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Sister : Dr. Heather Donnelly

Former known girlfriends : Laura Asher (1974-1982, 1989), Julia Wainwright (1988), Greta MacAdams (1989-1990), Nikki Alvarez (1990), Flame Beaufort (1991)

Professions : Police officer, priest, docks worker at Galvin Brothers

Frank Runyeon :
May 26 1988 (# 962) to October 14 1991 (# 1818)

Michael is, at his first appearance in the show, the priest of the convent where Mary DuVall resided and where Mason Capwell comes, in 1988, to lead his investigation about the death of Dr. Mark McCormick. Mason is supposed to be dead in an explosion when arrives then at the convent Julia Wainwright, disguised as a nun, Sister Rebecca. Former police officer, Michael pursues the inquiry with Julia and discovers that the murderer of Mark is in fact Sister Agatha. If the affair is resolved, Michael is now confronted to another dilemma : to combine his vows of chastity with the love desire he feels for Julia.

He has to do with a new problem of conscience when Dr. Zack Kelton comes to confess to him that he is the author of the many rapes and murders which have struck Santa Barbara these last weeks. Michael then cannot fight against the respect of the confession secret imposed to every priedt denounces him to the police. To be avenged, Zack kidnaps Julia who owes her safety only to Michael's courage. They then both spend the night together. Michael ends by deciding to leave the priesthood.

In 1989, Michael is confronted to his old demons when he discovers the arrival in town of Laura and Ethan Asher. At the time when he was a police officer in Boston, Michael was in fact Laura's lover. But he has one day killed by error her son, Jamie, during a hostage crisis. By finding Michael, Laura forgives him and they both begin again their love-affair. But one day, Leo Mitchell, the brother of a dealer killed by Michael come to avenge, is found dead. Michael is suspected by the new district attorney, Ethan Asher, Laura's husband. But she however ends up by admitting to have killed him in self-defence.

Thereafter, Michael collects the love-affairs, first of all with Greta MacAdams, a former nun, then with Nikki Alvarez, with whom he joins the police. Both are besides kidnapped by the new dealer who rages in town : Kirk Cranston, Eden Capwell's first husband. Once saved by Cruz Castillo, Michael gets closer to Nikki, whom he suggests at first helping to allow her to stay living in the United States. Fallen in love with her, he suggests then to her to marry him. But a few days before the ceremony, Nikki is killed in the explosion of the Blue Sky Brigade offices. Mad with grief, Michael tries to kill the person in charge of the explosion, Harland Richard.

Hired afterward by Minx Lockridge to find the girl whom she had abandoned at birth years earlier, Michael discovers that it is about Cassandra Benedict. He gets closer to her for the needs of his investigation, for what this one blames him afterward. He finally meets Flame Beaufort, Quinn Armitage's vile accomplice. Having no more faith at all, not more in God than in justice, he sleeps with her. But rejected by him the next day, Flame tries to commit suicide. Michael dissuades her from it and eventually falls in love with her. Taking all alone her defense, Michael suggests that she makes amends of her past crimes by helping the police to make arrested Helmut Dieter, a dangerous arms dealer. Disappointed to see her standing up for Dash Nichols, Julia's rapist, Michael chooses to leave her. He disappears shortly after from the show, without more explanations...

Read also : The return of Kirk Cranston