French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s The Staircase documentary began as 8 episodes that premiered in 2005, grew to 10 in 2011, and finally ended with 13 after a commission from Netflix (the full series has streamed there since 2018). No single theory has ever fully emerged as an agreed-upon-by-all truth, but that hasn’t stopped filmmakers from exploring what happened that night. Was it her husband Michael, whom the prosecution targeted for his bisexuality and pattern of lies? Was it an intruder who was never found - human or avian? Did Kathleen simply slip down the stairs?
Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photos by Netflix and HBO Maxįor more than 20 years, the question of who or what caused the death of Kathleen Peterson on December 9, 2001, has gripped true-crime followers.
