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Nancy Grace
Utah Doctor Finally Charged in Wife`s Bathtub Death
Aired August 31, 2012 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, live, Utah. An emergency 911 call from a doctor trying to save his wife after her 6-year-old little girl comes home to find Mommy fully clothed, unconscious in the bedroom tub. She`s just eight days out of a full facelift. After interviewing her husband, a prestigious doctor, the medical examiner rules natural death.
But tonight, a full-fledged affair with a younger woman uncovered. The doctor brings the lover into the home as the new nanny. Plus, tonight we learn of decades of him forging it all the way to a medical degree, allegedly skimming government money, house loans, even his dead wife`s estate. Bombshell tonight. In a stunning twist, the case is reopened, suspected homicide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: She`s under the water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s under the water (INAUDIBLE) ambulance!
ALEXIS SOMERS, DAUGHTER: She said, Alexis, if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn`t your father.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife`s fallen in the bathtub!
911 OPERATOR: Who`s in the bathtub? Who`s in the bathtub?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife! She is unconscious! She`s under water!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The once prominent doctor who made this frantic 911 phone call five years ago is now accused of an elaborate murder plot, insisting his wife have a full facelift.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She just had surgery a couple of days -- a week ago!
911 OPERATOR: What kind of surgery did she have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a facelift!
911 OPERATOR: She had a facelift?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say MacNeill convinced his wife to have plastic surgery against her wishes, then gave her a dangerous mix of prescription drugs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Eight days after her surgery, Michele MacNeill was dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) I`m a physician!
911 OPERATOR: OK, sir...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am a physician! I`ve got CPR in progress!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world now knows that my father has committed murder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. Bombshell tonight. Live to Utah. An emergency 911 call after a 6-year-old little girl comes home to find her mother fully clothed, under water in the bedroom bathtub. After interviewing her husband, a prestigious doctor, the medical examiner rules it a natural death.
But tonight, we uncover Daddy`s full-fledged affair with a much younger woman, decades of allegedly forging his way all the way to a medical degree, skimming government money, house loans, even his dead wife`s estate. Will he, a prominent doctor, a lawyer, get away with murder?
We are taking your calls. Straight out to Jean Casarez, joining us from "In Session." Jean, explain to me why -- he`s on the phone saying she`s -- CPR in progress. CPR in progress. And I`m understanding from Clark that he was hostile with the paramedics that came to the home. Why was she in the bathtub fully clothed under water?
JEAN CASAREZ, "IN SESSION": Well, that is the accident theory because this prominent doctor-lawyer said, You know what? She slipped and fell and she died. She drowned in the bathtub full of water. And that was determined to be a natural cause of death. It was a cardiac death, the authorities and medical examiners believed. That was until the investigation was reopened.
GRACE: OK, let me get this straight, Jean. Am I hearing multiple potential causes of death? I`ve got her under water fully clothed. I`ve got her being forced into a facelift she didn`t want by her husband, giving -- he was giving her all sorts of sedatives and painkillers following the forced facelift. So we`ve got her under water on sedatives, plus now you`re saying heart attack, plus she slipped?
CASAREZ: And hypertension.
GRACE: A stroke?
CASAREZ: Original -- high blood pressure. Original cause of death, natural causes.
GRACE: But which one, Jean? What was the original natural cause of death?
CASAREZ: That her heart gave out.
GRACE: OK, wait, wait. Where did the sedatives, the painkillers, the slip and fall -- where does all that fit in? And the drowning. She`s under water?
CASAREZ: And that`s when everything started to unfold because she had just gotten a facelift. She didn`t want medication. She didn`t like medication. She had her eyes covered because of the facelift. But her husband allegedly kept feeding her prescription after prescription -- Lortab, Valium, Oxycodone, Ambien. She couldn`t see it because her face was covered. And she wanted to feel the pills, but he just allegedly kept putting them down her throat.
GRACE: So her face was covered? She couldn`t even see him coming, if, in fact, it was him?
CASAREZ: No. No, she couldn`t. But it was deemed to be a natural causing (SIC) death.
GRACE: Everybody, we are taking your calls. Out to Susan in California. Hi, Susan. What`s your question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Ms. Grace. How are you?
GRACE: I`m good, dear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much for all you do. I`m a native Atlantan, and you`re my connection back home. My question is, this man is supposedly a lawyer, too. Has he ever heard the word divorce?
GRACE: Yes, you know what? Unleash the lawyers. Joining me, Becca Crumrine, Randy Kessler, Mickey Sherman. First of all, to you, Becca. Weigh in.
BECCA CRUMRINE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I mean, it looks like to me that he didn`t -- he clearly could have gotten a divorce instead of killing her, but with eight children, maybe the factors (ph) for the -- the amount of support he was going to have to pay her was something that he couldn`t think of. I don`t know.
GRACE: Eight children, Mickey Sherman. We know of a long-standing affair with a younger woman. And I mean -- you know -- you know what? Put Mickey up, please. Why is it that men always cheat down? Did you see this woman?
MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: (INAUDIBLE) shocking, Nancy.
GRACE: She looks like a young Loni Anderson, remember her, off "WKRP" -- "WKRP" (INAUDIBLE)
SHERMAN: Yes.
GRACE: She looks like a young Loni Anderson. She`s absolutely stunning. She`s had eight children by this man. Let me see that Loni Anderson-looking picture, Liz. She`s in the hospital holding one of her eight children, for Pete`s sake. Why do men always cheat down?
SHERMAN: Nancy, I am not the official national spokesperson for men who cheat down, I got to tell you that right now. But what...
GRACE: Oh! Oh! Mick, sorry! That earlier photo where she didn`t look like Loni Anderson...
SHERMAN: No, she did.
GRACE: That was the mistress, all right? Here`s what the wife looks like. I accidentally -- thanks, New York control room -- showed a photo of him snugged up with his girlfriend. The mom, the wife -- she looks like a young Loni Anderson.
OK, back to you.
SHERMAN: The question is, what made this into a murder or an alleged murder? The medical examiner -- was he in cahoots with this guy? He determined natural causes, not undetermined, but natural causes. And then he upgraded it to undetermined causes. And now...
GRACE: OK...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: I get it. Kessler, a medical examiner can change their mind. If they get new evidence, they can change their mind.
RANDY KESSLER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Right. That means the medical examiner had reasonable doubt, and now the doubt is less reasonable. That`s exactly what the jury`s going to be wondering. What changed in the last five years except for the medical examiner`s mind? So he can change his mind. A jury can change their mind. This case has got a lot of problems.
GRACE: OK, one of the reasons that it was reopened, to my understanding -- out to Jim Dalrymple, he`s joining me from "The Provo Daily Herald" -- is that some of the daughters banded together and fought for prosecution.
JIM DALRYMPLE, "PROVO DAILY HERALD" (via telephone): That`s right, Nancy. I was talking to the district attorney yesterday, and he really emphasized the role the daughters played in this case. He talked about how they had been appropriately persistent.
And as you read the charging documents, the role that they played has really been pivotal. They`ve continued to come back with, again, being persistent in the case. And a lot of the evidence, things including statements that their father made to them surrounding the day where their mother died, are really kind of the deciding factors in this case.
GRACE: So Jim -- you`re joining me right there from Provo...
DALRYMPLE: Right.
GRACE: ... there`s eight children. How many of them wanted prosecution?
DALRYMPLE: You know, the eight children -- four of those children are biological children between Martin and Michele, and then four are adopted. Alexis Somers and Rachel MacNeill have played a really important role. Their names come up, especially Alexis -- their names come up in the charging documents over and over again, mentioning numerous, numerous statements that their father made to them...
GRACE: Right.
DALRYMPLE: ... that are either suspicious or contradictory.
GRACE: And Jim, as a matter of fact, joining me tonight is Rachel MacNeill and Alexis Somers. They are both the children of this gorgeous mom, Michele MacNeill.
First out to you, Rachel. What first made you suspicious that this may have been a homicide?
RACHEL MACNEILL, DAUGHTER: Right away, Alexis told me -- as soon as she could, she pulled me aside after my mother`s death and said, Rachel, Dad murdered Mom. And as time unfolded, I began to see so many different things unfold. And those things are all listed in the reports that have just been released and that I have given you. And there`s just so much information.
We`re just so relieved at this point that the information we`ve given them now, they`ve charged my father, finally. And it`s now in their hands. And we`ve both done just everything we could. And I`m just so grateful now that that part is given to them and they are very capable of getting this guy (ph).
GRACE: Alexis, what first made you suspicious that this may have been a homicide?
ALEXIS SOMERS, DAUGHTER: Well, a couple of days before my mother`s death, I was helping her wash her hair. And she started to cry and said, Alexis, if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn`t your father. She had been concerned about an affair. She had confided in me that she thought he was having an affair with this woman named Gypsy.
There were things -- my father wasn`t acting -- acting normally, and she was just very concerned and she confided in me.
GRACE: What do you mean not acting normally?
SOMERS: You know, for the last year before my mother`s death, my father began, you know, working out, tanning, you know, not being at work when he was supposed to be, I mean, doing suspicious behaviors that my mom was concerned that he might be cheating, concerned enough that I took his phone and was able to log on through his passwords to get his phone records.
My mom and I went through those phone records and we found a number that he`d been calling very often late at night. We called that number and a woman answered. We did an on-line search and the name Gypsy Gillian (ph) Willis popped up.
GRACE: Let`s see a shot of -- wa-wait. You said her name is Gypsy?
SOMERS: Her name is Gypsy. At first, we`re -- you know, like, is this a stripper? I mean, who names Gypsy? But yes, her name is Gypsy, Gypsy Gillian Willis. And my mom confronted my father about this woman, and he denied it.
MACNEILL: It was obvious. I mean, that...
GRACE: Well, he admitted?
SOMERS: No. .
MACNEILL: No, he never admitted it.
SOMERS: He told my mother that, no, this woman was a nurse that he was renting a home to. There`s nothing going on. And then right after her death, he told me that he found the perfect nanny to come move in the home, and he said her name is Gillian. And I said, Dad, Gypsy Gillian Willis? Mom told me about that woman. She was concerned you were having an affair. And you`re not to bring her into this home.
GRACE: And what did he say?
SOMERS: He called a meeting with the rest of adult children and said that Alexis is no longer a part of the family.
MACNEILL: I was at the meeting.
GRACE: So when you confront your father, he throws you out?
SOMERS: Yes. Yes. This was a father that I loved and respected and always wanted to make proud. And you know, I became a physician, you know, because of my father, as well. And yes, I was cut out of the family.
GRACE: Well, let me tell you something, young lady. You may have worked very hard to make your father proud, but tonight you are making your mother proud.
SOMERS: Oh, thank you! I love her. I mean, we miss her so much! She was our life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This has been such a long -- a long battle.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexis and her siblings believe their father killed their mother, Michele MacNeill.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s under the water! (INAUDIBLE) ambulance!
911 OPERATOR: OK, Is she breathing at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is not!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Horrible to be so excited about, you know, your father being arrested.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say he devised a scheme to make his wife`s death look accidental.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An initial autopsy report said she died of natural causes, but the family never bought it.
911 OPERATOR: What kind of surgery did she have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a facelift!
911 OPERATOR: She had a facelift?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: We are taking your calls. At first, after interviewing her husband, a prestigious doctor and lawyer, her death was ruled natural causes. But now the case has been reopened, suspicion homicide.
We are taking your calls. And joining me tonight, two special guests, two of her eight children, children she had, children she shared with her husband, Dr. Martin MacNeill. With me, Rachel and Alexis.
To both of you, thank you for being with us. Alexis, you were describing how you always worked hard to make your father proud of you. And after you confronted him about bringing his mistress in as a baby- sitter, as a nanny, he basically disowned you.
What was his demeanor around the time of your mom`s death, Alexis?
SOMERS: He was actually not acting like he even missed my mom. I never saw him cry. At the funeral, he never even talked about my mother except to say, This woman in the box before me. He was joking to people, saying he`s a bachelor. You know, he was still -- Gypsy was there at the funeral. She was there. He was text messaging her, actually, at the funeral.
GRACE: OK. All right. Rachel, do your siblings agree that this should be prosecuted?
MACNEILL: Four of my siblings, we`ve been -- or were under age, and they -- I mean, I`m not going to speak on anyone`s behalf but my own but -- and Alexis`s. But we all know what`s happened. My brother has passed away since then because of everything that`s happened to our family. And we`re just all doing the best we can and just trying to make sure that my father`s not able to harm anyone.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Rachel and Alexis, Rachel MacNeill, Alexis Somers, having been a crime victim myself, it`s very difficult to reconcile or to, quote, "go on." I don`t think you ever really do "go on." I don`t think you`re ever the same person you were before the crime happened.
SOMERS: I know! Everything was stolen from us. Everything! Our memories even. Everything we ever thought we knew was based on the lies my father made. And I`m just -- I`m grateful now that we know the truth, that we`re able to live in reality.
MACNEILL: And we`re just glad someone finally listened to us. It took over a year-and-a-half before anyone would even listen to our concerns. The police laughed in our faces. They said, you know, there`s - - they didn`t even question my father. It took a year-and-a-half. But then, you know, finally -- finally they began to listen, and now we`re at this point of this indictment, and we`re very, very pleased.
GRACE: Well, when you say they wouldn`t listen, that they laughed in your face, what -- I want to hear that. What happened when you went to police? What did they say?
SOMERS: Well, we went to the Pleasant Grove Police Department, and they didn`t even take notes. I told them my concerns about my father and his behavior and how it was suspicious. My aunts went in there. They didn`t take notes that time, as well. They said, Oh, those daughters are just upset that he had an affair. Lots of people have affairs. They didn`t take anything serious.
On the police report, my aunt`s name was transcribed as my mother`s. I mean, just such poor reporting. The whole -- there wasn`t an investigation. They never questioned my little sister who found my mother. They never questioned the neighbors. The whole police report is a paragraph-and-a-half. That`s it. They never questioned my father.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doctor murder his wife.
911 OPERATOR: OK, what -- your wife is unconscious?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is unconscious! She`s under water!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An initial autopsy report said she died of natural causes, but the family never bought it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My father orchestrated this whole plan on how to murder my mother.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say MacNeill convinced his wife to have plastic surgery against her wishes, then gave her a dangerous mix of prescription drugs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MacNeill`s attorney claims his client is innocent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife is (INAUDIBLE) just had surgery a couple - - a week ago!
911 OPERATOR: What kind of surgery did she have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a facelift!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back.
Her death was ruled natural causes. This after her 6-year-old daughter comes home to find mommy fully clothed in the bathtub, daddy, a prominent doctor, also a lawyer, performing CPR, long story short, long after the ruling of natural causes, the case is reopened under suspected homicide. And at the center of the storm, her husband, a renowned doctor, a lawyer, a founder and director of a research clinic.
There you`re seeing shots of the mom. She looked like a modern day Lonnie Anderson, and there, her husband, the Dr. Martin McNeill, eight children they had together.
And joining us tonight, two of these children, Alexis and Rachel who dearly, dearly loved their mother and dearly loved their father.
To you, Rachel. You had a brother, who has since taken his own wife and many of us believe that it was due largely in part to coming to grips with the fact that his father, who he loved, killed his mother.
RACHEL MCNEILL, DAUGHTER OF VICTIM: I agree.
ALEXIS SOMERS, DAUGHTER OF THE VICTIM: You know, I had to go -- I had to go clean up his apartment that he killed himself in and they were just family pictures, all over the wall. He had a very, very hard time with this. And I definitely believe that his death was related to this.
GRACE: Rachel and Alexis, I don`t know about you, but I know about what I went through when my fiance was murdered. And many people imagine they want to go to their loved one, your brother, I`m sure wanted to go to his mother. That is not uncommon. What about the rest of the family? What about the rest of the siblings, Alexis?
SOMERS: You know, I was able to get legal guardianship of them and try to protect them. As soon as my mother died, my father tried to give my little sisters away to strangers. He moved the nanny in and then he moved all the children out. So we have done our best to protect them. You know, they`re doing the best they can. And, you know--
GRACE: Hold on just a moment. Your little sister was only about 6 years old, correct?
SOMERS: Yes.
GRACE: My children, my twins are almost five. I can`t imagine them being given away to strangers if I were to pass away, God forbid I may be getting them through grad school, but who did he try to give the children to?
SOMERS: They gave them to some people we had known about 16 years ago. He told me he was sending them to go on vacation for a week in California. I went directly to California so that I could be with them and see them. And I got - we got a text message saying that he was going to give them to these people. And I said no, you`re not, I`m going to fight, you`re not giving my sisters away.
MCNEILL: This has been so much. I mean, we both have been disowned through these things, so, I mean -- there`s so much information, it`s all listed.
GRACE: It`s actually overwhelming. Girls, it`s overwhelming to me. I thought I knew all the facts. I had been studying this case so carefully, but I had no idea he tried to give your little siblings away to another family.
What is this woman, this gypsy, whatever her name is? What does she have to say about all this? Where does she fit into the picture? Is she standing by him even though he`s now suspected of homicide?
SOMERS: She has been standing by him all along. I don`t know, she`s a very evil, evil woman and I don`t want to talk about too many specifics there because things are still pending.
GRACE: You know what? You don`t need to. Because I`m going to do that for you. OK? This is what I know. I know that this prominent doctor and lawyer was having a long time affair, I know that he kept it a secret, denied it, OK, you know what? That`s not a crime. But what is a crime is homicide. And isn`t it true, out to you Jim Kirkwood, joining me there in Utah, KTKK. Isn`t it true that a whole string of lies has now been uncovered that this man committed?
JIM KIRKWOOD, TALK SHOW HOST, KTKK AM 630 (via phone): This man committed lie after lie. He started out, he went to jail for six months after their marriage in 1978 for fraud. He`s lied about everything, about his medical degree, about his activities that day, he supposedly was at a health fair, he had somebody photograph him to prove that he was there, but they couldn`t find him for most of the time. This man lies about everything, Nancy.
GRACE: You know, when you say - let me go to you Jean Casarez, what do you mean he had himself photographed at a health fair that day?
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, IN SESSION: Say that again?
GRACE: He had himself photographed at some health fair the day the mom passes away, I guess to show where he was?
CASAREZ: Yes, to established alibi, I think. But, I thought you were talking about the identity fraud and the federal prison term he had to serve because of identity fraud. Because once his beautiful wife passed away of natural causes at that point, he and the girlfriend did not want to have to pay a state taxes and want to be able to take the house and put it in his name solely. So, he perpetrated identity fraud so that his girlfriend became his daughter that he was trying to send back to the Ukraine and disown.
GRACE: All right. Rachel and Alexis, he would go to that length for money?
SOMERS: There was so much my father had done. His whole life was a web of lies. So much has been uncovered. There are so many other victims out there, so many other crimes. He`s been able to get away with so much because people have been intimidated by him. He used his degrees as a physician and an attorney to intimidate people. And he had been able to get away with so much.
GRACE: Do you think your mom knew she was in danger? I mean did he really force her to get that facelift and that really -- it seems to me part of the murder plan to have her sedated?
SOMERS: I believe so. It was only a day or so after my mother confronted him about finding this number of Gypsy Willis that he out of blue said, you need a facelift. He scheduled the surgery within a week or so, and, yes, I definitely believe that was part of his plan.
GRACE: And when you were washing her hair that day, just before her death, what -- I want to hear again what she said?
SOMERS: Yes, I was washing her hair and she started to cry and she looked at me and said, Alexis, if anything happens to me, make sure it wasn`t your father. And I said, mom, you know, what are you talking about? She just said make sure it wasn`t your father.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Her death was first ruled natural causes. Now the case is reopened after a string of lies, a love affair, trying to give children a way after her death to strangers. Her husband, a prominent doctor, a respected lawyer in addition is suspect number one and with me, two of her eight children that she took care of, that she loved so much.
With us tonight. Rachel and Alexis, I want to ask you a question. It`s not legally related. It`s not related to the case, the law, it`s related to your mom and you. You know, I try to pack every single day as if it were my last day with my twins, because I had them late in life, I never thought I would be able to have children or family. I want to know what memory of her sticks in your heart when you think of her? What do you remember, Rachel?
MCNEILL: I have just so many good memories with my mother. She`s just such a beautiful, wonderful person and I have written things and explained them. I don`t know one memory that I can explain in just a few seconds. But everything together is just -- my mother is just a wonderful human being. She deserves justice. She should never have trusted my father, ever. I mean I don`t. We know these things now, we didn`t know them then.
GRACE: I kept thinking, Lucy and I almost died in childbirth. I kept praying, oh, Lord, please just let me get them to their six months, so they`re established and they can survivor. Then it became one year and then it`s two years. And now that I`m talking to you two, I realize that a mother`s work is never done, because you girls need her, you need her now. And do you ever feel as if she is with you and is guiding you and is helping you?
SOMERS: I feel like there`s been so many miracles that have happened to get this case to where it is today. I know she wanted us to fight. My mother was a person just full of love and compassion. She raised four children and then opened her home and her heart, wanted to help more kids. Adopted our four beautiful sisters. You know, our mother, she`s with us. She wants us to fight.
MCNEILL: The tragedy remains that my little sisters don`t have a mother. And they weren`t raised with the mother they need. That`s where my heart goes.
GRACE: Can you tell me what finally turn the police around and made them sit up and listen? Either one of you, what made them pay attention to this?
SOMERS: We just kept asking them to. We went to everyone. My Aunt Linda, just knocking on everyone`s door, until someone finally said, OK, we will listen. That was a year and a half after her death. And then, you know, to be able to collect evidence, present that to the prosecution`s office and they started looking into it, the investigators, and the things that we were saying were true. And they have been working very hard. I just want to thank the Utah county attorney`s office for all the work they have done.
GRACE: And right now, CNN heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you OK? Here, let me help you.
My mom has been sick for as long as I can remember.
You need more methadone.
Helping her out is a bigger priority than going to school because I don`t know what I would do if something happened to her. I wouldn`t be able to really live.
CONNIE SISKOWSKI, CNN HERO: In the United States, there are at least 1.3 million children caring for someone who`s ill or injured or elderly or disabled. They can become isolated, there are physical effects, the stresses of it, and the worry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you baby, thank you so much.
SISKOWSKI: But these children suffer is silently, people don`t know they exist.
I`M Connie Siskowski. I am bringing this precious population into the light to transform their lives so they can stay in school. We offer each child a home visit.
Has a ramp been helpful?
We looked at what we can provide to meet the need. We go into the school with a peer support group and we offer out of school activities that give the child a break.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is so relaxing.
SISKOWSKI: So they know they`re not alone. We give them hope for their future.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now I`m getting as and Bs and I feel more confident.
SISKOWSKI: But we have a long way to go. There`s so many more children that really need this help and support.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: At first, her death was ruled by natural causes after her 6- year-old girl comes home to find mommy dead in the bathtub, daddy a prominent doctor and lawyer performing CPR. But now after an affair and a string of lies has been uncovered, the case has been reopened.
Take a listen to the 911 call. Let`s see what we can learn.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Police dispatch. What`s the problem, sir?
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Sir, what`s wrong?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- fallen in the bathtub.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Who`s in the bathtub?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Is she conscious?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s not. I`m a physician.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Sir, I can`t understand you. OK. Can you calm down a little bit?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need help.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Your wife is unconscious?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s unconscious. She`s under water. Had.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Did you get her out of the water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can`t. I let the water out.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: She`s under the water?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s out of the water now. I need an ambulance.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Is she breathing at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is not.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Sir, the ambulance has been paged, they`re on their way. OK? Do not hang up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why?
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: What? Sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello!
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Sir, this is 911, can I help you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need help.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: They`re on their way. Is your wife breathing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is not. I am a physician. I`ve got CPR in progress.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Sir -- how old is your wife?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife is 50 years old. She just had surgery a couple days, a week ago.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: What kind of surgery did she have?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Facelift.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: She had a facelift?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Do you know how to do CPR?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m doing it!
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: OK. Do not hang --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The death originally ruled a result of natural causes, but for many family and friends, things didn`t sit right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife`s fallen in the bathtub.
911 FEMALE DISPATCH: Who is in the bathtub?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: McNeill had reportedly made special arrangements with the surgeon to procure special medications.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m a physician.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So Dr. Gwen O`Keeffe, physician joining me out of Boston. How can so many doctors have so many different opinions as to cause of death?
DOCTOR GWEN O`KEEFFE, PHYSICIAN: You know, Nancy, that`s a little curious to me too. But some of it may be the age of the case. But usually it`s fairly straightforward. You know, I think in this case, there was an overdose and a drowning.
GRACE: Out to the lines. Joe, California. Hi Joe, what`s your question?
JOE, CALLER, CALIFORNIA: Hi, Nancy, love your show. DVR it every night. My question is, if this woman had drugs all in her body and in a bathtub of reddish brown water, why would they rule that natural causes of hers?
GRACE: You know, I don`t understand that. That`s a big red flag.
To you, Alexis and Rachel. This is circumstances surrounding her death, I don`t understand how your mom`s death was ever ruled natural causes.
SOMERS: We don`t understand either. You know, there`s so many suspicious things around her death. But unfortunately, it wasn`t really investigated.
GRACE: Everyone, after being ruled death by natural causes, now the case reopens. Suspicions, homicide.
Let`s stop and remember army private Steven Drees, 19, Wisconsin. Bronze star, Purple Heart, loved sports, giving joys to Afghan children. A foundation helping military families formed in his honor.
Leaves behind parents, Paul and Dawn, twin brother, Charles. Steven Drees, American Hero.
Thanks to our guests, especially to you, and welcome to tiny crime fighters Lucas Wile Alexander.
Everyone, "Showbiz Tonight" up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night 8:00 eastern.
And until then, good night friend.
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