I first became aware of this crime as a young mother of three, watching the TV movie Fatal Vision. The horror I felt for Colette and her children stayed with me so I decided to read the Joe McGinniss book.

To briefly summarise what I believe convinced me of McDonald’s guilt:

- the extraordinary coincidence of the family’s blood types. Even in a time before DNA, this provided a hypothesis of what happened to who and where.

- the physical evidence collected being so irrefutable, that in 53 years multiple court cases haven’t made a dent.  This evidence combined with blood types gives the closest explanation as to what occurred.

- Kristen’s autopsy. In the words of Brian Murtagh “There were wounds in Kristen’s chest that didn’t have corresponding defects in the clothes....Kristy was probably killed as she slept, by someone who first lifted her pajama top, as if to better identify the location of vital organs. She is knifed front and back, with anatomical precision, along the heart, the aortic arch and the pulmonary vein.”
​Sounds like something a doctor would do.

- the picture of the suitcase in the bedroom with no blood spatter, that could only have been placed there after the crime.  I don’t believe the “alleged hippies” put it there.  The spot of Kristen’s blood on his glasses.  The pictures of Kimberly and Kristen dead in their beds with the covers pulled up and Kristen’s baby bottle placed close to her mouth.

- In 1970, incidents of familicide were less common and misunderstood. The community could not comprehend why or how these things could happen.  MacDonald was a manipulative, compulsive liar and a good looking doctor, who thought these attributes would see him walk free from this horrific crime.

Finally, over the past 40 years I’ve been waiting for the killer to die as the suffering continues for Colette’s family.  Although, I do get satisfaction that he’s in a cage where he belongs, being pissed off that his lies and manipulation haven’t worked.

I still feel overwhelming sorrow for Colette, the girls and all the family and everlasting gratitude for the team of supporters, investigators and lawyers.

Gina
Australia



 

Well  stated Gina. My experience was similar to yours. My first exposure to the case was the TV movie Fatal Vision.  I watched it knowing nothing about the case. At the beginning I was neutral, and the way Gary Cole played him did not give away his true nature. It was very much like JRM in real life, where people accepted him as an amiable and successful young doctor.  In the first part of the movie, I remember being confused by all the blood evidence, and not understanding what it all meant. But there was a turning point for me, when Paul Stombagh explains the evidence to Freddy, and describes exactly what he believes happened that night, based on the evidence. This was likely a fictionalized scenario, but it was an effective way to summarize the evidence for the audience.  After that I leaned towards guilty, as I understood the implications of the evidence. But I wanted to know more.  A few months later I happened to see a paperback edition of Fatal Vision in a used bookstore and bought it. I read it voraciously, and began to understand the evidence much better.  All the evidence Gina mentioned also convinced me of his guilt. Colette's blood on the pocket of his pyjama top, before it was ripped, (both sides of the stain fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle) was very powerful evidence that refuted his story that the top was ripped in a fight with intruders. Also, the bloody footprint was very important to me.  That was real. Stories about a girl standing in the rain with a floppy hat and a candle are not real. His story about fighting off 4 people while laying or sitting on a couch, then waking up some time later with barely a scratch are not real.

Last edited by Grandfather (5/16/2023 6:48 am)

“Someone in that house wearing his pyjama top, with his blood type, with his footprints, killed those people,” says his former prosecutor, Jim Blackburn. “Everything that’s come out since then hasn’t really contradicted the physical evidence of the case.” 

My first exposure to the murders was a magazine article. I don’t remember which, but I remember being shocked that a doctor would run around in a dark house, supposedly treating people, and not just any people, but his family, without turning on a light. It bothered me that he never turned on a light or made a sound. He never screamed in agony, anger, or cried out for help! Why didn’t he yell at the “intruders”? “Who the $&!* are you?” “What do you want?” “Get the $&@* out of my house!” Based on what I read about his personality, I would have expected him to react like that. At the beginning these things bothered me and made me believe he was guilty. After that I read Fatal Vision and watched the movie. The amount of evidence, the preponderance, was enormous and irrefutable.  Over the years I have read numerous articles, blogs, and message boards. I read “Wilderness of Error”, a badly written joke, the title describes the book. I couldn’t get the through “Fatal Justice”, because it was so badly written and full of errors and fabrication. And there has been so much that proves his guilt. But, for me, it began with his behavior during and just after the murders. To me, his behavior screamed; “GUILTY!” Everything after that was just confirmation.

Last edited by TexasPoet (5/19/2023 12:29 pm)

Oh yes, the first time I read about the murders, I also had a big problem with him saying there were four (4) intruders, and sticking to it. And yet, if Colette and Kimberley did cry out while being attacked, that makes at least six (6) intruders! Six (6) intruders stomping through the house, handling things, and attacking the family!

Colette; “Jeff! Why are they doing this to me?”

Kimberley; “Daddy! Daddy!”

What MacDonald claimed Colette cried out reeks of falsehood.

This also set off bells for me! Guilty!