NC - MacDonald family murders at Fort Bragg, 1970 - Jeffrey MacDonald innocent?

I think he's an arrogant pathological liar who will never admit he is guilty because it dismantles the persona he tries to sell. However, I also don't think he believes the bullcrap he peddles.

I couldn't actually finish Fatal Vision because the chapters from his perspective were so annoying. It was all about how great and wonderful and amazing he was and what little he said about his family was incredibly disinterested.

I think it genuinely baffles him that people want to focus on the fact that he murdered his family instead of his professional accomplishments of going to highly ranked schools and becoming a doctor for the Green Berets, but I think he has enough social skills to know that this isn't something you say out loud.
Hi Zella, I recently listened to my Fatal Vision audiobook four times in a row because I wanted to dive into the evidence and commit them to memory.

Jeff’s notes and recordings were super annoying but they
were useful to compare with known facts and witness
testimony; they illustrate what a narcissistic liar he is.

It also shows what he really thought about Colette.





s
 
I especially enjoyed the psychologist's comments on our Dr. MacDonald -- his evaluation of the tests, etc., was not allowed in court, which I really wanted included.
I thought his evaluations were revealing and bolstered my own thoughts about his doubts about his sexuality, and his compensations for those doubts, a la joining the Green Berets, talking (lying) to her about the Boxing Team going to Russia, and sleeping with every pretty woman he could find. I also wondered if Collette may have made a remark about his manhood on "that night."

And another thought:

Welcome to Websleuths,
EvaGreen !!
 
I especially enjoyed the psychologist's comments on our Dr. MacDonald -- his evaluation of the tests, etc., was not allowed in court, which I really wanted included.
I thought his evaluations were revealing and bolstered my own thoughts about his doubts about his sexuality, and his compensations for those doubts, a la joining the Green Berets, talking (lying) to her about the Boxing Team going to Russia, and sleeping with every pretty woman he could find. I also wondered if Collette may have made a remark about his manhood on "that night."

And another thought:

Welcome to Websleuths,
EvaGreen !!
Aww thank you Yeah I found myself going back over the psychologists assessment a lot, and it was so interesting!
I think he was really afraid of being homosexual, I think
The psychologist described it as being a phobia of his.

Btw, what’s your take on Jeff spending that time in
Texas when he was still living at home with his parents?
 
Hi Zella, I recently listened to my Fatal Vision audiobook four times in a row because I wanted to dive into the evidence and commit them to memory.

Jeff’s notes and recordings were super annoying but they
were useful to compare with known facts and witness
testimony; they illustrate what a narcissistic liar he is.

It also shows what he really thought about Colette.


s
Oh I agree his sections were incredibly revealing about how little he thought of his family, how much he thought of himself, and how superficial he was. In that sense, they were psychologically interesting, but I life is just too short for me to sit there and read that through the end. LOL I've been reading true crime for over 20 years now, and that is only one of two books I've put down and couldn't finish because of how much the criminal in question repulsed me. He made my skin crawl.
 
Aww thank you Yeah I found myself going back over the psychologists assessment a lot, and it was so interesting!
I think he was really afraid of being homosexual, I think
The psychologist described it as being a phobia of his.

Btw, what’s your take on Jeff spending that time in
Texas when he was still living at home with his parents?

It's been a while since I've read it, although I have read it 4--5 times in the last 20 years...
I don't recall Jeff and the Texas trip vs. staying home with his parents. I rattled my brain and nothing came out. :confused:
Refresh my memory, or maybe someone else can recall it!
 
It's been a while since I've read it, although I have read it 4--5 times in the last 20 years...
I don't recall Jeff and the Texas trip vs. staying home with his parents. I rattled my brain and nothing came out. :confused:
Refresh my memory, or maybe someone else can recall it!
Oh I was referring to when he was in high school and a friend of the family really liked Jeff and invited him to spend a couple weeks in Texas but it lasted a few months.

The man’s wife said he was very attracted (her word) to Jeff.

His father was angry and believed Jeff abandoned his family.
It really upset him.

McGinnis referred Jeff’s interpretation of a Rorschach test
that had to do with an older man watching a boy sleep.
Jeff said that the boy may have mistook the man’s affection
as something untoward.
 
You know, I have no reason to think he checks out things about himself on the internet but I hope he does and I hope Jeffrey MacDonald reads this thread.
Lol, it would be awesome if he read this thread.
Dissecting his psych reports, pointing out his grandiose lies about himself and his cruelty to
his wife. We have his number, and he’s a weakling.
 
Oh I was referring to when he was in high school and a friend of the family really liked Jeff and invited him to spend a couple weeks in Texas but it lasted a few months.

The man’s wife said he was very attracted (her word) to Jeff.

His father was angry and believed Jeff abandoned his family.
It really upset him.

McGinnis referred Jeff’s interpretation of a Rorschach test
that had to do with an older man watching a boy sleep.
Jeff said that the boy may have mistook the man’s affection
as something untoward.

Yes, yes, yes, @EvaGreen, I remember now! Thanks for the refresh!
And I do remember his Rorschach interpretations! Very telling, and, to me, not surprising.
Was any part of this man genuine? Grrrrr.
At least he's genuinely in the slammer!
 
The only thing I remember him seeming to have a genuine reaction to and some actual reflection capability on (though not turned inward) was in the sections I read where he talked about his relationship with his father and his father's personality, but of course, the fact he had issues with his dad and was on the receiving end of being hurt by his father is probably why. Because he was personally affected (and humiliated and made uncomfortable) by it.

In contrast, I don't think he ever cared about hurting his wife and kids, even before he killed them because it didn't hurt ol' Jeff. I was disturbed by how coldly and impersonally he talked about them every single time he mentioned them, even in an allegedly loving context.

"we fell in love and whatnot."
"I thought having Kimberley was neat."

Now that it has been mentioned, I also remember him having some real hangups about masculinity, which, again, he attributed to/blamed his father for.
 
Good post -- I agree 100% -- he loved only himself.
His over-compensation about his manhood led him to do some very stupid things -- his womanizing, the going-to-Russia "boxing" charade (he could have said he was going over there to show the Russian doctors some new ERoom techniques), telling his father-in-law that he had killed one of the killers of his family. Grrrrr.
But, I say again, the slime-ball is still in the slammer. :D
 
Oh I agree his sections were incredibly revealing about how little he thought of his family, how much he thought of himself, and how superficial he was. In that sense, they were psychologically interesting, but I life is just too short for me to sit there and read that through the end. LOL I've been reading true crime for over 20 years now, and that is only one of two books I've put down and couldn't finish because of how much the criminal in question repulsed me. He made my skin crawl.
I listened to the audiobook while commuting to work. I usually hate the way narrators alter their voice to sound like “the characters” in most audiobooks but this one was really well done. The police recordings of JM’s actual interviews are also included.
 
just thought of something- maybe Collette was talking to the intruders since they came in the back door and when they said they were there to kill the children she replied to them, and not jeff
 
just thought of something- maybe Collette was talking to the intruders since they came in the back door and when they said they were there to kill the children she replied to them, and not jeff

What intruders? Could you please provide a link that shows LE established that there were indeed intruders that night?
 
Has anyone ever read anything about why there would have been 5 different weapons used the night of the murders? The baseball bat (used on Jeff according to him), the two different knives, the board and the icepick? Wondering why he would need 3 stabbing weapons. The Los Angeles coroner and another coroner who reviewed case years later indicated it would be more than one perpetrator.
 
Has anyone ever read anything about why there would have been 5 different weapons used the night of the murders? The baseball bat (used on Jeff according to him), the two different knives, the board and the icepick? Wondering why he would need 3 stabbing weapons. The Los Angeles coroner and another coroner who reviewed case years later indicated it would be more than one perpetrator.

Probably because MacDonald truly thought he was so much smarter than the investigators that he used different weapons to give just the impression of more than one attacker and support his ridiculous story.
 
True, but Watts is a very dim bulb compared to MacDonald.
Not a smart guy, Watts, who thought he could fool the local LE, her family, his family and others, but no-o-o-o-o, it didn't work for 5 minutes.
MacD, a Narcissistic sociopath, thought he was smarter than LE and the Army CID, but he wasn't. Heck, he didn't even fool his wife for long.
I am totally new here (signed up just now) so I hope I don't make too many newbie mistakes. Anyway, I just wanted to pipe in that MacDonald might indeed have gotten away with it had it not been for the dogged relentless pursuit of justice for his daughter & granddaughters by the amazing Freddy Kassab! MacD was smart and, as McG called him "beyond morality," but he couldn't get past Freddie and "his patience of Job!"

Thanks and I'm off to read more posts on my new obsession...The Jeffrey MacDonald Case!
 
I agree with others here. Well done, but JM is guilty - zero doubts for me. I am going back to read Fatal Vision for the umpteenth time - but in my humble opinion- justice was served here - too bad justice for JM doesn’t equal 3(4 really) innocent lives.
I also recommend McG's follow-up book that was his last word on this case, "Final Vision." He answers the questions many have had and responds to MacD's defenders as well. I put it on Kindle to read on vacation next month but I had to read it immediately! Hope others enjoy/enjoyed it, too!
 

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