True Crime & Justice

What part if any did Helena Stoeckley have in the murders?

The first MP to respond to MacDonald's emergency call, was Kenneth Mica. He immediately told 1st Lieutenant, Joe Paulk, he and his partner saw a woman with a floppy hat and long, light colored hair, dressed as MacDonald described on a desolate street corner, a few blocks away, standing in the rain. Mica stated, if they had not been responding to an emergency, they would have stopped to check. It was unusual for any one to be there at that time.

He suggested that someone should check it out but 1st Lieutenant Paulk did not issue an order to investigate this mystery woman, nor were any road blocks set up.

Mica was ordered by his superiors not to mention that he thought he had seen the mystery woman. This did not set right with Mica, he had told Colonel Kriwanek and 1st Lieutenant Paulk about his sighting, and he had filed an official, but still secret statement.

According to Bill Ivory, CID Agent, Helena Stoeckley, was a red herring they could never shake but she had no part in or knowledge of the murders. She was a snitch, a drug addict, and a mentally confused person who had no idea what she was saying.

If she was so crazy and unreliable, why was she used as a snitch?

An informant for several law enforcement agencies, she was considered sufficiently reliable provide local police with the information to make arrests for over 200 drug related crimes.

This was kept hidden until the 1983 release of FOIA documents. FOIA documents proved Helena Stoeckley was considered so competent, that she was used by the Nashville Police Department for Internal Affairs investigations. The government had kept this information hidden.

Not only was Stoeckley smarter than they had let on, she was also able to describe the MacDonald apartment with details so accurate they could have only been observed by someone who had been there. She knew many details never reported. When she tried to confess, in 1972, Stoeckley was instructed by the CID to let sleeping dogs lie. Shortly after the murders she offered to tell how it happened, why it happened and who was involved, in exchange for immunity but the government refused her offers stating that she was crazy.

On one of her many interviews with Ted Gunderson, while pregnant and off of drugs, she stated, if offered immunity after her baby was born, she would come forward to everything. From the beginning, she maintained Greg Mitchell killed Colette. Several months after the birth of her son, in 1983, Helena Stoeckley was found in her apartment, dead from cirrhosis of the liver.

In 1971, Stoeckley was polygraphed by Robert Brisentine, United States Army lead polygrapher. The test results corroborated she was present at the scene, and knew the identity of the co-assailants, according to Mr. Brisentine. Mr.Brisentine was ordered not to discuss his results with the defense, but he did so over their objections. Due to Judge Dupree rulings at the trial, this testimony was never heard by the jury .

In 1982, Stoeckley was polygraphed again by a different examiner. The results were the same.

Ted Gunderson again had her polygraphed and examined by Dr. Rex Julian Beaber, Forensic Psychologist, UCLA California. Beaber found Stoeckley totally capable of recall, memory and accurate testimony. She even signed several confessions that she was involved.

Was Stoeckley just a drug crazed person who did not know what she was saying? Sadly, we may never know because of the way the government handled the case and for refusing immunity, since they already had nothing to lose. According to one government investigators, her letter "G" matched the "G" in the word "PIG" written in blood on the headboard of MacDonald’s bed. These comparisons were based on writing samples found on the walls of her apartment.

One person Stoeckley confessed to, claims shortly after the murders, Stoeckley gave her bloody clothes with boots, to hide from the police. Frightened, this witness turned the bloody items over to the Army CID. These items were later returned to the witness, but were not in the same condition as when they were given to the CID. The CID claims that this evidence tested negative for blood. The CID refused to produce lab tests or reports to corroborate their statement. .

Blond synthetic wig hairs, 22 – 27" in length, were found in a hair brush, in the living room, where MacDonald stated he saw the woman. Yet these hairs were not reported as found at the scene, until years later, when they were found due to FOIA in a vial marked "light and dark hairs." The government then countered that they were made of saran and were doll hairs. The defense team located manufacturers that used saran to make human synthetic wigs, and nobody in the MacDonald home had any wigs or toys made by that manufacturer, but the government states that is not true according to CID lab notes April 20, 1971, May 7, 1971, E-323 and Q75.

All the investigators knew Helena Stoeckley wore a blond wig which matched the description given by MacDonald and MP Kenneth Mica.

Stoeckley was on drugs that night, has no alibi and confessed to being involved in the crimes.

Greg Mitchell, found dead several months after Helena Stoeckley, also confessed to being involved, stating he was in serious trouble and needed to get away, on different occasions, under various circumstances, to numerous people. His wife even reported that she was sure that he had been involved. It all fell on deaf ears. The government, was not interested, they refused to accept his confession as being reliable. They claim it is all lies since he was heavily involved in drugs, and did not know what he was talking about. The cause of his death was also listed as cirrhosis.

What do Colette's parent's and the grandparents to the children think about this case?