Murder, Insurance Fraud — What Could Go Wrong?
(“Bed of Deceit,” Forensic Files)
As Forensic Files villains go, Cynthia McDonnell distinguishes herself as the queen of self-sabotage.
In a bid to collect on her husband’s life insurance policy, the freelance writer shot him as he slept in their Michigan house, then blamed the crime on an anonymous robber.
Quick revision. But Cynthia’s storytelling competencies didn’t exactly exceed expectations.
She staged the phony home invasion so poorly that she ended up having to fabricate a new explanation. She said that her husband killed himself — which meant no $300,000 insurance payout for her.
For this week, I checked into where she is today and looked for more information on Daniel McDonnell’s life.
American dream. So let’s get started on the recap of “Bed of Deceit,” the Forensic Files episode about the case, along with additional facts drawn from internet research:
Cynthia Lee Johnston and Daniel Joseph McDonnell married in 1975 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He originally came from Port Chester, New York.
By 1998, they had two children, a house in Bingham Township, Michigan, and what looked like a happy union.
Southwestern feat. Before Daniel moved to Michigan, he worked as a police officer in New Mexico and New York.
Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but the dark-haired blue-eyed Daniel was a local hero in Albuquerque, where he served as vice president of the Irish American Society and helped plan the St. Patrick’s Day parade.
On Christmas morning in 1978, while off-duty, he repeatedly crawled into a burning car in an attempt to reach a passenger trapped inside. After his second try, the gas tank exploded, but he slid into the overturned vehicle a third time. It was too late to save the woman, whose leg was pinned down, but McDonnell’s bravery was honored by numerous community groups, the Albuquerque Journal reported on January 17, 1979.
Little did he know that, two decades later, it would be his turn to become a victim of circumstance.
Diabolical plan. On the morning of December 31, 1998, Cynthia McDonnell took the couple’s daughter, Erin, shopping in Traverse City for several hours.
Their son, Patrick, 18, was at a buddy’s house; his father had dropped him off there the night before.
Cynthia said that when she returned from shopping, she found Dan, 58, in his bed with a bullet wound to the head.
Hole in the story. Judging from her hysterical-spouse routine on the 911 tape, police should have arrested her on the spot for bad acting alone.
But first responders usually start out by giving the survivor’s story the benefit of the doubt. They listened to her tale of shock and woe and missing cash from her husband’s wallet.
Investigators eventually noticed, however, that Cynthia didn’t have an explanation for how the intruder or intruders broke into the house.
Undeterred consumer. Cynthia then had no choice but to change her story, according to Forensic Files. The new version: She went into the bedroom to tell Dan she was going shopping and found him dead with a suicide note.
He had survived cancer but was depressed over the side effects of the treatments, she said. A note he left explained that he wanted Cynthia and the kids to get the insurance money — and instructed her to stage the scene like a murder so his policy would remain valid, she claimed.
So, Cynthia told police, she got rid of his note, then wiped his prints from his service revolver and threw it in a field. Then she went shopping.
Failing forensic tests. But Cynthia, who aspired to publish a murder-mystery novel, botched the plot in a number of ways.
The bullet wound was in the back of the victim’s head — people don’t generally shoot themselves that way. Blood evidence around his arm and pillow also contradicted her narrative.
And, as Forensic Files fans have seen many times, little things murderers inadvertently do or say often scream “guilty” even louder than the forensics (Ed Post and Brian Vaughn).
This speaks volumes. In Cynthia’s case, on the morning of her husband’s death, she went into the bathroom where Erin, 20, was showering and turned up the radio.
A mom who wants to pump up the volume on her child’s music?
It seemed fishy to Erin, too, who ultimately sided against her mother.
Clearly, Cynthia was attempting to mask the sound of the gunfire. A bullet hole in the pillow next to the body suggested another effort to muffle the noise, investigators believed.
The defense’s turn. In April 1999, Cynthia was arraigned on murder charges and held without bail.
At the trial in 2000, defense lawyer Pete Shumar argued for the suicide theory and said that Daniel had shot himself in the back of the head to make his death look like murder and hence eligible for the insurance jackpot.
Shumar also trotted out a couple of expert witnesses, including a psychologist who said that going shopping after a loved one’s death could be a reaction to trauma.
It’s only natural. As for Cynthia’s story shift from murder to suicide, the Record-Eagle reported Shumar’s explanation:
"I believe that all of us have changed our story at one point in time or another. It's human. She did it for her children."
(The Record Eagle article, from February 17, 2000, isn’t available on the paper’s website, but you can read it via a Google Group posting.)
Counter arguments. Leelanau County Prosecutor Clarence Gomery had plenty of ammunition for his side of the case.
In addition to changing the manner of the death, Cynthia couldn’t keep her story straight about what happened to the alleged suicide note, the Record-Eagle reported. She threw it in the garbage or burned it or shredded it and flushed it down the toilet.
There was also the fact that Daniel’s arms had no splatter, suggesting someone else fired the gun.
Retail report. And in the months leading up to the murder, Cynthia’s purchase of big-ticket items like new computers and furniture coincided with thefts of cash from a trust fund her husband was managing for a disabled relative, according to Forensic Files.
The bank had video footage of her multiple withdrawals, which added up to $50,000. She also forged her husband’s name at times.
The prosecution fought the notion that Daniel McDonnell would even consider suicide.
Lots to live for. He had beaten cancer, still worked part-time, was looking forward to a celebration for Erin’s 21st birthday, and was planning to buy a fishing boat.
After a trial that lasted a little more than a week, a jury convicted Cynthia, 45, of first-degree premeditated murder.
As Forensic Files fans will remember, her daughter, Erin, urged the court to give the maximum penalty. She got her wish, when Judge Thomas Power sentenced Cynthia to life without the possibility of parole. Off to prison she went.
Oh, come on. In a 2002 appeal, Cynthia claimed that her husband had been notified of the trust-fund theft — and his failure to take action right away was evidence that he was suicidal.
A three-judge appellate court panel unanimously ruled against the appeal.
Today, Cynthia McDonnell resides in Level II security in the Huron Valley Complex in Ypsilanti. It’s the same state prison Sharon Zachary calls home.
At 5-foot-3 and 240 pounds, Cynthia doesn’t appear to have participated in any hunger strikes. She’s resisted the siren song of any local artisans — she has no tattoos, according to the Michigan Dept. of Corrections.
Dubious career history. Incidentally, although Forensic Files gave her occupation as freelance writer, it’s not clear whether she ever had anything published. Nothing turned up online. (But, to be fair, back in the day, magazines and newspapers didn’t routinely slap stuff on the internet as they do now.)
Cynthia’s children maintain a Facebook page devoted to Daniel McDonnell’s memory including old photos of their happy childhood with their father.
Their kindly uncle, Kevin McDonnell, who appeared on Forensic Files and suggested he himself was ready to join his late brother soon, is alive and has a presence on social media.
(As if we needed more reasons to like the McDonnell family, they all appear to be animal lovers. Daniel’s obituary noted he did volunteer work for an Irish wolfhound rescue group.)
The FB page doesn’t mention Cynthia or identify her in any of the pictures.
In an odd twist, the lawyer who prosecuted her, Clarence Gomery, pleaded guilty in 2015 to a murder-for-hire plot against a fellow lawyer he was warring with over a case.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the episode on Amazon Prime
Thanks, Rebecca. I recall this ep from some years ago, and if I remember an odd tidbit correctly, she went out with the daughter and bought hamburgers, bring one back the decedent! If I’m not mixing -up eps, that struck me as particularly poignant and perverse. So she’s a cow – and stupid cow with it.
One thing that may or may not have been mentioned per his claimed suicide: it seems like he was a practising Roman Catholic – suicide being strongly theologically and culturally prohibited.
Seems she got what she deserved.
“I believe that all of us have changed our story at one point in time or another.” Yeah, absolutely — usually when we’re lying, LOL.
If you saw the State of the Union Address, there may be a lot more of this kind of shenanigans in the future. It’s the result of capitalist greed and gender bias. Let her out. Impeach 45.
Hey, Come on… What does Hillary Clinton’s past have to do with this article???
Get a life…
So happy our new President doesn’t have a liking for gold toilets.
I will never forget what Cynthia McDonnell’s daughter said in court at the sentencing. “I don’t understand why this had to happen to our family. My father was a good man and I thought my parents had a loving relationship. I ask that you give her the maximum.” That HAD to be hard, but knowing that her mother killed her father, she did the right thing.
R: Well, this wicked woman had used the daughter – the shopping trip – as part of her first alibi; and of course the murder had already taken place when they went shopping. I think it would strike any of us in the daughter’s place that this was an astonishingly perverse wife and mother. The deep shock this would cause makes her request unsurprising, if difficult. How sad for her, her brother and the family that this was done… and for money…
Thanks on the information on Clarence Gomery’s murder for hire conviction. I just watched this episode while keeping that in mind every time Gomery talked about Cynthia as applying also to himself.
It really was a strange twist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Capano
Gomery’s case as a prosecutor reminds me of that of Thomas Capano (FF/Medical Det’s ep – can’t find the title), a prominent Delaware State prosecutor who murdered an ex-girlfriend and secreted her body, never to be found. He died in prison.
It’s a gross irony when those who prosecute others themselves murder (or seek to). I wonder how many prosecutors have been so convicted…?
It’s surprisingly higher bc these prosecutors THINK they’ve got all the bases covered as the questions raised are the very same ones they themselves would ask.
Prosecuting attorneys are largely lawyers who cannot make it in the private sector so they turn to a gov position for job security and become untouchable.
However a snake is a snake.
When I saw Clarence Gomery’s name, I was not surprised. He was in another episode I believe. It’s a strange twist that now he himself is in jail…
… and segregated for his own protection, no doubt…
This is my 1st time ever seeing someone give life insurance for a homicide.
I am a relative that was called on behalf of the prosecution to testify against her. I have no idea why they subpoenaed me. There were so many other people that could have been more effective. Daniel was a very kind thoughtful man and many conversations with him are so memorable. Forensic Files only tells one side of the story. If you want to see the whole picture, you must look at all sides, not just the ones that make you judge and jury. A little history about Cindy that no one speaks of: Her mother has quite a lot of mental issues so she taught Cindy to be a master manipulator. Her mother abandoned her and her siblings at a young age for approximately 12 years. Then danced back into her life as if nothing was wrong. Her mother’s sob story was bad form and bad acting as well. No accountability whatsoever. Cindy never had accountability for her actions either once her mother came back into the picture. That is still NO EXCUSE for what Cindy did — however no one ever looked at the “Acting job” her mother put on during the trial. With pitchfork in hand she created a monster, then wanted to stick it to her. They had a tumultuous relationship of hate toward one another. Always involving others to pick a side. Her mother’s storytelling is as malignant as Cindy’s. The people there at trial saw her mother manipulating everyone like a martyr and recreating history. Neither of these people care about the wake of devastation they left behind in other people’s lives, especially the kids. To clear a few things up, Cindy was never a freelance writer. She wanted to be but never followed through. She could write but had a strange dysfunctional imagination. She has a spiteful disposition, is ridiculously judgmental, and had no concern for anyone but herself and how it would benefit her. I often wonder how far that got her in prison. She’s just like her mom, folks, and they both think no one sees them for what they are. BTW no offence, but her being overweight is really not part of any issue here. What she did hamburgers or not was truly contemptable and unacceptable. Look at the pertinent facts only! She took a wonderful man away from a family and is where she belongs. After finding out about Gomery, I guess I was dumbfounded really. I am also surprised Cindy didn’t try to use that to get a new trial. Sensational journalism never exposes the whole story. I have seen the depth of damage all this has caused and yes, Daniel is missed deeply. He sure loved his Irish wolfhound, Irish setters and no one will ever deny what a great man he was. Very selfless and loving. He has other children too and no one mentions their grief and loss. Before you speak, it’s good to have all the facts, not just the ones that benefit your story. It’s truly a sad event and should have never happened had one been paying attention to her mental instability. She put everyone in a position to survive her decisions.
Thanks so much for writing in with your point of view. I had no idea Cynthia McDonnell had such a difficult life. As you said, it’s no excuse, but it fills in part of a tragic story.
HPD: May I suggest you’re tilting at windmills: no-one here’s defending this horrible woman and I think we’re all deeply sympathetic to Erin and all affected by Daniel’s loss. The perp’s mother and her behaviour is essentially irrelevant as no one can know whether, and to what degree, the mother’s dysfunction affected the daughter, nor in any case whether that has bearing on culpability. This seems to have been a straightforward case of avarice. While Cynthia was plainly deceitful as well as wicked, as a counter to your claim of ‘mental instability’ (which perhaps I’m taking too literally), Erin stated in court she thought her parents had a ‘a very loving relationship’ (I’m just viewing the ep). Assuming she’d been living with them most of her life (?), the instability you cite does not appear to have been remotely apparent to her. Thus I’m inclined to think Cynthia’s ‘instability’ was largely masked and more moral than psychological (though insofar as she was sociopathic — antisocial behaviour disorder — her dishonesty is a prominent characteristic of that disorder). Also Erin may simply have had the blind spot we tend to have for those we love (her mother) as to their faults…
Daniel and his brother do indeed come over as good men. RIP.