Freda Black, prosecutor in Michael Peterson trial, found dead in her home

Freda Black, who served as assistant prosecutor in Mike Peterson's 2003 murder trial, was found dead in her Durham home Sunday, police said Monday.

A caller to 911 requested that authorities check on Black because family and friends hadn't been able to contact Black since last Thursday.

Black worked with then-Durham County District Attorney Jim Hardin to convict Peterson, a novelist and one-time Durham mayoral candidate, of first-degree murder in the death of his wife. Kathleen Peterson was found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of a staircase in the family's upscale Durham home in December 2001.

Peterson's conviction was overturned in 2011 after Superior Court Judge Orlando Hudson ruled that a former State Bureau of Investigation analyst misled jurors about blood evidence found in the Peterson home.

Last year, Peterson entered an Alford plea to a charge of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to time served. Under an Alford plea, a defendant can maintain his or her innocence while acknowledging prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction.

The case has gained renewed attention in recent months with Netflix's release of an updated version of "The Staircase," a documentary of the 2003 trial.

Black was in her 50s. Authorities did not release any information on the cause of her death.