A Two-Timing M.D. Wreaks Havoc
(“A Bitter Pill to Swallow,” Forensic Files)
So many awful things in this world could have been prevented via a simple vasectomy, and I’m not just talking about visits to Chuck E. Cheese’s.
For example, married factory owner Howard Elkins killed his pregnant girlfriend, Reyna Marroquin, in 1969 to avoid scandal and divorce but got caught 30 years later.
And Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth arranged for the shooting of his pregnant girlfriend, Cherica Adams, in 1999 because he was already paying $3,500 a month in child support to another woman and that was enough.
Then there’s the subject of this week’s blog post, Maynard Muntzing, M.D.
Grave consequences. The young doctor had two small children, two girlfriends, and two big problems: Neither woman knew about the other, and one of them was pregnant with his child.
An episode of Forensic Files entitled “A Bitter Pill to Swallow” documented the crimes that the Ohio farmer’s son committed against the pregnant girlfriend, Michelle Baker, to extricate himself from his predicament.
Baker survived Muntzing’s unlawful acts, but they had tragic consequences for her just the same.
Muntzing got a relatively light prison sentence, but he had to forfeit his medical license. It would have been much kinder and more cost-effective for him to get a vasectomy after his first two kids came into the world.
Most kind cut. It seems odd that someone intelligent enough to complete medical school didn’t make the connection between having unprotected sex and creating a pregnancy — and do something to stop it.
Meanwhile, surgeons have been performing vasectomies since 1823 (well, all right, the first one was on a dog), and today they hurt less than a bee sting, according to Men’s Health writer Kevin Donahue.
Okay, enough of what could have been, and on to what actually took place.
For this week, I looked around for an epilogue for Muntzing, but first here’s a recap of the Forensic Files episode plus additional information from internet research:
Tropical whirlwind. Michelle Baker, a soft-spoken paramedic and firefighter, fell in love at first sight with Maynard Muntzing II, a tall, nice-looking ear, nose, and throat specialist who had graduated from Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.
The couple, both 33, moved into her house in Huber Heights, Ohio, and his children from a previous marriage stayed with them on the weekends. Maynard seemed happy when he learned of Baker’s pregnancy. She was thrilled.
He suggested they elope in Key West.
They flew to Florida, but Muntzing backpedaled on the wedding plan, saying he wanted to do it when his family could attend.
Dangerous Rx. During their stay in the Sunshine State, Baker started to suffer unexplained bouts of abdominal cramps and bleeding.
The waves of illness soon started to follow a pattern: They took place after Muntzing procured beverages for her.
Early on, however, Baker had no reason to suspect Muntzing of foul play. He seemed serious about their future together. He bought a new house for them to live in with their new baby.
What a cad. Michelle’s own doctor, who had examined her after the cramping episodes, determined that her pregnancy was still on track.
Unfortunately, Baker soon had emotional anguish in addition to the physical pain. She learned that a “fishing trip” Muntzing was taking “with a buddy” was actually just a cover story for a few days of a double life.
Muntzing was having a relationship with another woman, a nurse named Tammy Erwin.
Baker broke up with him when she found out, but took him back after he apologized and swore off Erwin.
Candid corruption. The cramps and bleeding commenced again, but this time, Baker’s twin sister, Melinda, noticed the connection between consuming beverages from Muntzing and the episodes.
The sisters set up a hidden camera in Michelle’s kitchen and, sure enough, it captured footage of Muntzing mixing an unknown substance into Michelle’s cola while he was alone in the kitchen.
The Baker sisters found white sludge at the bottom of the glass but went to the police instead of confronting Muntzing.
Cops handle it. Somewhere in the middle of this mess, Muntzing secretly married Erwin.
Meanwhile, police tested the glass of cola. They determined the contaminant was Cytotec, a drug known for inducing labor.
Investigators set up something akin to a To Catch a Predator sting operation of their own on August 14, 2000, during another dinner date at Baker’s place. As soon as their pinhole camera, concealed in a figurine, caught Muntzing making one of his special cocktails, two police officers swooped in and arrested him.
“I hope this is a prenatal vitamin,” one of the lawmen called out, referring to the vial of a mysterious substance that Muntzing had inadvertently revealed on camera.
Police found the mother lode of the stuff in Muntzing’s car.
Lab tests again confirmed the presence of Cytotec, and Muntzing eventually admitted he used the drug to get rid of his “problem.”
Boyfriend owns up. It’s not clear whether he intended to kill Baker, but at the very least, he was trying to terminate her pregnancy without her consent.
In her Forensic Files interview, Baker said she had told Muntzing she wanted to have the baby with or without his support.
She went into labor 28 weeks into her pregnancy and gave birth to a stillborn girl.
Dead reckoning. Muntzing pleaded guilty to attempted felonious assault and contaminating a substance for human consumption. On October 26, 2001, Judge Barbara Gorman sentenced him to serve five years in prison and to surrender his medical license.
(He got off easy, considering that a Florida man named John Andrew Weldon received 13 years in a prison camp in 2014 for causing his girlfriend to miscarry by giving her Cytotec disguised as an antibiotic.)
Tammy Erwin Muntzing, age 38, pleaded guilty to charges related to filling the prescription for the Cytotec (yep, she was in on it), and Judge Gorman gave her five years of probation and 100 hours of community service and forced her to give up her nursing license.
In August 2002, Michelle Baker filed a $3.5 million lawsuit against Maynard and Tammy Muntzing for causing her miscarriage.
Newspaper accounts note that the coroner had found no traces of the Cytotec in the placenta after the baby’s birth, making it difficult to prove cause and effect in court.
Latest drama. Although there’s no word on how Baker or her lawsuit fared, DailyCourt.com published a notice of Muntzing’s filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2007.
Muntzing’s name surfaced again in 2013 in an obituary for his father, a prominent local 4-H organizer and onetime agricultural columnist for the Chillicothe Gazette.
The article indicated that Tammy and Maynard Muntzing were still married, and living in Lima, Ohio.
Incidentally, Rae Carruth made headlines in February of 2018 for his bid to win custody of his son, Chancellor, who was born prematurely to Cherica Adams before she died of her gunshot injuries. But Carruth had a change of heart by the time he got out of prison. He settled for visitation rights only.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
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I love the first sentence in this piece, and have wondered how people live with themselves after taking the kids to any number of specious Wonderlands. That said, stories about bad physicians challenge the social deification they were once granted. Too the good, the crimes they commit help folks everywhere to realize that we are all created equally imperfect. Each according to his/her personality disorder needs. Thanks again, RR.
So true — a medical degree may give credibility to a doctor’s knowledge, but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have an id lurking behind the stethoscope.
But he gives out scripts by the hand full.
Scripts for crime?
In court when responding at sentencing to the miscarriage he replied with “It was God’s will.” I’m not a religious person and don’t really care much when people invoke “God” as it’s their belief and I can respect that very much without holding the same belief, but for this evil SOB, “it was God’s will” really makes me sick. I fully support anyone’s personal beliefs but you can’t invoke “God” for a death and not apply that same belief in the life. The pregnancy would also have to be God’s will, thus making him think he was above God. So I guess my revision would be that I respect anyone’s beliefs although I’m an atheist myself…except for fake believers who use religion as a cover for evil, their evil, and human evils. Also…for his wife, who is a mother to inflict this on another woman baffles and makes me sick. Two sociopaths who deserve one another.
I just watched this program on CNN and you are quite correct. It was not God’s will. It was the will of a pathetic physician—and he did not follow the Hippocratic Oath he once took.
Quite. And even if he were a believer, it’s a disingenuous throw-away remark vainly distracting from his agency in the miscarriage (which wasn’t in fact a miscarriage but an induced abortion).
He did an appalling thing to this woman and a (highly likely) would-be child whom she’d have cherished.
That was Mayo-nard trying to, in his normal greasy fashion, unsuccessfully deflect his own mung-slathered guilt onto God. An utter failure of course but duly noted and no doubt underlined in preparation for his final trial in due course.
Same here, which is another reason why I’m an atheist.
I wonder if they sleep with one eye open…on each other?
I suggest neither one of them ever buy a lot of life insurance. The good doctor (or nurse) may decide on an alternative to bankruptcy next time!
Specious?
Thanks, RR. What a scumbag. Ms Baker will have wished she’d gone with her initial judgement to get shot of him. Mrs Scumbag is indeed, has very poor taste in men, and deserves a dose of unfaithfulness – and perhaps something else unpleasant – herself…
They do indeed seem to have got off lightly. I hope Ms Baker creamed them of money – scant consolation for the loss of a (murdered) child.
She definitely deserved some kind of monetary award — and a better guy.
It never ceases to amaze me that getting a vasectomy/job/divorce/you name it seems like less trouble than committing a crime. What seems like the easy way usually ends up being the hard way. Pay now or pay (more) later. Leaving aside the harm done to others, you would think enlightened self interest would kick in.
Terrie: I quite agree. The explanation perhaps lies in the notion that for many ‘clever’ offenders, such as him, narcissism takes over and clouds judgment. We see time and time again (or episode on episode!) in FF that high-achievers do stupid things, and it’s not that they’re in desperate situations such that they make a sudden rash and foolish decision: They have time to plot and scheme and still do stupid things. Greed in some form or other is usually at play, but that doesn’t explain the stupid actions that get them caught. Rather, it appears to be a belief that others are too stupid — inferior to oneself — to join the dots…
I’ve just watched the ep about Richard Lyon, a Harvard alumnus architect, who poisoned his wife to death. It beggars belief that he apparently overlooked that there would probably be an autopsy, which would probably find the arsenic, and that the spouse/partner is invariably the # 1 suspect. The red herrings he threw into the mix were never sure to succeed — and didn’t. How can he possibly have thought murdering his wife, and taking a mother from the children he presumably loves, was better than any alternative? It is perhaps such narcissism that keeps some of these people perpetually claiming innocence (as he does) despite overwhelming evidence: If I can fool enough fools I might just get out…
The ‘how can s/he have thought…?’ is the frisson that keeps we viewers watching, allowing us to feel that bit superior that we’d never make those mistakes…
Same here, which is another reason why I’m an atheist.
I wonder if they sleep with one eye open…on each other?
I suggest neither one of them ever buy a lot of life insurance. The good doctor (or nurse) may decide on an alternative to bankruptcy next time!
Lol! Reminds me of a case I watched just last evening on FF2.
Woman found dead and strangled in a body of water.
Case solved through the DNA of a dog (and other forensics) she gave her on again off again high society bf.
He killed her on a baseless rumor she was pregnant (she wasn’t), because he was engaged to a socialite and wanted no problems.
Here’s the part that highlights what you wrote: the cop who worked on the case, said, this guy was stupid. So many mistakes were made (tape, plastic bags in his home, the dog). The lifestyle he lived — smoking dope, doing drugs, drinking was just making him even stupider!
I’ve seen the episode before, but every time I hear and see that cop’s disgust at this stupid criminal it makes me laugh aloud!
To add to the above:
Snipping should be mandatory to men who father children they have no plans to work and support. Snip it after the first.
Women, also, need to be snipped for taking drugs while pregnant, giving birth to addicted infants. Also for not supporting, loving, taking care of her first child, so there will be none after to be raised in the streets, on a dozen forms of welfare, etc.
There are those who want to adopt.
Should be law to do it to both girls and guys who after the 1st child can’tsupport him/her and keep having more and more. Gov. allows it to continue, and we pay. For most, it’s a career. Give to those people who work and at some point get on hard times, not lazy people.
I knew the whole Muntzing mess, some of the family. PSYCHOSIS is the realm I would describe the parents of this arrogant, elitist, selfish, puke of a man. Senior Muntzing is now deceased. I hope that the surviving killer doctor repents and asks Christ for forgiveness.
I have found both Glenn Muntzing and Tammy Erwin on FB. Makes me angry to see how unaffected their lives seem to be all these years later. They are evil people who deserved so much more punishment than what they got.
I agree — they got off way too easy.
How the hell do you only get 5 years in prison for trying to kill someone lol? Not to mention, it was caught on tape.. twice. Total failure of the justice system.
That bothered me, too. Maybe because doctors are regarded (or regard themselves) as gods, authorities felt taking away his license was drastic enough.
It saddens me when these criminals murder someone and get paroled. They should either get life in prison without parole or (I prefer) the death penalty.
Unfortunately, she agreed to the deals for both of them.
Didn’t want the stress and perhaps she didn’t want to completely destroy their lives beyond revocation of licenses they both worked for (and probably still paying loans for – and may they still be paying off that debt and it wasn’t exempt from bankruptcy!)
If he actually is selling cars, he and his wife, instead of enjoying the cushy and respected lives of medical professionals, Mr. And Mrs. Doctor, they’re known as Mr. And Mrs. Used Car Salesman!
It pleases me that the scumbag lost his license and to a physician, that’s a fate worse than death. I hope someone tried to impregnate him in the shower….lol.
Such a pretty woman. Most men would dream to have such a beautiful woman carrying their child and this dumb ass just throws it all the way. WTF?
Yeah the disgusting piece of filth threw it all away.
While I am saddened with the victims in this show, I normally don’t get too emotional.
But with this one I was in tears because she seemed to be such a sweetheart and I could just see the pain in her eyes over a) losing her daughter and b) the betrayal of this creep.
I wonder how she’s doing today.
Maynard aka Glenn Muntzing is now selling cars in Dayton Ohio. Don’t let him get u a drink while you wait!
Thanks for the scoop — a good occupation for someone of his character.
Selling cars and real estate – two professions people go to when they can’t do anything else and/or have sketchy pasts.
Looks like they’ve recovered financially too……he has a secluded property in Bellbrook.
It appears he left the dealership he had been at for a long time at the time you wrote. I haven’t been able to find where he went.
Fortunately, I won’t cross paths with him. He sells cheap cars.
Here he is: https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Glenn-Muntzing/1910264739
Nice link — thanks for sending!
He’s not there anymore:
https://www.corporationwiki.com/Ohio/Dayton/glenn-muntzing/124214257.aspx
He should have gotten more prison time for this.
What has happen to Michelle since her ordeal? I see the doctor and other lady are still married and on Facebook. Hope she has gone on to marry and have children.
The name Michelle Baker is too common to narrow down the Google search results. If any reader knows what became of her after 2002, please write in. I, too, hope she went on to have children — she wanted them so much.
I see her a couple times a year. She is doing well.
Thanks for writing in — so nice to hear she’s doing well!
The temerity of this POS having a presence on social media! You’d think he/they’d be too ashamed and keep a low profile…
`We were both divorced and he’d just come out of a volatile relationship with a woman called Tammy Erwin who, from time to time, called him on his mobile. He dismissed the calls, saying she wouldn’t accept it was over. He passed her off as a psycho. `Glowing in the excitement of a new relationship I didn’t give her much thought. Maynard and I were happy.
He was a convincing guy, to be sure.
I think he should pay restitution to Ms. Baker — that’s the very least he should pay.
How disturbing to see an individual such as Muntzing in his true colors as a sociopath turned loose on human society by a license to practice medicine. Is this why it’s called “practicing medicine”? What deplorable, criminal, and inhuman behavior by a so-called physician. I for one am thankful he will never again be allowed to “practice” medicine in the United States. Let this serve as a lesson for other people and countries of our world.
As for Maynard’s nurse “Hatchet-Job” accomplice, Tammy Erwin? I can almost see them both transported in time back to 1942 Germany where they would most certainly collaborate with Hitler. Despicable.
To *Michelle Baker – There are no words. :'(
Note To God: Maynard wouldn’t know Your Will if it was inscribed on one of the car titles the idiot attempts to sell these days, and Tammy couldn’t fill the bill or prescription.
Just this week watching a video on YouTube about psycopathy, someone claiming to be a surgeon said he was one and feels nothing for his patients and estimated that 1 out of 4 of his fellow physicians was one, especially if they were surgeons, as it took that kind of person to slice open the human body and and do things to it. Or to see pain and suffering day after day and feel nothing.
Other commenters were not happy. He seemed to be bragging. I’ve seen similar comments over the years. The person claiming sociopathy appearing to brag about it.
Anyway, of the two documentaries I’ve seen recently, the doctors (who treat such individuals) say they are a relatively small fraction of the population, but cause the most damage. I believe the saying is, all sociopaths are narcissists, but not all narcissists or sociopaths or vice versa.
I know both personality disordered persons do create havoc. At least, based on the comments I constantly see on YouTube, usually people who survived such parents. Narcissism appears to be a much higher percentage.
I know my husband’s recent surgeon was pretty flippant about “just pop[ing]” out my husband’s gallbladder. Really didn’t appreciate the phrasing, while I waited 4 hours to see him.
Interesting theory about doctors. And I agree that not all narcissists are psychopaths. A lot of times, narcissists are just hard to spend time with — especially if you want to talk about yourself and your own problems for a minute or two.
Yes, dozens of dollars
Michele Baker sued for $3.5 million dollars, but I doubt she got much, if anything, as Muntzing filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2007.
Watching again, Michelle did a great job of catching this man. I wish her well and am sorrowful for her loss and suffering.
I don’t condone what he did, but I feel like something is missing and we are not getting the full story. It doesn’t add up that a woman (his wife Tammy) would stay with a man capable of killing his unborn child. His family didn’t disown him; he was listed in his dad’s obituary as a survivor. His and his wife’s sentences were abnormally light too.
Could Michele have been a stalker? Not saying she was, but this whole story doesn’t compute.
Sure Steve. Blame the victim. He was literally caught on camera doing it.
I wasn’t blaming the victim. I’m just keeping an open mind and don’t always believer everything I hear. It usually takes two to tango. Don’t jump to conclusions.
Don’t keep your mind so open, your brain falls out.
You make your assumption of what amounts to criminal behavior by the victim, because the attempted murderer was listed on his dad’s obituary???
I watch a ton of true crime. A ton of it. Parents rarely think their little precious ever did anything wrong or disown them. And they publicly state it time and time again.
Watch the interview of the parents of two family alienators -Chris Watts and Chris Coleman.
Both murdered the mothers of they children, two boys and two girls. Both by strangling.
Strangling someone to death takes quite a bit of time. Way more than in the movies. Up to 7 minutes. After doing that to their wives, they walked into each sleeping child’s bedroom and to do it again…and again. In Watt’s case, his daughter woke up and he had to do it a 4th time.
The parents and grandparents couldn’t care less that they lost, not on DILs they clearly despised, but two sets of grandchildren. Easy to find the videos.
It takes a “special” kind of person to be that callous over human life.
Your hypothesis is based on zero evidence and stinks to high heaven.
Some of you guys really get bent out of shape when a view other than your own is presented. It is merely my opinion and/or view of the situation. Did the world end?
I’m very perplexed at how someone can get so angry and show so much aggression towards someone they don’t even know.
There is a tactful way to respond to other people. I will not be responding further to these kinds of responses.
Not expecting a response, but given the stats of murder by males of their pregnant wives and girlfriends as well as in DV cases, to read someone’s opinion/comment suggesting an absurd stretch (and based on no available evidence) that the victim may be somehow responsible for another’s action (and gives two unrelated silly reasons), expect heated reactions, especially from women. Words and opinions do matter. He poisoned her multiple times. He could have walked away any time. That’s all we need to know.
Somewhat agreed, Forensics Files always has to come up with a “hero” and a “villain,” but this accomplished woman chose this guy for a reason, and I don’t doubt for a second she knew what a scumbag he was. Apparently was worth it to her to be an item with a successful young doctor.
JB: While her choice of man *may* have been culpably poor for other reasons, to suggest that she should somehow have expected criminal behaviour of this magnitude is absurd. If you’re getting at her being attracted to a well-heeled professional, so what; plenty are; but they have absolutely no reason to think their ‘mercenary’ interest could possibly end with poisoning and induced abortion, even if they could foresee the possibility of infidelity. Are you serious…? Talk about (a form of) victim-blaming: ‘She should neve have got together with him ‘cos this appalling criminal behaviour was foreseeable’!
That’s right……so many women are drawn to bad boys.
;It doesn’t add up that a woman (his wife Tammy) would stay with a man capable of killing his unborn child.’ What? As if she had prior insight into that capability??
You misread the post. Tammy had insight since she was an accomplice. I was not speaking of Michele in that quote.
let’s hope someone in your family is murdered dipshit
Let’s hope you’re murdered so we get rid of another internet troll trying to start fights and insult people they don’t know. My comments and theories have nothing to do with you.
That’s really childish behavior. How old are you?
I’m surprised the moderator allowed this to be posted.
He was a survivor. Why wouldn’t he be listed?
I was speaking of his dad‘s obituary. If his family disowned him, which they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t list him as a survivor.
I’m not sure how true this is, but from what I read searching the internet it sounds like the whole Muntzing family is bat shit crazy.
The parents of murderers rarely disown their precious little darlings, who didn’t do it. Are you kidding me?
No I don’t think she’s a stalker. They’re just killers.
Maynard aka Glenn is still selling cars. Stay clear of Kia in the auto mall of Dayton. I went to see a car and he is who I spoke too. I was talking weirded out, so I went across the street and bought a Honda.
Lol, Kristen — thanks for the updates!
Did you tell the Honda dealership that the guy across the street was on Forensic Files for poisoning his girlfriend and trying to get her to miscarry his child? I would have just to see the reaction. Plus he deserves to be shamed.
That’s a nice house that Michelle bought, but at $320K she really got ripped off. I lived in Dayton for 4 1/2 years, and it is a pit.
I was speaking of his dad‘s obituary. If his family disowned him, which they didn’t, they probably wouldn’t list him as a survivor.
I’m not sure how true this is, but from what I read searching the internet it sounds like the whole Muntzing family is bat shit crazy.
Maynard, if you’re reading this just slice your wrist, bud. You’re the biggest loser life has to offer ! Hope you sleep well at night.