The Macdonalds Murders - Essay Example

The Macdonald’s Murders Student inserts His/Her Name Here Lecturer Inserts Student Grade 15th April, 2011. Introduction The Jeffrey MacDonald murder case is one of the most puzzling murder cases in the history of crime in the United States of America. The case dates back to the 1970’s but it is still raises quite a lot of questions concerning the events that led to the murders of the MacDonald’s family. Although Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted for the murders of his wife Colette and children (Kimberley aged five and Kristen aged two), many questions such as if he was the only person at the crime scene or possibility that he did not commit the murders are still being raised. This essay is going to examine the Jeffrey MacDonald’s crime scene to establish what happened during that fateful day. Crime scene investigators during the MacDonald’s murders had difficult time in analysing evidence gathered and therefore Jeffrey MacDonald appealed his conviction several to futility since evidence gathered incriminated him for the murders. Crime Scene Evidence Crime scene examination is very important in unearthing crucial evidence needed in securing criminal conviction against potential witnesses. In a murder crime scene, crucial evidence include blood samples, hair/fibre samples, murder objects/tools and other miscellaneous pieces of evidence necessary for unearthing evidence. In the case of Jeffrey MacDonald, crucial evidence unearthed at the victims’ house included blood samples, clothe fibres, murder weapons/tools and witness accounts (Masewicz, 2004). Upon crime scene reconstruction, it was found that the blood of all the victims belonged to different blood groups and blood samples of the only survivor of the murders (Jeffrey MacDonald) were found in the different rooms where the victims’ bodies were found. Other evidences uncovered included clothes fibre from Jeffrey’s pyjamas that were found under Kristen’s fingernails (Ramsland, 2006). The murder objects used in the murder of the MacDonald’s family were an ice pick and a knife; both objects were found outside the house away from the murder scene. Evidence was collected from the murder scene included blood samples from the victims and two other people. The two other people suspected to have been present in the murder scene were, Jeffrey MacDonald and the other person was not identified. The reconstruction of evidence requires the analysis of the crime scene, in the MacDonald’s family murders reconstruction of the crime showed that the victims did not struggle much during the crime (Newton, 2008). Evidence collected from the murder scene show that the victims were stabbed in a similar fashion repeatedly using the ice pick found at the murder scene. Most of the evidence uncovered at the crime scene show that bodies of the two victims (Colette and Kirsten) were tampered with or moved after the murder occurred. For instance, Colette’s footprints were uncovered in Kirsten’s room while Kimberley’s blood samples were found on the hallway towards the master bedroom (Flowers, 2005). The surgical gloves to have been used in the murders of the victims were found outside the house and on identification, they matched with the set of gloves belonging to Jeffrey Macdonald. Evidence uncovered showed that Kimberley’s blood were found on Jeffrey and the clothe fibres uncovered belonged to a pyjama owned by Jeffrey. Problems encountered with evidence gathering included lack of witnesses except for Jeffrey Macdonald the only surviving victim (Potter, 1997). Other problems encountered included lack of clear photo shoots to be used to reconstruct the occurrence of the murders. At the time of the murders lack of proper equipments to conduct an appropriate DNA analysis and exam the evidence that might have hindered evidence collection. Crime Scene Examination Crime Scene examination involves examining and analysing the crime scene as a measure of unearthing the reasons and persons involved in the crime. In the Jeffrey MacDonald’s murder case, evidence that was analysed helped us draw several conclusions. In examining the crime scene, we encountered a number of problems which included the analysis of fingerprints and blood samples. The problem of analysing the fingerprints was due to the lack of adequate equipment and fingerprints database for us to conduct a search for likely suspects in the MacDonald’s murders. Upon reconstructing the crime scene, we were able to establish that there was possibility of presence of other people at the crime scene. Among the problems we encountered included improper analysis of blood samples as evidence (Newton, 2008). Blood samples found at the murder scene were that of five individuals and the analysis of the blood samples found out that they belonged to the victims’ family and that of another unidentified person. Another puzzling occurrence was the fact that the MacDonald’s family all belonged to different blood groups and therefore causing an issue for investigator in reconstructing the crime scene (Evans, 2003). Lack of enough blood samples was another problem in the investigation since these hampered investigators from storing the blood samples for further analysis in the future. Jeffrey’s appeals in the subsequent years could not yield much since there was not enough blood samples for analysis on new evidence enough to acquit Jeffrey on murder charges. The problem of blood analysis played a role in securing an appeal against Jeffrey’s conviction; however other blood samples found at the murder scene identified but no witness or suspect was identified as having been present at the time the murders occurred (Nickell, 1999). Blood samples of the victims were found on the torn pyjama belonging to Jeffrey MacDonald and there is possibility that Jeffrey came into contact with the victims during the crime. Also uncovered were hair fibres of the victims on the pyjama belonging to Jeffrey MacDonald. The presence of other suspects during the murders of the MacDonald’s family could not be ruled out since the blood samples belonging to other people apart from the victims were uncovered (Masewicz, 2004). Crime Scene examination however could not reveal the identities of these persons and if they were accomplices with Jeffrey in the murder of his family. Crime Scene Hypothesis The evidence collected and analysis of the same evidence was critical in drawing up proposition as to what was likely to have caused the MacDonald’s murders. According to crime experts and evidence gathered, the Macdonald murders were committed by Jeffery Macdonald and the state was right in convicting him for the murders. In relation to evidence and alibi provided by Jeffrey, there were inconsistencies in evidence he provided and therefore he remained the main suspect for the murder of his family (Flowers, 2005). According to Jeffrey, he being the only direct witness to the murders alleged that three men and a woman were responsible for the murders of his family although he survived with minor injuries compared to the other victims. Another piece of evidence that led to Jeffrey’s conviction was the fact that his gloves were among the murder weapons and these gloves matched with his glove set found in his kitchen. Jeffrey also claims that the people who murdered his family attacked him yet the living room was not found to be in such a big mess. In addition Jeffrey did not suffer any major injuries to his body compared to his family and for that reason; there were reasons to place him as a murder suspect (Ramsland, 2006). The evidence collected at the MacDonald’s murder scene point out that Kirsten’s blood traces were found on Jeffrey’s pyjama pointing out that there were reasons to suspect him being involved in the murders. The tools of murder being a Knife and ice pick the incision on the body and clothe of the victims, this indicated that the victims were already dead (Evans, 2003). The witness account story presented by Jeffrey did not tally with analysis of evidence and therefore we had reason to believe that he was not honest since he committed the murders. Upon questioning by the police and the military police, Jeffrey admitted to having had extra-marital affairs. This might have been the motive of his murders as the police suspected that his wife confronted him concerning this issue several times and he may have been mad and decided to murder his family. The existence of skin tissues belonging to Jeffrey under Kimberley’s fingers and the fact that Jeffrey alibi corroborated to a murder story found in an Essence magazine. Investigators believe that Jeffrey murdered his family and tries to cover the murders using story from the magazine (Potter, 1997). In summary I believe Jeffrey murdered his family although no strong motives were found for his actions, the evidence did not point to any other suspect since the evidence was strongly tied to Jeffrey MacDonald. Conclusion Crime scene reconstruction and analysis is a difficult task but with careful and well researched investigation being put into use could lead to arrest and conviction of people suspected to have been involved in the crime. In the case of the MacDonald’s murders, many questions have been asked and these questions were not conclusively answered due to lack of proper analysis of evidence found at the murder scene. But on full examination of the evidence gathered, most of the evidence scrutinised found out that Jeffrey Macdonald murdered his wife and two children. The Macdonald murder case is a puzzling case that provides a precursor on how to solve future murder crimes without repeating mistakes and taking careful measures to uncover murder. References Evans, C. (2003). A question of evidence: the casebook of great forensic controversies, from Napoleon to O.J.. Atlanta, GA: John Wiley and Sons. Flowers, R. & Loraine, H. (2005). Murders In The United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century. Chicago, IL: McFarland. Masewicz, C. (2004). Scales of Justice the Jeffrey MacDonald Story. London: House. Potter, J. & Bost F. (1997). Fatal justice: reinvestigating the MacDonald murders. Boston, MA: W.W. Norton. Newton, M. & French, J. (2008). The Encyclopedia of Crime Scene Investigation. Washington: Infobase Publishing. Nickell, J. &, Fischer, J. (1999). Crime science: methods of forensic detection. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. Ramsland, K. (2006). Inside the minds of mass murderers: why they kill. Manchester, UK: Greenwood Publishing Group. Read More