Please try again later. 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. 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. 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. Since adapted into a documentary series of the same name directed by Marc Smirling, the project aims to detail how much evidence Morris believes was lost, mismanaged or glaringly unreliable from the start. We would frequently meet at the crime scene and brainstorm the whole scenario. The FBI lab guy turned over two copies to Brian Murtaugh, the prosecutor. "Memoirs" by Wadea Kassab recounts Wadea's life from his childhood in Damascus and Bloudan, to his immigration to America in 1889, and through his pursuit of education and a career in dentistry. 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). {{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}. WebThe Kassab family name was found in the USA in 1920. Whats your sense of this? Psychiatric professionals on both sides pronounced him incapable of having committed the crimes. He claimed that he had been asleep on the couch when at least, 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, We reconstructed the murders using what McDonald said. Eventually, after pressure from Colettes family, MacDonald was indicted and found guilty of the three murders on August 29, 1979. MacDonald had been just a teenager at the time and was dating Colette, his high school sweetheart. Now deceased, she remains a pivotal figure in the case. Since 1979, the MacDonald case has continued to trouble those who delve beneath the surface of the media narrative. And, in media appearances like his interview on The Dick Cavett Show, meanwhile, MacDonald appeared suspiciously at ease. It frustrates police that low-level gangsters without a shred of integrity jut their chins out and shake their heads in a misplaced attempt at honour when asked who shot them, despite, in many instances, being maimed for life. 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. Almost all the of shootings in the north-west, one underworld source said, relate to those at the bottom of the criminal food chain. 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. Like Wade Smith, Ive been struck by how many people speak of absolute certainty about what happened that February night over 40 years ago. If he could have a psychotic episode and destroy his family stab them with an ice pick and a knife 100 times, beat them with a stick, then Billy Graham could. WebIn 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 tried to take his case to the Supreme Court in 1979, but they declined to review the lower courts decision. MacDonald was ultimately convicted in 1979 for killing his pregnant wife Colette MacDonald and their two young daughters, Kimberley and Kristen. But he taunted the police. Although the family started out as his benefactors, he ultimately became their caregivers as their positions reversed. Its hard to imagine now, but in the late 1960s and early '70s there were spooky, weird people on acidback then it was believable. As if they had seen it with their own eyes. But he is hopeful that the Fourth Court of Appeals, located in Richmond, Virginia, will take a careful look at the case and as a whole be more favorable to MacDonald. The CIDs five-month-long interrogation (referred to as an Article 32 hearing) began in April, with officials intent on using only physical evidence and MacDonalds own statements to form their view. When police showed their hand regarding the organised crime threat, back in 2011, the Tibas were at war with the Kassabs and Kheirs. 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. 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. My friend and I sat around in her backyard, tossing up what facts about the case we could recall. WS: They were a very normal-looking mama and daddy. When the initial military hearing was conducted in 1970, no one in his life could be found who had a bad thing to say about him. These were the families police identified in 2011 as causing most of the trouble in the band, which stretches roughly from Coburg North to Campbellfield, then in an arc around to Altona in The family moved to Chicago after MacDonald was accepted into Northwestern University Medical School. 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. When we were walking out of the house, I was warned that convicting MacDonald wasnt going to be that simple, Kassab said. 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. Aelyas followed Wadea to the United States in 1899. A portrait photograph of Wadea (left) and Aelyas (right) Kassab. Investigating Officer Warren Rock ultimately recommended the charges be dismissed at the conclusion of the hearing and MacDonald began to move forward with his life, leaving the Army, selling most of the familys possessions in a yard sale, and moving to California. 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. And police officers knowing how to take care of a crime scene and preserve it. The ONeills befriended him and altered the course of his life. According to exclusive statistics from the armed crime squad, there has been a five-fold increase in non-fatal shootings in the north-west in four years and the region now sees almost two thirds of Victoria's non-fatal shootings. Weve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. In a 2011 press release, the Innocence Project stated:. While none of the hairs found at the scene matched Stoeckleys DNA or that of any of her known associates, MacDonald maintains they prove something more essential to his freedom that someone else was there that night. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. 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. Inexperienced military police failed to pick up a woman near the house who fit MacDonalds description. 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.. He was given an honorable discharge. And as is believed to have been the case when a large drug shipment made its way to the region in the past five years, and the Kassab/Kheir family made temporary peace with the Tibas that can sometimes mean forming a truce to distribute the product, and ensure its security. These shootings rarely involve significant figures, such as Oueida, or Nabil Maghnie, who was shot in the head last September but survived, or George Marrogi, who was charged with a shooting murder that same month. A military hearing found charges against him untrue, but he was convicted nine years later in a civilian trial. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. 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. Prosecutors appealed the decision to the Supreme Court and in 1978 the countrys highest court decided to reinstate the indictment. When Victor Worheide, who was a federal prosecutor, later became interested in the case at the urging of the parents of Colette MacDonald, the case was gone. 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.. Now, it appears the Tibas are at war with everybody. He made fun of them. He claimed there was insufficient evidence, while civilian defense attorney Bernard Segal argued the CID had improperly handled the scene and that alternative suspects like local drug addict Helena Stoeckley, believed to be the blonde woman at the scene, continued to roam free. A crime scene was left open to bystander traffic. I would have said to the jury: they were not there, and neither was I. I used to joke with him when I saw him around Hey Jerry, isnt there something you want to tell us? But he couldnt, and he likely would have gone to his grave carrying the secret of what Helena told him had it not been for that hearing. He is, of course, one of many ensnared in that cycle, particularly in the north-west, which consistently ranks among the worst in the state for employment, education and substance dependence. I personally delivered a copy by hand to every congressman and every senator in the country.. "I wish it was as simple as saying all our non-fatal shootings went back to five families, because if it did, we would target those five families and we'd kick it in the guts, but it's actually not that simple.". And so there are going to be cases where there is a reasonable doubt as to what actually happened. Were working to restore it. After reading the full transcript of his Article 32 hearing, the Kassabs were convinced that MacDonalds story didnt add up. It is a misconception that the battles are over territory. The Kassab brothers both raised their families in Chester, where they also practiced dentistry. Thank you. 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. But for every Khayre, a case most people have heard of with a clear link to the north-west, there are dozens more that barely make a ripple. I dont know what the odds are. WS: Its an enormous problem. He was the lawyer she was talking to one-on-one who had been appointed to advise her of her rights. Wade Smith rarely grants interviews. Nothing unique in any way. The bedroom of Kristen and Kimberly MacDonald, mere hours after they were murdered. But it didnt take long to realize that something was wrong. 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. Oh, yes. Colette MacDonald and her daughters suffered horrific violence as they were killed on February 17, 1970 at their Fort Bragg home. He was more interested in working with people on hallucinogenic and things like that. WebWe found 33,440 records for Kassab last name. In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. He told authorities that hetried to fight off the attackers but was wounded and eventually collapsed in the hallwaylater regaining consciousness and discovering his family had been killed, according to the new FX docuseries A Wilderness of Error.. There is no finality in injustice. 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.. Not only had the word pig been scrawled on the bedroom headboard in his wifes blood but she and her unborn baby were dead. 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. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com. Wadea and Aelyas Kassab are both buried in Pennsylvania. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. He was found guilty and given three life sentences on Aug. 26, 1979. 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. 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. 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. She allegedly told one person that she recalled holding a candle that dripped with blood. Even scarier stories, Ive found, can be true. When the show was over, I retired to the security of my bed, safe from unpredictable evils. Weve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation. 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. 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. Why did people in the community believe he did it? He has been imprisoned for three decades for a crime he did not commit. Steve Liss/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesJeffrey MacDonald behind bars in Terminal Island federal penitentiary. There were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania started out as his benefactors, ultimately... Case to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found narrative! Friend and I sat around in her backyard, tossing up what facts about the case preserve it in... 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