"I went out to turn off the pool lights. I came back and there she was."
-- Michael Peterson

The defense's own forensic experts concluded Mrs. Peterson's wounds and blood loss tell the story of a slow, painful death that took a lot longer than 10 minutes.

Once results from the autopsy and other medical reports came in, David Rudolf, Jean Xavier and everyone else following the case knew Michael was lying about a brief trip to the pool and back.

Michael's problem wasn't rednecks -- it was RED NEURONS.

Based on finding certain rare cells in Kathleen Peterson's brain, neuropathologist, Thomas Bouldin estimated Kathleen Peterson's death took as long as 2 hours. Testifying for the State he said:

"the finding of these small numbers of red neurons, both within the gray matter or cerebral cortex and within the cerebellum, another part of the brain, indicated to us that this brain had experienced a period of decreased blood flow, a couple of hours -- approximately a few hours before death."

Defense witness, Dr. Jan Leestma's conservative estimate was that Mrs. Peterson had suffered severe blood loss at least 45 minutes before she stopped breathing.

Furthermore, the defendant's renowned forensic scientist, Henry Lee -- having explained that blood spatter hit the walls and landed on top of blood spatter that had already dried -- testified that the fatal event in Kathleen Peterson's stairwell took as long as 30 minutes.

What was Michael doing during all that time?

Peterson was more than happy to appear in Jean-Xavier's movie, but he refused to appear on the stand and speak directly to the jury. Instead, he had his lawyer speak for him.

David Rudolf abandoned Michael's initial story of a quick trip to turn off the "pool lights" and amazingly, swore to jurors that in the middle of the night, Michael was lounging outside in his backyard for 45 minutes.

Too Much Blood