Report: N.C. killer bought blowpokes from Maine store

DURHAM, N.C. – An antiques store in Maine shipped two blowpokes to the home of novelist Michael Peterson late last year, as his lawyers tried to discredit a prosecution theory that Peterson used such a tool to beat his wife to death, the Herald-Sun of North Carolina reported Friday.

Peterson, 60, was convicted in October of the first-degree murder of his wife Kathleen. He is serving life in prison without parole at the Nash Correctional Institution.

The newspaper also reported that military investigators have asked for help from North Carolina authorities as they look into the death of a Peterson friend nearly 20 years ago. That incident was brought into testimony at Peterson’s trial because of the similar circumstances to his wife’s death.

During the trial last fall, prosecutors said Kathleen Peterson was beaten to death with an item like a blowpoke – a hollow fireplace poker through which people can blow to fan the flames of a fire. But they never produced one as the actual murder weapon, noting that a blowpoke bought by Kathleen Peterson’s sister as a gift was no longer in the house.

Then, near the end of trial, defense lawyers produced a blowpoke they said had been found in Peterson’s basement.

Attorneys David Rudolf and Thomas Maher argued that the poke’s condition – rusty and covered with spider webs – indicated it had been in the basement too long to have been used to kill Kathleen Peterson in December 2001.

But they never proved it was the same blowpoke given to the couple as a gift, and the jury was unswayed by the surprise evidence.

The manager of Hurlbutt Designs in Kennebunk, Maine, told the Herald-Sun that just after the surprise blowpoke was presented in court, someone identifying himself as Mike Peterson ordered two of the tools from the store.

Alechia Maguire said the man “left a message on our answering machine that he needed them immediately.” They were shipped by overnight air on Sept. 29 to Peterson’s home in Durham, she said.

Maher said he had no “specific memory” of the order for the blowpokes. Rudolf did not comment Thursday.

District Attorney Jim Hardin Jr., one of the prosecutors in the case, said he knew of the order but couldn’t explain it. Though the actual murder weapon never was found, he still believes the blowpoke theory and said Peterson may have ordered the extra ones to confuse jurors.

“I still believe the blowpoke is a very good candidate,” Hardin said. “But there is only one person on this planet who knows exactly what weapon killed Kathleen Peterson.”