TOPIC: Weapons

There were four weapons found at the crime scene.  A Geneva Forge knife was found in the master bedroom and a wooden club was found on the ground just outside the back door.  An ice pick and an Old Hickory knife were found 20 feet from the back door, lying side by side beneath a bush.

Geneva Forge knife

Exhibit B2: Geneva Forge knife
Exhibit B2: Geneva Forge knife
The Geneva Forge knife was a paring knife with a dull, bent blade.  Analysis of the blade by FBI forensics expert, Paul Stombaugh, demonstrated that this knife made the two cuts in Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top.  In 1970, Pamela Kalin told CID investigators that when she was babysitting the MacDonald children, she remembered seeing this knife in the kitchen.  In subsequent years, Kalin waffled on her identification.  There was a minute trace of Colette MacDonald's Type A blood on the handle of the knife.

Old Hickory knife

Exhibit B1: Old Hickory knife found under a shrub near the utility room door
Exhibit B1: Old Hickory knife found under a shrub near the utility room door
The Old Hickory knife was also a paring knife with an extremely sharp, straight blade.  Analysis of the blade by Stombaugh demonstrated that this knife made the cuts in the pajamas worn by Colette and Kristen MacDonald.  CID investigators traced the knife to either the Post Exchange on Fort Bragg or Pope Air Force Base.  The knife appeared to have been wiped clean of blood.

Ice pick

Exhibit C: Icepick bearing red-brown stains
Exhibit C: Icepick bearing red-brown stains
The ice pick also appeared to have been wiped clean of blood.  Analysis of the blade by Stombaugh demonstrated that this weapon made the puncture holes in the pajamas worn by Jeffrey, Colette, and Kristen MacDonald.  Three individuals came forward to state that they either saw the ice pick in the MacDonald residence or heard Jeffrey MacDonald mention that he owned an ice pick.  During the 1979 trial, Mildred Kassab and Pamela Kalin testified to having seen an ice pick at the MacDonald residence.  Ron Harrison was Jeffrey MacDonald's best friend at Fort Bragg, and he told both CID investigators and the Grand Jury that Jeffrey MacDonald was looking for an pick during a Thanksgiving visit.  Harrison added that he used his own pocketknife to pry some ice apart after Jeffrey MacDonald couldn't locate the ice pick.

Club

Exhibit A: Sides 3 and 4
Exhibit A: Sides 3 and 4
The club was a weathered piece of wood measuring 31 inches in length.  In 1970, Fort Gordon labs matched paint found on the club to paint found on the sidewalk in the back of the MacDonald residence.  In 1971, CID investigator William Ivory removed a wooden slat underneath Kimberley MacDonald's bed.  Grain pattern analysis proved conclusively that the club had been sawed from one end of a piece of wood that had been used to make the bed slat.  The club itself bore traces of Colette's Type A blood and Kimberley's Type AB blood.  Two pajama seam threads were found stuck to the club in Colette's blood.  Additional trace evidence found on the club included two unsourced dark woolen fibers, multiple fibers sourced to a throw rug in the master bedroom, and several unsourced animal hairs.  Autospy records concluded that the blunt trauma injuries to Colette and Kimberley were the result of blows from the club.  Wooden splinters from the club were found in Colette's left hand, under her body, on top of the master bed, under the bedcovers in Kimberley's room, and on top of the bed in Kristen's room.  No wood splinters were found in the living room where Jeffrey MacDonald claimed he was struck with the club.