Wow... Martin MacNeil, former doctor, lawyer, and Mormon bishop sure turned out to be a sociopath. For those unfamiliar with his story, in 2013 MacNeil was convicted of murdering Michele, his wife of almost 30 years, and obstruction of justice. He's a liar, philanderer, identity thief, and sexual predator. And hey, he's a Mormon, too.

I'm writing about the book on my blog and will add it to my list of exmo lit. I don't know how I didn't get into this story as it was unfolding. MacNeil is a one man study in character disorders. Scary to think he had so much esteem in his community and trust of former patients and people in the church.

I followed the case since it was covered by the new here in Utah. I felt so bad for the family. They had to fight so hard for the police to do anything.

He didn't have credentials to be a doctor, but was able to con his way up as a director of medicine and fooled many into believing he was licensed. Mormons were his targets for conning, from his wife Michelle, to his patients and colleagues, and ward and stake because they were easy marks.

Martin murdered his brother (and got away with it,) while teenagers. He drowned him in a bathtub like he did his wife. He tried murdering his mother but didn't succeed. And yet he was called to be a bishop, and it was Mormon law enforcement who turned a blind eye when he murdered his wife. If not for his daughters tenacity, he would've never got caught. He was so cocky. His only son committed suicide trying to defend Martin once he realized his father's guilt. Martin had no remorse for anything except getting caught.

Yeah... I was just blown away by just how sociopathic this guy is and how long it took for him to be caught. Mormonism seems to attract these types as well as those who are easily conned.

Yes it was amazing how long he was able to commit all his frauds.

You do have to wonder if he would have been able to get away with all he did if it wasn't the fact he was a find upstanding bishop in the Mormon church.

It does make one wonder how easy was it for him to fake his credentials to be a doctor, to treat patients, write prescriptions, and perform surgeries on unwitting people in the state of Utah? I thought it was much harder to become a doctor than to fake one's way into the profession. And he oversaw other doctors work! Good grief.

How many others are there? Scary thought!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2015 08:36AM by amyjo.

It is scary. My cousin had a doctor many years ago that turned out to not be an actual Doctor. This was here in Canada, don't know how he managed it, but he was eventually found out.

JS was probably his greatest mentor.

It was an interesting trial to watch. Martin was living a lie his entire life, which his children didn't even know about until the murder trial and all the information came out.

He did actually go to medical school and was legally licensed, but the fraud part was his getting into med school. He forged documents and lied about being a convicted felon for passing bad checks. So yes, he should have never been licensed.

Since this felon had a temple recommend and was a bishop his church leaders that put him there must not have been in tune :).

Then when he was convicted, he tried to kill himself in jail. What a total narcissist. I feel sad for his family.

I read that his 24 year old son was also dangerous and had killed himself in 2010. Apparently, that might have been for the best.

I read that the reason the son killed himself was because of how grief stricken he was over their mother's murder.

Granted, my source was Wikipedia... Here's what it says.

On January 16, 2010, MacNeill's 24-year-old son Damian Alexander MacNeill committed suicide.[12] He was a law student at New York Law School at the time of his death.[1][13] 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."[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Michele_MacNeill

But then, the Utah County Attorney's Office could have been wrong. A lot of things seem wrong in Utah.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2015 07:14AM by knotheadusc.

How strange. I had heard on the news he was the only MacNeill child to defend his father's innocence. He was using his training as a law student up to his suicide to help his father.

I had figured too he was grieving his mother's death. He had been her only son, and was probably very close to her. It seems plausible once he figured out his dad really done it, he couldn't forgive his father for killing her, or forgive himself for defending his father to his sisters and others outside the family.

Hadn't heard he was a sociopath like his dad, before now. That's another strange twist to this bizarre and tragic story.

Don't know if I believe it. I followed the trial and my undestanding is that he killed himself because he was grief-stricken over his mother's murder, and horrified when he finally figured out his dad did it.

FWIW, the son was one of the adopted children from the former Soviet Union (as are two of mine). Those orphanage kids can come with some major behavioral problems.

Damian was definitely their biological child. One of the sisters did a memorial video on him and the first scene is from the labour and delivery room right after he is born.

Mormons are winners!

Don't knock the local PD, their hands were tied "from above"

I'm interested in reading the review on your blog. Is there a way you can direct us to it without revealing more about yourself than you want?

Thank you.

Just google The Overeducated Housewife. You should be able to find it.

Found it. Good review, interesting and concise. Thanks for writing it.

~ Prisoner 6

You're welcome! Thanks for reading!

FUN FACT

My house was his Doctor/Lawyer office
I didn't know about him when I bought the house

And the HG and power of discernment never used the "still, small voice" to point out this guy's evil?

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Will they include him in the next "Meet the Mormons" movie, do ya think?