A life of lies is what was hidden behind the facade of a perfect home. With the passage of time, the darkest secrets of a family that ended up living hell would be unraveled and was far from fulfilling the prototype that many believed.
The “dream” life began to unravel despite nearly three decades of marriage between Martin MacNeill, a distinguished physician and lawyer, and Michele McNeill, who had been a beauty queen before devoting herself entirely to home and church.
Their union began very young, when he was 22 and she was 21 (1978) they decided to get married. Their courtship had not received the approval of Michele’s family; However, that was not an impediment for both to carry out a plan to escape and consummate on paper what they thought was love.
They had not even completed a year since that bond when Martin was sentenced to six months in prison for forgery, theft and fraud; a topic that, like many others among them, was all a secret. Over the years he came to occupy high-ranking jobs, one of them as director of the Utah State Development Center.
lies and lovers
With recognition and money came fame, which in turn brought more than one problem. The “exemplary” father began with an inclination towards other women, something that he tried to keep hidden, but always leaving a trace. Three of the couple’s eight children had been adopted from the Ukraine, and their day-to-day life revolved around comforts, parties, and why not? for many envy.
“Everything started to change or become more noticeable when Martin turned 50. “He started acting very strange. He became very obsessed with losing weight and improving his appearance. I even went to tanning salons,” he told ABC News Rachel, one of the biological daughters.
In 1994, he was accused of having sexual encounters with a patient at the Brigham Young University Health Center. That was one of the crises that put the “idyll” at risk. However, the woman ended up forgiving the infidelity and pretending nothing had happened.
A day they will never forget
On April 11, 2007, Michele’s eight children would learn of news that they would never have wanted to hear: their mother had been found dead in a bathtub, the same day that the woman seemed to see death close. According to that American media, hours before he had told his daughter, Alexis Sommer: “If something happens to me, make sure it wasn’t your dad.”
When he told him what had happened, suspicions began. “He said, ‘Your mom. She is in the bathtub. She is not breathing. I’ve called an ambulance. And then she hung up. I started driving to the airport and I was screaming. Just screaming. He killed her. That was my first instinct,” she recalls.
Michel had undergone cosmetic surgery on April 3 of that year, just eight days before his passing. The postoperative process set off the alarms, since Martin McNeill was the one who prescribed the pain medications, which fueled doubts about whether the amount was being excessive.
The appearance of Gypsy Willis, another mistress
After Michele’s death, the cause of which was listed on the death certificate as cardiac arrest, the older sisters communicated their intention to help care for the little ones. However, her father had something completely different in mind that materialized with the arrival at the mansion of Gypsy Willis, a woman he had met online some time ago.
“We met online. She sent me a message, “said the woman, who acknowledged knowing that he was married in an interview with ABC News. He also detailed: “he asked me what I knew about quantum physics… There was instant chemistry. He was tall, he was handsome, he spoke very well.”
Once one of his daughters found out who the new babysitter was, it didn’t take long for her to complain: “He said ‘Oh, I found the perfect babysitter.’ And I said, ‘What’s her name?’ And he said, ‘Oh, I think she’s her, I think she’s Jillian?’ And I said ‘Dad? Gypsy Jillian Willis?’” Somers recalled. “I said, ‘I know that woman. I know her mom was worried that you would have an affair with her and not take her to her house.’”
When did justice come?
Despite the fact that the forensic part ruled that Michele’s death had been natural due to cardiovascular disease, the story took a turn that surprised more than one. At the time, the authorities archived the case as it was true that the causes had not been others.
The insistence of the family led to this case being reopened and the investigation focused on Martin McNeill. By 2013 (six years after the events), the justice found him responsible for the death of his wife, after another of the lovers (Anna Osborne), testified that Martín once told him how you could cause a heart attack without generate suspicion.
17 years in prison was the sentence imposed on him for first degree murder and also obstruction of justice; however, in April 2017 he was found dead in the Utah State Prison.