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A listener note, this episode contains adult content and is not suitable for everyone. Please be advised. Dick Cabot was a

Dick Cabot was a famous comedian and writer who hosted his own late night talk show starting in 1969.

Like his competitor, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, celebrities, musicians, authors, and politicians

flocked to the show often promoting their latest project and usually themselves.

To appear on either show was considered quite an accomplishment.

They were gatekeepers to some of the largest television audiences in America.

So, when a former Army Captain named Dr. Jeffrey McDonald appeared on the Dick

Cavett show on December 15, 1970, all of his family and friends, including

his in-laws, were watching.

Just a few months earlier, though, Jeff was in a very different situation.

His audience at that time was an army courtroom in North Carolina where he was on trial for the brutal murder of his pregnant wife and two young children.

He was cleared of those charges due in large part to the ardent support of his father-in-law,

Freddie Kasab.

Freddie and his wife Mildred watched as Cabot interviewed their son-in-law excited to have such a large

platform to bring the real killers to justice. Freddie had just returned home from Washington, D.C. where he had spent four days

hand delivering 500 copies of a letter to lawmakers asking them to assist with their search for

the killer.

The trip yielded no results, so this interview was very important to their case.

But instead of pleading for help finding the killers of his wife and daughters,

Freddie watched as Jeff laughed and made jokes with the famous host.

...