And she told him she had been there, at the MacDonald home, the night of the murders. WS: We all depend on excellent, honest detective work. WebWe found 33,440 records for Kassab last name. Picture #1. The Esquire story, for all its salaciousness, touched upon real issues that plagued many communities outside of California. 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. Two years into MacDonalds undergraduate studies at Princeton, Stevens became pregnant. Kassab testified on MacDonalds behalf, declaring, If I had another daughter, Id still want the same son-in-law.. Materials provided by the families of Wadea and Aelyas Kassab. What do you recall of the in-laws in the trial? 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. And yet there are thousands of people in North Carolina who do not believe he did it. Kassab filed a citizens criminal complaint in April 1974, petitioning a federal court to convene a grand jury and determine if MacDonald could be charged. He awoke to the sound of screaming and found three male intruders being overseen by a blonde woman. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Pennsylvania had the highest population of Kassab families in 1920. Their hold on the region no longer remains absolute. Wade Smith: Its a very spooky case. As I read Morris meticulous examination the evidence, the picture in my mind became less clear. No one ever knew what it was Helena told him because of attorney-client privilege. Four military police (MP) officers arrived at 4 a.m. to find an unspeakable crime scene. After traveling a months-long journey that has led me from certainty to doubt to horror at a grave injustice, Im going to turn in this article and then go run some errands and make myself a bite to eat. Additionally, much of what Morris introduces as new evidence was already including in the trial that convicted MacDonald. Until recently, most people saw Picture #1. Like Wade Smith, Ive been struck by how many people speak of absolute certainty about what happened that February night over 40 years ago. When police showed their hand regarding the organised crime threat, back in 2011, the Tibas were at war with the Kassabs and Kheirs. He worries that we are moving into a period in which the finality of verdicts is so zealously protected (a legacy, in part, of 9/11) that new evidence offers little hope of challenging them. Enough somethings to fill the long, solitary chapters of a mans life unfolding behind prison walls. But of the evidence that Morris presents, perhaps most convincing is the piece cited in MacDonalds 2017 federal appeal. He was given an honorable discharge. But he taunted the police. MacDonald, bloody but alive, was next to his wife, who had been pregnant with their third child when she was stabbed 16 times with a kitchen knife and 21 times with an icepick. 6,889 Family Trees. He moved to California to become the director of emergency medicine at St. Mary's Medical Center in Long Beach. We even came back at night so we would have the same lighting conditions as the night of the murders. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. 959 Census & Voter Lists. 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. But then I felt uneasy. Stevenson told reporters in 2005 that he had promised Freddy Kassab on his death bed that he would continue the familys quest to keep MacDonald behind bars, according to The Raleigh News & Observer. Then, in 2012 Jeffrey MacDonalds most famous defender, filmmaker Errol Morris, was so intrigued by the case that he wrote the 500-page book A Wilderness of Error. It has Charles Manson written all over it. The now 76-year-old is serving three consecutive life sentences and is currently housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland . 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. A portrait photograph of Wadea (left) and Aelyas (right) Kassab. Did Jeffrey MacDonald Brutally Slay His Pregnant Wife And Daughters Or Did The Cops Get The Wrong Guy? Even before bureaucratic stalling and federal machinery overtook the search for truth, things were working against Jeffrey MacDonald. LP: Judge Fox is a close friend of Judge Dupree, who presided over the 1979 trial. Waters rubbished that explanation. 741 Immigration & Travel. And police officers knowing how to take care of a crime scene and preserve it. Not only did the U.S. Army surgeon marry his high school sweetheart, but he had a flourishing career, two beautiful young daughters, and a son on the way. On the evening of the murders, Jeffrey MacDonald had taken his kids to ride the pony he had bought them, fed them dinner while their mother took a night class, and put them to bed. Although Kassab didnt join the family until Colette was a teenager, he had always been close with his stepdaughter. Ive got the patience of Job.. The stakes are too high for it not to work, Detective Inspector Clark said. In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. His most significant injury was a puncture wound and deflated lung. The family claims his body has never been found. MacDonald sued McGinniss for fraud in 1987, with a mistrial leading them to settle out of court for $325,000. Evidence the defense never saw. The couples youngest daughter, 2-year-old Kristen, had a total of 33 stab wounds. Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Kassab surname lived. Kassab said in that moment, as he stood in the preserved crime scene, he realized the man he had once considered a loving partner to his stepdaughter had slaughtered his family and then staged the attack. Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe bedroom of Kristen and Kimberly MacDonald, mere hours after they were murdered. But just what changed Kassabs mind about the man he once called a nice, presentable young man?". It is also a Manson-like killing. The ONeills befriended him and altered the course of his life. 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. He theorized that diet pills caused MacDonald to fly into a fit of rage. During this time, he met and became friendly with a number of Americans, including the ONeill family of Chester, Pennsylvania. Theyre the ones that wrote the Congress and said the Army screwed up this crime scene. Some of the shootings are retribution for the severe prison bashing of Bassam Tiba, underworld sources say. On Sept. 17, 2012, in Wilmington, N.C., a crowd of familiar faces assembled for a new hearing. Smerling is the director of the documentary series A Wilderness of Error, which examines the MacDonald case. @2022 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Such is the power of a good story. MacDonald claimed the hairs were from the wig of one of the murders, but the forensic examiner incorrectly claimed they were from one of the childrens dolls. Republicans furious after Democrat questions 'God-given' rights at House hearing, 'Beyond parody': Critics torch Marjorie Taylor Greene for her latest appeal to Republicans, Watch: Anti-drag GOP governor bolts from reporters who unearthed photos of him in drag, Probe finds far-right Tennessee Republican 'economist' major got a 'C' in his one college econ class. Jeffrey MacDonald, a bright young man with everything in life to look forward to, lost his wife and children to senseless, horrific violence. MacDonald claimed he'd broke his arm in the fatal scuffle, but Kearns would later say in an interview that authorities had MacDonald under surveillance at the time and did not observe any broken arm. 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. He did interviews. 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. But there was no evidence that had ever taken place. Stories about the innocent caught in a machine that perverts every possibility of justice. Judge James Fox, a close friend of Dupree's and quite elderly himself, has taken over and has dismissed appeals. Colette had been stabbed 16 times and punctured 21 times with an ice pick, while 5-year-old Kimberley was killed by six blows to the head and eightto 10 stab wounds, according to a1998 Vanity Fair article. Aelyas followed Wadea to the United States in 1899. The Kassab brothers both raised their families in Chester, where they also practiced dentistry. 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. Some said he should never have taken the case because his former son-in-law was the prosecutor in the original army hearing. To dislodge an idea reinforced by a popular book and TV phenomenon would be hard enough, but to add the sickening sense that the wrong man has been paying is nearly unthinkable. McGinniss had to be creative, because the mans character never fit the crime. The prosecution, led by James Blackburn and Brian Murtagh, argued that MacDonald staged the crime scene to blame hippies. He was found guilty and given three life sentences on Aug. 26, 1979. Police agree it would be futile to appeal to gun-slingers on the grounds that they could ruin a rival's life. Unfortunately for MacDonald, she would never admit any memory of her involvement in the killings in court. They dont know the truth any more than I do. According to her, they wanted to teach MacDonald a lesson and rough up his family the night of the killings. Its a scary, spooky story that sounds made up. And absolutely nothing fit, Kassab told the, To realize he had done it, and Colette loved him, and when you sit back and picture in your minds eye what happened that night, with him attacking, and I know from the autopsy reports what was done to the two children, you cant help but visualize in your mind, though we dont talk about it, Freddy Kassab told, Stevenson told reporters in 2005 that he had promised Freddy Kassab on his death bed that he would continue the familys quest to keep MacDonald behind bars, according to. But MacDonalds legal teamled by Bernie Segalpersuaded the Fourth Circuit Court to throw out the charges, claiming that MacDonald had been denied a speedy trial. Yet, the new gangland war fails to capture the imagination. It doesnt make sense that this man, with no history of violence, went crazy like that. Colette MacDonald and her daughters suffered horrific violence as they were killed on February 17, 1970 at their Fort Bragg home. When a terrible crime is committed, society comes together to find someone to blame and to pay for the collective sense of violation. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. You can give it to him.' Two-year-old Kristen had 33 knife- and 15 icepick wounds in her torso, while five-year-old Kimberly was bludgeoned to death. Left ) and Aelyas ( right ) Kassab on Aug. 26, 1979 so... Touched upon real issues that plagued many communities outside of California this time, he had always close! They could ruin a rival 's life the Cops Get the Wrong Guy should have... 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