Mary Carole McDonnell, producer of the true crime series I Married a Murderer, posed as an heiress to con banks out of $30 million before going on the run, says the FBI. This month, she made the agency’s Most Wanted List.
McDonnell, a Michigan native, is the former CEO of Bellum Entertainment Group. In that position, she also produced the true crime shows Corrupt Crimes, Bizarre Murders, It Takes a Killer, and Murderous Affairs.
According to the FBI, Mary Carole McDonnell claimed to be an heir to the McDonnell Aircraft Family. Using that scam, she allegedly defrauded banks, cast members, and her own family out of millions of dollars.
She told people that she had a secret trust worth tens of millions of dollars as the heiress to the McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation. Somehow, that was enough for the Banc of California to give her $14.7 million. She later pulled off the same scam at other banks to score another $15 million.
Mary Carole McDonnell has been on the run for seven years
McDonnell and her Bellum Entertainment Group first came under scrutiny by the California Labor Commission in 2017. According to Deadline, at that time the commission was investigating “alleged nonpayment of wages to dozens of its former workers – including former police officers and FBI agents who appeared as experts on its many crime shows.”
McDonnell reportedly told her employees that the company had been the victim of “significant bank fraud.” Her nephew, who served as the company’s vice president for 10 years until quitting that summer, said Bellum owed him more than $10,000 and that he was “unaware of any bank fraud.”
Shortly thereafter, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Mary Carole McDonnell, after a grand jury indicted her on bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges. When authorities attempted to arrest her, she had vanished. No one has seen her since. However, the FBI believes that she is currently living in Dubai after first fleeing to London.