Fashion
The Staircase: For Michael Peterson and Daughter Margaret, the Nightmare Continues With HBO Max

The Staircase: For Michael Peterson and Daughter Margaret, the Nightmare Continues With HBO Max

Margaret Ratliff only agreed to appear on camera two decades ago, for Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s documentary series The Staircase, under extreme circumstances. In 2001 the woman Ratliff called “mom,” Kathleen Peterson, was found dead at the bottom of a flight of stairs in the family’s Durham, North Carolina, home. Sixteen years prior, Ratliff’s birth mother, Elizabeth, died under similar circumstances in Germany. After that tragedy in 1985, Elizabeth’s friend Michael Peterson took Ratliff and her younger sister, Martha, into his home, eventually becoming their legal guardian. Following Kathleen’s death, though, Michael could not do much to protect his adopted daughters,… Read Full Article