The Staircase Murders (TV 2007)

After he calls 911 to report his wife's accident, successful novelist and aspiring politician Michael Peterson (Williams) becomes the prime suspect in her alleged murder.

Director:

Tom McLoughlin

Writers:

Donald Martin, Aphrodite Jones (based on the book "A Perfect Husband")

Stars:

Treat Williams, Kevin Pollak, Samaire Armstrong

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Treat Williams	...	Michael Peterson
Kevin Pollak	...	David Rudolf
Samaire Armstrong	...	Caitlin Atwater
Brandon Olive	...	Todd Peterson
Laura Bailey	...	Margaret Peterson
Douglas M. Griffin	...	D. A. Jim Hardin
Brett Rice	...	Detective Castell
Kate Donadio	...	Erica
Nina Jones	...	Kathleen Peterson
Stephanie Honore	...	Martha
Ric Reitz	...	Bill Peterson
Kyle Russell Clements	...	Clayton Peterson (as Kyle Clements)
Lara Grice	...	Candace Zamperini
Melinda Walsh	...	Patty Peterson
Lisha Brock	...	Freda Black

Storyline

When Michael Iver Peterson, a successful novelist and aspiring politician in Durham, North Carolina, finds his wife Kathleen's body on the staircase, bloody but still breathing, he calls 911 in panic. His son Todd confirms his parents were in true love, would never harm each-other. However the police, notably Detective Joe Castel, and D. A. Jim Hardin, holding a grudge for a column the author once wrote against the incompetent force, disbelieve their postulation she fell from the stairs, notably because her blood was found very high. Adoring step-daughter Caitlin, who privately shows suspicious pleasure in the jewelry inheritance and is named executor of Kathleen's estate, was all night at her Cornell sorority. The female coroner excludes her trainee's preliminary theory of a fall, bluntly stating multiple blows and at least two hours painful death-struggle. Wine - and blood traces suggest Michael may have staged her having drunk too much wine and tried to wipe her blood. The family ...

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Plot Keywords:

murder | staircase | lawyer | novelist | trial | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Lifetime TV

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Staircase

Filming Locations:

Louisiana, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lions Gate Television

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Don't know what to think....

I saw this movie yesterday at first i thought that maybe it was going to be boring but i saw it but then i remember that it was based on a true story and i started watching so that i could judge, i have to say that at first he did it but then i don't know, there were some things that somehow had me on balance whether sometimes i was with him or the others.

Although the person who i did not like was the daughter Caitlin about the way she reacted and then i thought he's not her biological father and i would have done the same if it was my mother, at first i judge her by the way she acted. The police did not convince me though. By seeing the movie at the end the part where the blow pokes appeared i thought it was planted, he could have gotten not going to jail but then mysteriously appears the blow poke, and i think the jurors must have thought they are trying to make the police look back as they are not doing their job, but i guess we will never know.

Because even if he was guilty we will never know if he was or wasn't there's always a possibility.