I dont know what the odds are. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Most recently, retired US Marshall Jimmy Britt came forward with information that another suspect in the case, Helena Stoeckley, admitted to the prosecutor that she was in the house on the night of MacDonalds murder and that he threatened to indict her for first-degree murder if she admitted that in court. The shootings can be over particularly petty reasons, not just the drug trade: women, a perceived slight, or, increasingly, a prison feud. In 1921, Aelyas married Soumaya Khoury of Beirut, Lebanon; by all accounts the two were deeply in love, and they died within 48 hours of one another. Its a case that if you were telling scary stories around the dining room table and you had all your family gathered, people could hardly believe it. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. Judge Fox is also a good man. Smerling is the director of the documentary series A Wilderness of Error, which examines the MacDonald case. He was troubled by MacDonalds apparently cavalier attitude about the brutal murders on an appearance of "The Dick Cavett Show. He was found guilty and given three life sentences on Aug. 26, 1979. I was born in May of that year, and would thus be the same age as the child Colette MacDonald was carrying when her life was snuffed out. MacDonald was tried in a civilian court in 1979. The social justice movement is now involved; the Innocence Project, a prestigious nationwide network dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted, has worked strenuously to overturn MacDonalds conviction. Although Kassab didnt join the family until Colette was a teenager, he had always been close with his stepdaughter. Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? WebThe Kassab family name was found in the USA in 1920. MacDonald claimed he'd broke his arm in the fatal scuffle, but Kearns would later say in an interview that authorities had MacDonald under surveillance at the time and did not observe any broken arm. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. Thinking that he could never reveal it? MacDonald at Los Angeles Terminal Island prison where Charles Manson had spent much of his youth. That is why, police say, it is important to consider what the shooting represents, rather than the act itself. And she told him she had been there, at the MacDonald home, the night of the murders. "More senior criminal figures are exploiting the vulnerabilities of younger or less sophisticated offenders," he said. 6,889 Family Trees. One thing about this case is never in doubt no matter whos talking: If Wade Smith had been able to lead and give his closing remarks, MacDonald would be a free man today. Helena Stoeckley confessed many times that MacDonalds willingness to turn heroin addicts in to the police infuriated local drug dealers. He didnt do that. Others relate to significant organised crime figures, and their businesses, such as tattoo parlours. Waters rubbished that explanation. In October 1970, following an investigation and hearing, the military dropped its case against MacDonald, and he was honorably discharged from the army. He is outspoken about MacDonalds innocence, and when I called him, I could hear the years of outrage in his voice over the way the case has proceeded. MacDonald invited author Joe McGinniss to write a book about the case before it had reached a verdict. LP: One of the things that struck me in reading Errol Morris book was the use of the psychopath diagnosis in court and how problematic that is. He continued to work as a doctor and moved to California. And yet there are thousands of people in North Carolina who do not believe he did it. They grew to become serious forces, in part, because of failures by police to respond to the problem. MacDonald, bloody but alive, was next to his wife, who had been pregnant with their third child when she was stabbed 16 times with a kitchen knife and 21 times with an icepick. McGinniss stark rendering of Picture #1 stuck in my mind until recently when a friend from North Carolina told me that Errol Morris had published a book suggesting MacDonald was innocent. There are only two possible pictures, both nightmares. Two members of the Tiba family have been charged in relation to the shooting. Tragically, the comparisons to the Sharon Tate killing were striking. Friends since grade school, he and Colette Stevens began dating as teenagers, and grew serious during college. 6,889 Family Trees. Thank you. Colette had been stabbed 16 times and punctured 21 times with an ice pick, while 5-year-old Kimberley was killed by six blows to the head and eightto 10 stab wounds, according to a1998 Vanity Fair article. The lead prosecutor for the case, Jim Blackburn began to analyze every piece of evidence from the trial, including MacDonald's pajama shirt, which was draped over Colette's body, and the bedsheet she was wrapped in. Kassabs suspicions deepened after he received a copy of a transcript of the Article 32 hearing and began to pore through the evidence himself. That was my closing argument. He explained his lie initially by attributing it to drug addiction-induced paranoia and then said he believed that once he told his family the lies, he had to keep lying.. He claimed there was insufficient evidence, while civilian defense attorney Bernard Segal argued the CID had improperly handled the scene and that alternative suspects like local drug addict Helena Stoeckley, believed to be the blonde woman at the scene, continued to roam free. MacDonald has had mostly good lawyers, though not always the appropriate ones. Recently, the Fourth District Court of Appeals ordered Fox to consider new evidence, and to examine all the evidence as a whole. Although the family started out as his benefactors, he ultimately became their caregivers as their positions reversed. Though the U.S. Army formally charged MacDonald with the murders, presiding officer Colonel Warren Rock recommended the charges be dropped. In 1984 I was glued to the TV, like millions of other Americans, watching the popular miniseries based on McGinniss book. He was a nice, presentable young man. Mundane things that Jeffrey MacDonald has not been able to do for over 30 years. He had biblical levels of persistence, Bob Keeler, a reporter for Newsday, recalled in A Wilderness of Error.. Years after he was blasted with a shotgun by a crime figure who continues to wield influence in the north-west, one victim is still dealing with his injuries. Aelyas kept the practice going while Wadea gave himself to real estate; when Wadea lost everything, he was able to resume his practice seamlessly by rejoining his brother. I remember saying, It doesnt matter. Not only did the U.S. Army surgeon marry his high school sweetheart, but he had a flourishing career, two beautiful young daughters, and a son on the way. Kassab a one-time Canadian Army intelligence operator who had once lost his own wife and daughter in a bombing of London during World War II initially believed MacDonalds account of the night and became a staunch and vocal supporter of his son-in-law, the Washington Post reported in 1984. He is both a careful researcher and a profound investigator of the human condition. We even came back at night so we would have the same lighting conditions as the night of the murders. Born Jeffrey Robert MacDonald on Oct. 12, 1943, in New York City, the fledgling doctor grew up in Patchogue, Long Island. The walls will tell you what happened if you keep it pristine. And as is believed to have been the case when a large drug shipment made its way to the region in the past five years, and the Kassab/Kheir family made temporary peace with the Tibas that can sometimes mean forming a truce to distribute the product, and ensure its security. Prosecutors appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and in 1978 the countrys highest court decided to reinstate the indictment. The strength of the families now almost a decade after the launch of Santiago are largely determined by how many of them have been killed or locked up. At some time before 3.30am someone brutally attacked the MacDonald family in their home at 544 Castle Drive on what was then the open military base of Fort Bragg. Oueida amassed a fortune before he was imprisoned in 2011, and had done so through dealing drugs, and doing it more rapaciously than anyone in recent history: hence the $6 million in a Swiss bank account, light plane, Ferrari and $2.8 million mansion he had when he was arrested. Furthermore, an FBI lab technician reenacted how MacDonald claimed he defended against the intruders attacks and proved his testimony contradicted the evidence. This note says: 'Brian, Im giving you this lab report. And were very fortunate. Melbourne's north-west has soaked in blood for more than a decade, with crime families that still reign despite prison time, drive-by hits, and police task forces. WebWadea Kassab was born in Damascus in 1872 to an Orthodox family that had long and deep connections to British and American Protestant missionaries in Damascus and Beirut. 1,169 Birth, Marriage & Death. A crime scene was left open to bystander traffic. Then he injured himself and set up the scene to make the crimes appear to be the work of intruders. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Back in the 1979 trial, a lawyer named Jerry Leonard represented Helena Stoeckley. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Until recently, most people saw Picture #1. MacDonald, it appeared, had been endlessly, unfaithful having at least 15 girlfriends, Vanity Fair reports. Both brothers married women in Syria and brought them back to the United States. Which leaves one of the five families the Tibas. Then, meet Christopher Scarver the man who killed cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer. All rights reserved. Wherever you see the label psychopath," you could almost substitute monster or vampire youre talking about an unnatural person who does not behave according to normal human rules, and with that label, you can believe anything of them. He moved to California to become the director of emergency medicine at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach. What do you recall of the in-laws in the trial? Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, Collection description written by Linda Jacobs. WebIn 1971, his father-in-law, Freddy Kassab, became progressively suspicious of MacDonald and sought formal reopening of the case. It doesnt make sense that this man, with no history of violence, went crazy like that. He claimed that he had been asleep on the couch when at least, Kassab a one-time Canadian Army intelligence operator who had once lost his own wife and daughter in a bombing of London during World War II initially believed MacDonalds account of the night and became a staunch and vocal supporter of his son-in-law, the, We reconstructed the murders using what McDonald said. Who else is going to fight this thing if not me? Freddy Kassab said of his years-long quest to put his son-in-law Jeffrey MacDonald behind bars for killing his stepdaughter and two young granddaughters. Didnt join the family until Colette was a teenager, he ultimately became caregivers. Stoeckley confessed many times that MacDonalds willingness to turn heroin addicts in to the Supreme and! Both a careful kassab crime family and a profound investigator of the in-laws in the 1979 trial, a named... 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