49-Year-Old Woman Beats Boyfriend to Death—Then Covers His Face with Makeup to Hide Bruises

Lifestyle
Paul Johns
February 22, 2025
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8 minutes read

(Facebook/Michelle Marr)

A Nebraska woman has been found guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence after brutally beating her boyfriend to death and attempting to conceal his injuries with makeup. Michelle Lee Marr, 49, was convicted in an Omaha federal court for the March 2022 killing of Jesse Gilpin, a father, and her live-in boyfriend, at their home on the Winnebago Indian Reservation.

According to court documents, Marr called 911 claiming she had woken up to find Gilpin unconscious in their bed. Gilpin was rushed via medevac to Twelve Clans United Hospital in Sioux City, Iowa, where medical personnel made a shocking discovery.

Nurses noticed that his face and body were covered with “significant amounts of makeup,” federal prosecutors revealed. When they removed the makeup, it exposed numerous severe injuries, including “a golf-ball-sized or bigger knot or bruise on the left side of his head” and additional bruises on the right side of his face.

“The makeup was described as having been applied thickly and appeared fresh and not slept in,” prosecutors stated in court documents obtained by the Daily Mail. “A nurse at Mercy Medical Center said it took her a while to scrub the makeup off Gilpin’s face and she noted it was a match for Gilpin’s skin tone,” they added.

Gilpin succumbed to his injuries the next day, with an autopsy confirming he died from brain trauma and swelling. A pathologist testified during Marr’s trial that his injuries were consistent with deliberate blunt-force trauma rather than an accident or fall.

Marr initially told investigators that she had passed out around 5 p.m. the previous evening and awoke to find Gilpin unconscious. However, prosecutors discovered damning evidence on her phone and social media, proving she had been active and awake during the time she claimed to be unconscious.

Further testimonies from Marr’s children and relatives painted a troubling picture of her history of physical abuse toward Gilpin. After a five-day trial, Marr was found guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. She now faces a possible life sentence when she appears in court for sentencing on June 5.