Jeffrey MacDonald's Wedding

He was the best of the best — a medical doctor, a Green Beret, the group surgeon at Fort Bragg, a ruggedly handsome soldier married to a loving woman who was soon to give birth to their third child. Then, something happened.

The Jeffrey MacDonald case has spawned its own cottage industry — books, articles, web sites, and a battalion of true crime aficionados who have microanalyzed every nuance, every shred of evidence. More than three decades have passed since someone savagely murdered Collette Katherine MacDonald, five-year-old Kimberly Kathryn, and two-year-old Kristin Jean. Questions linger, opinions leave little room for a middle ground: Jeff MacDonald killed his family; intruders killed MacDonald’s wife and two children, and assaulted the doctor. Take your pick.

MacDonald has maintained his innocence, and appeals in the case continue. In 1997 an appellate court granted defense counsel’s request for DNA testing on trace evidence. MacDonald still awaits the results. In his winter 2003 letter to friends (published at themacdonaldcase.org), he writes:

"Every week, I am in contact with my legal team in Boston, which includes a new and important member, Josh Gewolb. Josh is a very competent legal assistant and writer who joined the firm in February, 2002. He is a Harvard graduate, and his coming on board has given the defense the manpower to work on other case issues outside of the DNA tests, such as pursuing leads and contacting witnesses. The co-webmaster (with Char Laba) for this web site, Kathryn Kurichh, is also a paralegal, and works in a similar fashion from Washington, DC"

Josh Gewolb is indeed a talented writer, a 2001 Harvard grad with the non-profit Foundation for Equal Rights in Education (FIRE). FIRE was co-founded in 1998 by Harvey A. Silverglate, pro bono counsel for Jeffrey MacDonald for the last dozen years. Co-webmaster Kathryn Kurichh, Director of the Young Artists Theater in Laurel, Maryland, may or may not be "a paralegal," but she recently married and changed her name. She is Kathryn MacDonald now.

The secrecy attending the couple’s exchange of vows is reminiscent of the weddings of some of Hollywood’s beautiful people. Instead of a chapel in the Bahamas, picture the Federal Prison in Victorville, California. The marriage license is confidential, allowable under California law. Following the ceremony, inmate number 00131-177 requested a move within the federal system. Jeffrey MacDonald is now housed at the Cumberland facility in western Maryland, considerably closer to the new Mrs. MacDonald.

Other Articles by John Philpin:

East on the Jericho Road: The Murder of Paulette Crickmore
September 10, 1986, Paulette, 15, was on her way to school when she vanished.

Who the Hell is Winston Moseley? And Why Would Anyone Care? -- The case is synonymous with “urban apathy.” The victim’s name, Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, still evokes a sense of lonely horror.

Science, Intuition, and Hope: The Art of Personality Profiling
Also see: Types of serial killers

Scott Peterson's Trial by Media
More on the Peterson Case

The Baton Rouge Serial Murders Series -- Intriguing 5 part series behind the scenes of the search for the Baton Rouge Serial Killer through the eyes of a famous criminal profiler who worked on the case.

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Fatal Justice: Reinvestigating the Macdonald Murders by Jerry Allen Potter, Fred Bost -- A well-documented argument for the other side of the MacDonald case--an argument that the prosecution mishandled key crime-scene evidence, withheld potentially exculpatory material, and discounted confessions from other suspects. The army narrowed in on MacDonald as their prime suspect early in the investigation, and discouraged the FBI from developing alternate theories. And the judge, Franklin Dupree Jr. appeared to have been biased in favor of the prosecution.

Flame-out: From Prosecuting Jeffrey MacDonald to Serving Time to Serving Tables by James Blackburn, Wade M. Smith -- Story of prosecution of MacDonald for the triple murders of his family. Subsequent fall from grace from the practice of law, diagnosis fo severe depression, subsequent imprisonment, and later waiting tables in very public restaurant to survive.