The forensic analysis in the case of Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald used a few forensic techniques to solve the murder puzzle surrounding the doctor's wife and two children ( Wecht, Wecht, & Curriden, 1993). One method that was used was the forensic pathology that mainly focused on DNA sequencing. This is the study of a deceased person's body to examine the cause of their death through the study of genetic material called DNA from the dead person's drops of blood and tissue samples to aid in the identification of suspects for several kinds of crime. The investigators used this technique during Dr. MacDonald's subsequent investigations to establish his connection with the murder of his daughters and wife. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) entered this investigation through conducting a post-mortem on the three deceased persons. The post-mortem identified that each of them had a different blood type. With this knowledge in mind, the investigators were able to track the movements of each person suspected to be the culprits of the murders, but more particularly those of Jeffrey MacDonald.
Forensic pathology as a technique in the second instance relied on automated fingerprint identification. This enabled the investigators in the case to establish MacDonald's blood that was found in small quantities in only three places; on his glasses, on a cabinet, and on a bathroom sink. This presented a close connection of events that marked the doctor as the main culprit. First of all, his glasses were in the living room, and the cabinet is where a box of surgical gloves was. The bathroom sink is where the doctor is believed to have inflicted his own mirror wound (Kent, Chevalier, Grance, & Dang, 2006). Forensic pathology, in this case, was crucial in establishing the prints the doctor alleged to have left of his family in his attempts to give them mouth resuscitations upon his coming around after his alleged attackers knocked him unconscious before murdering his wife and children.
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The other technique that was primarily used in this case was link analysis. This is the study of pattern evidence which at the same time encompassed trace evidence. Pattern evidence is the study of something inside an impression such as footprints to discover what shoes could have been worn by the perpetrator while trace evidence refers to the use of items to give information about the location of a crime scene. By combining these two techniques, the investigators were able to establish Dr. MacDonald has the guilty party. The investigators studied the phone the doctor had used to call for help, and the knife he alleged to have removed from his wife's wound. Both of these items showed no impressions of his fingerprints or blood, begging the question of whether or not he had wiped clean these items to get rid of his prints, the reasons he might have done this, and to what extent he might have erased any other evidence that would tie him to the three murders.
Still, on pattern evidence and trace evidence, the investigators of the case discovered blue fabrics from the doctor's pajamas everywhere in the house. They had been found in the two girls' rooms and beneath Colette MacDonald's body. To this point, this would fall in line with his story that he had been t the rooms to try to save the three ladies. However, the pattern was not consistent in the living where he claimed to have been attacked, and his pajama shirt ripped. If he had been attacked as alleged, more fabrics would have been found in this room than anywhere else in the house. And talking about the pajama top, 48 holes were found in it that exactly matched 21 wounds to Colette when the garment was folded over her chest. This pattern moved to show that the top must have been laid on her chest as she was being stabbed. This contradicts the doctor's statement that the top was bloodstained because he had used it to try to stop her bleeding.
References
Kent, K., Chevalier, S., Grance, T., & Dang, H. (2006). Guide to integrating forensic techniques into incident response. NIST Special Publication , 10 , 800-86.
Wecht, C., Wecht, B., & Curriden, M. (1993). Cause of Death: A Leading Forensic Expert Sets the Record Straight . Dutton Books.
