Fatal Vision (TV Mini Series)

Episode #1.1 (1984)

Gary Cole: Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD

Photos 

Quotes 

• Franz Grebner : Where did this man strike you first? On the head?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Right. I was just sitting... I was sitting in bed. And... there wasn't a lot of shouting. This woman with the floppy hat wasn't jumping up and down saying "kill him!" There wasn't any... I... don't remember. The... point is that it seemed... well, it's like... when you see that movie Easy Rider. I made the mistake of going to see that film. They have all these stop action things that's... what it seemed like to me.

  Franz Grebner : Captain MacDonald, you told one of our investigators earlier that you were wearing your pajama top but it got pulled over your head or something?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Uh... right. Well... all I know now... is that I'm struggling now. And after the first time I was hit I remember struggling with these guys that just appeared and my pajama top... I don't remember if it was ripped forward or if it was pulled over my head. I don't think it was pulled over my head because I don't remember if I backed into it. But all of a sudden it's around my hands and... I just remember that it was in my way. And my hands were just sort of... wrapped up in the thing. When I woke up... when I was laying on the floor... I forgot to say that. When I woke up, my hands were still wrapped up in the thing. I took it off as I went into the bedroom.

• Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : At the hospital, when they were looking me over... uh... there were these little puncture wounds all over my abdomen and I guess they came up with 14 different wounds or something like that. And a deep cut right here... to my right side.

  William Ivory : Was this from the assailants? These people in your house?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Well, I assume so.

  William Ivory : You didn't do it yourself, did you?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : No... but then they said that "we'll have to do an X-ray". Now, when your chest is bubbling that means you have a pneumothorax. Any Special Forces medic knows that, and any nurse knows that.

  Franz Grebner : Okay. We have three people here, your wife and two daughters, over-killed almost and yet these intruders let you live.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Well... maybe they assumed I was dead.

  Franz Grebner : Wait, let me drift back a little. You just said that in the initial assault that you heard screaming. Was there screaming or was there...

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Words? Well... I heard my wife saying "Jeff, why are they doing this to me?"

  William Ivory : This was while you were still on the couch?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Right. I heard screaming and then I heard Kristy... no Kimmy, the older girl, saying "Daddy!" She kept saying "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" over and over. But... there's something I can't figure out. I've gone over this a hundred times in my own mind. There are so many... unanswered questions.

  Robert Shaw : Let me get this straight. You woke up, Captain MacDonald... and saw four people in your living room and at the same time you heard your wife somewhere screaming? And you also heard one of your daughters screaming too?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Right.

  Robert Shaw : So, there must have been two more people at least.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [shrugs]  Well... I don't know. I don't understand. If they came in through the open back door and by the time they got to me if I still heard screaming... or were there more people involved?

  Robert Shaw : Six. A minimum of six intruders.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : I know.

  Robert Shaw : In a house your size that's an awful lot of people. There should have been broken furniture, smashed mirrors, shattered windows, broken in walls.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [shrugs again]  Well... I don't know. You tell me. You people have more experience in this then I do. So, I wouldn't necessarily expect that.

• Franz Grebner : You're a very well-educated man, Doctor. And I'm just gonna be fair with you right now. Your story doesn't ring true. I've been in the U.S. Army for 19 years and I've studied a lot of crime scenes, but there's something wrong with this one. I've seen all night poker parties that have caused more damage to a living room. For instance, do you seen anything odd in that photograph?

  [Grebner hands MacDonald a photo of the living room coffee table on its side] 

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [as he looks at the photo]  No.

  Franz Grebner : That's the first thing I saw when I went into your house that morning. Notice the flower pot next to the table.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [confused]  Why it's standing.

  Franz Grebner : Uh-uh. And notice the magazines at the end of that table neatly stacked under it.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : I don't understand the significance of it.

  Franz Grebner : Well, Ivory, Shaw, and myself all tipped that table over and it went all the way. It never landed on its edge. It's top-heavy.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Well, couldn't the table have been pushed around in the struggle?

  Franz Grebner : Yes, it could have, but it would have been upside down when it stopped.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : What are you trying to say?

  Franz Grebner : That the table was not pushed, but it was gently set on its side by someone who staged the scene.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Wait, are you saying "I" staged the scene?

  Franz Grebner : [after a short pause]  I think so.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : You think I stood the flower pot up too if I staged the scene?

  Franz Grebner : Well, somebody stood the pot up.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [suddenly outraged]  Your saying that I killed my wife and kids! That's unbelievable! For God's stake, why would I do that? What motive would I have? What would I do that for?

  Franz Grebner : I think we can come up with several reasons perhaps.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : You don't think I was happily married?

  Franz Grebner : Oh, I'm happily married too, Captain, and I get pretty mad at my wife sometimes. Especially when I was younger and quicker to anger.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : You really think that I'd get so mad at my wife that I'd do this to her? Kill her on the spur of the moment?

  Franz Grebner : I've seen it happen before.

• Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Now, where do we go from here?

  William Ivory : That's up to you.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : No, it's not up to me! I told you what I know! Then you throw some pictures in front of me and say that I staged the scene? That I did it?

  Robert Shaw : I don't know if you did it, Captain MacDonald. I don't know if you did it at all. But my experience tells me that what you say isn't "right".

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : It took your office six weeks to question me about these things?

  Franz Grebner : We've been all over the United States tracing hippies and girls with long blond hair. We've talked to thousands of people.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : I understand that, but... oh man! This is a nightmare! This is like something out of an Edgar Alan Poe story! Apparently, you don't know enough about me or my family to come up with that kind of conclusion for that matter!

  Robert Shaw : What kind of man are you?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Well... I'm bright, I'm aggressive, and I loved my wife very much! And I work very hard and I had a terrific family and this is the most asinine thing I ever heard! It's almost as bad as...

  [short pause] 

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Ask any patient I treated. I've always gone out of my way. I always help people. I loved my wife more than any couple I know! I don't know any other couple that was as happy as we were and you come up with this crap that I killed my wife and two kids in cold blood for no reason! Damn it! Damn you all!

  Franz Grebner : Jeff, I have to go with all the evidence that available to me.

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : Bull! You're making a mountain out of a mole hill! No one ever had a good life as I had! Why the hell would I want to wreck it for? God... I was a doctor! And I had a beautiful wife who loved me and two kids that were great! I didn't do it! I... I couldn't have done it! We just have overall hard times! It doesn't make any sense! Why would I do it? Look... Mr. Grebner, what I told you about that night is true. Some minor details might be hazy and confused but... what happened is the best of what I told you in the best of my ability. What would have to gain by doing this?

  Franz Grebner : [hands MacDonald a photograph]  Infidelity possibility. Do you know this woman?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [looks at the photo]  She looks familiar, but I don't know who she is.

  Franz Grebner : [hands him another photo]  What about this one?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : [somewhat startled as he looks at the next photo]  She looks like Mary... something. I don't know her last name. She was a nurse that worked at a hospital in San Antonio a few years ago where I worked before I enlisted. I was with her one time. We just kissed. I didn't have intercourse with her. She wrote me one letter last year, but I ripped it up and threw it away. My wife never found out about it. No big deal. Oh... you guys are more thorough than I thought.

  Franz Grebner : What?

  Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, MD : I said you're more thorough than I thought!