The Stranger She Loved

by Shanna Hogan

  Dr. Martin MacNeill, esquire, had been stripped of all his wealth, pretense, and prosperity.

  No longer the doctor, lawyer, Mormon bishop, husband.

  Now, and for the rest of his lonely, miserable existence, Martin MacNeill’s most prominent title is simply: murderer.

  AFTERWORD

  SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

  The drapes in the vacant house in Pleasant Grove have been pushed back, the sunlight streaming through the windows, casting a stark glow on the remnants of one family’s tragedy.

  Dust covers the antique furniture Michele so carefully selected and arranged around the home. Boxes packed with framed family photos, albums, and heirlooms crowd the garage.

  In the bathroom, Michele’s lotions, perfumes, and toiletries have long since vanished from the cabinets and drawers. The tub where she took her last bath is bone dry, droplets of water no longer clinging to the faucet.

  During a walk-through of the MacNeill home, the family noticed some of the valuables had gone missing. Yet many rooms remain just as Michele had left them.

  Nearly a year after Martin’s conviction for murder, ownership of the Pleasant Grove property remains in probate. It will almost certainly end up in Alexis’s hands, because of a Utah law known as the Slayer statute, which prevents convicted murderers from benefiting financially from their crimes.

  As the executor of her mother’s estate, Alexis plans to sell the house and distribute the money among her sisters. With that, the final monument of Martin’s legacy will become the setting for another family to create hopefully happier memories.

  In other homes and apartments across Utah, Michele’s children will attempt to rebuild from the charred remains of their family.

  When I first learned of the disgraced Mormon doctor and the women who helped convict him, I was moved by the strength and determination of Michele’s sister and daughters. My publisher had approached me about writing a book on the crimes and trial of Martin MacNeill. Although I was reluctant to write about such a heavy case, I decided to tell the story, in hope that their strength would inspire others. Their determined crusade for justice truly demonstrates how much Michele was loved.

  These women sacrificed their own careers, money, mental health, and relationships to fight for Michele. When I asked Linda Cluff what possessed her to dedicate years to seeking justice for her sister, she seemed momentarily at a loss for words. It was simply unimaginable to do anything else.

  “It was for Michele.” She sighed. “If I had to die trying to get someone to listen, that’s what I was going to do.”

  As I researched the case, I often wondered what exactly drove Martin to deconstruct the life he had so carefully built. I wouldn’t get the chance to question him—he had consistently declined all media interviews. But even if I was confined in a cell with Martin, I doubt I’d ever learn the truth. Martin was a pathological liar and a textbook sociopath who cared for no one but himself.

  What creates such a monster?

  Martin often spoke about his dysfunctional background, revealing unsettling stories about growing up in New Jersey. Most of what Martin said about his childhood had no way of being substantiated, and given his propensity for deceit, it’s possible it was untrue.

  Investigating his background, I was hindered by the fact that nearly all of his relatives were dead. Aside from his sister Mary, who never spoke publicly, there was no one left to confirm his accounts of what may have occurred during Martin’s formative years.

  Because so many of Martin’s siblings struggled with mental illness, drug use, and suicide, one could easily assume something terrible indeed happened in his childhood. I decided not to dwell on those details, and came to the conclusion that focusing on whatever abuse he may have suffered would only offer an excuse for his behavior.

  There should be no sympathy for the devil.

  * * *

  I think that defense attorney Randall Spencer truly believes in his client’s innocence. But the jury and I—after writing this book—formed a very different opinion about the dishonorable doctor.

  Martin was manipulative, cruel, duplicitous, and deceitful. As a sociopath he was unable to empathize, and feigning emotion day after day was draining. I believe any love or compassion he showed was contrived, designed to obtain something he desired and driven by his calculating agenda.

  At church, work, even at home, he had to wear the skin of another man. It must have been exhausting having to act like a caring Mormon bishop, playing the part of a family man, pretending to be a normal person.

  He sloughed off the costume of the fictional character he created only when he was alone or with his mistresses. By Gypsy’s own admission, Martin found being with her “liberating.”

  Confronting middle age with a genetic condition, Martin lost all interest in Michele and found her sudden interest in his infidelity a nuisance. He wanted a carefree, sex-filled future with Gypsy.

  Divorce was not an option for Martin—it would damage his finances and reputation in the church and community.

  He decided Michele had to die.

  Investigators suspected murder was not anything new to Martin, believing it possible that he killed patients over the years, possibly the mentally challenged residents of the Developmental Center. He could have tried to kill his mother and may have succeeded in murdering his brother. The details of Rufus Roy MacNeill’s death remain murky.

  Just as he had when he offered to end Vanessa’s drug addiction by ending her life, Martin likely rationalized that the lives he took had no value. It’s possible he also convinced himself he would spare his wife the mental anguish of a divorce by providing her a peaceful death.

  Or maybe he had such little regard for her that he just didn’t care.

  The plot to snuff out Michele was sinister.

  Lying about having cancer and multiple sclerosis was likely a combination of his obsessive need for attention and a way to later deflect blame for her murder, as investigators theorized. Why would anyone suspect a dying man of killing his wife?

  Reflecting back, one may view Martin’s actions prior to Michele’s death as evidence of premeditation. Did he put the house in Michele’s name and take out a life insurance policy on himself to further the subterfuge? Was giving each of his children five thousand dollars a twisted payoff for taking away their mom?

  Martin played on Michele’s insecurities, coercing her to get a face-lift and requesting extra medication from the surgeon, which he knew could be lethal when combined. The day after the surgery, Martin tried to kill his wife with an overdose of that medication, unsuccessful only because the pills caused her to vomit.

  April 11 was the day Martin ultimately chose to end Michele’s life—Alexis was gone and he could establish an alibi at the safety fair. One of the first things he did that morning, at 6:48 A.M., was call his mistress. When he later spoke with Gypsy, what did he tell her?

  At that point, Michele was wary of her cheating husband. She had been so alarmed the day after he overmedicated her, she had told her daughter the heartbreaking words: “If anything happens to me, make sure it wasn’t your dad.” To regain Michele’s favor, Martin was extra sweet, laying it on thick. “Your dad is being so, so nice to me,” Michele told Alexis during their final phone call.

  As I worked on the case, I developed a theory of the murder. I doubt at that point Michele would take a handful of pills provided to her by her husband. And I don’t think it would be possible for him to slip them in her food undetected. Instead, as one of the jailhouse informants testified, Martin likely delivered the medication in an enema.

  At around 8:30 A.M., after dropping off Giselle, Elle, Sabrina, and Ada at school, Martin may have returned home under the guise of assisting his wife with a medical issue. Michele’s autopsy later showed she was severely constipated, likely as a result of the pain pills she had been weaning off of, which can produce such an effect.

  As a doctor, it wouldn’t be unusual for him to administer a
n enema to help his constipated wife. After all, he was being “so sweet.”

  Prior to administering it, he may have surreptitiously crushed the Ambien, Valium, Percocet, and Phenergan and funneled the powdered pills into the enema bag. With rectal use, medication has a more powerful and rapid effect, since it bypasses the digestive system. Almost instantly Michele would have become sleepy, confused, and unaware of her surroundings.

  Maybe Martin could not re-dress his unconscious wife, who would have had to remove her pants and underwear for the procedure. Or if he had dressed her, the enema may have also produced its intended results and Michele may have defecated, which could explain why Martin stripped her of her pants and underwear.

  The pants that matched her black top were not in the bathroom or bedroom and have never been found.

  It’s possible Martin immediately took her to the bathtub after administering the enema. Or he may have returned to work to establish an alibi, expecting the pills would kill her. About an hour later he could have slipped away from the Developmental Center again and returned to find Michele alive but extremely lethargic and possibly unconscious.

  He could have drawn a bath, helped her to the bathroom, bent her over the tub’s ledge, and held her face under the water—the position he had described to his children.

  Water filled her lungs. She struggled, causing her stitches to split open and bleed, blood-tinged water spilling onto the tile floor.

  Michele stopped moving; her heart ceased beating.

  Then, Martin swept his dead wife into the tub, her body slumped, head beneath the faucet, facing forward. He then used the towels to clean the floor, depositing them in the laundry room.

  Michele’s body was left stewing in the water, while Martin rushed back to work and accepted his award at the safety fair, where he demanded his photo be taken to prove his presence.

  At 11:35 A.M. he picked up Ada from school. In one of the sickest twists, he allowed his youngest daughter to stumble upon the body of her dead mother.

  Once the neighbors arrived, Martin feigned mouth-to-mouth. He was so disconnected from humanity that he thought his rehearsed, dramatic, soap-opera-like display of grief would make him seem innocent.

  The autopsy later showed early signs of heart disease, a condition that could be the result of the extreme stress of dealing with Martin’s hysterics for thirty years. Although the autopsy also showed Michele’s lungs were heavy, during the resuscitation efforts she had expelled the water. There is no definitive way to prove either drowning or an arrhythmia after death. Given no other clues as to what caused Michele to die, the pathologist was quick to rule the death natural.

  It was an almost perfect murder. And if not for the determination of Michele’s loved ones, Martin would have gotten away with it.

  * * *

  As the jury rightly determined, Martin murdered his wife. But the real question mark in my mind is Gypsy.

  No evidence was ever uncovered implicating Gypsy in Michele’s slaying and she was never charged with any crime relating to the murder. But, while Gypsy had an alibi, many people, including the MacNeill children, have wondered if she was involved in some way with Michele’s death. To find out what she knew, I went directly to Gypsy.

  Like most who saw her callous courtroom performance, I was repulsed. To brazenly sit on the witness stand and shield an accused murderer from justice was—as prosecutor Grunander stated during closing arguments—offensive.

  When I interviewed Gypsy, however, she surprised me. We spoke at length about her background, her affair with Martin, her involvement as the nanny, and the theft of Giselle’s identity. While she was dispassionate about Michele, she seemed forthright and genuine. It appeared she had accepted some degree of accountability for her actions.

  “I never thought I would be associated with Martin long term. And I’m sorry for it,” she told me. Perhaps she was telling the truth. After all, Martin was a powerful manipulator—it’s possible he tricked Gypsy as well.

  I decided to set aside personal judgment as to her character and focus on the facts. In the pages of this book I tried to present those details simply and objectively and confine my opinions to the afterword.

  Still, as I wrote about the case, creeping doubts and lingering questions consumed me. If she truly believed Martin to be innocent, how could she reconcile the contradictory accounts he gave on his failing health? Did she really find it reasonable that Michele had so much medication in her system?

  And, most glaring, if her relationship with the married doctor was casual, why would she e-mail another suitor a month prior to Michele’s murder to say her relationship with Martin had grown serious and they were now exclusive?

  It made no sense that she would suddenly decide to stop dating other men if her married boyfriend had no intention of leaving his wife. Had Gypsy known of Martin’s plans when she committed herself exclusively to their relationship?

  I would get no answers.

  As Martin’s trial garnered widespread media coverage, Gypsy signed with a publicist to field interview requests. The publicity firm she chose is run by Gina Rodriguez, a former porn star who has represented infamous tabloid figures including Joey Buttafuoco, Michael and Dina Lohan, “Tan Mom” Patricia Krentcil, Teen Mom Farrah Abraham, Nadya “Octomom” Suleman, Anthony Weiner’s sexting partner Sydney Leathers, and Charlie Sheen’s onetime companion Capri Anderson, also a porn star.

  Many of Rodriguez’s scandal makers end up cashing in on their notoriety by later filming pornography. Gypsy’s representation was handled by Rodriguez’s daughter, Brandi Snail, who costarred with her mother and brother in a 2009 reality program called Mommy XXX.

  Months after first interviewing Gypsy, following Martin’s conviction but prior to his sentencing, I contacted his mistress directly, asking if we could speak again. Gypsy insisted we set up the interview through Brandi Snail. I sent Snail an e-mail.

  Her reply came quickly: “I would love to help set this up for you but their [sic] would have to be some sort of incentive for Gypsy to do this.”

  As I explained to Snail, it’s journalistically unethical to pay for interviews with any subject.

  Snail’s response was audacious. “Gypsy would need a minimum of $1,500 to do this. Gypsy is a big piece of the story and if she cannot get a minimum of $1,500 then I will have to say that we will pass on this.”

  Needless to say, I was not willing to pay.

  Messaging Gypsy directly, I informed her about her publicist’s demand of money and explained why it was wrong. Gypsy was unapologetic. Eventually she responded to an e-mail to clarify a few issues, which all benefited her. To my more difficult questions, I received no response. We never spoke again.

  “I don’t mean to sound like a fainting flower over here, but delving into all this again is so hard,” Gypsy said in an e-mail.

  But that interaction with Gypsy and her publicist demonstrated to me more about her character than I could have gleaned from a dozen interviews. For sleeping with a married man and stealing the identity of a teenage girl, Gypsy wanted to be rewarded. Gypsy truly was Martin’s perfect match—she is equally as cold, heartless, and unscrupulous as he is. Martin found it liberating to be with her because he didn’t have to conceal his true nature—she had a dark side, too.

  She plotted and schemed with Martin to deceive Michele’s grieving children. She attended Michele’s funeral and sent her lover provocative photos the following day to keep his interest. She moved into the family home and shamelessly continued to sleep with Martin in the marital bed he had shared with Michele. She participated in the theft of a teenager’s identity, knowing the girl had been abandoned in Ukraine. And finally, she shielded Martin from blame on the witness stand by attempting to minimize their relationship.

  I don’t know exactly what Gypsy knows, but I can’t help wondering whether she knows more than she has told me, the investigators, or the media. She has said in many interviews that she was shocked about the guilty
verdict and had expected Martin would go free. She has also said she can’t imagine that she was the motive for the murder. “The idea that I am an incentive is very appalling to me. It’s very hard to swallow,” she has said.

  Was she truly appalled that she may have been the motive for murder? Or is it possible she was flattered that Martin loved her enough to kill?

  * * *

  Amid all of this, Michele was truly an innocent victim.

  It would have been impossible for such a genuine, loving person to imagine the depths of her husband’s deception—the affairs, crimes, phony degree, and misconduct as a doctor.

  Michele never looked at Martin and considered he had a demon of a mind. She saw only the best in her husband. Her fatal flaw was simply loving him unconditionally. Martin swept Michele into his chaos and eventually took her life. He was a dangerous and destructive force who damaged or destroyed almost everyone he came in contact with.

  Dozens of women he had affairs with were left wounded after they say Martin preyed on them sexually. Patients were disregarded and misdiagnosed, unaware he was never qualified to treat their conditions. Nurses and doctors he worked with were bullied and browbeaten by Dr. MacNeill. And there are almost certainly crimes he committed over the years that the investigators never uncovered.

  Each of his children has also been left scarred. After growing up in the harsh conditions of Ukraine, his adopted daughters experienced Michele’s love for only a few short years. And Ada will be forever haunted by the childhood memory of discovering her mother’s body.

  Rachel struggles with bipolar disorder. Vanessa battles drug addiction. Alexis has spent thousands of dollars and countless hours fighting to gain custody of her little sisters and to seek justice for her mother.

  And most tragically, Damian took his own life, which his family believes happened after he finally came to the disturbing realization that his father killed his mother.

  Rather than being torn apart by all the loss they have faced during the past seven years, the MacNeill family has remarkably been united in their quest for justice.