Fatal Vision was a 1984 television miniseries that starred Gary Cole, Karl Malden, Eva Marie Saint and Andy Griffith. It was based on the best selling book by Joe McGinnis . Fatal Vision is the real-life story of Doctor Jeffrey MacDonald, who in 1979 was convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and two small daughters. These murders had taken place in 1970 while MacDonald was a Green Beret Captain in the US Army stationed at Fort Bragg. MacDonald has always claimed that night he was attacked on the living room sofa by hippie intruders who also killed his family. The movie and book strongly suggest that MacDonald was the real culprit and made up the story about the intruders.