Jeffrey MacDonald: A Time For Truth

[CatWoman]

On the morning of Feb. 17, 1970, Army MPs responded to a call for help at the MacDonald residence. They found the couple's children dead in their bedrooms; Capt. MacDonald, wounded and unconscious, lay on the floor, beside the body of his dead wife.

MacDonald, still alive, was rushed to the hospital. "They finally brought in a doctor who I knew on the staff. And he is the one, I believe, who told me that Colette, Kim, and Chris were dead. And you can't accept something like that. It doesn't make any sense," he recalls.

In fact, that morning MacDonald wasn’t the only one having trouble making sense of what happened.

Bill Ivory was in charge of the investigation to determine exactly what did happen to the MacDonald family. "I was a CID agent, which is a criminal investigator for the Department of the Army," he explains. "We sent agents to interview him at the hospital…they had been told that he had been attacked by some hippies."

It’s a story that MacDonald has not wavered from in 37 years. Asked what he remembers of the people he says attacked him and his family, MacDonald says, "I saw four people. I saw two white males and one black male, as they were assaulting me. One glimpse I saw what looked like a blonde female and she had a floppy hat on. And there was a light under her face. To this day, I don't know if she was holding a candle, or it was a light."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/16/48hours/main2580419_page2.shtml

I read "Fatal Vision", and also saw the movie.

At that time, I was completely convinced of MacDonald's guilt.

Now, however, I'm just not so sure ........

[hlthe2b]

1. thanks Catwoman... I'd wanted to watch this but guess it was

preempted or very late on my CBS station...

Seems every 5 years or so, some news show does a "relook" at this case. Up to now, I've not been impressed with any "significant" new findings and have likewise been convinced he was guilty, but I had still planned to take a look at this piece.

I'll read the CBS summary and see if I can glean what the new points might be...

[Marnieworld]

2. This was pre-empted last night for college basketball

And I was ever so pissed. I never get enough of this story. Personally I think he is sooooo guilty. But I'm always open to hear his case. But "Acid is Groovy, Kill the pigs?" Puh-leeze. :eyes:

[devilgrrl]

3. I'm with you...

I still think he's a punk ass bitch too.

"Acid is groovy..." :eyes: Who the fuck is he trying to kid?

[hlthe2b]

11. Agree Marieworld... the description was so hard to believe...

and always struck me as so consistent with the prosecutor's viewpoint that he'd read about the Manson murders and tried to capitalize on that as his alibi... No offense to those in the military, but it strikes me that he and most in the military would have viewed "hippies" very sterotypically during that time and probably (correctly) thought it would be his ticket to an acquittal in the original military trial.

[Demobrat]

4. All that blood,

four strangers in the house, and not one print belonging to anyone but the family? Even if they wore gloves, no footprints? Guilty as charged, and may he rot in jail.

[jaysunb]

5. Funny, how time slips away....

I'd forgotten about this.

I always thought he was guilty.don't remember why, other than the "hippie" thing sort of pissed me off.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

6. Also followed the case from day one, but it has been a long time

since it happened and a long time as well since the movie and the book. Wasn't there something about him having some extramarital stuff going on at the time? Or some problems within the marriage? It seems to my memory that he wasn't the most loving family man when this happened, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong. I do remember that when the book was written, the author said that he started out initially believing in MacDonald's innocence, but had a change of heart throughout the writing and discovery process.

[Demobrat]

8. Yes he cheated on her throughout the marriage

and was rarely home. He would lie to her about his whereabouts, for instance (IIRC) he told her he was going to Russia on a trip with his boxing team, and would be impossible to contact, and went to visit an old girlfriend, one lie among many. Which of course doesn't make him a murderer, just a scumbag. They got married young, cause she was pregnant, but he never stopped acting single.

[pretzel4gore]

7. murdering those sweet little girls is unforgiveable...

macdonald did it...the father in law wanted desperately to believe macdonald, but it was too goddam clear; macdonald was even planning to get remarried after the funerals! he murdered those angels just for his bloody convenience. I take the father in law's side over macdonalds....what a heartless bastard. he'd have grandkids now from his lovely girls, probably, had he been a man

[hlthe2b]

13. the father-in-law was the most compelling indvidual in this case..

He supported MacDonald initially, strongly. It wasn't until MacDonald revealed his exploitive nature and sociopathic reaction to the entire episode, that poor old Fred finally figured it out... Long dead, but clearly leaving his mark, as he'd left a written document stating his eternal belief in MacDonald's guilt and desire that he NEVER be paroled.

That has always been the piece of this that most influenced my own thoughts of the case... Clearly, the dead wife's family were NOT out to get him... They gave every benefit of the doubt, until it just became overwhelmingly clear to them.

Having said that, I continue to be interested in whatever new, exculpatory information MacDonald's legal team is trying to present...I was bothered about the drug addicted woman, who initially seemed to support the premise of strangers in the house, as well as the blond synthetic (wig?) fibers, but there were lots of reasons to discount her as well...:shrug:

[Fenris]

9. I watched the 48 Hours last night.

I didn't find anything compelling in his defense. To me it was a total fabrication. :shrug:

[flamingyouth]

10. I've always been convinced of his guilt.

Nothing I saw in that show last night made me think otherwise. He seems to be obsessed with himself - since 1970 he has shown very little grief over the loss of his family (as evidenced by that clip on the Dick Cavett show). I just don't buy it.

[Bluebear]

12. Acid is groovy, kill the pigs!

Actually I would have liked to have seen this. I have never been 100% convinced one way or the other.

[WinkyDink]

14. I'm sure. And after listening to Toensing, Hume, DeLay, et al., I'm dismayed

at how easy it seems to some to lie and obfuscate facts, facts which, as the lead prosecutor noted, don't lie, though people can and do.

MacDonald behaved exactly like OJ: every post-arrest utterance was all "Poor, pitiful ME!" NOTHING to show deep grief. Now, that's not "evidence", I'll grant; I'm adding TO the evidence.

NOBODY goes after either a respected Green Beret OR super-star athlete without evidence. Jeffrey just got unlucky with his jury.

[hlthe2b]

15. Yes... I've always thought MacDonald and OJ to be classic

examples of the seemingly "sympathetic" sociopath... For some reason we, as a society, still want to believe murderers have the appearance and behave as some kind of wild, insane, deformed animal.

[CatWoman]

16. Speaking of OJ, there's a movie about his case on right now

on Lifetime.

[WinkyDink]

17. Thanks, CatWoman! Just tuned in!