“Acid is Groovy, Kill the Pigs”: The MacDonald Murder Case

In 1970, Jeffery MacDonald was a Captain in the Army serving as a medical doctor to Green Berets. He was married to Collette, who was pregnant with their son. They also had two daughters: Kimberly who was five, and Kristen who was two.

February 17th 1970, Jeffery claims that a group of four hippies broke into his home around 2:00 AM. The group consisted of three men and one woman. The woman was holding a candle and chanting ‘acid is groovy, kill the pigs’.

This quote from Wikipedia sums up what happened next:

At 3:42am on February 17, 1970, dispatchers at Fort Bragg received an emergency phone call from MacDonald, who reported a “stabbing.” … Upon entering, they found Jeffrey’s wife Colette and his daughters Kimberly and Kristen dead in their respective bedrooms.

Five-year-old Kimberly was found in her bed, having been clubbed in the head and stabbed in the neck with a knife between eight and ten times.

Two-year-old Kristen was found in her own bed; she had been stabbed 33 times with a knife and 15 times with an ice pick.

Colette, who was pregnant with her third child and first son, was lying on the floor of her bedroom. She had been repeatedly clubbed (both her arms were broken) and stabbed 21 times with an ice pick and 16 times with a knife. MacDonald’s torn pajama top was draped upon her chest. On the headboard of her bed, the word “pig” was written in blood.

MacDonald was found next to his wife alive but wounded. His wounds were not as severe nor as numerous as those his family had suffered… MacDonald suffered cuts and bruises on his face and chest, along with a mild concussion. He also had a stab wound on his left torso in what a staff surgeon referred to as a “clean, small, sharp” incision that caused his left lung to partially collapse. He was treated at Womack Hospital and released after one week.

MacDonald told investigators that on the evening of February 16, he had fallen asleep on the living room couch. He told investigators that he did so because Kristen had been in bed with Colette and had wet his side of it.

He was later awakened by Colette and Kimberly’s screams. As he rose from the couch to go to their aid, he was attacked by three male intruders, one black and two white. A fourth intruder, described as a white female with long blonde hair and wearing high heeled boots and a white floppy hat partially covering her face, stood nearby with a lighted candle and chanted, “Acid is groovy, kill the pigs.”

The three males attacked him with a club and ice pick. During the struggle, he claimed that his pajama top was pulled over his head to his wrists and he then used it to ward off thrusts from the ice pick. Eventually, he stated that he was overcome by his assailants and was knocked unconscious in the living room end of the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

In 1979 Jeffery was convicted of the murders of his family and sentenced to three life sentences in prison. He maintains his innocense [sic] and still claims his family was murdered by hippies. He’s hoping that advances in DNA will prove he didn’t do it.

This case is so sad and has many twists and turns. Many people believe in Jeffery’s innocense [sic] and just as many believe in his guilt.

Look closely at MacDonald’s small chest wound. It is exactly where a doctor makes an incision to place a chest tube - 5th intercostal (between ribs) space, anterior axillary line (a line starting at the top of the armpit) along the top of the rib. I know this because I was taught how to insert chest tubes in nurse practitioner training at Georgetown University.

The reason a chest tube is placed in this area is because there is almost zero risk of harming the patient. MacDonald was well aware of this as he was an emergency room physician.