The military doctor who said intruders killed his family — and what his lawyers still argue decades later

The military police arrived at the home on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on the morning of February 17, 1970.

Army Captain Jeffrey MacDonald, a Green Beret physician, told them four intruders had attacked his family: three men and a woman.

Inside, they found his wife, Colette, who was pregnant, dead.

They found his daughters, 5-year-old Kimberly and 2-year-old Kristen, dead.

Blood was throughout the home.

On the headboard of the master bedroom, written in blood, was the word "PIG."

MacDonald himself had minor injuries.

Who wrote that word?

What does it mean?

The record at this point does not say.

Not because it doesn't matter. Because the story of that word is the story of the case.

The scene was chaotic, specific, almost staged.

Three dead. One survivor. A single word.

The question of who put it there would define everything that followed.

THE ARMY INVESTIGATION

The Army’s lead investigator concluded that MacDonald’s story did not hold.

No forced entry, he found. The doors and windows were intact.

The bodies were positioned in a way that did not match a random attack, according to the investigation.

MacDonald’s injuries were superficial compared to those of his wife and daughters.

The word “PIG” written in blood on the headboard was examined.

Prosecution experts later determined MacDonald wrote it himself, according to their testimony.

The Army charged MacDonald in July 1970.

Three months later, the charges were dropped.

A hearing found insufficient evidence to proceed.

The record does not specify who conducted that hearing, nor the exact reasoning behind the decision.

That is not established anywhere in the case file.

So the case closed. The Army moved on.

MacDonald walked free, still maintaining that four intruders—three men and a woman—had killed his family.

The investigation was over. The questions were not.

The word in blood remained on the headboard, photographed and filed away.

It would not stay there for long.

THE 1979 TRIAL

The case was reopened in 1974 after Colette's stepfather pressured authorities to re-examine the evidence.

A federal grand jury indicted MacDonald in 1975.

The trial opened in federal court in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1979.

Prosecutors presented forensic evidence: blood type analysis, fibers consistent with MacDonald's pajama top being used in the attacks.

The defense argued that the Army investigation was flawed.

The defense argued that MacDonald was innocent.