Michelle Baker's poisoning by Dr. Maynard Muntzing

They say hindsight is twenty-twenty. Having watched this episode several times over the years, it’s easy to see what’s coming and wonder why Michelle would take Maynard back after his infidelity with Tammy Irwin. Certainly a handsome fellow, Maynard must have been a smooth talker during their picnic. Recall he had lied to her about a fishing trip and only got himself caught when she overheard him requesting a song on the radio. Using his name, I’m guessing he didn’t think Michelle would be listening to that station at that time. I honestly didn’t think radio stations still did Casey Casum-esque dedications from callers in 2000.

But Michelle had more on the line than the viewer with hindsight (or insight) might contemplate. She was pregnant with their child after all, so ending the relationship with the baby’s father would’ve been hard. Plus there was still the promise of marriage and the big house on the table. Michelle was in love, and she was willing to give Maynard a second chance after what he explained was a lapse in judgement in a moment of weakness. Well, more than a moment, considering his scheming.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Fast forward to Michelle’s visit with the police – she’d shown up at the station with a strong suspicion that Maynard was trying to abort their baby. Of course the investigators wanted to validate her accusation, but said it was policy to not conduct a polygraph (lie detector) test on a pregnant woman. I wondered if this was a local rule and why, but I found that generally this is avoided country-wide and it’s not clear as to why. Some research indicates that the results might be unreliable. Other suggested the organization administering the test wants to avoid any potential lawsuit should something go wrong with the pregnancy afterward. While I understand getting a baseline read of a suspect with the results of a polygraph (or his refusal to take one), there’s a reason they’re not admissible as evidence in a trial.

It was clever of the police to contact a pharmacist to learn what types of prescription medications might lead to the unwanted termination of a pregnancy. One would think that Maynard wouldn’t choose the most obvious drug that might harm his fiancée’s unborn fetus, but when you don’t think you’ll be caught, why plan for that eventuality? Obviously this was Maynard’s same line of thinking when he was caught not once but twice at Tammy’s house. Of course he didn’t know he’d been caught the second time. After her twin sister’s suspicion that Maynard might be harming her, Michelle drove over to Tammy’s house again when Maynard was supposedly taking the kids on a short vacation. Seeing Maynard’s car there, Michelle found an open window and eavesdropped on a conversation? This seems suspiciously convenient to me, sorry. On the previous trip, Michelle had a girlfriend drive her over to Tammy’s. But this time there was exactly that conversation going on near a conveniently open window where Michelle could hear, but was not seen? A little “stalkery”, but I can’t blame her.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

After viewing Michelle’s video of Maynard adulterating her drink, the police felt they needed to set up the sting themselves. It was felt a “clever defense attorney” could make the cause that Michelle spiked her own drink to frame Maynard. But Michelle’s video still had clear evidence of him putting something nefarious into her Coke. And regard that Tammy called repeatedly during their dinner that night (August 2, 2000 if you go by the camera’s date stamp). Maynard called later to explain to Michelle it was because they’d gotten married. My question: How did Maynard convince his brand new bride that it should be okay for him to go over to his ex-girlfriend’s house for dinner? If Tammy actually knew that Maynard was trying to terminate Michelle’s pregnancy, shouldn’t Tammy have played it cool?

The police’s video (August 14, 2000 by the date stamp) was clearer, and Michelle had the advantage of having the police monitor Maynard’s activities. Recall that during Michelle’s sting, she had to proceed to eat dinner with the scumbag, knowing he had tried to poison her and done so successfully in the past. Another related question: How did Maynard convince Tammy again, less than two weeks later, that she should let him have dinner with his ex-girlfriend again?

Of course, Maynard’s sentence of five years was far too little, but at least he lost his medical license. In some states, a fetus isn’t considered a person, so murder charges don’t work, but in this case the lack of the Cytotec in the placenta caused the coroner to rule the death as “intrauterine death of undetermined etiology”. Michelle’s follow up examines after being given the harmful drug didn’t indicate any negative side effects to the unborn child. But little Mikaela was stillborn at 28 weeks. This was heartbreaking – it made me wonder why the footage of Michelle describing this event was entirely different than all the other. Was this filmed before the bulk of her interview footage? After? Why?

One last note, in the form of another "Tammy" question: If you know this guy is capable of trying to essentially murder an unborn child with no regard to the health of the mother either, what makes you think he’s “the one” for you? Love can be blind, but I don’t think a rational person could justify Maynard’s actions. And what do his grown children think of their father’s actions now?

Where is Maynard Muntzing now in 2024?

In October 2001, Dr. Maynard Muntzing II pleaded guilty to attempted felonious assault and contaminating a substance for human consumption. He received a five year prison sentence. These reduced charges were part of a plea deal with prosecutors which also included a permanent revocation of Muntzing’s medical license. After Muntzing made the incredibly callous statement that the miscarriage his and Michelle Baker’s unborn child at 28 weeks was, “An act of God”, Judge Gorman called the ex-doctor, “a disgrace to your profession.” For filling the prescription that Muntzing used to repeatedly poison Baker (his fiancé at the time), his newly-wed wife Tami Erwin received 100 hours of probation and was required to surrender her nursing license.

Tami Muntzing awaited her husband’s release from his prison sentence – she stuck with him despite his unspeakable crimes against a woman he’d claimed to love. Tami was mentioned in a 2013 obituary article for Maynard Muntzing's father, indicating they were still married at the time.