What Happened to ‘The Good Father’ Subject Martin MacNeill After His Murder Conviction?
Published Oct. 2 2021, 1:03 p.m. ET
With the arrival of the new Lifetime film The Good Father, viewers might be curious to know where Dr. Martin MacNeill is now, 14 years after he killed his wife.
According to Lifetime, the film not only focuses on MacNeill but also on the daughter who “begins to question everything she has known about him and discovers the depth of his lies, including his bogus medical credentials, falsified military records, and that the man and good doctor she once revered, was capable of murder.”
The update is that MacNeill — the subject of tonight’s movie, portrayed by Tom Everett Scott — died by suicide in April 2017 while serving a life sentence at Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah. Here’s more information on his crime and his death.
MacNeill was convicted of his wife’s murder six years after her death.
Investigators originally ruled the April 2007 death of Michele MacNeill, Martin’s wife, an accident. Michele, 50, was found dead in a bathtub eight days after undergoing a facelift. But in August 2012 — after MarcNeill had served three years in jail on state forgery and fraud charges — the Utah County Attorney’s Office charged him with Michele’s murder, according to the Deseret News.
At the trial, prosecutors alleged that Martin MacNeill pressured Michele MacNeill to get a facelift, drugged her, and drowned her in a bathtub before starting a new life with his mistress, Gypsy Willis. Willis moved into the house days after Michele’s death, under the premise of working as the nanny to Martin and Michele’s eight children, as the Deseret News reported.
And in November 2013, MacNeill was convicted of murder and obstruction of justice, according to ABC News. The following year, he was found guilty of sexually abusing daughter Alexis Somers.
Martin MacNeill died in prison almost exactly a decade after killing Michele.
On April 9, 2017 — two days before the 10th anniversary of his wife’s death — MacNeill died at Utah State Prison. Per a Unified Police Department report obtained by the Deseret News, he died by suicide in an outdoor yard at the facility. He was 60 years old at the time.
“I just hope that there’s peace after all this and that we can move on,” his daughter Alexis told ABC Newsat the time. “And peace for not only myself but the rest of my family and others that have been victimized by my father. … He took away our mother, who was the most amazing, amazing human being that I’ve ever met.”
Somers added that her mother was the “exact opposite” of her father. “She was the most loving and caring person. She raised four children and then opened her heart and her life and adopted four more children. And she was just a wonderful example of just love and compassion.”
If you need support, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or visit RAINN.org to chat online one-on-one with a support specialist at any time.
If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.