DURHAM, N.C. — "Where's the murder weapon?" has been one of the most pressing questions in Michael Peterson's murder trial, where prosecutors have used a stand-in for the missing fireplace tool, or something like it, that they say he used to kill his wife.

But on Tuesday, the novelist's defense team poked a hole in that nagging question, producing a hollow, brass fireplace poker they say they found over the weekend sitting, undamaged and dusty, in the defendant's garage.

The dramatic unveiling of the fireplace tool provided an unexpected flourish on the final day of Peterson's defense. His lawyers, who rested their case after nine witnesses and nine days, say Kathleen Peterson simply died from an accidental fall down stairs, not a beating. 

"Did you ever ask us if we had located the blow poke?" David Rudolf, Peterson's defense attorney asked Det. Art Holland, lead officer on the case.

"No, I didn't," said Holland.

"Did you just assume that it was gone?" said Rudolf.

Holland paused, then replied, "Gone or put up somewhere."

Rudolf then brought out a long cylindrical item wrapped in plastic, and walked slowly to the witness box.

"See that?" he asked Holland.

"Yes, sir," said the investigator.

"That's a blow poke, isn't it," said Rudolf.

The state claims Peterson, 59, bludgeoned his wife of five years to death and made the murder look like a stairway fall. While they don't have to prove that Peterson used the poker to murder his wife, their case has nevertheless featured the fireplace tool heavily.

Prosecutors, who often brandished the stand-in tool for effect during their arguments, seemed uncomfortable, looking at their notes as Rudolf questioned the witness.

Jurors, who witnessed Tuesday's development with impassive faces, could ultimately decide that prosecutors have focused on the wrong murder weapon, that the newly produced blowpoke is a red herring, and still find the novelist guilty of murder. But the development was a clear blow to the state's theory that a missing hollow, brass fireplace tool played a role in Kathleen Peterson's death on Dec. 9, 2001.

It also calls into question police investigator's failure to find the poker during extensive searches of the Peterson home.

After months without a potential murder weapon, prosecutors seized upon the blow poke theory when Candace Zamperini, the victim's sister, remembered she'd given Kathleen Peterson a fireplace set including the poker on Christmas 1984.

On the stand, Zamperini recalled the last time she saw the tool, when she and her family traveled to North Carolina from Virginia for the last time before Kathleen Peterson's death at age 48.

"I did use it on Thanksgiving in 1999. It was right next to the fireplace," Zamperini testified.  To illustrate the blow poke theory, investigators used a matching tool provided by Zamperini.

While questioning Det. Holland Tuesday, Rudolf pointed out that the tool found by the defense did not appear to have been used as a weapon.

"Have you ever given any thought to what would happen to an item like this" if it were used to beat someone to death? asked Rudolf.

"Probably be mangled up," said the investigator.

Presented with the tool, however, the investigator agreed that it was not damaged.

"See any dents in there? Even like a tiny indentation?" asked Rudolf.

"It doesn't appear to have any dents," said the investigator after 30 seconds of inspection.

Rudolf made much of the fact that the blow poke had gathered detritus, and even brought in a photographer to document, in high-grain, black-and-white film, the cobwebs, dead insects (including an inch worm) and dirt that had gathered on it.

The new blow poke, as photographed by local photographer John Leslie Rosenthal

Prosecutor Freda Black fought Rudolf's implication that the poker had been there all along, however, prompting the photographer, John Leslie Rosenthal, Peterson's last witness, to admit that he had no idea how long it took for cobwebs to form.

As its first rebuttal witness, the state called Holland back to the stand. The detective said he had thoroughly combed Peterson's 10,000-square-foot home for any possible object that could have caused the seven lacerations on the back of Kathleen Peterson's head. Holland also examined the tools side by side, noting that the defense exhibit was not the same size as the prosecution's stand-in blow poke, and that it was missing the pointy metal tip.

Holland also refuted Rudolf's contention that the stand-in blow poke was hidden from the defense team on their visits to the property room.

Without notifying the prosecution, Judge Orlando Hudson Jr. granted Rudolf an order Sunday allowing defense investigators to take the tool into custody.

The stealth unveiling of the poker and the motion is allowed under North Carolina law, but Rudolf's attempt to enter it into evidence appeared to surprise even Hudson, who stated in his order: "In the event the Defendant wishes to introduce the blow-poker into evidence ... Defendant shall inform the State of the existence of the blow-poker."

"If you're going to admit something into evidence in our state you have to provide what's called reciprocal discovery and let the other side know about it," said Brian Aus, a local defense attorney, to Courttv.com.

On Tuesday afternoon jurors agreed to extend Thursday's session to 4:30 (court usually ends at 3) in an effort to wrap up the prosecution's rebuttal witnesses, who could include employees from the police department property room, another sister of the victim, medical examiner Deborah Radisch's boss, and one or two injury biomechanics experts.

Testimony resumes Wednesday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET.