Murder of Michele MacNeill

Murder of
Michele Marie Somers MacNeill

Date	April 11, 2007 (2007-04-11)
Location	Pleasant Grove, Utah
Cause	Combined effects of heart disease and drug toxicity
Convicted	Martin MacNeill
Verdict	Guilty
Convictions	First-degree murder, 15 years to life Obstruction of justice, one to 15 years Relevant convictions Identity theft, by Martin against the MacNeill's adopted daughter Sexual abuse, by Martin against the MacNeill's daughter

Michele Marie MacNeill, née Somers, (born 1957) was an American murder victim. Michele was married for nearly 30 years to physician Martin MacNeill and was the mother of eight children. She died in Pleasant Grove, Utah on April 11, 2007 following recovery from cosmetic surgery performed eight days earlier. At her husband's request, the operating surgeon prescribed four medicines for Michele's recovery; two of the drugs, Diazepam and Oxycodone, would not normally be prescribed to his patients.

Michele had been concerned during her recovery that Martin was having an affair and that she had been given medication by him inappropriately. Her daughter Alexis, a medical student at that time, then took responsibility for giving Michele her medicine. Michele recovered sufficiently for Alexis return to school and Michele died the following day. Initially, police and autopsy reports concluded that Michele died of cardiovascular disease, but after being pressed to review of the toxicology report, the state's chief medical examiner found that the combination of medicines in her body could have contributed to cardiac death.

During the trial, which began, on October 17, 2013, Chief Prosecutor Chad Grunander stated: "'It was an almost perfect murder, [MacNeill] pumped her full of drugs' that he knew would be difficult to detect once she was dead." Martin MacNeill was convicted of Michele's murder and obstruction of justice in a widely publicized case involving marital infidelity, sexual abuse, and outward religious devotion.

Personal life

Michele Marie Somers was the daughter of Milton and Helen Somers and born in 1957. Michele grew up in Concord, California, where she played violin, acted, and was a cheerleader and homecoming queen. She was a straight-A student and an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Michele was an exchange student in Switzerland, a model, and Miss Concord in 1976.

Michele met Martin MacNeill (born February 1, 1956) at a young-adult activity of the LDS Church. Martin had joined the military in 1973 at the age of 17. He was placed on disability leave for mental health reasons in 1975 and received Veterans benefits for years. Michele eloped with Martin and the couple was married on February 21, 1978. Four months after the marriage, Martin served a six-month jail sentence for forgery, theft and fraud.

In 2007, the MacNeill family lived in a gated community in Pleasant Grove, Utah and were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Michele was the mother of eight children, Rachel, Vanessa, Alexis, Damian, Giselle, Elle, Sabrina, and Ada, four of whom were supposedly adopted from Ukraine. However, although Ada MacNeill was adopted by Michele and Martin, Ada is actually the daughter of Vanessa MacNeill, and Michele and Martin's biological granddaughter.

Martin MacNeill was the medical director of Utah State Development Center. Martin claimed to have been a tithe-paying member of and bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints although news sources have not provided any support for his claim. He was formerly a physician from Pleasant Grove, Utah, served in the military, and received his law degree, but, he did not practice law. He was reputedly dissatisfied with his marriage, made statements about wanting a divorce and had extramarital affairs, including a relationship with Gypsy Willis before and after the death of his wife, Michele. Martin and Michele were married for 29 years, 2 months, and 10 days at the time of Michele's death.

On January 16, 2010, MacNeill's 24-year-old son Damian Alexander MacNeill committed suicide. He was a law student at New York Law School at the time of his death. Prior to Damian's death, the Utah County Attorney's Office sent a letter to New York Law School stating that "[i]nvestigators in the Utah County Attorney's Office deemed him [Damian] to be a very dangerous individual who possessed homicidal impulses and discussed the 'joys of killing'" and that "Damian was present in Pleasant Grove on the date of his mother's death."

Events leading up to the murder

Troubled Marriage

Martin MacNeill threatened Michele MacNeill that he would commit suicide many times according to their daughter Rachel. In 1994, Martin was accused of having sexual relations with a patient at the BYU Health Center and threatened suicide. According to police reports, Martin MacNeill threatened to kill himself and Michele with a butcher knife in August 2000 after Michele caught him looking at pornography. Martin threatened suicide again in 2005 when again Michele caught Martin looking at pornography. In February 2007, Michele confronted Martin repeatedly about her suspicions that Martin was having an affair. Martin had at least two affairs in the 2005-2007 time frame—one with Anna Osborne Walthall and another with Gypsy Willis.

Cosmetic surgery

In March 2007, Martin MacNeill presented the idea to Michele of having cosmetic surgery. Michele was reluctant to have the surgery performed in the short term, preferring to postpone the operation for health reasons. She wanted to ensure that her high blood pressure was well under control and preferred to lose some weight before surgery. Martin pressed for the surgery, and Michele reportedly agreed to the facelift because she thought it would help her marriage. At Michele's last consultation before surgery, Martin, who was a physician at the time, reportedly gave the plastic surgeon a list of drugs he wanted prescribed to Michele. The surgeon prescribed Lortab, Ambien, Valium, Percocet, Phenergan and Keflex. Dr. Scott Thompson, who performed the surgery, admitted that he did not normally prescribe Diazepam (or Valium) and Oxycodone for his patients. The medication was stronger than what the surgeon would normally prescribe.

The surgery was conducted on April 3, 2007. Michele spent the night in the hospital and was released April 4. The following morning, Michele was found to be "unresponsive" by her oldest daughter, Alexis, who was on break from medical school. Her father, Martin, told her that he "probably over-medicated" his wife. Although Michele survived, Alexis then took care of dispensing medicine to her mother during the rest of her stay at her parent's home. According to Alexis, Michele was fearful of Martin's efforts to give her medicine she did not need. On April 6, 2007, Michele told Alexis that "if anything happens to me, make sure it was not your dad."

Mistress

On April 6, Michele confronted Martin about numerous calls and text messages to Gypsy Willis.

During the trial, prosecutors contended that MacNeill killed his wife so he could be with his mistress, Gypsy Willis. MacNeill hired Willis as a nanny for his youngest children, two weeks after murdering Michele and Martin and Gypsy Willis (aka Gypsy Jyll Willis, aka Jillian Giselle MacNeill) were both convicted of identity theft, using the identity of MacNeill's adopted daughter for Willis' benefit. The daughter had been sent back to the Ukraine.

Health condition

During the weeks leading up to the murder, MacNeill gave the impression he had contracted a medical condition that required him to walk with a cane. His medical records showed that he had been in good health. Martin MacNeill also "had been collecting veteran benefits for decades, saying in an application he had bipolar or anti-social disorders."

Death and autopsy

Daughter Alexis returned to medical school on April 10, 2007, believing that her mother's recovery was well underway. The following day, April 11, 2007, Michele MacNeill and Alexis talked at 8:44 a.m. MST and Michele said that she was doing well. At 9:10 a.m., Martin called his daughter Alexis asking her to call her mother, saying he was concerned that she wasn't doing well and wasn't getting out of bed.

Michele died at the age of 50 in the bathtub of her home in Pleasant Grove. Although Martin said that he was at work in the morning, he was not seen from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m, when he arrived at a local Safety Fair. After picking up his youngest daughter Ada from school about 11:35, they arrived back at the home between 11:35 and 11:46 and Ada found her mother unresponsive, head down in the master bathroom bathtub. Martin ordered his son, Damian MacNeill, or Damian's girlfriend, to get rid of all of Michele's medication, ostensibly to keep the plastic surgery a private matter.

Michele was declared dead later that day. An autopsy was performed, and her cause of death was determined to be cardiovascular disease. Police and autopsy reports conclude that Michele's death was accidental and of natural causes.

The children of Michele and Martin MacNeill questioned their mother's cause of death, and pressed for a review of the toxicology report. In addition, in September 2007, Linda Cluff, Michele's sister, wrote a letter to the then governor of Utah, Jon Huntsman, and the Utah County Attorney's Office asking them to investigate Michele's death. Dr. Todd Grey, the State of Utah's chief medical examiner performed the review, and found that none of the medicines found in her body were at toxic levels, but that the combination of Promethazine (Phenergan), Zolpidem (Ambien), Diazepam (Valium), and Oxycodone (Percocet) "could have led to sedation and heart arrhythmia, resulting in cardiac death." Because of Grey's report, her manner of death was changed on October 6, 2010 to "undetermined" and the cause to "combined effects of heart disease and drug toxicity". It was noted that Michele would not have been able to administer the medication to herself.

Memorial service

Michele's memorial service was held on April 14, 2007 at the church located adjacent to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. Martin spoke at the service and rather than focus on Michele he talked about how life had been unfair to him.

Murder charges and trial

On August 24, 2012, the Utah County Attorney's Office charged Martin with murdering Michele. Martin's trial began on October 17, 2013. Martin MacNeill pled not guilty, claiming his wife died due to accidental death. Medical examiners did not rule that her death was the result of murder, but prosecutors convinced the jury that Martin MacNeill was responsible for killing his wife by drowning and prescription drugs. The arrest warrant stated that earlier in his life, MacNeill had attempted to murder his mother and had killed his brother, Rufus Roy MacNeill, who had been found dead in a bathtub. MacNeill had not been tried for his brother's death.

After the prosecution filed a motion to ban camera coverage of the trial, the Utah 4th District Court, upholding a state rule which went into effect April 1, ruled that the trial could be broadcast and live-streamed – the first in Utah history. Coverage would exclude video of testimony by federal inmates who feared retaliation.

The 22-day trial was litigated by Chief Prosecutor Chad Grunander and Martin MacNeill's defense team included Randall Spencer. In his closing statement to the jury, Grunander stated: "'It was an almost perfect murder, [MacNeill] pumped her full of drugs' that he knew would be difficult to detect once she was dead." During the trial, a previous mistress of Martin MacNeill testified that MacNeill had stated that there was a way to kill a person that would appear to be a natural heart attack. Fellow inmates claimed that MacNeill had claimed he killed his wife, but it couldn't be proven.

The defense claimed that Michele MacNeill had overdosed on her prescribed medication and fallen into the bathtub and drowned. The jury deliberated for 11 hours and on November 9, 2013, found MacNeill guilty of the first degree murder of his wife, Michele, on April 11, 2007. He was also convicted by the Provo, Utah jury of obstruction of justice for hindering the investigation of his wife's murder by attempting to make Michele's death appear accidental. The murder conviction carries a term of fifteen years to life, with an additional 1–15 years for obstruction.

On December 6, 2013, it was reported that he attempted suicide while in jail. In addition to the murder trial, Martin was found guilty of forcible sexual abuse of his daughter, Alexis Somers and was sentenced for one to 15 years for that crime.

Sentencing

On September 19, 2014, MacNeill was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years up to life in prison for his first-degree murder conviction plus another term of one to 15 years for his conviction on obstruction of justice charges. Since Fourth District Judge Derek Pullman made the murder and obstruction sentences consecutive to the sexual abuse sentence, MacNeill will not be eligible for parole for at least 17 years (about September 19, 2031).

Further reading

• Jennifer Dobner (November 13, 2013). "Mother's words became MacNeill daughter's quest for justice". Desert News.
• Marissa Lang (November 18, 2013). "MacNeill back in court on sex assault charge". The Salt Lake Tribune.
• "Martin MacNeill trial: Timeline". HLN.
• "Martin MacNeill Trial News Stories". ABC News.