The Jeffrey R. MacDonald Fatal Vision murders captivated our nation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The doctor and Green Beret was convicted of stabbing his wife and young daughters to death in 1970. Now, 42 years later, new evidence may reopen the case and exonerate him after nearly half a century of pain.
The case was captivating because it was so horrific and tragic. A beautiful, pregnant woman murdered in the night in a savage and twisted way, her two daughters, Kristen, 2 and Kimberley, 5, also killed in the same savage way. It was too much to bear. MacDonald was also stabbed, but many maintained his stab wounds weren't consistent with his story. He told investigators his family was killed by drugged-up hippies chanting about acid. The word "pig" was written in blood above one of the beds.
The hearing on Monday will discern whether MacDonald gets a new trial. See below:
If he gets a new trial and if he is innocent, then MacDonald's entire life has been stolen from him. He has been made nationally known by the case, first through Joe McGinniss' book Fatal Vision and then by the miniseries with the same name. It's hard to imagine what that must have been like for a man who always maintained that it was hippies who broke into his home and savagely killed his family.
Cases like these always beg the question -- how can we possibly maintain a death penalty in this country when there is the chance of wrongful conviction? MacDonald was given three life sentences, but all the same, a court can wrongfully convict regardless of the sentence.
Pretty scary, no? MacDonald may or may not be innocent. But there is some strange evidence -- hairs that didn't belong to anyone in the family found on the bodies, MacDonald's own wounds, a strange woman fitting MacDonald's description of one of the "hippies." It's possible that he had read about the Manson murders and used those as his excuse. It's also possible no one listened to him because he was the easiest target.
If he gets a new trial, we may finally know the truth about one of America's most notorious murder cases, one that once gripped the nation.
Do you think MacDonald is innocent?
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Comments 17
I have read the book, saw the movie and saw probably every documentary on this. I have always been interested in this case, from when I was in my teens. I have always thought that he was innocent. I wonder what her borther thinks, because he has carried on his parents fight for justice. I would just hate to think of what they are going through and if he found out to be inncocent, what they would think.
Tragic all around.
Oh he sued Joe McGinniss also for defamation and won.
He is not innocent. I come from his hometown, Patchogue, NY. I know many people who were involved. My ex was the Kassabians family attorney. He was the golden child, could do no wrong. Very arrogant, narcissistic. His brother is just as crazy. Used to come over our house in the middle of the night and stare in our door window. I was preggo at the time, insomniac. He was arrested for threatening the president, Ronald Reagan. Cause I would have had him arrested for being a peeping Tom.
there's more to this than what Jeffrey McDonald wants to admit....and I don't think he is innocent. The human mind can and often does block out unpleasant memories, so in his mind he is innocent. Much of the physical evidence points to his guilt.
As far as him being arrogant, yes, that's what pretty much everyone who knew him or knew of him thought. Doesn't make him a man capable of murdering his family.
No, Sasha, the real question is whether prosecuting attorney's and police will ever be held accountable for misconduct. Right now it is astoundingly easy for those on the prosecuting side to violate the rights of indivisuals without any consequence. Perhaps, if faced with personal suffering for their misdeeds they'll behave better.
Maybe the "strange woman fitting the description of one of the hippies" was his girlfriend, and they killed the family together. Maybe it's pretty much known he killed them, so the case goes through and he's convicted. Not the way things should be--everyone is entitled to a fair trial--but maybe in a convoluted way, justice was done. As I know nothing about this case, I'm just speculating and have no opinion one way or the other--just sort of looking at it from an outside point of view.
Nope. I think he's every bit the murderous creep Putchka describes. Time does not erase the facts. I don't think even OJ's DNA guy from the Innocence Project would touch this case. There is no smoking DNA or smoking hippies for that matter.