week 3 conduct a crime scene e analysis

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 1

Week 3: conduct Crime Scene E Analysis

Arlenn Campos

PSY-6507 V3: criminal profiling

Dr. Matthew Greyer

August 7, 2022

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 2

On February 17, 1970, a former Green Beret doctor was found guilty of murdering his

pregnant wife, Colette, and their two small children, Kimberly and Kristen, in their home on Fort

Bragg Army Base. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As they

swarmed on MacDonald's family, the hippies screamed, "Acid is groovy, pigs should be

murdered." In the course of the assault on MacDonald's family, several people were hurt, but

none of their wounds were life-threatening (Jeffery MacDonald, nd). He was declared not guilty

in a trial conducted by the Army, but he was ultimately found guilty in a federal trial held in

Raleigh.

The defense that MacDonald presented was complex, but in the end, the facts

demonstrated that he was guilty. The following matters are the primary foci of the investigation:

The torn and bloody blue pajama top belonging to Jeffrey MacDonald was found on top of

Colette MacDonald's body after the murder. A club that has been covered in blood.

Both a knife for the backyard and a knife for the bedroom were discovered; the knife for the

backyard was discovered in a garbage can. A tangled mess of sheets As well as a pickaxe

Jeffrey MacDonald stated that the 48 ice pick holes in his pajamas were the result of a

skirmish with an ice pick-wielding assailant; nevertheless, he did not sustain any injuries during

the course of the attack. The pajama top was located on Colette's chest after 21 probes were

simultaneously inserted into the 48 ice pick holes of the pajama top, and the right sleeve was

folded inside out to facilitate the process. A later forensic investigation, on the other hand, found

that the pajama top's 48 ice pick holes were cylindrical and smooth, which suggests that the

garment was not moving when the holes were cut into it. Additionally, his pajama top was

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 3

discovered on the club, in addition to fibers from a throw rug on which it had landed, as well as

MacDonald's pocket, which was discovered on the throw rug.

The jury was also told that MacDonald initially put Colette's pajama top on in order to

explain why his clothing had Colette's blood type on it. This information was given to the jury as

part of their investigation. After inflicting the fatal knife wounds on his wife, MacDonald

proceeded to portray the existence of multiple attackers who inflicted ritualistic wounds by

stabbing his wife with an ice pick through the top of his pajama top. This was done so that it

appeared as though there were multiple people inflicting the wounds. It was later discovered that

the ice pick and steel paring knife had been cleaned on the bath mat from the Hilton, which had

been laid over Colette's stomach and contained stains from both Kimberley's and Colette's blood

groups. This discovery was made after it was discovered that the bath mat had been laid over

Colette's stomach. MacDonald stated that he protected Colette from getting shocked by wrapping

her in a "towel" and leaving it on her. The towel was covering Colette.

There was no trace of MacDonald's or anyone else's hair in Colette's left hand at any

time. Around a month after the murders, CID operatives discretely picked hairs off of one of

MacDonald's sweaters and categorized the samples as "known hair of MacDonald." When the

lab realized that it was horsehair, they expressed their displeasure. Because of this omission, the

government allegedly asserted, incorrectly, that the samples were too small to be tested (as noted

in CID lab notes note R-11 and CID exhibit E-5), but this was a mistake. An FBI Lab Technician

gave testimony in 1974 to a grand jury investigation that he had received new evidence from the

CID that year in a vial identified as part of the debris evidence retrieved from the bloody

bedspread at the crime scene. This testimony was given in reference to the fact that the FBI Lab

Technician had received the evidence in the previous year. This was a significant amount of time

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 4

after the killings had been committed. That's when MacDonald had the idea of a bloody hair that

looked like Colette's, which had apparently been found wrapped around a long sewing thread

that had been taken off of her pajama top. He came up with this idea at the same time he came up

with the idea of a bloody hair that looked like Colette's. According to the government's

interpretation, this constitutes proof that Jeffrey and Colette were involved in a physical

altercation.

The term "PIG" in Colette's blood type appeared to have been scrawled by someone

wearing rubber gloves, yet there were no ridge lines in the letters of the word. This was another

strange occurrence. Further proof of this was discovered in the master bedroom in the form of

latex glove pieces with Colette's blood type. These fragments were discovered on the floor and in

a pile of bedding. On the kitchen floor was MacDonald's blood type, and the gloves were found

in a cabinet. The gloves were disposable surgical latex gloves (Woolverton, 2020). The example

gloves and the glove fragments both contained the same trace components that were discovered.

A thread from a MacDonald pajama top had been used to scribble the word "PIG" on the floor

beneath the headboard.

Helena Stoeckley was the second witness that the defense called in order to support

MacDonald's account. By relying on the testimony of third parties to whom Stoeckley had made

conflicting assertions throughout the years, the defense had intended to get Stoeckley's various

admissions admitted as a starting point. This would have been accomplished by using the

testimony of third parties. According to the judge presiding over the trial, exceptions to the

hearsay rule contained within the Federal Rules of Evidence are inadmissible unless there are

clear indicators that the statement can be trusted.

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 5

In addition, the fact that MacDonald's footprint was found in Colette's blood type after

she left Kristen's room might be rationalized by the following possible sequence of events: After

MacDonald had hit Colette and knocked her out in Kristen's room, he grabbed the bedding from

the master bedroom while still wearing the shredded pajama top that was stained with Colette's

blood type. He did this while he was still wearing the pajama top. He uses the bedspread to drape

over Colette's body and then sets it on the floor so that it is not exposed to any of the blood. It

absorbed a significant quantity of Colette's blood, in addition to the thread from her nightgown

top that had been tangled in her hair.

After coming into contact with the sleeves of Jeffrey's pajamas, the sheet took on the

fabric perceptions that were present in Colette's blood. These perceptions were then transferred

to the sheet. During this process, MacDonald's bare foot was covered in Colette's blood, most

likely because the blood was transferred from the bedspread. Then, MacDonald started to follow

the blood out of Kristen's room so that he might find her (Woolverton, 2020). The majority of the

thread that had been pulled from Colette's pajama top when it was originally torn was found on a

shag rug in his master bedroom. Before his body was buried, the shag rug containing Colette's

remains was placed there. It would appear that MacDonald left the footprint when he took

Colette's body from Kristen's room. The footprint was bloody.

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 6

Because of this, the defense maintained that the crime scene contained unidentifiable

fingerprints, unmatched fibers, and candle drippings, all of which might be used to indicate the

presence of intruders at the site of the crime. As a consequence of this, MacDonald's intruder

defense was not accepted by the jury since there was evidence that he had tampered with

evidence at the crime scene. This evidence included a bloody footprint, a blood-stained pajama

top, puncture wounds that matched the pattern of Colette's ice pick wound, fibers from her

pajama top located around the club, and fabric impressions on the bed sheet. After deliberating

for six and a half hours, the jury reached a verdict of guilty on all charges of second-degree

murder against Jeffrey in connection with the deaths of Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen. He was

immediately given a sentence of three years in prison, all of which must be spent consecutively.

CRIME SCENE E ANALYSIS 7

References

Jeffery MacDonald- The Crime Scene. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.dvusd.org/cms/lib07/AZ01901092/Centricity/Domain/4490/Jeffery

Woolverton, P. (2020, February 17). Jeffrey MacDonald case intrigues 50 years later.

Retrieved from https://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20200217/jeffrey-macdonald-case-

intrigues- 50-years-later