TOPIC: Victims
Colette MacDonald
Colette Stevenson married Jeffrey MacDonald on September 14, 1963, in Greenwich Village in New York City. Prior to getting married, Colette was attending Skidmore College, but her life suddenly changed when she discovered that she was pregnant. Colette was only 19 years old, but she seemed to embrace the idea of being a wife and mother. By all accounts, Colette was a dedicated mother, and faithful wife. She was a compassionate person, somewhat introverted, and shy. Just prior to her tragic death, Colette was attending college again, and preparing for the birth of her third child. Colette was five and a half months pregnant at the time of her death and her autopsy revealed that the child was a boy.Kimberley MacDonald
Kimberley was born on April 18, 1964. Kimberley was much like her mother in terms of personality. She was intelligent, shy, and quite sensitive.Kristen MacDonald
Kristen was born on May 8, 1967. In stark contrast to her older sister, Kristen was an extremely confident child. She was daring, unafraid, and gregarious.Freddy Kassab
Freddy married Colette's mother when Colette was 13 years old. Freddy lost his wife and child in Word War II, and treated Colette and Bob as though they were his own children.Freddy was a passionate and loyal man who believed in Jeffrey MacDonald's innocence for over a year after the murders. Three events altered Freddy's thought process and he became convinced that Jeffrey MacDonald was a murderer.
- The first event was Freddy's study of the Article 32 transcript. There were too many things in that transcript that raised red flags for Freddy.
- The next event was Jeffrey MacDonald's phone call to Freddy's home in which he claimed that he had tracked down and killed one of the intruders. Freddy did some checking and quickly found out that Jeffrey MacDonald was not telling the truth.
- The last event was Freddy's visit to the crime scene. In 1971, Freddy was accompanied by Peter Kearns and Jack Pruett, who were leading the CID reinvestigation into the murders. Freddy did a number of experiments and tests at the crime scene. When he was finished, he was convinced that Jeffrey MacDonald was a cold-blooded killer.
Freddy spent the next eight years making sure that Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted of murdering his family and the following 14 years ensuring that Jeffrey MacDonald would remain in prison for the rest of his life. Freddy Kassab died in 1994.