Unseen - The Facelift Killer | The Case of the Macneill Family | UNSEEN

Episode Date: November 16, 2024

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at ⁠betterhelp.com/UNSEEN⁠ and get on your way to being your best self. “I think daddy killed mommy in the bathtub” -- It’s April 11th 2007, and young medical student Alexis Somers tries to call her mom, but repeatedly gets no answer, until her dad finally picks up: “mom is dead”. After rushing home from college following his disturbing announcement, Alexis realizes something in the house is horribly wrong. Out of her 7 other siblings, she is the one her mom shared her secrets with, and she remembers one of the last conversations they had: “if something happens to me, make sure your dad isn’t behind it.” - Follow us on social media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/watch.unseen YouTube Shorts - https://youtube.com/channel/UCpIOoTIMBghR2sSzawE2pgA Uncover what true crime documentaries don’t show you: real cases and real people, but with a new twist. This is Unseen. Sources: ABC 20/20 Oxygen - Abuse of Power Dateline - NBC Rachel MacNeill - Veimo - Tribute Video University of Nevada CNN ******************** BACKGROUND MUSIC by Fearless Motivation Instrumentals: AppleMusic/iTunes: https://goo.gl/2mF7gr Spotify: https://goo.gl/Uxmswh AmazonMP3: http://geni.us/BackgroundMusic MP3 Downloads: https://teamfearless.com/mp3-download... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It doesn't make you feel talking about your mom. I don't want to be. The girl you just heard hides the most disturbing secret. She is one of eight children to Michelle and Martin McNeil. Four of the kids were adopted from Ukraine, and on the outside, they seem like a normal, happy family. But things are about to take a turn for the worse when their mom is found unresponsive in her bathtub.

This is now? My life, she is uncussed. Can you calm down just a little bit? Okay, is she breathing at all? When officials arrive at the scene, they rule the cause of death as heart problems related to her recent surgery. It looked like it was just a natural death and there's no homicide. But one of the eldest siblings, Alexis, knew her mom's secret, something that would put her and her sister's lives in grave danger. I was the only one that knew this, so I needed to start figuring out what had happened and protect the rest of my family.

Okay, sir, the ambulance is dead page. They're on their way. Do you know how to do CPR? doing it. It's 2007. Alexis has grown up with her seven siblings and her parents in a loving home outside Salt Lake City, Utah. She has a close bond with her whole family, especially her older sister, Rochelle. Martin, their father, is a successful doctor, and Alexis always wanted to follow in her dad's

footsteps. I just always wanted to be grown up so I could be a doctor and be like my dad and helping people. April 11, 2007, 1145 a.m. Martin leaves work to go pick up his youngest daughter. Ada, from school, just like any regular day. Alexis, now in her early 20s, is 500 miles away, currently in medical school at the University of Nevada and is very close with her mother, talking to her every day. But on this particular day, when she calls, there is no response.

I called my mom and she didn't answer. I called again and my mom didn't answer. This was unusual, as Michelle always answers her phone. Alexis keeps trying to call, but no one is picking up. Now almost lunchtime, Martin and his daughter get to be. back to the house. The father parks the car and opens the front door, and there appears to be nothing out of the ordinary, until six-year-old Ada goes to the upstairs bathroom and opens the door. She walks inside and sees that someone is in the bathtub. The little girl freezes when she realizes something is wrong. The person's head is underwater. It's her mom. Heda runs downstairs and finds her dad telling him, something is wrong with mom. Martin quickly rushes upstairs and

finds his wife, calling 911. Can you calm down just a little bit? She is not. I am a physician. I got super in progress. How old is your wife? My wife is 50 years. What kind of surgery did she have?

What kind of surgery did she have? She had a facelift? Yes. Michelle McNeil, only 11 days earlier on April 3rd, 2007, had decided to undergo a facelift surgery at the disapproval of her daughter Alexis. I said, Mom, you don't need that. You're beautiful. I mean, she was incredibly beautiful.

Growing up, Alexis and Michelle remember how loving and supportive their mother was to everyone. She doted on all of us. Really was emotionally for every little thing. She would take anyone in and just genuinely love them. But when she turned 50 years old, Martin noticed his wife's growing insecurities around aging and decided he would try and help her. Like anyone getting older, you have things that you don't like, and so my dad's trying

to do something nice for her. She told me, she said, you know, your dad's trying to look all better. maybe I will too. Martin says, I would love to give you a facelift as a gift. This is something that will make you feel young again. April 3rd, 2007, Michelle decides to finally have the facelift surgery. The procedure is scheduled during Alexis's college spring break so that she can fly home to help her mother recover and nurse her back to health.

9 a.m., Michelle is checked into the hospital to start the surgery. The doctors work on her for over eight hours, and after the procedure, everything appears to be a success, and Michelle is in a healthy condition, ready to go home the very next day. But only 11 days after the surgery, EMTs are now attempting to save Michelle's life, rushing her to the hospital after the apparent drowning, but it's too late. She is taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

Her death is ultimately ruled out as a natural. It seems like she has died from a combination of heart inflammation and high blood pressure. The medical examiner's report indicated that Michelle had died of myocarditis and hypertension, and listed it as a natural cause of death. She had maybe fallen and slipped into the tub, or maybe she had passed out in the tub. Something accidental, something tragic had happened, but certainly not a homicide.

The detectives, at this point, they didn't feel like there was enough there to go and do an investigation and look into this any further. The whole family is in shock, as Michelle was healthy and only 50 years old. Alexis rushes back home from medical school to be with her family during these difficult times,

but as she reunites with them, she immediately notices something is deeply wrong. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th,

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That didn't make sense. It was only three days after she died. Her father Martin proceeds to quickly schedule a funeral, insisting it must happen as soon as possible. On the day of the funeral, that church house was full to the brim. The funeral was a blur. It was kind of a surreal experience. Martin even gets up to speak in front of their grieving family and friends, but his unsettling

speech sets off a huge doubt in Alexis's mind that something is not right with the way he's acting. As the hours passed last night, the answer came to me. I've had such a good life. Unseen's mission is to bring the most powerful retelling of survival to light. And thanks to companies like BetterHelp, today's sponsor, we can keep doing that. This Thanksgiving month, we're grateful to all of you for taking the time to listen to these important stories of resilience and courage every week. But let this also be a reminder to be grateful for yourself too and the journey you've been on. It can be tough at times to remind ourselves that we're

trying our best, and that's where BetterHelp can come in. Therapy can help you develop positive coping skills, teach you how to set healthy boundaries, and can empower you to take care of your mind. It's helpful for everyone, whether you've been through adversity, or you just wish to make a positive change in your life. BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service, and it's entirely online. You can talk by video call, by phone, or simply chat at your own pace. BetterHelp is designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited for your schedule, with over 30,000 licensed therapists available. They even partner with non-profit organizations to donate free therapy to under-resourced communities to break down barriers to accessing therapy. Let the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit

betterhelp.com slash unseen today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelphelp.com after the funeral and the initial shock Alexis can't stop thinking about the circumstances surrounding her mother's death. After a surgery, painkillers are usually prescribed by the surgeon, but since Martin is a doctor, he was the one managing her intakes. Now, back at the house, she goes to look for the pills, but she can't find them. She asks her father, where are all of her mom's medications? And he says the police must have taken them. Even if the autopsy concluded with certainty that it was natural causes, Alexis knows there's more to it, and she is filled with questions.

In the meantime, the whole community is reaching out to Martin, offering support. People bringing meals. People offered to take kids to school or watch them. I thought, how is he going to take care of all of these children? After his wife's sudden death, Martin is left with eight children, four biological and four more young girls, ranging from six to 13 years old that he and Michelle had adopted from Ukraine. Shortly after the funeral, one of Martin's next-door neighbors comes over, knocking on the front door.

In the early stages after Michelle's death, I said to Martin, I know that you've got to take care of the girls. Could I help you with the girls? Do you need a nanny? And he said, oh, no, that's okay. I've already hired a nanny. It's a nurse that I work with. One night, Martin sits all of his children down and announces to them that he's hired a nanny to help around the house, and that her name is gypsy. see Jillian Willis. That name sounds alarmingly familiar to Alexis. That's when she recalls a

disturbing conversation with her mother just two months prior to the tragedy. Michelle told Alexis she had suspicions that her husband was having an affair with a woman who had the same exact name. She started to be concerned that he was being unfaithful if there was things that were going on. My mom wanted to look at his call log to see who he had called. I figured out a way to get into his phone. There was a number that came up repeatedly, and it was in kind of bizarre hours, like 2 o'clock in the morning, 1 o'clock in the morning,

and the name was Gypsy Jillian Willis. My mom confronted my father and said, I believe you're having an affair with this woman, who is she? My father said that, oh, this is a lady that worked as a nurse, and she only worked certain hours. That's why he had to call 1, 2 o'clock in the morning. I thought, okay, well, that makes sense. sense. I really didn't think my father could ever do anything like that to my mother, so I believed it.

After Michelle's death, Alexis's dad hires the same woman as the family nanny. Alexis is in a state of shock. She is tortured by every element she discovers. That's when she finally decides to go to his house and confront her father. I said, I know that name. I know mom was concerned you were having a affair with her and you're not to bring her in the home. Gypsy moved in less than two weeks after my mother was dead. I was just shocked because she was someone that was so opposite of my mother.

She was moved right in. She was moved actually into my room. She doesn't cook. She isn't clean. She doesn't seem to care for the children. But she does seem to have eyes for Martin. In the days after Gypsy moves into the house, one of the younger daughters

sees Martin going into Gypsy's room at night. And everyone at this point is suspecting that Martin and Gypsy are having an affair. Alexis is becoming increasingly concerned about her father, the affair with Gypsy, the painkillers that he prescribed to her mom. His bizarre behaviors all point to one thing. This was not a sudden death, but rather a murder.

However, there's still no concrete proof. In the back of my head, really just struggling, struggling with this so much, I had to tell someone about my fears. I told my sister Rachel, I need to talk to you. Alexis's older sister is in her late 20s and had moved out a few years prior. But at this moment, she's home with her siblings as they grieve the loss of their mother together. Alexis takes her sister to the only place she knows will be private in the house, her mother's closet. She knows that it might be unsafe to tell someone, fearful what her father might do,

but she must tell someone, so she secretly reveals everything she knows to her sister. Older, I said, Dad killed mom. I know he did. She didn't want to hear it. She thought I was not in my right mind. I didn't have any proof. It made me feel alone. My whole world had imploded.

Everything had just fallen apart. It was a really dark time. It was a dark time, but I had something that I had to keep fighting for. I had to figure out how to get my sisters away from my father. My big goal was I needed someone to believe me. I needed someone to believe that my father had murdered my mother. Weeks after her mother's death, Alexis cannot keep quiet anymore. She gathers enough strength to tell her father about her suspicions.

I said, I don't like a gypsy being there. I think you're having an affair with her, and I think you murdered mom. Her father immediately becomes defensive. He calls the police on his own daughter, stating that she is crazy and harassing him. Alexis is stunned when she sees officers arriving at the home. She is escorted out, while her father, being an established doctor, is not questioned about any of his decisions. He wouldn't even let me get my shoes.

So I just remember it was cold and I was walking through the grass. I was crazy. I remember people looking at me. I couldn't even try to clean myself up. After Alexis is kicked out of her house, with no place left to turn, she hopes her older sister, who lives close by in Salt Lake City, will take her in. and finally believe her.

Rachel and I talked about what was going on with my father. My father underestimated my sister's love for me. And Rachel said this doesn't make any sense. And she said, if Alexis is kicked out of the family, then I guess I am too. She ended up believing it. It was a big relief. It felt finally like this weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

It was vital at this point that we get other people to know what was going on. We'd contacted my aunt Linda, who was concerned about the exact same thing. Alexis shares with her the suspicions about the affair, and her aunt reveals disturbing details about Martin's criminal history, which had been unknown to any of the sisters. Prior to his marriage to Michelle, Martin had faced allegations of check forgery involving a substantial sum of $42,000. He eventually served a jail sentence for these offenses.

Yet, in that very moment, Martin discovers that Alexis is looking into him and the suspicion surrounding Michelle's death, and so he retaliates by bombarding her with threatening text messages. I will win every time, little girl. I have the power under the law. I will call the police next time. I am not afraid of you or your threats, and if either you or Rachel tries to hurt me,

I will not hesitate to destroy you. He said if you go to the police, if you do anything to defy me, you're going to live to regret this day. But these threats do not. stop Alexis. She keeps fighting, not backing down. And I said, you do whatever you need to. I'm not going to let this die. I knew that my mom would do anything for me. And if it was the other way around, she wouldn't stop fighting. So I had to fight for her. And I had to fight for her children.

My aunt Linda, my sister Rachel and myself, we tried to brainstorm what to do to get an investigation going. My sister Rachel made a blog asking if you, Anyone has any information about Martin McNeil, please let us know. They just laid it out there. Before long, Alexis's email inbox overflowed with accounts of Martin, exploiting his authority as a physician. Many messages from past patients claim to have received incorrect diagnoses from him, and multiple women from his church reveal they've engaged in affairs with him, and some

even more shocking allegations that he had sexually assaulted a disabled woman. He definitely had hurt many people. Alexis makes it her mission to expose her father's past, going public with all the information they have, and telling the whole story. I made packets and went to the media. I went to the police, just handing out these packets to everyone,

hoping that someone would listen. But now, more than a year after her mother's death, Alexis can't find anyone in the media or law enforcement to take her accusation seriously. It was really frustrating because no one seemed to be able to do anything. But after a year of desperately trying to get someone to pay attention, finally, there is someone listening, Captain Doug Whitney from the Utah County Sheriff's Office,

investigator with over 30 years of experience in law enforcement. Alexis, not only was she credible, but her statement was very comprehensive. Most of all, she was like a little pit bull holding onto a cow's tail. I mean, she would not let this go. He said that he was going to do anything he could to help us. It was a really incredible feeling because we've been fighting for so long to get anyone to just listen to us.

With the help of this new detective, they go back in Martin's past to try and get any evidence they believe will help build their case. They're able to get access to the university he got his medical degree from and discover his lies seemed to have started way before Michelle's death.

We ended up finding out that he had forged his college transcripts in order to get into medical school. Alexis is shocked to learn more and more about who her dad really was. The father that I thought I had never really existed. Every place this guy went, there were issues and there were problems that arose.

And why that never came to the authorities, why that never came to the licensing board, it seemed like he could do anything. The investigator's next step is now establishing a compelling motive behind Martin's potential involvement in his wife's death. With Alexis's help, detectives get access to Martin's phone records preceding

Michelle's death. Upon careful examination, a troubling pattern emerges, a significant number of calls exchanged between Martin and Gypsy Willis. So his life with Gypsy and his life with Michelle and his life with Michelle and his life with Michelle, and he knows he can no longer maintain his relationship with Gypsy and remain with Michelle. That is simultaneous to the time where Martin is introducing the idea of plastic surgery to his wife, Michelle. Now, investigators have great to be grounds to suspect that Martin might have used the plastic surgery to obscure his wife's murder. However, they still remain unable to concretely prove their suspicions until they get into contact with Dr. Thompson, the surgeon responsible for the procedure.

During the pre-op physical checkup, my father started telling the surgeon, these are medications that I want you to prescribe for my wife. He prescribed narcotics outside what he would normally do because Martin was a doctor. Now, investigators begin to look more closely at the initial investigation. It was done by two detectives at the Pleasant Grove Police Department, but they never treated it like a crime scene. The only person they talked to about what happened that day was Martin, and they never asked any of the children, the EMTs, or the neighbors for their side of the story. Doug Whitney schedules interviews with everyone who saw her during her final days, including the youngest daughter, Ada, who was the first person to ever see the body. She drew a sketch of how she found my mother when she walked into the bathroom.

it ended up being a critical thing because it differed from how my father told the police that she was positioned. Although many legal obstacles hindered the investigators' progress in this cold case, investigators managed to re-examine the results of Michelle's autopsy, uncovering new disturbing details. Martin used his status as a doctor in speaking to the medical examiner. Martin was calling the medical examiner saying I was her primary care physician, these were the kind of drugs she was taking, and gave a lot of misleading information about Michelle.

At the same time as the investigation, Alexis tries to get custody of her sisters and protect them from her father. But unfortunately, she has no legal grounds yet to take her siblings away from him. And little does Alexis know, Martin and Gypsy are in fact trying to get rid of the children to live alone together. All of a sudden, Martin tells his young daughter, Giselle, who was adopted from Ukraine, that she should go on a special trip to visit her biological parents back in her home country. Shortly after that conversation, Giselle is on a plane back to Ukraine, and Alexis goes months and months without any contact with her. Investigators are trying as fast as possible to build a case against Martin

and build enough evidence to be able to make an arrest. They reached out to a toxicologist who gave a further review of Michelle's blood. The blood results revealed inconsistencies in terms of what her dad said she was taking versus what was actually in her body. There were four drugs. Individually, they're dangerous over time, but collectively they could be deadly. So we went to the medical examiner's office and presented that information. We asked him to look into the case, and he agreed.

And he says, I'm going to change my ruling on the death, the undetermined suspicious. Detectives have an overwhelming motive for Martin McNeil to kill his wife, to be with Gypsy, and a number of pieces of evidence to show that Martin staged the scene of Michelle's death. As a doctor, he pressured Dr. Thompson into prescribing a certain set of medications. He knew the toxicity of what those drugs were. He knew what the effect would be on Michelle. So we thought this case has legs. We have a homicide here.

And finally, after years of fighting, in August 2012, Alexis receives the phone call she's been waiting for. I got a call from Doug Whitney. He said, I just want to let you know your father was just arrested for first-degree murder of your mother. And I just started to cry. I started to cry. I was sobbing. I called my aunts right away at my sister, and we were just all crying.

We couldn't believe it. It finally happened. October 5, 2013, six years after Michelle's death, Martin McNeil is finally brought to trial for the murder of his wife. We'd been fighting for so long. I was trying to not get my hopes up. Next witness, they calls Alexis McNeil. I knew my testimony was very crucial. It was a very intense time. I looked at my father, several times during my testimony. He never met my gaze. He was very cold. And I knew that this was the man that took so much of my life away. I just didn't want to disappoint my mom. I wanted to make sure that these strangers would know I'm speaking the truth. After five weeks of testimony, the case goes to the jury.

I was sitting by my aunts and my sister. The whole courtroom was packed. with people that loved my mom. And we were all holding hands, and I just remember squeezing each other's hands so tight. And I closed my eyes. They stood up to read the verdict. I just held my breath. Mr. McNeil, if you will stand, please.

State of Utah, by the defendant. As to count one, murder, guilty. As to count two, obstruction of justice, guilty. I burst into tears. I was sobbing so many emotions, so much sadness, so much loss. After the verdict, I was sitting actually in that room alone. I heard the shackles being put back on my dad. And I took my breath away because I knew, you know,

I knew he was going away now for good. I was very grateful and relieved. It had to happen, but it was hard. Exema is unpredictable. But you can flare less. with Epglis, a once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four and ten people taking Epglis achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks, and most of those people

maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. Ebglis, Librichizumab, LBKZ. A 250 milligram per 2-millimeter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults in children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. Ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Epglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell

your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epgless. Before starting Epgless, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about Ebglis and visit ebglis.com or call 1-800-LillyRX or 1-800 545-979. Martin McNeil is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Gypsy Willis is charged with two counts of giving false statements and sentenced to probation. Alexis is awarded custody of her younger sisters, and Giselle is finally found and flown home from Ukraine to be with the rest of the family. Those were my sisters, and I needed to be there for them, and I needed to protect them. So that kept me, that kept me going.

Alexis, throughout impossible odds, has not only avenged her mother, but also protected her sisters by refusing to abandon them to a monster. Today, the siblings still share a close bond and have supported each other as they have all grown up to start families of their own. A little sister Elle that just had her first baby a month ago. She has an 11-month-old little girl. Ada's 18 years old. She graduates this month from high school. Alexis has become a doctor and is now married with children of her own.

Through her actions, her mom's love still lives strong in the family. We celebrate her every January 15th, balloons and cake, and she would have been 62. We can just be a family and remember the good things. It started out with me knowing that my father had killed my mother, but no one believing it. We kept fighting, and we weren't intimidated by him. I was able to let go of feeling that hatred and that pain.