HBO’s ‘The Staircase’: What we know about Dennis Rowe and Tyrone Lacour
Kathleen Hunt Peterson and Dennis Wayne Rowe grew up on the same block in Lancaster, Pa., and they both died violent deaths in Durham.
Rowe makes an appearance in the HBO Max series “The Staircase,” a dramatization of the Netflix documentary that explores Kathleen’s 2001 death at the bottom of bloody stairs, the trial and conviction of her husband Michael Peterson in 2003 and his release from prison in 2011.
Rowe appears in the scripted series not only as an old friend of Kathleen and her sister, Lori Campbell, but as one of Michael Peterson’s anonymous lovers.
Since Kathleen Peterson bled to death at the bottom of the staircase in her Durham home, the twists and turns in the case — the paid escort “Brad from Raleigh,” the second woman found dead at the bottom of stairs in Germany, Peterson being convicted and then granted a new trial — have captured the attention of many.
The HBO series adds at least one more twist — one which may or may not be true: that Rowe told prosecutors about trysts Rowe and a man named Tyrone Lacour had with Peterson.
An additional twist depicted in Episode 7 of the HBO series that we do know to be true is that in 2004, Lacour killed Rowe. He reportedly stabbed and beat him, wrapped his head in duct tape and left the 42-year-old’s body stuffed in a garbage can.
Kathleen Peterson and Dennis Rowe
Kathleen Hunt Peterson was born in Greensboro, but grew up in a southeastern Pennsylvania town where she was voted “girl of the year” and “Lancaster lass” as a youth, according to her obituary.
She went on to be president of the debate club, editor of the school magazine and number one student in her senior class in high school, according to her obituary.
Rowe and his three brothers lived a few houses down from Kathleen Peterson and her two sisters, neighbors told The News & Observer in 2004.
Peterson, then Kathleen Hunt, left Lancaster first to attend Duke University, where she received a masters in Mechanical Engineering in 1975, according to her obituary. She went on to work in executive level positions at Merck and Nortel Networks, where she worked as an executive when she died.
Rowe followed after graduating from high school in 1979. He graduated from Duke in 1982 with a degree in English, according to his obituary.
Rowe worked at the Duke Medical Center Library, and designed elaborate formal gowns and high-end throw pillows, which were marketed in stores across the nation by H. Coulston Designs, Rowe’s obituary states.
He was working in technical support for the U.S. postal Service in Raleigh when he was killed in 2004.
What HBO’s ‘The Staircase’ says about Rowe
In the HBO series, Rowe is portrayed by actor Morgan Henard.
In Episode 3, a detective identifies Rowe after then District Attorney Jim Hardin (Cullen Moss) said the connection between emails Peterson sent to a male escort and Kathleen’s death months later was “a little fuzzy” for a motive.
“I want actual infidelity,” Hardin said.
Durham Detective Art Holland, played by Cory Allen Scott, then went to an adult video store, a gym, and a bar before someone said something about Rowe mentioning Michael Peterson, according to the scripted show.
In another scene, Rowe told Hardin that he had had anonymous sex with Peterson at a sex shop and at the Forest Hills YMCA.
When prosecutors asked if Rowe knew anyone else who had sex with Peterson, Rowe mentioned Lacour.
Rowe told Hardin that he wasn’t friends with Lacour, but “we are a small community.”
Rowe told Hardin in the series that mentioned Peterson to Lacour after a campaign event at which discovered Michael Peterson’s name. He said Lacour looked Peterson up and thought he looked familiar.
The series then shows a scene with Holland talking to Lacour.
Lacour denied the connection to Peterson, using a slur to indicate he’s not gay.
Holland declined to comment for this story. Hardin didn’t return telephone messages.
HBO: Jim Hardin’s donors?
Rowe doesn’t end up testifying, the HBO show portrays, after he handed a list of “important married men” he had slept with in Durham, some of whom were Hardin’s donors.
Hardin expressed reluctance about outing innocent people on the stand.
“I don’t see this playing out well for us,” he told Freda Black, his co-counsel, in the series.
Later, the series shows Lacour, played by Donny Boaz, calling Rowe.
“I know you gave them my name, Dennis,” Lacour said. “I will do you like that Peterson (expletive). You hear me? You shut your mouth. Shut it.”
‘The Staircase’ on Rowe’s death
Episode 7 of “The Staircase” opens with Lacour killing Rowe, ambushing him in his home and beating him to death.
Durham police make the connection to Lacour fairly quickly, and Durham medical examiner Deborah Radisch, portrayed by Susan Pourfar, determines Rowe’s cause of death to be homicide by blunt force trauma. Rowe, it seems, has injuries on the the back of his head similar to those Kathleen Peterson had. And like Peterson’s injuries, Rowe had no fractured skull.
Also in this episode, Peterson, played by Colin Firth, admits to love interest Sophie Brunet, played by Juliette Binoche, that he did know and sleep with Rowe — something he had previously denied — but waffled on knowing Lacour.
What we know about Rowe’s death
Rowe was found dead at his Maynard Avenue home in Durham, inside a trash can in November 2004 — about a year after the Peterson trial.
He was upside down and bound with duct tape, The News & Observer reported. He was beaten, stabbed and his hands were tied behind him, WRAL reported.
Rowe left work sick about noon on Nov. 22, 2004, a manager at the postal service told The News & Observer then.
The next day, a friend who went to check on Rowe at his home found his body. Blood was spattered on the ceiling, according to The Herald-Sun.
Lacour fled and wasn’t arrested until he was found in Virginia in October 2006.
In January 2009, Lacour pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Lacour was released from prison in June 2020 after serving nearly 16 years incarcerated for killing Rowe.
Three years before Rowe’s death, Lacour was also a suspect in the killing of his roommate in Person County in 2001, WRAL reported.
Lacour told authorities the roommate died by suicide after he set himself on fire, but Lacour was charged with murder until the case was eventually dismissed in January 2003.
The then Person County Sheriff said then that he thought Lacour got away with murder, The Herald-Sun reported.
In December 2021, Lacour was charged with two counts of second-degree forcible sexual offense in Orange County, according to court documents. His address was listed as the streets of Chapel Hill.
Interview with Lacour from jail
Lacour told The News & Observer in May 2022 that there was no connection between Rowe’s killing and Michael Peterson.
Rowe and Lacour were friends but had mounting tensions that led to the killing, Lacour said.
As for Peterson, Lacour said they met at a party years before Kathleen Peterson died.
At the time, Lacour worked at Taverna Nikos, a Greek restaurant in Brightleaf Square that closed years ago. Sometimes Michael Peterson would come in, Lacour said.
Lacour said he was shocked to learn of Kathleen Peterson’s death and he said he remembers a Durham officer coming to Nikos to question him.
“He caused a scene,” Lacour said. The officer asked Lacour questions about whether Michael Peterson intended to kill his wife, Lacour said.
“I don’t know anything to tell you about it,” Lacour said he told the officer. “I have nothing to do with it.”
After the detective started to get loud and threatened to take him to the police station, Lacour’s boss intervened, Lacour said.
Regardless, Lacour, who said he wasn’t open his sex life, said he wasn’t about to share his personal business in front of the crowded restaurant with a line of people waiting for tables.
“Anyone could overhear,” Lacour said. “I was not about to say anything about my personal business.”
More on HBO’s ‘The Staircase’
For full coverage of HBO Max’s “The Staircase” and other background on the death of Kathleen Peterson and the murder trial of Michael Peterson, visit: newsobserver.com/topics/staircase
This story was originally published May 5, 2022 at 8:30 AM with the headline "HBO’s ‘The Staircase’: What we know about Dennis Rowe and Tyrone Lacour."
