Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald

Starting Over

During the summer of 1971, Jeffrey MacDonald went out to Long Beach, California, to work with his friend Jerry Hughes in the emergency medicine department of St. Mary Medical Center.  He and Hughes transformed the department into one of the very best in the state.  Jerry Allen Potter and Fred Bost in their excellent book Fatal Justice:  Reinvestigating the MacDonald Murders describe a man who was trying to rebuild his life:  "His professional reputation was further enhanced by the authorship of articles in prestigious medical journals, and his co-authorship of a book on the management of emergency medicine departments.

Dr. MacDonald, just before his discharge from the military

"Still active in sports, MacDonald helped organize intramural softball at the medical center.  He also taught emergency medicine at UCLA Harbor General Medical Center, and he became a public speaker in the effort against child abuse, and in CPR.  For saving the lives of policemen in difficult cases, MacDonald was made an honorary lifetime member of the Long Beach Police Department.  He was well known, well liked, and extremely successful professionally."

• Print version
• Email this
• Share

1. The Fairy Tale
2. The Horror Story
3. MacDonald's Story
4. Crime Scene Fiasco
5. Investigative Incompetence
6. Helena Stoeckley
7. Segal Defends MacDonald
8. The Army Plans Revenge
9. Starting Over
10. The Army Doesn't Forget
11. Deck Stacked Against MacDonald
12. The Physical Evidence, Part 1
13. The Physical Evidence, Part 2
14. The FBI Laboratories
15. The pajama Folding Experiment
16. The Physical Evidence, Part 3
17. Helena Stoeckley Reemerges
18. The Issue of MacDonald's Character
19. What Really Happened
20. Greg Mitchell
21. Enter Joel McGinniss
22. Betrayal
23. The Mother of Invention
24. The Civil Suit
25. Appeals
26. New Evidence of Innocence
27. New Chapter — DNA Evidence
28. New Chapter — Hope of a New Trial
29. Bibliography