Kriti Mehrotra
Investigation Discovery’s ‘Murder in Ypsilanti: Keith Morrison Investigates’ features two horrifying crime cases and highlights how they got linked after a local reporter received a tip that changed the course of all actions. Back in 1993, 24-year-old Tammy Niver went missing from the quiet town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, never to be seen or heard from again. And then, nearly 25 years later, another woman, Martha McGeorge, wound up dead in the same area. The only commonality in the two cases was the prime suspect. And if you’re here wondering exactly what happened to Martha in particular, we’ve got you covered.
How Did Martha McGeorge Die?
Martha McGeorge, a native of Ypsilanti, Michigan, was 49-years-old when she lost her life in 2018. She resided in a Ypsilanti Township home, which she shared with her then-husband, Gregory Agnew, with whom she was in a divorce battle with at the time. It was on February 17 that Martha’s daughter found her mother unconscious, unmoving, and unbreathing on her bed. She immediately called for help, knowing that something had to be done. But as soon as the deputies and the paramedics arrived, Martha was officially pronounced dead.
At first, the officers didn’t make any information about Martha’s death available to the public, only saying that it was “suspicious.” But once an autopsy was performed, and their doubts were confirmed, they revealed some of what they discovered. Martha’s official cause of death was strangulation. However, she also suffered a blunt force injury to her head and had a high dosage of heroin and fentanyl in her system. According to the authorities, Martha’s death was a homicide that had been deliberately staged to look like an overdose.
Who Killed Martha McGeorge?
Martha McGeorge, who had married Gregory Agnew in 2014 and taken his last name, was killed by her own husband. Since their relationship was coming to an end with their divorce, and it was known publicly that the tension between the two was high, it was no surprise when Gregory was interrogated first. The authorities believe that Gregory so heinously killed his wife to get complete possession of their shared home and to keep her mouth shut about Tammy Niver’s disappearance case. After all, back in 1993, when Tammy vanished, Gregory was romantically involved with her, and Martha was her friend.
According to court records, when Tammy had gone missing, Martha had offered to wear a wire as she talked to Gregory in an attempt to get him to confess what he did to her. But instead, to the investigating officers’ chagrin, the two started dating. And in 2014, when they tried to subpoena Martha during an attempt to arrest Gregory, she married him. Fast forward four years, and when the news of their divorce came to light in January 2018, the officers approached Martha for help once again. But she refused. Moreover, she told her estranged husband about the probe, only to turn up dead soon after.
Gregory, who maintains his innocence in both cases, was indicted on the charges of premeditated first-degree murder soon after his wife’s death. And when he stood trial for it in 2019, he and his defense team tried to paint the picture of how it was Martha who was “lush” and the aggressor in their relationship. They claimed an extra-marital affair and said that she died at the hands of an unknown person while they both presumably did drugs together. Nonetheless, after four hours of deliberation, the 12-member jury found Gregory guilty of the charge against him, sentencing him to mandatory life in prison.
Read More: Where Is Gregory Agnew Now?
