User:CaroleHenson/Michele MacNeill

Michele MacNeill (1957-2007) died on April 11, 2007 due to a combination of prescription medicines and having drowned. Her husband, Martin MacNeill, was convicted for her murder on November 9, 2013.

Personal life

Michele Marie Somers was born to Milton and Helen Somers in 1957. The former beauty queen married Martin MacNeil and was the mother to eight children, four of whom were adopted. She was also a "dedicated" member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Martin and Michele MacNeill lived in a Salt Lake City suburb, Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Martin and Michele were married 30 years, but Martin was dissatisfied, made statements about wanting a divorce and had extramarital affairs, including a relationship with nursing student Gypsy Willis before and after the death of his wife, Michele.

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 lose some weight. Martin pressed for the surgery, conducted on April 3, 2007, and provided a list of medicines that he wanted prescribed for his wife: Promethazine, Zolpidem, Diazepam, and Oxycodone. Thompson did not normally prescribe Diazepam (or Valium) and Oxycodone for his patients.

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 may have "overmedicated" his wife. Alexis told her father that she would take care of dispensing medicine to her mother. According to Alexis, Michele later said that she was fearful of Martins efforts to give her medicine she didn't need.

Extramarital affair

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

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. 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 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. Later that day she was declared dead. An autopsy was performed and her cause of death was determined to be cardiovascular disease, and considered a natural death.

Toxicology review

Children of Michele and Martin MacNeill questioned their mother's cause of death and pressed for review of the toxicology report. Dr. Todd Grey, the State of Utah's chief medical examiner performed the review. He found that none of the medicines found in her body were at toxic levels, but the combination of Promethazine, Zolpidem, Diazepam, and Oxycodone "could have led to sedation and heart arrhythmia, resulting in cardiac death." Her cause of death was changed on October 6, 2010 accordingly and the manner of death was changed to "undetermined".

Trial

Further information: Martin MacNeill

Martin MacNeill was arrested for first degree murder and obstruction of justice. He was convicted on both charges.

Further reading

• Alexandra Thomas (October 29, 2013). "Martin MacNeill case: Background on the key players". HLN.
• "Martin MacNeill trial: Timeline". HLN.
• Jennifer Dobner (November 13, 2013). "Mother's words became MacNeill daughter's quest for justice". Desert News.