Martin MacNeill

PROVO — A Pleasant Grove doctor facing murder charges related to the death of his wife five years ago appeared in court Monday.

Martin MacNeill, who is accused of drugging his wife, gave his daughters only an occasional glance in the courtroom as they held photos of their late mother Michelle MacNeill.

An initial autopsy concluded that she died of natural causes. But investigators later changed it to undetermined, saying new information raised suspicion of Michelle’s death.

MacNeill’s daughters, Alexis Somers and Rachel MacNeill, spoke with FOX 13 and said they believe their father is guilty of murder.

“We are relieved that our mother is getting some justice,” said Somers.

Full FOX News Article

PROVO — A Pleasant Grove doctor charged with murdering his wife made his first court appearance Monday in Provo.

Martin MacNeill waived a reading of the charges against him. He sat silent in courtroom, while family members of Michele MacNeill held up her picture from the second row.

Full Article On KSL

 By LINSEY DAVIS (@LinseyDavis)

The Utah doctor accused of killing his wife made his first court appearance Monday and came face-to-face with his daughters, who say they believe their father had a plan to kill their mother.

Martin MacNeill, 56, was formally charged in the death of his wife, Michele, in April 2007. MacNeill has been held on $1 million bond at Utah County jail since Friday, and is due to return Sept. 4 to choose an arraignment or an evidentiary hearing.

Full Article on Good Morning America

August 2008 Martin MacNeill relinquished his parental rights. I find it strange having to spend thousands of dollars going to court to obtain guardianship when he abandoned one of his adopted children in another country for the purpose of stealing her identity for his girlfriend and then tried to get rid of the other adopted children as well. How ludicrous is that to have to hire an attorney to keep him from getting them back when he was abandoning them and giving them away? How or why would they even think of letting the children go back with him?  Why was he not charged with abandonment?  The daughter he abandoned in the Ukraine was a minor and nothing happened.  Martin didn’t even get a slap on the hand, and he was not even held responsible to reimburse the expense of flying over and bringing her back.  I guess it must be OK to send your minor children to another country and leave them there for over 9 months.  Does any of this make sense?  Is there anyone out there that knows more about him? Please tell me. It has been from small bits of information sometimes that we have discovered bigger pieces to a puzzle.  It is hard to believe isn’t it that I had to fight him in court?  It has been very frightening for Giselle and our family.  We went through so much and to bring Giselle back to the states and nothing happens to Martin?  In fact, like I said we are penalized with attorney fees, court costs, plane tickets, hotel costs, etc…Of course a small fee in comparison for a 16 year old’s life.  Once again, what is wrong with our system? Does this seem right to you?

Linda