LP: Judge Fox is a close friend of Judge Dupree, who presided over the 1979 trial. Even his in-laws Mildred and Freddie Kassab believed him and testified at his hearing. 741 Immigration & Travel. A neighbors dog and MP guards securing the MacDonald property. I would have said to the jury: they were not there, and neither was I. Psychiatric professionals on both sides pronounced him incapable of having committed the crimes. For all of us independent news organizations, its no exception. LP: One of the things that struck me in reading Errol Morris book was the use of the psychopath diagnosis in court and how problematic that is. In July 1974, a Federal judge acted on a citizen's criminal complaint by Kassab and others, by putting the case before a grand jury. Detective Inspector Wayne Newman, from the North-West Metro region, says there has been an increase in higher ranking organised crime figures in the area insulating themselves from possible harm by using youth networks to do the grunt work. 6,889 Family Trees. Staying on top of the machinations of the underworld can be difficult, Detective Inspector Clark said, but the increased strength of police intelligence meant they were able to increasingly charge gunmen, regardless of whether their victims spoke. Two members of the Tiba family have been charged in relation to the shooting. The persistence paid off and in 1974, a grand jury indicted Jeffrey MacDonald on three counts of murder after seven months of testimony and evidence, according to Vanity Fair. His honesty and humility regarding these losses give the story its poignancy. Although Kassab didnt join the family until Colette was a teenager, he had always been close with his stepdaughter. He made fun of them. By now, many members of the original hearing and 1979 trial are dead, including Judge Dupree. Nonexclusive right to authorize all uses of these materials for non-commercial research, scholarly, or other educational purposes are granted to Khayrallah Center pursuant to Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA). Good potential for the future, so therefore we saw nothing wrong with them getting married, Kassab once said of his son-in-law, according to the docuseries. You can give it to him.' Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Kassab surname lived. Then he injured himself and set up the scene to make the crimes appear to be the work of intruders. Its a scary, spooky story that sounds made up. That, in turn, drives a burgeoning black market for firearms, and has made the north-west the centre of the gun trade in this state. Even scarier stories, Ive found, can be true. After reading the full transcript of his Article 32 hearing, the Kassabs were convinced that MacDonalds story didnt add up. 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. MacDonalds relationship with his father-in-law, who had been a staunch supporter, became strained. Not only did victims of drug addiction build that fortune, but there are the consequences of maintaining this empire. In a 2011 press release, the Innocence Project stated:. Earlier, evidence came to light that a FBI forensic examiner mislead the jury about synthetic hair evidence. The surgical gloves used to scrawl pig on the headboard were identical to the supply MacDonald kept in his kitchen. That same year, seven drug-linked executions were reported in 10 months. You think you know what youre seeing, but then you arent so sure. Wade Smith rarely grants interviews. Brian Murtaugh says, Sure, Ill give it to him. Back in the 1979 trial, a lawyer named Jerry Leonard represented Helena Stoeckley. Eventually, after pressure from Colettes family, MacDonald was indicted and found guilty of the three murders on August 29, 1979. MacDonald now waits to see if the federal judge will vacate his 33-year-old conviction. In October 1970, following an investigation and hearing, the military dropped its case against MacDonald, and he was honorably discharged from the army. The Jeffrey MacDonald murder case is one of the most disturbing in living memory. Colette was relieved to find out her husband would not be stationed in Vietnam and the whole family was overjoyed to learn she was pregnant for a third time. As I read Morris meticulous examination the evidence, the picture in my mind became less clear. When you accept Picture #1, youre deciding that Jeffrey MacDonald is the Person Who Must Pay. And were very fortunate. Shes haunting this case. The military hearing found that the charges against MacDonald were not true. WS: Yes. He had biblical levels of persistence, Bob Keeler, a reporter for Newsday, recalled in A Wilderness of Error.. WebIt is reported Ms Kassab entered Syria last year and that her husband, known as Sam, died on the border of Turkey in 2013. But things got out of hand. Helena Stoeckley confessed many times that MacDonalds willingness to turn heroin addicts in to the police infuriated local drug dealers. But just what changed Kassabs mind about the man he once called a nice, presentable young man?". Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. He claimed they chanted, Kill the pigs!Acid is groovy! and scrawled the word PIG on the wall in his wifes blood. Marc Smerling thinks he has some idea. Who else is going to fight this thing if not me? Freddy Kassab said of his years-long quest to put his son-in-law Jeffrey MacDonald behind bars for killing his stepdaughter and two young granddaughters. Young woman; old woman. The crimes committed by the families were left to locally-based detectives to investigate, rather than specialist squads, until the Santiago Taskforce was formed in 2008. Melbourne's north-west has become a hotbed for armed crime. Although the family started out as his benefactors, he ultimately became their caregivers as their positions reversed. It was almost as scary as Helter Skelter the story of the Charles Manson murders in Californa that are said to have inspired Jeffrey MacDonald in the coverup for his homicidal rampage. At some time before 3.30am someone brutally attacked the MacDonald family in their home at 544 Castle Drive on what was then the open military base of Fort Bragg. A lengthy trial heard Moustafa and Kassab had gone to the Brunswick panel beating shop to confront Moustafa over $50,000 in cash and $10,000 in aftershave they believe he had stolen. WebWadea Kassab was born in Damascus in 1872 to an Orthodox family that had long and deep connections to British and American Protestant missionaries in Damascus and Beirut. 1,169 Birth, Marriage & Death. The lead prosecutor for the case, Jim Blackburn began to analyze every piece of evidence from the trial, including MacDonald's pajama shirt, which was draped over Colette's body, and the bedsheet she was wrapped in. The Tibas, Haddaras, Chaouks, Kassabs, and Kheirs are north-west Melbourne's version of the Five Families, the major players in the New York mafia. The irony not lost on police, community members and other underworld figures is that while Osman may be a victim of that cycle, his family have survived from perpetuating it. But his mother and father-in-law did not want him to do that. But his story crumbled under scrutiny and he was charged with killing his family. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Desperate to save his family, he said he fought back until they stabbed him and beat him unconscious. Most recently, retired US Marshall Jimmy Britt came forward with information that another suspect in the case, Helena Stoeckley, admitted to the prosecutor that she was in the house on the night of MacDonalds murder and that he threatened to indict her for first-degree murder if she admitted that in court. A judge later awarded MacDonald $50,000 of the proceeds but gave the remainder of his $325,000 share to attorneys, MacDonalds mother and the Kassabs. It didnt make sense. 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. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, 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. Invest with us. But just what changed Kassabs mind about the man he once called . McGinniss had to be creative, because the mans character never fit the crime. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! He read the papers at a little square table and he sat there and he chain smoked three packs a day, day after day after day going over and over everything, Bob Stevenson recalled in the docuseries. That was my closing argument. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Bernie Segal, a long-haired Jewish lawyer from Philadelphia, took the lead in the case and managed to alienate the entire courtroom. I was keeping Freddy happy, he said, according to Vanity Fair. This manuscript by Aelyas Kassab is a history of the Kassab family and a biography of Aelyas' own life. I even laughed at the idea of hippie murderers in North Carolina. In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. Because that's what crime figures do in the north-west, most of the time. This note says: 'Brian, Im giving you this lab report. There were fibers from a blonde wig that matched the description of Helena Stoeckley. The walls will tell you what happened if you keep it pristine. Wherever you see the label psychopath," you could almost substitute monster or vampire youre talking about an unnatural person who does not behave according to normal human rules, and with that label, you can believe anything of them. Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Kassab surname lived. No one ever knew what it was Helena told him because of attorney-client privilege. Please try again later. When a terrible crime is committed, society comes together to find someone to blame and to pay for the collective sense of violation. Wadea and Aelyas Kassab are both buried in Pennsylvania. Will artificial intelligence overthrow its capitalist overlords? Picture #1. MacDonald had been just a teenager at the time and was dating Colette, his high school sweetheart. He could get an answer by the end of this year. He tried to take his case to the Supreme Court in 1979, but they declined to review the lower courts decision. Many felt that his acquittal would be a cinch, but much more was to go wrong. Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagesGrieving mother Mildred Kassab weeps for her daughter while being escorted into JFK Memorial Chapel to see her buried. 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 The Washington Post in 1984, just as the popular mini-series Fatal Vision, which depicted the crimes, was airing across the country. 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. He worked first in a stove factory, a physically taxing and low-paying job, and later became a molder in a factory making brake shoes for the railroad. Often, the spouse turns out to have committed the murder, so its not surprising that the case turned to McDonald. The story many of us think we know tells that MacDonald's wounds were superficial. The stakes are too high for it not to work, Detective Inspector Clark said. WS: We all depend on excellent, honest detective work. 959 Census & Voter Lists. Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? Others would say that that was a healthy thing to do. When police showed their hand regarding the organised crime threat, back in 2011, the Tibas were at war with the Kassabs and Kheirs. In July 1974, a Federal judge acted on a citizen's criminal complaint by Kassab and others, by putting the case before a grand jury. He adamantly denied all charges but was at a loss for words during cross-examination by the prosecution. The Tibas are the only clan in the five families that can boast three generations of serious offenders from murderers to drug traffickers. A lengthy trial heard Moustafa and Kassab had gone to the Brunswick panel beating shop to confront Moustafa over $50,000 in cash and $10,000 in aftershave they believe he had stolen. However, instead of the firm defense MacDonald expected, the 1983 bestseller A Fatal Vision described him as a narcissistic psychopath.. He explained his lie initially by attributing it to drug addiction-induced paranoia and then said he believed that once he told his family the lies, he had to keep lying.. MacDonald settled into bachelor life, buying a yacht and marina-front condominium in Long Beach, California, Vanity Fair reports. 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. One thing about this case is never in doubt no matter whos talking: If Wade Smith had been able to lead and give his closing remarks, MacDonald would be a free man today. It doesnt make sense that this man, with no history of violence, went crazy like that. In 1982, she sat down with Gunderson and Beasley in a taped interview, claiming that she had been part of a satanic cult that had killed the family because MacDonald was not cooperative in helping heroin addicts during his time at Fort Bragg. His most significant injury was a puncture wound and deflated lung. 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. She was the type of girlthe best way I can explain it, I never met a girl that did not like Colette, he once told the Washington Post. Family members of radio personality Casey Kasem have settled a lawsuit against his widow that alleged her neglect and physical abuse led to his death in 2014. When Jeffrey MacDonald came under suspicion for savagely killing his pregnant wife and the couples two young daughters, one man rushed to publicly support him: his father-in-law Freddie Kassab. Not only did the living room show few signs of a struggle, but the murder weapons were found outside the back door. Through his aggressive pursuit of the case, MacDonald was indicted. Similar to the Chaouks and Haddaras, the Kassabs and the Kheirs who are related clans remain a factor, although their involvement is more peripheral than before. In 1984 I was glued to the TV, like millions of other Americans, watching the popular miniseries based on McGinniss book. After Mica performed mouth-to-mouth, MacDonald came to. (See Silverglate's article on the case in Forbes.). Theres a note attached. The now 76-year-old is serving three consecutive life sentences and is currently housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland . 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