TOPIC: Evidence of Guilt

1) Eighty one pajama fibers were found in the master bedroom.  Twenty four pajama fibers were found under the body of Colette MacDonald.  Twenty two pajama fibers were found on the bed in the master bedroom.  Six pajama fibers were found on the pillowcase in the master bedroom and a pajama fiber was found near the headboard where the word PIG was written in Colette's blood.  The pocket from Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top was found at the feet of Colette and was stained with her blood in 6 locations before it was torn from the jacket.

2) Wood splinters from a club were found in Colette MacDonald's left hand, under her body, on top of the bed in the master bedroom, under the bedcovers in Kimberley MacDonald's room, and on top of the bed in Kristen MacDonald's room.  No blood from Jeffrey MacDonald was found in the living room where MacDonald claimed he was attacked.  No pajama fibers or wood splinters were found in the living room.

3) The DNA profile of Jeffrey MacDonald matched a limb hair found in Colette MacDonald's left hand, a body hair found on top of Kristen MacDonald's bed, and a body hair found on the multi-colored bedspread.

4) Jeffrey MacDonald claimed he entered the kitchen only as far as the telephone, but his blood is found on the floor in front of the kitchen sink.  Blood was also found under the left kitchen sink, but could not be typed due to the paucity of the stain.  Jeffrey MacDonald's blood was also found in the hallway bathroom on the front and right side of the sink, step ladder, and on the wicker material moved from the stool.  Blood was also found on the sink faucets, top of the bath tub, left side of the sink, Midnight Sun shampoo box located in a waste basket by the north door, cloth toilet seat cover, and on top of the toilet tank.  The blood on these items could not be typed due to the paucity of the stains.

5) A spot of Kristen MacDonald's blood was found on the outer lens of Jeffrey MacDonald's glasses which were located on the floor in the living room.  A blood smear in the configuration of a finger was found on the outer edge of an Esquire magazine located in the living room.  The blood smear was formed in the blood of either Colette or Kimberley MacDonald.  The Esquire magazine was found under a box on the living room floor with the left portion of the top heavy coffee table resting on that box.

6) Little disarray found in the living room area where Jeffrey MacDonald said he struggled with 3 male intruders.  A picture above the living room couch remained perfectly straight and in the adjacent dining area, plates balanced on edge in an unstable china cabinet.  In the master bedroom where Colette and Kimberley MacDonald were first attacked, the only thing disturbed was a lamp shade which was crooked.

7) A suitcase located near the right corner of the footboard of the bed in the master bedroom bore no direct blood spatter from Colette, but her blood was found around and under the suitcase.

8) Jeffrey MacDonald claims his pajama top was pulled over his head and ended up around his wrists, yet the pajama top was ripped down the left front seam, left shoulder, and left sleeve down to the cuff.  This indicated that it was grabbed in the V-neck section of the top and pulled down as Jeff spun to his right.

9) Terry Laber discovered that the pocket from Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top was stained with Colette MacDonald's blood in 6 locations before it was torn from the jacket.

10) Paul Stombaugh discovered that Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top was stained with Colette MacDonald's blood in 4 locations before it was torn.  Stombaugh also felt that the absence of tearing around the 48 holes in Jeff's pajama top indicated that the holes were made while the top was stationary.  Stombaugh testified that it was possible to align the 48 holes in the pajama top with the 21 ice pick wounds in Colette's chest.  The autopsy report on Colette indicated that these wounds were inflicted while her body was stationary and the holes in her pajama top also contained no ragged edges indicating the garment was stationary when punctured with the ice pick.  Crime scene photographs show the right sleeve of the pajama top folded inside out and the left panel, which contained no puncture holes, trailing off alongside Colette's body.  The back of Jeff's pajama top also contained 17 holes, but Jeff received no stab wounds to his back.

11) Microscopic examinations found that the cuts in pajama tops of Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen MacDonald were made with the straight, sharp Old Hickory knife.  The 2 cuts in Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top were made with the dull, bent Geneva Forge knife.  There were no cuts in Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top that corresponded with the stab wound that collapsed his right lung.

12) A body hair from Colette MacDonald was found on the blue bedsheet.  The hair had a piece of skin attached to it indicating that it was forcibly removed.

13) The Hilton Hotel bathmat found on Colette MacDonald's abdomen bore multiple bloody handprints, bloody impressions which matched the shape of the Old Hickory knife and the ice pick, and several bloody streaks which indicated that the weapons were wiped down on the bathmat.  The bloody handprints, impressions, and streaks were formed in the blood of Colette and Kimberley MacDonald.

14) Trace evidence found on the multi-colored bedspread included a bloody head hair from Kimberley MacDonald and a bloody head hair from Colette.  The hair from Colette was found twisted around a blood soaked pajama seam thread.

15) The blue bedsheet found in the master bedroom bore blood stains and bloody head hairs from Kimberley MacDonald.  The bedsheet also bore massive blood stains from Colette MacDonald.  Paul Stombaugh concluded that the bedsheet bore bloody handprints, a chin imprint, and the outline of a bare human shoulder.  Stombaugh also concluded that the bedsheet bore 2 bloody fabric impressions from the right pajama cuff and a single bloody fabric impression from the left pajama cuff of Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top.  Stombaugh added that the bedsheet bore the bloody fabric impressions from both the left and right pajama cuff of Colette's pajama top.

16) Kimberley MacDonald's blood formed a 6 inch circle near the entrance to the master bedroom, and there was a trail of her blood that began in the master bedroom and extended into the hallway near the entrance to Kimberley's room.

17) Nineteen pajama fibers were found in Kimberley MacDonald's room with 14 of those fibers found under her bed covers.  A pajama fiber was also found under her pillow. Kimberley's blood was found on the pajama top of Jeffrey MacDonald despite his assertion that he took the top off prior to finding Kimberley in her bed.

18) Kimberley MacDonald's urine was found on the bed in the master bedroom and no urine was found on Jeffrey MacDonald's pajama top despite his claim that he carried Kristen MacDonald from the master bedroom to her room after she wet the bed.

19) Autopsy report indicates that if Kimberley MacDonald's stab wounds occurred in the same position as she was found, the person stabbing her was likely right handed. Jeffrey MacDonald is right handed.

20) Two pajama fibers were found under the bed covers on Kristen MacDonald's bed and a pajama fiber was also found under Kristen's fingernail.

21) Two pajama fibers and several rayon fibers from the multi-colored throw rug in the master bedroom were found adhering to the club in Colette's blood.

22) Colette MacDonald's broken, bloody hair ribbon was found on the multi-colored rug in Kristen's room.  A fiber matching that rug was also found in Colette's hand.

23) The bottom sheet on Kristen MacDonald's bed bore a blood stain from Colette MacDonald near the top corner of the bed next to the wall and the top sheet covering Kristen bore a massive blood stain from Colette at hip level.  Kristen's bedspread also bore a transfer stain from a person's arm or the club which was formed in the blood of Kimberley MacDonald.

24) Blades of grass, pajama fibers, and blood were found on Jeffrey MacDonald's robe. The blood could not be typed due to the paucity of the stain.

25) Three bloody footprints from Jeffrey MacDonald were found exiting Kristen MacDonald's room.  A partial right footprint formed in Colette's or Kimberley's blood and a left footprint formed in Colette's blood were found just inside Kristen's room, and a partial left footprint was found in the middle of the hallway.  The footprint in the hallway could not be typed due to the paucity of the stain.

26) Microscopic examination of wooden slats found under the bed of Kimberley MacDonald proved that the club was sawed off the end of one of those slats.  Ron Harrison testified that during a Thanksgiving visit, Jeffrey MacDonald asked, "where's the ice pick" and subsequently looked for the ice pick in the outside storage shed.  Harrison added that Jeff, "came back without it because we finally had to use a screwdriver and the end of my knife---I had a pocketknife---to pry the ice apart and chip it away."

27) Jeffrey MacDonald stated he did not turn on the bedroom lights nor did he go to the neighbor's residence for help.  The following is an exchange between William Ivory and Jeffrey MacDonald during a CID interview on April 6, 1970:

MacDonald:  Well, I don't know — well, I really don't know if I checked the femorals on both sides of the kids, quite honestly.  I probably checked here (pointing to the throat) and picked up their wrist and possibly checked the femoral, but I'm not sure.  So, then I was standing in the middle — middle of the hallway after this kind of second trip, and I didn't know what to do. I kept saying to myself, you know, "What — what comes now?"  And I remember I — it flashed through my mind to go next door to my idiot neighbor, but I realized that would be futile and —

Ivory:  Why was that?

MacDonald:  Well, our neighbors are — she's the kind of lady that sits in her window with binoculars and watches the girl across the street undress and stuff like that, you know.  And she comes over and she says, "Now, don't leave your windows open because there's a lot of rapists and people around here."  We were at a cocktail party one night, and — and she said that and everyone stopped.  And I said to her — so I was kind of pulling her chain. So I said, "Well, how — how do you know that — that people look in windows?"  I mean — you know, you see types of people and right away this woman had — so, she said, "Well, ‘cause I see her every night.  The blonde across the street."  And I say, "How do you see her every night?"  She said, "I go in my window and watch."  And I said, "Why do you do that?"  And she said, I swear to God, she said, "Because," you know, "it's unatural for a girl to undress with the blinds up.  And I just want to." — you know, "I just want to make sure I know what's going on in the neighborhood."  But that's beside the point.  So that's the type of person that — that, you know, I just — I said, "Shall I go next door or should I try to call again?"  And I decided I should try to call again.

Four months later at the Article 32 hearing, MacDonald was asked why he didn't seek assistance from neighbors and he replied, "I didn't know them that well."

28) Colette MacDonald sustained fractures to her left forearm, right forearm, and skull after receiving multiple blows from a club.  Colette was also hit 6 times in the face with the club resulting in severe lacerations to her left temple, right temple, and forehead.  Colette's chest bore a pattern bruise from the end of the club, as if she had been struck at arm's length by a bayonet-type thrust.  Colette was also stabbed 37 times in the chest, neck, and left arm with an ice pick and the Old Hickory knife.  Kimberley MacDonald was unrecognizable due to at least 3 blows from the club which resulted in multiple fractures of her nose, left cheekbone, and skull.  Kimberley was also stabbed 8 to 10 times in the neck with the Old Hickory knife.  Kristen MacDonald was stabbed 33 times in the back, chest, and neck with an ice pick and the Old Hickory knife.  Kristen also had multiple defensive wounds on her hands from the Old Hickory knife.  Jeffrey MacDonald received 1 wound that was considered serious and that was a stab wound to the right chest which collapsed his lung.  He did not require a single suture to close wounds to his left arm, left bicep, and abdomen.  The wound to his abdomen was a slashing-type wound indicating that the source of the wound was the Geneva Forge knife.  The source of the bruise over his left eye could have been the hairbrush found near Colette's body.

29) Jeffrey MacDonald's blood was found on the door to the hallway closet that contained a large stock of medical supplies such as prescription drugs, syringes, hypodermic needles, and disposable scalpel blades.

30) Jeffrey MacDonald stated that after attempting to revive his family, he went to his hands and knees as he walked down the hallway, yet no bloody handprints were found on the hallway floor.

31) A piece of skin was found under Colette MacDonald's fingernail.  Bernie Segal asked Jeffrey MacDonald about injuries to his chest during the Article 32 hearing in 1970. MacDonald admitted to having, "some scratches on my left pectoral region, the upper left chest with some, again the same type of puncture wounds, two or three."  Captain Clifford Somers asked MacDonald about his injuries during cross-examination. MacDonald described, "several, what appeared to me to be small, small puncture wounds on the left side of the chest and some scratches."

A similar exchange occurred in 1971 between Jeffrey MacDonald and Colonel Jack Pruett during the CID reinvestigation:

Pruett:  Then your description of them is in conflict with what is in the medical record a bit?

MacDonald:  In the number of wounds, right.

Pruett:  The scratches then, you are saying are on the side, the left, in which direction?  The left portion of the chest?

MacDonald:  Yes, but it wasn't on the outside.  It was on the inside of the nipple.

32) Jeffrey MacDonald told Fatal Vision author Joe McGinniss, that results of a polygraph exam administered by John Reid in 1970 were deemed inconclusive, and admitted that during the exam he was, "frantic with worry."  Several months later, Bernie Segal hired polygraph expert Cleve Backster.  During the 1987 MacDonald vs. McGinniss civil trial, Backster testified that Jeffrey MacDonald failed the polygraph exam.

33) Jeffrey MacDonald concocted a story about killing one of the intruders and communicated it to family friend Bob Stern near the end of the Article 32 hearing. MacDonald repeated this story 3 months later to Freddy Kassab in 2 separate phone conversations, in a handwritten letter to Kassab, and to Mildred Kassab during a visit to the Kassab home.  The phone conversations were secretly recorded by Freddy Kassab.

34) Jeffrey MacDonald told CID investigators that Ron Harrison brought champagne to MacDonald's hospital room because everyone was "down" and Harrison thought it might cheer them up.  Harrison, however, told CID investigators that MacDonald asked him to purchase a bottle of champagne for him.  Harrison subsequently obliged and delivered the champagne to MacDonald's hospital room.

35) Jeffrey MacDonald was first advised of his rights prior to the April 6, 1970 CID interview and he replied, "It's sounding very ominous."  Later in the interview, MacDonald admitted to telling Dr.  Robert Sadoff that he felt "relief" that his family was gone, but was ashamed of that feeling.  MacDonald also told investigators that, "When I woke up, the first thing I thought of was, you know, I'm ashamed to say — myself."

36) Jeffrey MacDonald was interviewed on February 17, 18, and 20 by the CID, with each interview session either contradicting prior statements or containing new details. MacDonald admitted to the CID that details of what occurred the night of the murders would change even among family members and friends.  The following is an exchange between Robert Shaw and Jeffrey MacDonald during the April 6, 1970 interview:

MacDonald:  Everyone — everyone — I mean I've talked — well, only — really, only two people, but in telling them, some things, you know, sound funny after a while; and I'm not sure what — you know, whether — like one time I remember, Ron Harrison, who got involved with this thing and was around all the time, he — he heard most of it, and he asked me a couple of things about it.  I remember when I told him, that my mother said it wasn't exactly what I, you know —

Shaw:  Might have said to her?

MacDonald:  Right.  And I, you know — she — in other words, they reacted a little different.

37) Law enforcement officers arrested Kenneth Barnett, Annette Cullity, Gary Burnett, and Joseph Lee in Suffolk County, New York on May 9, 1970.  The Suffolk County Police subsequently contacted CID agent Bennie Hawkins due to the fact that these 4 individuals matched the physical descriptions of the intruder suspects provided by Jeffrey MacDonald.  The following is an excerpt from the July 24, 1970 testimony of Bennie Hawkins at the Article 32 hearing:

Somers:  Can you describe this group?

Hawkins:  Yes, sir, it was a group of four.  There were three males and one female in the group.  The one male, Negro, approximately 5-9 in height, 170 pounds in weight, black hair, brown eyes.  There were two Caucasian males, one of them approximately 5-10 in height with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, of about medium build.  The other Caucasian male was approximately 5-6 in height, blond hair, and blue eyes.  The female approximately 5-5 to 5-6 in height, 110 pounds in weight.  She had blond hair and blue eyes.

Somers:  Did you obtain any information about the wearing apparel of these people?

Hawkins:  Yes, sir, I did.

Somers:  What was that?

Hawkins:  They all dressed with the hippie type clothing.  They — the colored male was seen wearing an army field jacket or fatigue shirt.  The female was known to wear a floppy hat and hip boots.

Somers:  Did this group you are speaking about have any connection or association with Captain MacDonald or his family?

Hawkins:  They associated with Captain MacDonald's brother.

Segal:  That's objected to and move to strike.  There's no evidence that Captain MacDonald's brother is involved in this case in any fashion whatsoever.  In fact, there's no evidence that he even has a brother, sir.