They say, “There's no such thing as the perfect murder.”
Well, in the case of the murder of Michele MacNeill, her husband Martin would have pulled it off—if it weren’t for those meddling kids.
On April 11, 2007, Michele’s daughter Ada found her mother unresponsive in the bathtub. Michele was declared dead later that day, and an autopsy report concluded that the death was accidental and of natural causes.
A sad day, indeed. But there appeared to be no evidence of foul-play.
However, despite the medical examiner’s reports, Michele’s children knew something was amiss. Their father and Michele's husband, Martin MacNeill, was the medical director of the Utah State Development Center and a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He had expressed unhappiness in his marriage for years (participating in at least two, known extramarital affairs), had threatened violence before, and had a history of mental illnesses (being discharged from the army for those reasons in 1975). After pushing Michele to receive cosmetic surgery, he requested the surgeon prescribe four drugs—two of which (Diazepam and Oxycodone) were not normally prescribed for such a procedure.
After the original autopsy, the family pushed for a toxicology report. When it was performed, the medical examiner found non-toxic levels of the four medicines prescribed, but added that the combination of drugs “could have led to sedation and heart arrhythmia, resulting in cardiac death.” This resulted in the cause of death to be changed to “undetermined.”
Since Martin MacNeill was a physician and had asked for that particular combination of drugs to be prescribed, this appeared to implicate him in Michele’s death. It seemed he knew exactly what drugs to give his wife to trigger her death—a fatal cocktail that would make her passing seem like an accident without raising any red flags in an autopsy.
It would be another 5 years before Martin was finally charged with murder in the first degree, and this true crime tale reveals all of the menacing details of the Mormon murderer.
SEE ALSO: Read an excerpt of Shanna Hogan's The Stranger She Loved
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Interested in what Martin MacNeill’s colleagues thought about him and if any of his actions were questioned.
Sad story.
This sounds very interesting.
I’d love to read this book
interesting
…because some people are just dispicable, and none of them ever think they’ll get caught.
I enjoy reading about true crime, and this book sounds amazing. I would love to read it.
I would love to read the book.
I would like to read more about this crime. And this guy getting what he deserves.
Looks like a good read!
Looks like a good read!
Can’t wait to read the rest
Excited to read this book.
Would love to win.
Very sad story of life gone wrong .
Would like to read.
Count me in, please!
The mills of the Gods grind slowly…… Sounds like a good read!
Books books books! 😀
Would love to have a copy for our library as true crime is one of our most popular sections!
Sounds like an intriging story. Would love to win the book.
It sounds like a gripping, suspenseful thriller. The kind of story that is a “page turner” and can’t put down. Would really like to have a copy.
It sounds like a gripping, suspenseful thriller. The kind of story that is a “page turner” and can’t put down. Would really like to have a copy.
Compelling story. It makes you wonder about people.
wow – a real life page turner – would love to read the full story
Would really like to read this – was born and raised LDS – makes it even more intriguing.
Sounds fascinating.
Yes, please enter me in this sweepstakes.
Thanks!
I read a lot of true crime, also quite enjoy watching documentaries about crime, Forensic Files, listen to “Criminal” podcast, and “Serial,” of course, my husband says quite often that he had better not meet with an untimely death, because, hey, I’m leaving a pretty obvious trail…this is all to say that, yeah, I want to read this.
Also read the fascinating book by Jon Krakauer about another “mormon murder,” [u]Under the Banner of Heaven[/u], an amazing exposure of hypocrisy in the church and murder in “God’s” name.
I would enjoy reading this book. Thanks.
I love murder books!
I would love to read this book. Thank you.
No matter how many of these stories I’ve read or seen on Dateline I can’t understand why people consider murder over divorce. They almost always get caught, with family persistance, and the outcome ruins so many people’s lives. These are cautionary tales.
I love murder mysteries and true crime.
The story sounds quite interesting. I would enjoy reading the book.
sounds like a good read
Unbelievable! Poor woman and children. Hope the ending shows justice he deserved.
I would love to read about how this man got cut down to size by his kids.
Would love to read !
This guy sounds like a creep, but I’m wondering whether you would have mentioned his religion so often if he were a practicing Methodist or Lutheran. Is Mormonism still so sensational? It’s kind of disappointing to see that continue.
Look forward to reading.
[u][b]Can’t wait to check it out.[/b][/u]
Sounds perfection for Valentine’s Day!
this book looks great, I can’t wait to read it.
I saw this guy in a news story….seemed incredibly arrogant. Wouldn’t you love to know how he felt and what he was thinking at the moment when he knew he’d been figured out?
Would love to win a copy of this book!
Those kids have a lot of courage.
And he arranged it so that his nine year old daughter found her mothers body first!
Sounds like an excellent read.
No matter how many of these stories I read (and I read a lot of them), I am always shocked at the depth of wacko-ness and wickedness that there is in the world.
I love reading True Crime
True crime is best, nothing beats how twisted real life can be.. I wonder if they looked at the good Doctor’s past to see if any of his former patients were helped along too.
This guy is too creepy, can’t wait to read this one.
I used to read lots of True Crime, but over the years the different ways and reasons one person uses to do away with another have become mind numbing. Still, I’m game for another well written murder story.
This sounds like a great book to read.
Sounds like an interesting book. I would like to read it.
Sounds like my kind of book, I would love to win a copy! Thanks for offering it.