How a string of lies in Tennessee led to the arrest of a Bucks County murder suspect

Days after Meghan Macklin allegedly murdered a 72-year-old Wrightstown man, she told a police officer that she was his wife, who died in 2019.

That wasn’t the only lie that Macklin allegedly told about how she found herself at a convenience store in White Pines, Tennessee.

She told the officer that she and a “friend” had been driving for three days to escape her abusive husband who cheated on her.

Later, she said she was with her husband, Scott, who she reconciled with. He checked into a nearby motel, whose name she didn’t know, and she walked to the store to get something to eat.

More on murder of Richard MacFarland 'Friend' killed elderly Wrightstown man, fled and tried to use dead wife's ID: Bucks County DA

A few minutes later her story changed again after the officer noticed a black 2013 Mercedes with Pennsylvania plates in the parking lot.

“That’s him,” Macklin said, then added that her husband probably was taking a walk.

But once the officer ran the plates, which confirmed the car was just reported stolen and involved in a murder, the truth started to emerge.  It led authorities  to charge the 46-year-old Macklin with the  murder of Richard Scott MacFarland.

Macklin was taken into police custody in Tennessee on Oct. 7, 2023,  the same day that police in Bucks County found MacFarland dead inside his Apple Hill Road home.

On Thursday, following a 90-minute preliminary hearing, District  Judge Michael Petrucci held Macklin for trial on all charges including first-and second-degree murder, multiple robbery counts and abuse of corpse.

What kind of relationship did Meghan Macklin and Richard MacFarland have, and is it a motive for murder?

A man interested in buying MacFarland’s home, which was listed for sale, found his body in the foyer of his home.

An autopsy found he died of multiple stab wounds, including one that disemboweled him, and he had likely been dead two or three days, authorities said.

No motive has been released, but authorities said that MacFarland and Macklin had known each other for about 2 ½ years, and described them as friends with a volatile relationship.

Macklin lived on and off with MacFarland, who appeared to be financially supporting her, authorities said. Investigators believe that MacFarland had a romantic interest in Macklin.

At the Thursday hearing, Newtown Township police officer Edward Grinberg testified that he responded to MacFarland’s home around 1:30 a.m, three days before he was found dead in response to a domestic violence call.  Authorities allege police were twice called to the home on Oct. 4.

Grinberg testified he noticed a fresh circular-shaped wound on MacFarland’s forehead. MacFarland alleged Macklin had caused the injury, but he declined medical treatment, the officer said.

The officer testified that he spoke briefly with Macklin who apologized for hitting MacFarland and also alleged that he had touched her inappropriately.

Macklin also told Ginsberg that MacFarland would not allow her to operate his vehicles.  Macklin was offered a ride to a hotel, but MacFarland let her stay.

Hours later, police returned to the home after Macklin alleged that MacFarland threatened to kill her, police said. MacFarland denied threatening Macklin and she declined an offer to take her to another location.

How technology played a crucial role in the murder investigation of Richard MacFarland

The next day, Oct. 5, a neighbor heard a disturbance at MacFarland’s home, and later that day, Macklin allegedly turned away a Realtor who wanted to show the home to a prospective buyer, authorities said.

Newtown Township police Cpl. Joseph Camp testified Thursday that Oct. 6 surveillance video from a Pipersville convenience store showed Macklin pull up in MacFarland’s Mercedes and enter the store shortly before 12:30 a.m.

Camp added that footage from a home surveillance camera captured the last known images of the Mercedes parked at MacFarland’s home about five hours earlier.

Stabbing in Hilltown: Hilltown police say woman on video call when man threatened to kill her with knife

Bucks County Detective Tim Fuhrmann testified he found MacFarland was dressed in clothing with no visible tears, holes or blood. He sustained deep stab wounds on his forearms, which he described as defensive wounds.

Investigators discovered under the button-down shirt, MacFarland was wearing a black T-shirt with a slash mark in the abdomen area where he had been eviscerated. He was also stabbed in the chest, Fuhrmann said.

A rug that had been in MacFarland’s bedroom when police were at his home days earlier was found in another bedroom soaked with blood, Fuhrmann said.

Items later found in the front passenger seat of the stolen Mercedes appeared to come from the home,  including a pair of Croc-style shoes with what appeared to be a blood stain on them, Fuhrmann testified.

DNA testing on the blood stain matched MacFarland, he said.

Was Meghan Macklin a victim of abuse? What her lawyer says

Bucks County prosecutor  Brittney Kern played 12 minutes of police body camera footage recorded by White Pines, Tennessee police officer Robert Smith during what was initially an investigation into an unwanted subject at a convenience store.

On the video, Macklin, who appeared to be slurring her words, claimed that she intended to pay for food she allegedly stole, but she didn’t have the cash on her.

“He asked me to leave, and I’m leaving,” she told the officer.

Multiple times, Macklin said that she did “nothing wrong,” denied she was under the influence blaming her behavior on low blood sugar and exhaustion, and declined the officer’s offer to give her a ride to the hotel.

“I’m a woman of honor, sir,” Macklin said. “I’m a taxpaying, voting citizen with all respect.”

She allegedly provided Smith a Social Security card and a blank personal check, both in the name of Janet Webb MacFarland.  When Smith called the only nearby motel, he was told no guests were registered under the name MacFarland, Webb or a Webb-MacFarland.

During the hearing, Macklin’s attorney, Keith Williams, stated that his client had moved out of MacFarland’s home previously over domestic violence incidents, and suggested police responded to the home other times for reports of violence.

After the hearing Williams said it was too early to say what type of defense he will mount, but suggested his client experienced abusive relationships.

“What you saw in this hearing is a woman with a history of physical and mental abuse,” Williams added.

Reporter Jo Ciavaglia can be reached at jciavaglia@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: What body cam video of Wrightstown murder suspect revealed about the case