I thought the world of Judge Dupree. LP: Then why did MacDonald, the emblem of law-and-order, the Green Beret, become a suspect? Mica remembered seeing a woman who fit this description while en route to the scene but said the Armys Criminal Investigation Division (CID) omitted this during their subsequent inquest. His most significant injury was a puncture wound and deflated lung. "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. But while Kassab saw MacDonald as an engaged and loving father and husband, Army investigators grew suspicious of MacDonalds account of the killings and ordered him to appear for an Article 32 hearinga military process used to determine whether there was enough evidence to pursue formal charges against MacDonald. This note says: 'Brian, Im giving you this lab report. It dawned on MacDonald after graduating in 1968 that the U.S. Army could help him advance his career, and he wasnt wrong. Like Wade Smith, Ive been struck by how many people speak of absolute certainty about what happened that February night over 40 years ago. Many felt that his acquittal would be a cinch, but much more was to go wrong. The ONeills befriended him and altered the course of his life. 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. Soldiers corpses arrived at Fort Bragg stuffed with heroin. And she told him she had been there, at the MacDonald home, the night of the murders. Theyre the ones that wrote the Congress and said the Army screwed up this crime scene. When police showed their hand regarding the organised crime threat, back in 2011, the Tibas were at war with the Kassabs and Kheirs. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. MacDonald claimed he'd broke his arm in the fatal scuffle, but Kearns would later say in an interview that authorities had MacDonald under surveillance at the time and did not observe any broken arm. Morris researched the MacDonald case for 20 years and knows each labyrinthine turn of its progress through the criminal justice system. Why did people in the community believe he did it? In 1984 I was glued to the TV, like millions of other Americans, watching the popular miniseries based on McGinniss book. All rights reserved. Even back then, if you polled Fayetteville folks, you might have found that a lot of people did not believe that he did it. The crime scene was so messed up that you couldnt depend on it. Investigators identified at least 240 leads in the casebut the evidence continued to point back to the MacDonald. The stakes are too high for it not to work, Detective Inspector Clark said. Two years into MacDonalds undergraduate studies at Princeton, Stevens became pregnant. She allegedly told one person that she recalled holding a candle that dripped with blood. Currently serving three life sentences for their murders, MacDonald continues to maintain his innocence even as a new documentary series digs into his case. 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. 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. 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. It sickened me and it enraged me.. Young woman; old woman. MacDonald had been just a teenager at the time and was dating Colette, his high school sweetheart. Freddy Kassab had inserted himself into the 1970 military hearing and made himself the center of a media circus, holding news conferences and firing off letters to members of Congress. Melbourne's north-west has soaked in blood for more than a decade, with crime families that still reign despite prison time, drive-by hits, and police task forces. After completing high school in Chester, he too went to dental school and set up practice in Wadeas office. We needed the Kassabs to shut up, just calm down, let us do the investigation and well find out who did it.. "There's a lot of luck good and bad in a non-fatal shooting, You can be shot once and die, or you can be shot five times and live. Lynn Parramore: In all your years as a lawyer, what makes this case stand out? Another page in another chapter in the new gangland war. The new war involves men with names many Victorians could barely pronounce shooting each other in downtrodden suburbs they have almost certainly never visited. Appearances didnt help MacDonald, either. Please try again later. Both brothers married women in Syria and brought them back to the United States. Others would say that that was a healthy thing to do. In addition, DNA testing on evidence that was recovered from the fingernails scrapings of one of the victims and a hair found under another victim did not match MacDonald. 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. MacDonald was ultimately convicted in 1979 for killing his pregnant wife Colette MacDonald and their two young daughters, Kimberley and Kristen. Bettmann Archive/Getty ImagesGrieving mother Mildred Kassab weeps for her daughter while being escorted into JFK Memorial Chapel to see her buried. She was a pretty girl, not beautiful, but pretty, and she was down to earth and she hated to see anybody hurt.. @2022 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. In 1920 there were 5 Kassab families living in Pennsylvania. Donor retains full ownership of any and all copyright currently controlled in agreement with Khayrallah Center. Also last year, Osman, 32, one of the middle brothers, was released from prison. 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. He looked angry on the stand. Wadea left Syria in 1889 with two companions and arrived in the United States that same year. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! 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. But an unfortunate thing happened in the following years. I wasnt there that night. Judge Fox is also a good man. Two members of the Tiba family have been charged in relation to the shooting. We need your support in this difficult time. Jeffrey MacDonald had also been at the home at the time, but he suffered only minor injuries compared to what his family endured. Waters rubbished that explanation. 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. You think you know what youre seeing, but then you arent so sure. 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. 1,169 Birth, Marriage & Death. Should Trump be allowed to hold office again? This can drive a surge in shootings, and then be forgotten again just as quickly, said Detective Inspector Stephen Clark of the armed crime squad. 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. Shortly after relocating to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, he was made Group Surgeon to the Green Berets. 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. 959 Census & Voter Lists. However, critics of the book say that while it paints an emotional picture of a man wrongfully tried by the media, it cherrypicks evidence and largely ignores the physical evidence that led to MacDonalds 1979 conviction. I would have said to the jury: they were not there, and neither was I. And yet there are thousands of people in North Carolina who do not believe he did it. "More senior criminal figures are exploiting the vulnerabilities of younger or less sophisticated offenders," he said. 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. But in the years that followed the gruesome murders, Kassab drastically changed his opinion of his surgeon son-in-law and became one of MacDonalds fiercest adversariesleading the charge to have MacDonald tried for three counts of murder in the case. 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. WebIt is reported Ms Kassab entered Syria last year and that her husband, known as Sam, died on the border of Turkey in 2013. Weve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation. But just what changed Kassabs mind about the man he once called . LP: What has this case revealed about the flaws in our judicial system? I began to see that Joe McGinniss creation of Picture #1 might be just that: a creation. 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. 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. 2015 NC State University. Psychiatric professionals on both sides pronounced him incapable of having committed the crimes. We decided we needed Freddie and Mildred Kassab on our sides, lead investigator Peter Kearns said in a December 1986 lecture on the case, according to the docuseries. The now 76-year-old is serving three consecutive life sentences and is currently housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland . Nothing unique in any way. Sometimes that doesnt happen. The past year has been the most arduous of our lives. The list of misfortunes goes on: exculpatory evidence withheld; possible prosecutorial misconduct; and fallible humans who twisted the MacDonald story to fit their own agendas. 959 Census & Voter Lists. He is outspoken about MacDonalds innocence, and when I called him, I could hear the years of outrage in his voice over the way the case has proceeded. LP: Did anything new come out in the Wilmington hearing in September? Years after he was blasted with a shotgun by a crime figure who continues to wield influence in the north-west, one victim is still dealing with his injuries. 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. Freddie Kassab and CID investigators returned to the crime scene in 1971 to contrast MacDonalds claims with the evidence and found his narrative implausible. 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. Yet, the new gangland war fails to capture the imagination. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. 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. Finally, in Wilmington, Jerry Leonard was ordered to tell what she had said to him 30 years ago. MacDonald later admitted the claim had been a lie. 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. Kill the pigs.. After Mica performed mouth-to-mouth, MacDonald came to. This collection contains an undated photograph of Wadea and Aelyas Kassab and scans of two typed manuscripts. The couples youngest daughter, 2-year-old Kristen, had a total of 33 stab wounds. Colette MacDonald and her daughters suffered horrific violence as they were killed on February 17, 1970 at their Fort Bragg home. 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