Preamble:
One winter day in 2001, a murder occurred in a villa in Durham, North Carolina. The whole story of this case seems to be full of fog, and today, 15 years later, the truth is still unknown. Mike Peterson and his wife, Catherine, who lived in the villa at the time, appeared to be very happy on the surface. But it all shattered on that cold winter night.
Mike is 67 years old this year, and he has a legendary life story. As a young man, he killed enemies on the battlefields of Vietnam, leaving a hideous scar on his thigh, and in middle age, he wrote several best-selling memoirs based on his rich life experience. His proudest achievement is to marry such a wonderful wife, Catherine.
What makes Catherine unique is that she is the mistress of the family, but at the same time she is a strong woman in her career. In an era of male dominance, she broke through the business world with her intelligence and diligence alone. She has brought huge profits to large corporations and earned herself a high salary that many men would be ashamed of. She works hard and can live independently without relying on any man. It was this spirit of independence that made Mike fall in love with her.
The love between the two came suddenly but firmly, and their married life was harmonious and their feelings were very strong. Mike enjoys playing the role of advisor and companion to the family and is genuinely proud of his wife's accomplishments. Catherine is also grateful for her husband's constant support, and she will find time to walk with Mike and read books after her busy work.
However, just when the two were about to enter old age and spend their old age together, a sudden change broke their stable life. It was a cold winter night, and a phone call came into the 911 police center, and on the other end of the line was a man sobbing in panic — from Mike himself.
What did the police find in the villa?
"Please, come quickly...... My wife, she's falling down the stairs!" Mike broke down on the phone and cried, "Where's the ambulance?!she's stopped breathing!"
The police who received the call immediately rushed to the scene of the incident. When they arrived at this lush luxury villa, they were shocked by the sight of a female corpse lying under the stairs of the house, her head and neck had been fatally struck, and she was bleeding and lifeless. The body was none other than Catherine herself.
Mike stood aside, tears streaming down his face. His unprecedented panic and grief were not fakes - after all, it was his beloved wife who died in front of him.
At first, Mike claimed that his wife had fallen down the stairs while drunk and had accidentally fallen to her death. But the conclusion of the autopsy report subverts that narrative. Reports indicate that Catherine suffered a number of physical attacks and suffered multiple fractures of her skull and cervical vertebrae, which was not a simple fall that caused such serious injuries. Her death occurred due to massive blood loss, and the carotid artery was cut open with a sharp object. It was clearly a homicide, and the murderer was standing not far from the deceased.
As a result, the police immediately arrested Mike and escorted him to the police as the prime suspect in the murder.
What really happened on the night of the crime?
What happened to lead to this horrific tragedy? In the subsequent investigation, some evidence against Mike gradually surfaced.
It turned out that on the night of the crime, Mike and Catherine were sitting by the pool by the villa drinking wine and chatting. Catherine was so overwhelmed by the amount of liquor she had drunk that she collapsed by the pool. Drunk and asleep, she seemed to have a terrible nightmare, muttering unpleasant words from her mouth.
Perhaps it was the drunkenness of his wife that made Mike's heart offended. This strict veteran has always been unaccustomed to the debauched image of women. How could a wife get drunk in the mud when she was supposed to be dignified and elegant? In the midst of Mike's resentment, Catherine may have slipped out of her mouth, revealing secrets that Mike desperately did not want anyone to know—such as the false reports of his achievements in the war, or worse, his bisexual tendencies.
This is undoubtedly adding insult to injury. At the end of his rope, Mike completely lost his mind, and on the spur of the moment, he picked up the sharp weapon beside him—perhaps a knife, maybe a fragment of a glass—and killed Catherine while she was asleep. Before poor Catherine could react, she broke off under a barrage of frantic attacks.
By the time Mike finally came to his senses, it was already too late. A cold corpse lay silently in front of him, blood soaking the entire steps. That's when he realized what he had done irreparably. But it was too late, and he could only call the police in a hurry to try to confuse the public.
The case engine turned out to be a hidden secret?
This speculation is not entirely unfounded. In fact, later investigations do uncover some of Mike's hidden secrets, which may well have been his motive for killing his wife.
The first is economic motivation. It turns out that Mike and Catherine's lives are far from being as prosperous as they seem. Despite Catherine's lucrative income, the couple's extravagant lifestyle left the couple in massive debt, with a backlog of $140,000 in credit card bills. In addition, they also have to bear the college tuition of their three daughters. These expenses have made it even worse for families who are already struggling to make ends meet.
Secondly, Mike also hides another secret - his bisexual orientation. When the police checked Mike's email, they found that he had conveyed ambiguous messages to male netizens more than once. In one of the emails, he even confessed to male netizens: "I got a woman I love, but what I suffer is that I like women and men." This undoubtedly exposes his bisexual tendencies.
In addition, one of Mike's female friends died from a similar "accidental staircase fall" 15 years ago, which made the police even more convinced that Mike was a serial murderer. He chose to poison a woman close to him, and then disguised it as an accident.
What is the court trial like?
In 2003, the case was formally heard. After the trial, the presiding judge found that Mike was indeed extremely suspicious of committing the crime. It is a clear fact that Catherine was physically attacked before she died. And the economic motive, as well as a similar murder record 15 years ago, can support Mike's motive for murdering his wife. What's more, at the scene of the murder, there is no one else who can kill except Mike himself.
Therefore, the judge ruthlessly convicted Mike of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
Mike has always denied being the murderer, and he hires a local lawyer named David to defend himself. The David lawyer has helped countless clients on the verge of escape justice and has been called the "killer's savior". He appealed several times for Mike, trying to overturn the death sentence. However, all appeals ended in failure due to conclusive evidence. Mike is still going to spend the rest of his life behind the bars of prison.
Seven years later, what is the turning point in the case?
Just as Mike is about to accept his fate and accept this grievance, the case takes an unexpected turn.
In 2010, Mike, who had been in prison for seven years, received news that his defense lawyer had found new evidence in the villa where the crime occurred. It was the feathers of an owl with the head of an eagle. The lawyer speculated that this could mean that Catherine's fatal wound was inadvertently scratched by an owl outside the house and was not a human attack. To verify this hypothesis, they specifically invited zoological experts to conduct a site inspection. The results showed that the scar on Catherine's head was indeed caused by an owl scratch.
This discovery undoubtedly provides strong evidence for Mike's innocence. It shows that Catherine's death may have been an accident, not a murder. Perhaps she was walking up the stairs when she was suddenly attacked by an owl outside the house, lost her balance and fell down the stairs, eventually dying.
At the same time, the police officer in charge of the investigation in this case, Defoe, was also arrested for repeatedly falsifying evidence in other cases. The evidence in his hands can only show that Mike is suspected of committing the crime, but it is far from fully proving that Mike is the real murderer. From all aspects, Mike's motive for the murder and the process of committing the murder are difficult to justify. This provides a strong basis for overturning the original verdict.
What does the reversal mean after 7 years?
These two events provide strong evidence for Mike's innocence. In other words, the court's previous sentence of life imprisonment seems to have been too arbitrary and hasty. The cause of Catherine's death, as well as Mike's motive for the crime, are debatable.
However, at this time, too long has passed since the incident, and it is very difficult to re-investigate and find more conclusive evidence. In order to regain his freedom as soon as possible, Mike chose to acquiesce to the prosecution's charges in 2017 and accept a guilty plea.
What does a guilty plea represent?
The guilty plea meant that Mike acquiesced to the prosecution's accusations and admitted that he killed his wife in exchange for a lenient sentence. According to the plea bargain, the court released him directly from prison on the basis of only the previous seven years of detention as a sentence. He was acquitted without any further appeals and legal proceedings.
When Mike walked out of the prison gates, the fog surrounding the case still hadn't lifted. Why did he continue to confess to a crime that could have been cleared when it was already clear? The answer is unknown. It was only on that winter night 17 years ago that Mike chose to give up and fight against fate. He no longer had the strength to run for a dead man.
Mike could have fought for the truth, why did he choose to plead guilty?
When the old Mike finally submits to the court, he may have too many unspeakable secrets hidden in his heart. These secrets, he will always take to the grave. Because just before he pleaded guilty, that is, before he regained his freedom, the truth no longer mattered.
For Mike, being free and reunited with his family is far more precious than restoring the honor of a long-departed ghost. He had spent seven years in a dark cage that had left him alone, and many of his hair had turned gray. He simply couldn't afford the pressure of another lengthy legal battle.
And, perhaps, deep down, still harbors ambivalent feelings for his wife. Perhaps Catherine did anger him that winter night. Or perhaps, the relationship between them has long been fragile, and the sudden death of his wife has also made him relieved. Who knows? All the truth has been buried with this murder.
All people see is Mike giving up his determination to continue struggling for the deceased. He sacrificed the truth in exchange for freedom and family reunion. This is perhaps the most humane choice.