Reply #19: Guilty.

[Bunny]

There's no way anyone would have entered his home and butchered his pregnant wife and two small daughters and left MacDonald with basically superficial wounds. It just doesn't work that way. There would have been a mighty struggle in those rooms, and they were barely disturbed.

On a United States military base, in 1970, with the Manson murders fresh in everyone's mind, there's no way a maurauding band of hippies would have gone unnoticed. And the whole 'acid is groovy, kill the pigs' thing is just a little too reminiscent of the Manson murders. How convenient.

As far as motive, I think Jeffy was a known womanizer, was used to being the handsome big man on campus, and was saddled with a wife, two kids, and another on the way. I think he wanted a fresh start and found a way to do it. People have killed their spouses for far less. And if that doesn't work, consider that Jeff was using amphetamines, which are known for creating all sorts of violent behaviors. Maybe he and Colleen had a fight, he snapped and killed her, and then decided that the only way to pull it off was to take out the little girls, too.

He's guilty, plain and simple. And for the person upthread who said that the author was out to get MacDonald from the outset - McGinniss started writing that book at the behest of MacDonald, as a way to vindicate him. It was only as the details of the case came out that McGinnis changed his mind and decided that MacDonald was guilty.