On December 9, 2001, Kathleen Peterson was found dead at the bottom of her staircase.

To this day there are still a lot of questions surrounding her death.

Netflix dropped The Staircase this June, Jean-Xavier de Lestrade’s docuseries looking at the case, and Michael Peterson's trial.

While it covered the beginning of his case, and where he is now, it didn't discuss one of the weirdest murder twists.

Michael Peterson's attorney, David Rudolf, has argued that the main case put forward by the prosecution - that he beat her to death in the stairwell - didn't happen. Instead there was a third party: an owl.

It may sound unbelievable, but Netflix has shared a new bonus feature explaining the theory, which was discussed in Peterson's hearing.

"The owl theory is ridiculous when you first hear it," said Demonstrative Evidence Specialist Thomas Dew. "You really have to get into the evidence to understand that it was actually possible for an owl to do this."

So why didn't it come up before? T. Lawrence 'Larry' Pollard, who first came up with theory, said no one considered it at the time.

"Everybody just rushed to judgement and thought this was a murder," he said.

"The first time I heard about the Owl Theory I said to myself, 'That's totally stupid!'" says de Lestrade, who has spend more than 15 years following the case. Then later on Larry explained the theory to him.

Larry was Peterson's neighbour, and the primary reason the theory ever came up. In 2009, he filed a motion requesting the conviction be set aside and all charges dismissed or there be a new trial based on the new evidence.

He put forward that the real culprit was a 'raptor', or bird of prey.

In the motion he said: "The "Owl Theory" was advanced to the Defendant’s lawyers and the Prosecution at the conclusion of the trial, namely, that Mrs. Peterson may have been the victim of an attack by a wild bird outside her house, an attack which caused puncture wounds to her elbows, injuries on her face and around her eyes, and lacerations to her scalp."

Larry had seen the photos of Kathleen's injuries. She had several lacerations across her head, which Larry thought looked like talon marks.

The expert witness said the marks were from blunt force trauma, but couldn't explain how many blows to the head would be made in this trident form, though he admitted it was a weird shape.

Larry said Mrs Peterson was outside at the time of the attack, she reached up as the owl swooped and took hold of her head, leaving the talon marks.

He also mentioned "the presence of blood droplets on the brick walkway and the slate landing outside the home" as well as "the existence of feathers attached to Mrs. Peterson's hair and found by the medical examiner clutched in her left hand with fresh blood."

Barred owls attack

Dr Alan Van Norman, MD, a neurosurgeon and ornithology expert, said: "It should be mentioned that barred owls, are known to owl experts to attack people, out of the blue, unprovoked, with no warning. So the fact Kathleen lived in a place where these owls are prevalent, and she got whacked in the head by one, is not far out of the ordinary.

One of the pieces of evidence was feathers found in her hands - microscopic, but there. It looked like she had pulled out her hair to get the owl loose.

Kathleen Peterson had hair and feathers in her hands

She had 38 hairs in one hand, 25 in the other. What they didn't realise at the time was there were microscopic feathers.

Despite this the defence never considered the theory, until the end of the hearing - when it was too late.

"It was a day or two before the closing, [so] I couldn't do anything about it," he said.

If the case had been re-tried though he added it's something he'd seriously consider raising.

The owl experts and the feathers

"I consulted with Dr. Carla Dove, the chief ornithologist from the Smithsonian Institution in DC, who agreed to do DNA testing on the feathers," Rudolf said.

Larry also consulted other people, including a neurosurgeon, a professor of veterinary medicine, and Kate P. Davis, executive director of Raptors of the Rockies. They all signed an affidavit agreeing the wounds matched an owl attack.

Davis even carried out an experiment. She took a metal salad bowl from her kitchen, covered it with clay, went out to where her own barred owl lived.

She then “picked her up over my head and dropped her on that salad bowl.”

Davis took pictures of the talon marks and sent them to Sophie, who confirmed they matched Kathleen’s injuries.

Davis then put forward a theory: Kathleen went out to take down Christmas decorations after partying, the owl hit her in the head, she pulled at it and that's how the feathers and injuries appeared, she dropped it and that's why there was blood outside.

But, importantly, Davis does say the owl wasn't a direct cause of death. "She fell in the staircase twice," she said. Kathleen was already compromised, walking up steep stairs.

Where she was seen slumped

The blood

Daniel George, a returned crime scene technician with Durham City Police Department, doesn't even think there was a fall.

His theory is based off the blood. He recently shared his thoughts on An American Murder Mystery: The Staircase, Investigation Discovery's special on the Peterson trial.

Experts tried to work out the blood splatter pattern

"There was nothing up on the steps themselves," said George. "There’s 19 steps, but no blood any further than five feet up the steps."

De Lestrade was convinced, and continues to believe that the owl theory is the best theory explaining what happened that evening.

So the truth is: The Owl Theory argues Kathleen died from blood loss after being attacked by an owl and was not killed by Michael. Speaking to Newsweek, Michael's lawyer David Rudolf shared he and his client did not buy the theory when they first heard about it.

More pictures:

What do you think of the owl theory?

I'm not sure what the background is. The doggies look happy to help though 🐶

No further information was provided.

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY WPD!

This is Chinese Food🇨🇳🤮