[129], The chief of the FBI's crime laboratory chemistry section, Paul Stombaugh, then testified the pajama top placed over Colette's body had been heavily bloodstained before the garment was torn, and thatcontrary to MacDonald's claimsa lack of tearing at the edges of these holes proved that all 48 holes within this item of clothing had been inflicted while the garment was stationary, rather than in motion. Segal then asked MacDonald to recount his family background, his career at Fort Bragg, and his family's general lifestyle in February 1970. You saw them eye to eye. The sole weapon not recovered outside the family home was a paring knife MacDonald claimed to have removed from his wife's chest. 
Each grave was initially inscribed with the surname of MacDonald, although the gravestones were later changed to Colette's maiden name of Stevenson. 
This affidavit contended that, although several saran fibers found at the crime scene which did not match any evidentiary item recovered had most likely sourced from a doll and not a wig, these fibers were also used in the manufacture of human wigs prior to 1970, and thus added to "the weight of previously amassed exculpatory evidence". [66] MacDonald's own blood was located in significant quantities in only two locations: in front of the kitchen cabinet containing rubber gloves, and upon the right side of a hallway bathroom sink. Blackburn finished his opening statement by stating to the jurors: "Basically, we believe that the physical evidence points to the fact that, unfortunately, one personnot two, three, four or morekilled Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen, and that person is the defendant. he lured a young man named steven hicks into his empty home with the idea of the pair drinking alcohol. In the month prior to the murders, MacDonald is known to have lost twelve. In addition, she had been stabbed 21 times in the chest with an ice pick and 16 times about the neck and chest with a knife, with her trachea severed in two places. WebAnalyzes the case study of jeffrey dahmer, an american serial killer and sexual offender. Changing the day will navigate the page to that given day in history. Stoeckley later moved to Nashville and confessed being involved in some murders to an acquaintance who reported it to the FBI. In 2012, defense lawyers tried to introduce new DNA analysiswhich wasnt available during MacDonaldss original trialof three human hairs found at 544 Castle Drive. Blackburn then outlined the prosecution's intention to outline both physical and circumstantial evidence indicating MacDonald's guilt, and to introduce numerous witnesses, imploring the jurors to "listen to the evidence that comes from the witness stand, [to] examine the evidence, as it is shown to you, and reach your own conclusion". [125], Other witnesses to testify included surgeons on duty at Womack Hospital who had examined MacDonald and who testified that, aside from his punctured lung, MacDonald was "not in any great danger, medically", and that, save for a superficial stab wound to his upper left arm and abdomen, MacDonald had no other stab wounds to his body. [157] Segal spoke for over three hours, using virtually all of the defense's allotted time. In addition, MacDonald's claim that Stoeckley had been expected to testify in a manner favorable to him at trial until she had been threatened by Blackburn is contradicted by the official trial records. Less than a month later, on May 1, the Army formally charged MacDonald with three counts of murder. May 10, 1944). [n 18], Between 1972 and 1974, the case remained trapped in limbo in the Department of Justice as legal issues were raised and debated over whether sufficient evidence and probable cause existed for indictment and prosecution. [85], An initial Army Article 32 hearing into MacDonald's possible guilt, overseen by Colonel Warren Rock, convened on July 6, 1970. [107] MacDonald lived in a $350,000 Huntington Beach condominium apartment, and is known to have lived a promiscuous lifestyle prior to forming a long-term relationship with a 22-year-old airline stewardess named Candy Kramer in the late 1970s. Furthermore, Stombaugh demonstrated that by folding the garment in the manner depicted in the crime scene photographs, all 48 holes could have been made by 21 thrusts of the ice pick through the garment, and in an identical pattern, implying Colette had been repeatedly stabbed through the pajama top while the garment was lying on her body. We had three people that were over-killed, almost. 
He then read his own statement to the jury, claiming "five long years" had passed since the murder of his family and his efforts to start life afresh, and that the questions posed by the prosecution were ones he had had to "live with for five years". 
On this occasion, he illustrated instances of MacDonald adjusting his testimony regarding having moved his wife's body after learning fibers from his pajama top were found beneath her body. WebThe Murders And the Legal Proceedings to Date Early in the morning of Feb. 17, 1970, military police responding to an emergency call arrived at Jeffrey MacDonalds apartment in Fort Bragg, N.C.
He soon resumed his romantic relationship with Colette[8] then a freshman at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. An appeal on behalf of the Government led to a reinstatement of the indictment via an 8-0 margin within the United States Supreme Court on May 1, 1978. Both daughters had developed distinctive personalities: Kimberley being markedly feminine, intelligent, and shy; Kristen a boisterous tomboy who would "run over and crack someone" if she observed her older sister being bullied by other children. Her boyfriend, Greg Mitchell, confessed repeatedly through the years as well. [100], Questioned in regards to his infidelity, MacDonald admitted he had been unfaithful on two occasions, but insisted Colette had not known about either affair. 
[34], At 3:42a.m. on February 17, 1970, dispatchers at Fort Bragg received an emergency phone call from MacDonald, who faintly spoke into the receiver: "Help! Weighing heavily in the equation is the government's calloused and lackadaisical attitude which was solely responsible for at least the last two years of delay. [111], MacDonald's stepfather-in-law, Alfred Kassab, had initially believed in his stepson-in-law's innocence. At about 3:30 p.m. on February 17, 1970, a distraught MacDonald called the police and told them to send an ambulance. When questioned as to whether MacDonald suffered from a mental disorder, Bailey testified he did not, although he could not discount the possibility of him murdering members of his family in a situation of extreme stress. 
[166][n 26] He was released on August 22, having posted $100,000 bail, and subsequently returned to work as the Director of Emergency Medicine at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach, California. The court ruled against awarding a new trial on June 2,[175] stating Judge Dupree had acted correctly when he refused to allow the jury to view a transcript of the 1970 Article 32 hearing, and because this was not an insanity trial, he had also acted properly in not allowing the jurors to hear any of the psychiatric testimony. The two formed a brief romantic relationship in the ninth grade, with MacDonald later recollecting they fell in love while holding hands on a balcony while watching the movie A Summer Place at the Rialto Theater in Patchogue.
This ruling also stated that Helena Stoeckley's confessions of guilt pertaining to the murders were unreliable and conflicted with the established facts of the case, and accordingly, the judge's ruling against her being allowed to testify at MacDonald's 1979 trial was valid. The 16-year-old daughter of these neighborswho occasionally babysat for the familyinformed investigators the two had seemed taciturn and indifferent to each other in the month prior to the murders. No doctor in a hospital ever saw them. his victims were drugged, raped, strangled and dismembered. The following year, the family relocated to a middle-class neighborhood. The group had then "dropped mescaline" before driving to the MacDonald residence. ", A section of this ruling reads: "Here, over twenty years after the event of the crime, MacDonald reopens his case with specious evidence. The perpetratorswhy dont they kill him? "[212], MacDonald's lawyers have repeatedly used the Freedom of Information Act to locate any evidence not presented by either counsel at his 1979 trial, citing suppression of evidence as justification for a retrial. Investigator Franz Grebner listed further physical discrepancies between MacDonald's account and the forensic evidence, repeatedly stating all the facts pointed to his having staged the crime scene. [n 4], By the time the MacDonalds moved into their new apartment at Fort Bragg, Colette had accrued two years of studies, with aspirations to obtain a bachelor's degree in English literature and teach part-time. 
I don't want him walking the streets."[229]. Its been nearly 50 years since former Green Beret surgeon Jeffrey MacDonalds wife and two daughters were brutally murdered at their Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home. "[8] However, by November 1970, Kassab had grown suspicious of MacDonald's repeated reluctance to provide him with a copy of the 2,000-page transcript of the Article 32 hearing. [168] This decision was appealed, and on May 26, 1981, the US Supreme Court accepted the case for consideration, hearing oral arguments on December 7. MPD Detective James Abbott discovered her body Stombaugh demonstrated to the jurors how MacDonald's pajama top had been pierced by 48 small, smooth, and cylindrical ice pick holes after the garment had been placed atop his wife's chest. This individual stood nearby holding a lighted candle, chanting, "Acid is groovy, kill the pigs! [192], Subsequent to this November 2008 decision, a government motion to modify the decision to negate Britt's claims was denied. Believing Colette dead, MacDonald carried the mortally wounded Kimberley back to her bedroom. [61], In addition to the lack of damage to the inside of the house, no fibers from MacDonald's torn pajama top were found in the living room, where he claimed the garment had been when torn in his struggle with the intruders. MacDonald denied any of the murder weapons had originated from his household, despite the fact the section of lumber matched wood from Kimberley's closet. But MacDonald was convicted of the murders. I don't even know what crap you're trying to feed me!" 
Furthermore, Murtagh received a small wound on his right arm. The three denied any involvement and all agreed to and passed polygraph tests.
As he retaliated by hitting her, first with his fists and then beating her with a piece of lumber, Kimberley, whose blood and brain serum were found in the doorway, may have walked in after hearing the commotion and was struck at least once on the head, possibly by accident. MacDonald told investigators he dozed off in the living room and woke to screams. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. She had been stabbed repeatedly in the heart. Kristens fingerprints werent taken and those of Colette were incomplete. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [36] A bloodied and torn pajama top was draped upon her chest, and a paring knife lay beside her body. [152] Following this testimony, Murtagh and Segal alternately argued before Judge Dupree for the dismissal, or introduction of, testimony from several witnesses to whom Stoeckley had earlier allegedly confessed. It could not have happened the way he said it happened. [20][n 2] He was joined by his wife and children,[11][22] and the MacDonald family resided at 544 Castle Drive,[23] in a section of the base reserved for married officers and afforded security by military police. She lay on her back, with one eye open and one breast exposed. The woman turned out to be Helena Stoeckley, a free spirit, drug addict and police informant living in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The Pentagon has identified an Army Green Beret killed in Kunduz province, Afghanistan, on Sunday. He had also received a single stab wound between two ribs on his right torso. But Army investigators found the doctors story and Manson connection dubious. Silverman further states MacDonald had avoided and resented his commitments as a husband and father and that, given his ongoing "denial of truth", he would continually seek both attention and approval. [158][n 25], Following a brief recess, Smith appealed to the jurors to question the lack of an obvious motive for MacDonald to have committed the murders. [162], Immediately following the verdict, Alfred Kassab telephoned the family lawyer, Richard Cahn. 
Michael Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty, Is He Innocent?