a
defense motion suggests it could include what they deduced from the pattern of
blood spatters around her body.
Police as well as family and friends are awaiting the final autopsy results,
which won't be complete until next month.
For now, Michael Peterson will spend the holidays in jail. Everyone else will
be left at a loss.
"My mom has the tree up and candles in all the windows and presents under the
tree," Caitlin Atwater said Friday. "I don't know what we are going to do. My
mother and Mike had a loving relationship and never would have wished harm on
each other."
News researcher Susan Ebbs contributed to this report.
Staff writer Craig Jarvis can be reached at 829-4576 or
cja...@newsobserver.com
Maggie
"No one said free speech means that you can say whatever you want and everybody
will still love you for it." -- Sacha Zimmerman
Rick
Here you go Maggie. The bets off.
Rick
JonesieCat
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20011223093318...@mb-fc.aol.com...
One thing that's starting to bug me about some of these cases - the calling
in of "experts" when their own coroners don't come up with the goods.
Sometimes it's necessary I'm sure, if the police investigate and find
suspicious circumstances. But it's starting to look like sometimes officials
just shop around for agreeable opinions (another article said they called in
a new expert in this case, apparently the "pathologist" referred to above).
I hope they have some very good reasons to keep this guy in jail. Maybe they
do.
JC
Kris Baker
"Maggie" <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote
> As a result of that experience, he enlisted the next year in the
> Marines and was back in Vietnam as a lieutenant by 1968. There
> he earned a Silver Star and a Bronze Star -- but he also claimed
> to have won two Purple Hearts, saying he was shot once and was
> severely injured when a mine killed his radio-man. In reality,
> Peterson was injured in Japan in a car accident, and many say the
> publicity of that lie cost him the Durham mayor's race in 1999.
It sounded implausible to me that the husband would immediately
garner suspicion, until I read this paragraph. Someone who tells
a readily-disprovable story regarding their war record is nothing but
a self-aggrandizing pathological liar.
Kris
Maggie
>>They also loved to drink fine wine -- lots of it, several friends said.
>
>Here you go Maggie. The bets off.
>
>Rick
***You know, Rick, just because you mouth off about something before you know
all the facts, that doesn't mean everyone does. The drinking has been widely
reported--I figured you were just trying to yank my chain.
Maggie
>One thing that's starting to bug me about some of these cases - the calling
>in of "experts" when their own coroners don't come up with the goods.
>Sometimes it's necessary I'm sure, if the police investigate and find
>suspicious circumstances. But it's starting to look like sometimes officials
>just shop around for agreeable opinions (another article said they called
>in
>a new expert in this case, apparently the "pathologist" referred to above).
>I hope they have some very good reasons to keep this guy in jail. Maybe
>they
>do.
***LE has a biiiiiiiggg problem in this case. The ME's initial report was that
Mrs. Peterson's injuries were consistent with a fall. Now they've changed
their mind. The outside experts are needed to bolster their own tainted ME.
PattyC
awful thing to do), but also takes in toddler orphans?
And she was superwoman?
Something tells me we are going to learn there's more to know about these
two.
And why do they have a chair lift on the landing?
I want far more information!
PattyC
--
"Feminism is the radical notion that women are people."
Maggie <maggi...@aol.comSPAMBLOC> wrote in message
news:20011223093318...@mb-fc.aol.com...
Rick
>maggie posted a news story:
>>>They also loved to drink fine wine -- lots of it, several friends said.
>>
>>Here you go Maggie. The bets off.
>>
>>Rick
>
>***You know, Rick, just because you mouth off about something before you know
>all the facts, that doesn't mean everyone does. The drinking has been widely
>reported--I figured you were just trying to yank my chain.
>
>Maggie
With great reluctance I must give you two rights.
Rick
Maggie
>Very interesting. He can lie about his war record (that seems a pretty
>awful thing to do), but also takes in toddler orphans?
>
>And she was superwoman?
>
>Something tells me we are going to learn there's more to know about these
>two.
***I don't find anything contradictory about this information. Granted, lying
about one's war record is a rotten thing to do, but plenty of otherwise pretty
decent people have done it. Human beings are complex. In real life few people
are--hell, nobody is--purely good or purely evil. Case in point I heard about
just today: I know a physician who thinks he's god's gift to medicine. He is
imperious and snotty and his office staff can't stand him. He orders them
around like he's the king and they exist to devote their lives to him. If it
wasn't for the other (relatively nice) physicians in the practice, the group
would never be able to keep an employee. Anyway--I just found out that every
December Dr. Tyrant goes through his accounts to find patients who don't have
insurance and are having trouble paying. He contacts them and tells them they
can take as long as they want to settle their bill, as long as they pay
something every month, AND that he will match their payments dollar for dollar
(or 2-to-1, depending on the circumstances). In some circumstances he has even
forgiven the debt.
>And why do they have a chair lift on the landing?
***Now that would be really good to know. IIR
Maggie
>***Now that would be really good to know. IIRC, the house was new so it can't
be something installed by a previous owner. There must be a handicapped child,
parent or other relative in the picture somewhere.