Gypsy Willis and Martin MacNeill exchanged approximately 30 texts on the day his wife died. Wearing a beige jacket, matching pants and her straight, reddish-brown hair past her shoulders, Gypsy Willis, 37, a former nursing student, calmly spoke about how she and the then-married MacNeill, 57, first met online in November It was a casual thing, whenever we had time and it could be arranged.
MacNeill, once a respected medical doctor, allegedly overmedicated and then drowned his wife Michele in their Pleasant Grove, Utah, home to be with Willis, prosecutors say. Attorneys for MacNeill, who has pleaded not guilty, have asserted his wife died from natural causes due to heart disease. Seated at the defense table wearing glasses and a dark-colored suit, MacNeill appeared mostly stone-faced throughout her nearly minute testimony.
He wanted to keep it quiet. And I respected that. The pair exchanged about 30 texts on April, 11, โ the day Michele MacNeill was found unresponsive in a bathtub in the family home and later pronounced dead. Prosecutors also questioned Willis about a strange meeting that MacNeill allegedly masterminded at a Mormon temple just days after the funeral, prior to MacNeill hiring her as a nanny to his youngest children.
Although MacNeill and Willis had been dating almost a year and a half, they pretended to meet for the first time after she ran into MacNeill and his eldest daughter, Rachel, outside the temple. MacNeill and Willis were both convicted of identity theft in Willis, who served a month sentence in federal prison, is testifying as part of her plea deal to avoid further time behind bars.
She resumes testimony Tuesday. By Ken Lee Ken Lee. People Editorial Guidelines. Related Articles. Newsletter Sign Up.
