RALEIGH, N.C. — The 2022 HBO Max limited drama series “The Staircase” is now available to stream on Netflix, meaning it’ll have a potential audience of a 300 million subscribers worldwide.

The series dramatized the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson in her Durham home and the murder trial of her husband, novelist Michael Peterson. It stars Colin Firth as Michael Peterson, Toni Collette as Kathleen Peterson, Parker Posey as assistant DA Freda Black and Patrick Schwarzenegger as Todd Peterson.

All eight episodes are available to binge now.

The series earned several Emmy nominations after its release, and its rerelease on such a massive platform should spark new interest in what is considered to be Durham’s most notorious crime story.

So where is Michael Peterson now?

Is Michael Peterson still in Durham?

After Peterson was convicted in 2003, he spent eight years in a North Carolina prison before his conviction was overturned because of improprieties at the State Bureau of Investigation.

He was released from prison and entered an Alford plea in February 2017 while awaiting a new trial. The Alford plea allowed him to plead guilty to manslaughter while maintaining his innocence. With time served, Peterson was a free man.

He lived in Durham until 2024, writing two self-published memoirs about his relationship with Kathleen and his time in prison. Peterson has said that the writers of the HBO “Staircase” series used those memoirs as source material.

When the HBO Max series was released in 2022, Peterson told The News & Observer that he had no plans to watch it. In fact, he was outspoken about his disapproval of the series, telling Variety the series was full of “egregious fabrications.”

Peterson posted on Facebook that he left Durham in April 2024 and moved to Reno, Nevada — a move he called “exhilarating and uplifting.” He also said he has written three new books.

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