MedCrimes: a Medical True Crime Podcast · Kate Macy and Devon Rebecca

Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald; part 2

·1 hr 12 min·5 clips

Devin and Kate pick up the McDonald case again with the same messy, affectionate energy that has become part of the show. They joke about old habits, including the kind of self-aware silliness that listeners either love or clock right away as very much their thing. Then they settle into the case. The focus turns to blood evidence and the way it can be read when a scene is covered in it. O negative blood gets a clear explanation. They walk through why O negative is considered the universal donor. They also talk through how blood types help investigators sort out what came from whom when everyone in the house had different blood types. That matters here because there was blood everywhere. The conversation does not stay abstract. Devin and Kate keep pulling the details back to the scene. They move into spatter layering and the way one layer of blood can land on top of another. That layering can help build a rough timeline. It can show who may have been where and when. Even without DNA, the patterning gives investigators something concrete to work with. The episode leans on that forensic logic to challenge McDonald's version of events. Investigators already suspected that his story did not match what actually happened. By mid-March, they had identified the blood by the entrance to the master bedroom as Kimberly McDonald's. They also determined that some of the blood in Kristen's bedroom belonged to Colette. That detail matters because McDonald's story never put Colette's blood in one of the children's rooms. In his account, the attack played out differently. The show keeps pressing on that mismatch. Devin and Kate push the evidence against the narrative and let the tension do the work. Their conclusion is clear, even if they do not pretend certainty is simple. They think he did it, but not with absolute certainty. Before they wrap, they thank listeners, point people to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Patreon, and email, and finish with their familiar reminders to stay safe and wash your hands.

As heard by us

A conversational second pass that leans on blood evidence and forensic reconstruction.

MidCrimes comes back to the case with a conversational second pass that settles into blood typing, spatter layering, and the investigators' attempt to map what happened across the house.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a chatty, evidence-driven pass through the McDonald case.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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