It has Charles Manson written all over it. Out of all the evidentiary and procedural twists and turns, I asked Silverglate to name the one that bothered him the most about the MacDonald case. My friend and I sat around in her backyard, tossing up what facts about the case we could recall. He theorized that diet pills caused MacDonald to fly into a fit of rage. It has Helena Stoeckley, the dominant person who continues to play a remarkable role. Ive had many cases in court. 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. Anybody could. 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 claimed that his daughter Kimberly wet his side of the bed, prompting him to go to sleep on the couch. My wife and I can sit for hours and days and not talk to each other, but were both thinking, you know. Did Jeffrey MacDonald Brutally Slay His Pregnant Wife And Daughters Or Did The Cops Get The Wrong Guy? Weve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. According to exclusive statistics from the armed crime squad, there has been a five-fold increase in non-fatal shootings in the north-west in four years and the region now sees almost two thirds of Victoria's non-fatal shootings. Many think this woman could have been Helena Stoeckley, a drug abuser and professed member of a witchcraft cult who repeatedly confessed to having been at the MacDonald house the night of the murders, but recanted her story whenever she seemed to fear prosecution. 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. Stories about the innocent caught in a machine that perverts every possibility of justice. 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. Mr Oueida has been overseas for most of the time since the attack, predominantly in Lebanon and Dubai a haunt for a string of Australian organised crime figures. The defendant has no obligation to prove anything whatsoever. WebThe Kassab family name was found in the USA in 1920. View all records. 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. Two members of the Tiba family have been charged in relation to the shooting. 2015 NC State University. Bettmann/Getty ImagesA neighbors dog and MP guards securing the MacDonald property. The idea that people that were so certain who dont know any more than I do -- I dont believe Ill ever understand how they could be so sure. 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. Not only did the living room show few signs of a struggle, but the murder weapons were found outside the back door. Colettes sister-in-law Vivian Pep Stevenson told the outlet that Colette knew of the affairs and was growing tired of the infidelities before she died, at one point lamenting, I dont want to do this anymore.. What do you recall of the in-laws in the trial? The Kassab brothers both raised their families in Chester, where they also practiced dentistry. A lengthy trial heard Moustafa and Kassab had gone to the Brunswick panel beating shop to confront Moustafa over $50,000 in cash and $10,000 in aftershave they believe he had stolen. Since MacDonald was convicted of the murders in 1979, considerable evidence of his innocence has come to light. They were hardly as connected as the mob in Manhattan, but they had serious clout. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. Eventually, he turned on the man he had once so ardently defended. Unfortunately for MacDonald, she would never admit any memory of her involvement in the killings in court. LP: She said that to her lawyer at the time of the 1979 trial? 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. 1,169 Birth, Marriage & Death. He had biblical levels of persistence, Bob Keeler, a reporter for Newsday, recalled in A Wilderness of Error.. Currently serving three life sentences for their murders, MacDonald continues to maintain his innocence even as a new documentary series digs into his case. Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe bedroom of Kristen and Kimberly MacDonald, mere hours after they were murdered. 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.. WS: In every murder of a spouse, the remaining spouse is the number-one suspect and is almost always charged. Kassabs unwavering support of his son-in-law also began to crumble as Kassabwho worked in telephone sales for the Quality Egg Co.began to question MacDonalds account of what happened. But Silverglate points out that those lawyers have been up against an increasingly perverse system in which ancient legal rights like habeas corpus have been tossed aside in the name of preserving convictions at any cost. This collection is a part of a larger collection that has been divided into more specific collections. With their encouragement, he graduated from dental school in Philadelphia in 1895 and set up a practice in Chester. Please try again later. Thereafter their lives ran close and parallel courses. WebIn 1971, his father-in-law, Freddy Kassab, became progressively suspicious of MacDonald and sought formal reopening of the case. WS: Yes. Is it possible that Jeffrey MacDonald will get justice under these circumstances? Who else is going to fight this thing if not me? Kassab said, who had moved to Florida from his Long Island home the year before. Judge Fox is also a good man. At the time, Kassab still believed the real perpetrators of the crime had been the four hippies that MacDonald said had broken into the home. 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. Will artificial intelligence overthrow its capitalist overlords? Mica remembered seeing a woman who fit this description while en route to the scene but said the Armys Criminal Investigation Division (CID) omitted this during their subsequent inquest. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. We would frequently meet at the crime scene and brainstorm the whole scenario. Eventually, after pressure from Colettes family, MacDonald was indicted and found guilty of the three murders on August 29, 1979. They hoped to get a confession, but she stated firmly that she had never been inside MacDonalds home contrary to previous claims she purportedly made to defense attorneys during witness hearings. Some of the shootings are retribution for the severe prison bashing of Bassam Tiba, underworld sources say. He wanted his son-in-law to stay on the east coast and pursue the killers. You think you know what youre seeing, but then you arent so sure. Allard Lowenstein supporting MacDonalds claim that the Army wrongfully accused him and were trying to cover up their mistake. I personally delivered a copy by hand to every congressman and every senator in the country.. LP: In Joe McGinnis book, Fatal Vision, Freddy Kassab, MacDonalds father-in-law, was presented as the protagonist. Most people who go through traumatic things like this, nowhere near as lengthy, almost always end up in divorce, but with us its drawn us closer.. Though the U.S. Army formally charged MacDonald with the murders, presiding officer Colonel Warren Rock recommended the charges be dropped. Inside The Assassination Of Detlev Rohwedder, The Politician Who Tried To Unify East And West German Businesses, Someone Just Paid Over $81,000 For A Blood-Stained Lock Of Abraham Lincoln's Hair, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Steve Liss/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. Their hold on the region no longer remains absolute. When police showed their hand regarding the organised crime threat, back in 2011, the Tibas were at war with the Kassabs and Kheirs. Dupree would not admit overwhelming psychiatric testimony in MacDonalds favor, nor the testminony of witnesses to whom Helena Stoeckley had confessed her involvement. Hes the guy that lives next door. Until recently, most people saw Picture #1. That same year, seven drug-linked executions were reported in 10 months. To do so, they are increasingly trying to appeal to the maternal side of these families, and helping mothers and their children escape the criminal elements in their home, before another brood is infected. Despite the young familys financial burdens, the important things seemed secure. Some said he should never have taken the case because his former son-in-law was the prosecutor in the original army hearing. But just what changed Kassabs mind about the man he once called . Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Some criminal networks were recently identified as having more than 1000 members, of various ages and ethnic backgrounds; unlike the five families, they were not simply the first generation of children born in Australia to parents hailing from northern Lebanon. 741 Immigration & Travel. Moise A. Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, Collection description written by Linda Jacobs. 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. In July 1974, a Federal judge acted on a citizen's criminal complaint by Kassab and others, by putting the case before a grand jury. At the moment, the five Haddaras are similarly constrained, with only one of them free, two dead and two in prison. Bettmann/Getty ImagesMacDonald in late 1970 after the Army acquitted him of all charges. The FBI lab guy turned over two copies to Brian Murtaugh, the prosecutor. Jeffrey MacDonald had it all. The new war involves men with names many Victorians could barely pronounce shooting each other in downtrodden suburbs they have almost certainly never visited. 6,889 Family Trees. Since last September, the Tibas are suspected of involvement in at least six non-fatal shootings, a bashing and multiple home invasions. He claimed they chanted, Kill the pigs!Acid is groovy! and scrawled the word PIG on the wall in his wifes blood. 6,889 Family Trees. But things got out of hand. WS: They were a very normal-looking mama and daddy. After reading the full transcript of his Article 32 hearing, the Kassabs were convinced that MacDonalds story didnt add up. But then I felt uneasy. Marc Smerling thinks he has some idea. In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. "There was a young kid that was shot, and he's paralysed from the chest down for the rest of his life. In 1982, she sat down with Gunderson and Beasley in a taped interview, claiming that she had been part of a satanic cult that had killed the family because MacDonald was not cooperative in helping heroin addicts during his time at Fort Bragg. No attempt was made to locate the woman that night. Wadea left Syria in 1889 with two companions and arrived in the United States that same year. The surgical gloves used to scrawl pig on the headboard were identical to the supply MacDonald kept in his kitchen. Im giving you an extra copy for Bernie Segal [the defense counsel]. Freddy Kassab had inserted himself into the 1970 military hearing and made himself the center of a media circus, holding news conferences and firing off letters to members of Congress. His memoir reads as a classic Syrian rags-to-riches story, except for the fact that he lost everything when he speculated in real estate just before the Great Depression. Such is the power of a good story. The one thing that sticks in my craw above anything else is this: There were lab results. 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. Next, his trial in Raleigh, North Carolina presided over by Judge Franklin Dupree began on July 16, 1979. Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Kassab surname lived. Smerling is the director of the documentary series A Wilderness of Error, which examines the MacDonald case. MacDonald was ultimately convicted in 1979 for killing his pregnant wife Colette MacDonald and their two young daughters, Kimberley and Kristen. Pennsylvania had the highest population of Kassab families in 1920. After learning about the case of convicted killer and U.S. Army surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald, read about John List, who killed his family in cold blood and then disappeared for 18 years. As I read Morris meticulous examination the evidence, the picture in my mind became less clear. The Jeffrey MacDonald murder case is one of the most disturbing in living memory. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, Scott Adams and why American capitalism kneels before a bigger God. And police officers knowing how to take care of a crime scene and preserve it. The past year has been the most arduous of our lives. We even came back at night so we would have the same lighting conditions as the night of the murders. Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagesRep. His wife Colette and his children have also been forever denied these things -- but not, I have come to believe, by the man who is currently serving three consecutive life sentences. But he taunted the police. His honesty and humility regarding these losses give the story its poignancy. Additionally, much of what Morris introduces as new evidence was already including in the trial that convicted MacDonald. But it is also hard to feel any empathy, or concern as Victorians do about other crimes against more innocent victims that it could happen to them. Four military police (MP) officers arrived at 4 a.m. to find an unspeakable crime scene. But Im an optimist generally about our system of justice, and I hope that MacDonald gets a break. That got my attention: the Oscar-winning Morris, whose film The Thin Blue Line exonerated a Texas man wrongfully convicted for murder, is one of the worlds great documentary filmmakers. Every time we pursued a lead it just turned us around and directed us back toward Jeffrey MacDonald. Sometimes that doesnt happen. McGinniss made the murders sound like the work of a diabolical genius, a man who could transform in a moment from a loving father to a homicidal maniac, and again, in the blink of an eye, to a calculating conman. 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. Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? The couple sued MacDonald in 1987 to try to prevent him from profiting from Joe McGinniss book Fatal Vision, which served as the inspiration for the mini-series. The veneer of the MacDonalds perfect marriage had also began to crack. But it wasnt until Kassab revisited the crime scene himself in 1972 that he finally believed that his son-in-law had been the killer. The couples youngest daughter, 2-year-old Kristen, had a total of 33 stab wounds. Silverglate believes that Jeffrey MacDonald has been railroaded, and that this railroading exposes disturbing trends in our federal criminal justice system. The family claims his body has never been found. No one ever knew what it was Helena told him because of attorney-client privilege. It implicates us all. The one hardly anyone sees, but that rages, nonetheless. Invest with us. Another page in another chapter in the new gangland war. That, in turn, drives a burgeoning black market for firearms, and has made the north-west the centre of the gun trade in this state. LP: What has this case revealed about the flaws in our judicial system? In the early '80s, I whipped through a dog-eared copy of Fatal Vision, Joe McGinniss sensational true-crime novel about the killings. But of the evidence that Morris presents, perhaps most convincing is the piece cited in MacDonalds 2017 federal appeal. Why the MacDonald Case Matters to Everyone. "I wish it was as simple as saying all our non-fatal shootings went back to five families, because if it did, we would target those five families and we'd kick it in the guts, but it's actually not that simple.". Prosecutors appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and in 1978 the countrys highest court decided to reinstate the indictment. There may be hope that MacDonald will eventually gain his freedom and at least be able to live the last few years of his life outside of a prison cell. We need your support in this difficult time. But there was, including wax drippings (MacDonald insisted that one of the intruders carried a candle), fibers, and hairs that did not belong to the household or family members. The stakes are too high for it not to work, Detective Inspector Clark said. Carl Williams was a boy from Broady, whose fat fingers spread across the state, but we know little about the boys from Broady who are ordering murders and peddling drugs now. He made fun of them. But an unfortunate thing happened in the following years. It has witchcraft in it. And, in media appearances like his interview on The Dick Cavett Show, meanwhile, MacDonald appeared suspiciously at ease. 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