I’ve gone back and forth on this case since I’ve dug in to it two years ago. I’ve always been confused about Kathleen’s body position. To me, it does not look like a position for her body to naturally finish in after a fall from the stairs. Here are the reasons why sorted in each plausible situation that assumes it was an accident:

1. She fell down the stairs by accident, died by contact, and was found where she died: this one makes no sense to me. Based on the layout of the stairs and just a basic understanding of physics, it seems almost impossible for you to fall down a long stairwell and end up laying with your eyes facing the ceiling, laying on your back, turning a 90 degree angle and settling in that position. This is the least likely to me.

2. She fell from top of stairs, endured serious injury and bleeding from a collision in the bottom third region of the stairwell before the turn, was conscious after fall and body came to a stop, but succumbed to her injuries after moving/crawling towards safety: this one is almost as unlikely to me, but about 5% more likely than situation #1. If you’re fighting for your life after a random fall in the comfort of your own home (and in the quick timeline laid out by prosecutors), you do not die on your back. You’d be found on your stomach with blood trails from injuries.

To me, the stairwell does not physically allow for a fall to end in a position that she was found in. On her back, let’s first, makes no sense. It reminds me of when I was a kid and we’d try to sled down the stairs on cardboard boxes or in laundry boxes, the only way you end up with your legs first due to only momentum is if you are SLIDING down the stairs on your butt. I could see it if their stairwell was a straight flight of stairs, but the 90-degree turn with a short stairwell finish just makes zero sense to me.

I don’t even think he attacked her from the top of the stairs. I think they got in to a fight, Kathleen went upstairs while Michael was downstairs, and when she was on her way down he confronted her at the 90 degree “turn/landing” on the stairs. He resumes the argument, she said something that angered him, and he attacked her. Where this theory loses steam is her injuries and the fact that I don’t believe at all that the blow-poke was the murder weapon. I just can’t believe that she fell down the stairs and ended up in the position she was found.

What I truly believe is that her and Michael were not doing well and were in an intense argument. She got to about 2/3 down the main stairwell, said something that made Michael snap, and he met her at the landing where the stairwell turns 90-degrees. It was a more than the usual intense argument, so Kathleen stood her ground and Michael got more angry than he usually does. Michael says something unforgivable and Kathleen charges at Michael out of pure rage. Michael fights her off and throws her backwards and Kathleen slams the back of her head on that angled stair where the stairwell makes the turn. She begins bleeding profusely but is in shock, so she gets up immediately and fights back against Michael because she’s an independent and confident woman and doesn’t want to take that from Michael. But she’s losing too much blood and Michael “defends himself” against the retaliation and she ends up back on the 90 degree landing/transition and goes unconscious. He’s still so angry, emotional, filled with adrenaline. There’s a ton of blood and he realizes how escalated this situation has become. Her head is laying up against the wall on the bottom of the right side of the main stairwell with her legs laying towards the final couple of stairs after the 90 degree turn. He sobs, still angry at her for driving him to this point and still resentful towards her, but climbs on top of her crying upset of what he’s done. He drags her about 2-3 feet so she’s laying on the final couple of stairs and just THINKS of what the hell to do. Time passes and he stages what he can, but it isnt much because he’s so emotionally distraught: You know the rest.

It really does feel like an accident done by a complete asshole. I don’t like MP as a person, but I don’t think this is as clear cut as others think it is.

It honestly reminds me of a hit and run where the driver makes a short term decision that fucks him in the long run.