In the early morning hours of February 17, 1970, Colette MacDonald and her two small children were murdered by husband and father Jeffrey MacDonald. Colette MacDonald had been brutally beaten with a club and stabbed with both a knife and an icepick. Kimberley, five years old, was also clubbed and stabbed with a knife, and two-year-old Kristen had been repeatedly stabbed with a knife and icepick.
MacDonald had only a few superficial injuries, including a self-inflicted wound to the chest.
MacDonald has always maintained that "hippie" intruders murdered his family. The blood, hair and fiber evidence proved that no intruders had committed these horrific crimes.
The Victims: Colette, Kimberley and Kristen MacDonald
Jeffrey MacDonald was convicted in 1979. Since his conviction, he has filed several unsuccessful appeals. MacDonald was serving his sentence at a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland; however, in 2011 he was transferred to the New Hanover County jail in Wilmington, North Carolina, to await upcoming evidentiary hearings in his latest appeal.
MacDonald's projected release date after serving his three consecutive life terms is April 5, 2071, by which time MacDonald would be 128 years old.
