Twenty-one
The first autopsy examination issued from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at Chapel Hill was signed by Dr. Kenneth Snell. The decedent, Kathleen Hunt Peterson, had been viewed at the Cedar Street house at 7:40 A.M. on December 9, 2001, when it had been determined that the probable cause of death was a closed head injury, blunt-force injury to the head, due to a fall down the stairs.
The narrative summary Dr. Snell wrote stated that Mrs. Peterson was found at the bottom of the stairs by her husband or her son—and that friends and family members were notified before EMS was notified. When the EMS did arrive at 2:40 A.M., the husband admitted to having put towels under Mrs. Peterson’s head. Dr. Snell noted some blood had partially been wiped up on the stairs with paper towels. Dr. Kenneth Snell also made a notation that there had been alcohol consumption on the evening before her death.
Dr. Snell recorded blood still present in the stairwell, and wrote that it appeared Mrs. Peterson hit her head on the top step above the corner, hit the floor in the corner of the stairs, and then landed at the base of the stairs on her back. The medical examiner further noted that the blood spatter appeared to support the scenario of a fall. His findings suggested Mrs. Peterson’s death was an accident.
However, once Kathleen Peterson’s body was transported to Chapel Hill, a full autopsy examination was to be performed by Dr. Deborah Radisch. As a matter of record, the 120-pound body of Mrs. Peterson, an adult female clad in a brown fleece sweatshirt and white sweatpants, was determined to be in “good general condition.” There was evidence of medical intervention noted on the skin of her right lower abdomen, but otherwise, Mrs. Peterson’s body, with its brown hair and green eyes, was basically intact, prior to the event of December 9, 2001.
Dr. Deborah Radisch, a seasoned pathologist with a stellar track record, would carefully write both an internal and external description of the body of Kathleen Hunt Atwater Peterson. Her pathological diagnosis included a long list of injuries:
Multiple lacerations to the posterior scalp.
Multiple contusions to the posterior scalp.
Subarachnoid hemorrhage with cerebral convexities. Early acute ischemic neuronal necrosis.
Fracture, with hemorrhage, of the left thyroid cartilage.
Contusions of the back, posterior arms, wrists, and hands.
Multiple small abrasions and contusions to the face.
Dr. Radisch noted that hair was grasped in Mrs. Peterson’s right and left hands, which was collected and submitted as evidence. There was no visible tissue seen under her fingernails, but it was noted that Mrs. Peterson did have crusted blood beneath her nails. There was a small chip discovered on one tooth. There was also dried blood on the bottoms of her feet, and dried blood on her face.
Mrs. Peterson had three contusions over her right eyelid, a contusion on her right ear, and a linear vertical abrasion on the right side of her neck. Beyond that, she had three linear horizontal abrasions over her left eyebrow. Also, there was a horizontal abrasion over the bridge of her nose, two small linear horizontal abrasions over her left eye, and a small abrasion over her lip.
Dr. Radisch counted at least seven distinct lacerations on the posterior scalp of Mrs. Peterson. Several of those lacerations were complex: one was a tri-pronged linear laceration measuring 3 inches vertically. Located 2½ inches away, there was a second tri-pronged laceration measuring over four inches vertically. Continuing along Mrs. Peterson’s scalp, the lacerations were measured out in vertical and horizontal intersections, one of which had a deeply undermined edge. In addition, there was a 1-inch flap of skin removed from the left side of her scalp.
There were no skull fractures found, and Mrs. Peterson’s brain was not swollen. Her system contained a blood alcohol concentration of .07 percent, just one point below the legal driving limit. There were trace amounts of chlorpheniramine, Cyclobenzaprine, and nicotine detected in her blood specimen, and Valium was present in a small concentration as well.
While the initial examination by Dr. Kenneth Snell indicated the death was due to a fall down the stairs, Dr. Deborah Radisch listed the cause of death as being due to severe concussive injury of the brain, caused by multiple blunt-force impacts to the head.
Blood loss from Mrs. Peterson’s deep scalp lacerations may also have played a role in her death, but Dr. Radisch’s final report concluded that the severity and location of the lacerations to Mrs. Peterson’s head were the primary cause of death. In her medical opinion, those lacerations were indicative of multiple impacts received as a result of a beating.
About the final autopsy results, one particular item stood out to neuropathologist Dr. Thomas Bouldin, who later examined the body of Kathleen Peterson: consistent with the acute ischemic neuronal necrosis present in her cerebrum, there existed rare red neurons. Those red neurons would only appear if Kathleen Peterson had experienced a decreased blood flow to her brain for perhaps two hours before her death.