Letters to the Editor: Reflecting on the McMartin trial that took L.A. by storm

To the editor: Reading Christopher Goffard’s story brought me back to that time, 40 years ago, when the McMartin investigations blew wide open and the trial that followed had L.A. in its grip.

I never believed anything that was reported, all of it seemed so far out that it was not believable to any reasonable and sane person. The scale of the supposed crimes that occurred was preposterous in my mind.

Cut to 1990, when I was a staff writer on a short-lived Fox reality show called “Personalities” starring Charlie Rose. It was canceled not long after debuting, but not before Rose had Raymond Buckey, a staff member at the McMartin Preschool and a relative of the founder, on the show to discuss the case and its ultimate demise.

I will never forget the eyes of Mr. Buckey as he sat on stage in the studio during the interview. Imagine looking into narrowed, very dark, deep-set eyes which bubbled and boiled over with agony and hatred. Hatred at what had happened to him and his family. It seemed to pour from his eyes like tears. He was enraged and destroyed. It was excruciating to witness. I felt horrible for this innocent man and all that his family suffered.

Deborah Klose, Santa Monica