I went from not sure, to innocent to guilty over a period of about 25 years studying this case. What convinced me as a group of people who hung around with Jeff's brother Jay, known as the "Fire Island Four." Jeff had met these people in a bar six months prior to the killings. Within that group, the clothes, mannerisms, and expressions, were exactly identical to the alleged "intruders." on the murder night.
The woman in the group even was known to wear a wig, had long stringy blond hair, and dark black clothing. The problem was that on the night of the murders, the Fire Island Four were proven to have an air-tight alibi, all were in New York at the time. Because neither prosecution nor defense could incorporate them into the case, they were not brought up at trial. At least not that I can recall. I do believe that there was some discussion over the FIF at the Article 32 Hearing.
This group stayed at Jay Macdonald's house, and it was shown that Jeff met them at the time when he was in New York visiting his brother. In December 1970, he and his defense team tried to investigate the FIF when they learned they were in New York at the time of the murders, but they could not incorporate them into their story. The next best thing was the team of people so well known to those involved with the case. Helena Stockley, Greg Mitchell, and their friends.
The biggest problem is going back to that overly neat living room where the hippie cult supposedly attacked Jeff. If you notice from the pictures in Fatal Vision and verified through other documents on the case, the overturned coffee table only has about 4-5 feet of distance (if that) from the couch. I cannot believe that four people could fit in that little space, in a darkened room and kill, let alone fight with weapons. The "Fighting Area" is too small.
And isn't it bizarre that Helena is the only one in the group who says ANYTHING? If she were carrying a candle, how and where did she light it? We know that it was raining outside at the time, or at least their had been a recent rain. How did Helena and her group of friends know that Jeff would be sleeping on the couch in a darkened room, high on drugs without disturbing anything?
And an issue that no one has raised, well prosecutor Jim Blackburn asked, "If Macdonald's story was true, he would be dead from the fight." I would say, maybe not dead, but certainly far more seriously injured than he was. Isn't is strange that these hippie intruders who were so high on drugs and doing this killing and obviously fighting with Jeff and the family if we are to believe his story, that NONE of the intruders was killed in this life and death struggle? They aren't even hurt at all! Fatal Justice talks about eye witness accounts of seeing people at a Dunkin Doughnuts with bloody hands and clothes. But the time frame is too discombobulated for credibility. Why would you stop at a Dunkin Doughnuts after killing three people and an unborn fetus? Any killer would want to get out of town!
I honestly believe that the fight started in the Master Bedroom. The oldest daughter Kim had wet the bed, and Macdonald and Colette had a fight. But I think that what set him off was that she hit him or punched him and that is where he lost it. I think Kim tried to help her mother and Jeff in a fit of rage took the club, intended to smash Collete with it and hit Kim so badly that Jeff knew that if he did not kill them, his medical reputation would be shattered.
He cries hysterically for several minutes knowing that he can't go back and make it right. He is forced to murder Colette and Kim. Kristen wakes up and Macdonald has no choice in his mind but to kill her because she would be old enough to be a witness against him at trial.
He contemplates leaving. (Remember the suitcase in the Master Bedroom?) but knows that would be an admission of guilt. Stages the scene in the living room, turns over the coffee table, lies down on the floor to check his own wounds, than spends about 40 minutes to a hour writing "Pig" on the headboard in the Master Bedroom, goes back to overkill the family using each weapon found at the crime scene (club, knife, and icepick) Goes into the living room, remembers the Manson Killings by reading Esquire Magazine and ties that into the Fire Island Four that he met six months ago. (Manson Murder=4 people in the story.) He knows about Helena Stockley and her friends from seeing them around town or on the base, wipes his glasses with a small smear of blood on them and the Esquire magazine, rehearses his story as best he can. Goes into the bathroom to inflict a puncture wound of his lung, and then calls the Operator for help, breathing heavily because of the lung wound and nervous over what he has done. Than he goes and lays by Collete, exposing her breast. ("like with a girlfriend," as the MP's noted) to fool the authorities and to try to make his story look legit.
However, there are too many gaping holes in his version of events, when weighted against the physical elements of the crime scene for his version to be believable. Jeff Macdonald based on these reasons is a guilty man.
Joe
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