Update: Death of Utah doctor Martin MacNeill being investigated as suicide

Martin MacNeilll
Utah doctor Martin MacNeill, who was serving a sentence of up to life for killing his wife, Michele MacNeill, was found dead at the Utah State Prison Sunday. Photo Courtesy: Pool Photo

DRAPER, Utah, April 11, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — The death of Utah doctor Martin MacNeill at the Utah State Prison Sunday is being investigated as a suicide, police said Tuesday.

MacNeill, 60, was serving a sentence of up to life for killing his wife, Michele MacNeill, in 2007.

According to a news release from the Utah Department of Corrections, MacNeill was found at 11:23 a.m. Sunday near the greenhouse in the outdoor yard of the Olympus Facility at Utah State Prison.

Correctional officers began CPR and called for emergency response. MacNeill could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 11:50 a.m.

The Unified Police Department and the Utah Department of Corrections released a statement Tuesday afternoon stating the preliminary investigation shows no signs of foul play and the case is being investigated as a suicide.

The Office of the Medical Examiner will determine an official cause of death, which will likely take 10 to 12 weeks. Until that time, the case will remain an open and active investigation. Because of this investigation status, no further details are available at this time.

The former Utah County physician had been incarcerated since September 2014 for convictions of first-degree murder, second-degree obstruction of justice and second-degree forcible sex abuse. His first parole hearing was set for 2052.

Last month the Court of Appeals upheld the murder conviction.

Michele MacNeill died in Pleasant Grove on April 11, 2007, following recovery from cosmetic surgery performed eight days earlier. In November 2013, a jury convicted MacNeill of drugging his wife and leaving her to drown in a bathtub.

Initially, police and autopsy reports concluded that Michele died of cardiovascular disease, but after being pressed to review the toxicology report, the state’s chief medical examiner found that the combination of medicines in her body could have contributed to cardiac death.

MacNeill was sentenced in 4th District Court to 15 years to life for killing his wife and to one to 15 years for obstruction of justice. He was ordered to serve the sentences consecutively, meaning he could not begin serving time on one sentence until the first one was completed.

In addition, MacNeill was sentenced in an unrelated case to one to 15 years in prison for sexually abusing his daughter in 2007, three months after her mother’s death. A judge ordered that sentence also be served consecutively with the other two.

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