Michigan-born TV producer claimed she was heir to family behind F-15 Eagle, defrauded banks of nearly $30 million and vanished: Meet Mary Carole McDonnell, now on FBI’s Most Wanted list

Mary Carole McDonnell built a career producing low-budget true-crime shows for television. But the veteran TV executive later found herself at the center of a real-life fraud case by rusing banks for nearly $30 million.

Other than the television business, McDonnell was telling people a very different story about herself. She claimed she was an heir to the family behind the famous McDonnell Douglas aerospace empire and said an $80 million secret family trust was waiting for her before the money heist began.

The FBI now lists McDonnell as wanted for “bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.”

Who is Mary Carole McDonnell?

Mary Carole McDonnell is an American former television producer and executive who is now wanted by the FBI for fraud. She was born in Michigan on December 28, 1951 and grew up in the St. Louis area for much of her childhood, where her family had a connection to the local business community.

Her father, Russell McDonnell, and mother, Eva, had six children, and the family ran McDonnell's Market Place, a neighborhood grocery store in Kirkwood, Missouri. Business Insider in 2026 reported that the store had operated in the area for about 75 years.


McDonnell graduated from Principia College in 1974 and then began a career in television. She worked her way up from a secretary to producer and eventually to programming executive over more than four decades in the industry. By the 1990s, she had moved to Los Angeles and become vice president of programming and marketing at Hearst Television (previously Argyle Television). She later became vice president of programming at Raycom Media.

Around 2005, while at Raycom, McDonnell launched her own production and distribution company, which later became Bellum Entertainment. The company produced a range of television programs, including shows about unexplained phenomena, home improvement and true crime. In 2014, she left Raycom to focus on Bellum full-time.

The company used a low-cost production model. Business Insider reported that a small team would produce shows and McDonnell would sell them to buyers, using the money from those deals to finance more productions for future.

One former employee described the company as a "tight-knit" business. But they began facing financial problems, and employees said their paychecks were often delayed or bounced.

“It was always a race to try to get there first to get your money,” former showrunner Andrew Nock told the outlet.

McDonnell’s $80 million inheritance story

McDonnell's financial troubles become more serious in mid-2010s, and in her hunt for cash, she then used her surname. According to Business Insider, she told lenders that she was connected to the family that founded McDonnell Douglas, the company that manufactured the famous F-15 Eagle fighter plane used by the US and allied nations for combat operations, and that she was expecting access to an $80 million trust.

She also said she could not provide details about the trust because of a family tragedy involving her sister’s kidnapping and murder. But Business Insider, in their investigation, found no evidence that McDonnell was an heir to the aerospace family. A funeral notice for her father identified her as one of six children of Russell and Eva McDonnell, who owned a grocery store in Kirkwood, Missouri.

The publication also investigated the story she gave lenders about her sister's death. A 1966 St. Louis Post-Dispatch report described Holly McDonnell's death as a stabbing by a 14-year-old boy while she was playing in the family's yard. Business Insider found no evidence that she had been kidnapped.

How much money did McDonnell allegedly obtain?

According to the FBI, between July 2017 and May 2018, McDonnell engaged in an elaborate scheme with Banc of California that led her to acquire over $14.7 million through fraudulent means. According to the agency, she has been further charged with defrauding other banks as well, which resulted in a loss of over $15 million.

A California judge ruled in the bank's favor in 2021 and awarded it more than $17 million. In December, 2018, McDonnell was federally indicted on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Where is Mary Carole McDonnell now?

After the allegations emerged, McDonnell disappeared from her life in California. Business Insider reported that she left behind her mansion, Porsche and other possessions.

The FBI believes she may be in Dubai. In December 2025, she was put on the FBI's Most Wanted list. She currently has links to Los Angeles, Montgomery, Alabama, and Dubai according to the listing.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told Business Insider that the case remains ongoing and said, “She's still a fugitive, and we believe she may be conducting fraud currently.”