Melanie McGuire says she is innocent, and wants her sons to know she did not kill their father, she said in interviews with 20/20. Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? But just 48 hours later, 31-year-old Melanie requested a restraining order against him, alleging that he'd gotten violent during a fight the night before inside their New Jersey home. This stuff exists, she said on the show. The 2004 case was dubbed the suitcase murder because the victims legs were found in a suitcase that washed up in Virginia Beach. She later told police that she believed he'd gone to Atlantic City to gamble as he had a penchant for doing so. They knew that Pennsylvania was close and a lot of people will go to Pennsylvania for firearms because gun laws are more lax, Sacks said. William "Bill" McGuire was having a great day. When investigators discovered the affair, they approached Miller. Melanie Lyn McGuire (ne Slate; born October 8, 1972)[3] is an American former nurse who was convicted of murdering her husband on April 28, 2004, in what media dubbed the "suitcase murder". Dig, dig.". Indeed, she spent most of her time bringing new life into the world. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. I absolutely tried to have those charges taken off because I feared that people would look and think what they ultimately ended up thinking.. The media soon dubbed the case the Suitcase Murder.. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. But life can spring an unexpected surprise, and it was an alleged infidelity in the McGuires' case that shattered to tragic pieces their marriage with the gruesome death of Bill in 2004. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie grew up in Ridgewood, New Jersey, majored in statistics at Rutgers University, and enrolled in nursing school, according to The New York Times. Melanie claims she's innocent, and hopes that she will be released someday. New Jersey Attorney Generals OfficeOne of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. I have a book that I can look in that doesn't leave an internet history, Melanie McGuire told "20/20.". [22] She must serve more than 63 years before she is eligible for parole. According to PEOPLE, Melanie claimed that Bill had a gambling problem and a volatile temper. Days later, an unidentified man, believed by many to be her stepfather, also contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the charge removed. However, the state's expert disagreed, testifying that he ran the tests he believed were necessary to link the bags. Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. Lifetime is planning to release a movie about her case, Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story in June 2022. Melanie McGuire told the podcast "Direct Appeal" that she is not the suitcase killer, and that the true murderer is still on the loose. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave Sacks seconded her co-host, saying: Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband. This is not one of those cases, said Prezioso. Another important development for investigators was the discovery of Bill McGuire's car. [1] She graduated, second in her class, from the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing (now Raritan Bay Medical Center) in 1997 with a nursing diploma. She allegedly wanted to spend the rest of her life with her lover, and so, she did what she could to get rid of her husband. But when fishermen discovered a suitcase stuffed with Bill's remains just days after the couple had closed on their new dream home . Bill McGuire, 39, put a down payment down on a $500,000 house for the couple and their two young sons in April 2004. But despite her apparent grief, police soon began to suspect that Melanie McGuire had murdered her husband. In April 2004, defendant conducted internet research to learn about buying a gun and about poisons, sedative drugs, and murder. Melanie McGuire, 34-years old, sentenced to life in prison for murdering her husband Photo Source: NJ.com (website) My job is to convince the jury. Prosecutors argued that she killed her husband so. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Investigators discovered that the parking lot had surveillance cameras, and they pulled the security footage thinking they had stumbled upon a smoking gun that would show who dumped Bill McGuire's car. According to some reports, in 2007, during Melanies murder trial, Cindy put it into evidence that both of her sister-in-laws children, then aged 5 and 7, had been positively diagnosed with autism. Custody of McGuire's two sons was given to her husband's sister, Cindy Ligosh, when she was convicted, and McGuire has not seen them since. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave, Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, Data from the New Jersey Department of Corrections, Melanie McGuire Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Husband Bill. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). Her defense attorneys argued that anyone could have conducted the searches. A few days later, a suitcase surfaced in a bay miles away with a horrifying discovery inside. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. She also made inquiries of a friend about how to buy a gun. After his body was found and detectives notified Melanie McGuire of her husband's death, she told them to look for Bill McGuires missing car in Atlantic City -- she claimed he had a gambling problem and frequented the city. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the murder, Melanie dropped her children off at child care and preschool. Powered by. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/hlzcKR96Ss. Almost three years after the crime, McGuire's murder trial commenced at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 5, 2007. Lifetime's new film Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story explores the shocking death of Bill McGuire on April 28, 2004. [5], Melanie Lyn Slate grew up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township, New Jersey, attending Middletown High School South. [9] The couple had two sons and lived in a Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, apartment, but planned to move that month to a larger home in Warren County. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. Melanie McGuire is currently in a New Jersey jail, awaiting sentencing on July 19. Making matters worse, Melanie McGuire had called the company and attempted to have those charges removed. It says: The State alleged that defendant wanted to end her marriage to Bill but also had concerns about divorce. I looked down and theres my 2-year-old. When investigators processed Bill McGuire's car, they also found a bottle of the sedative chloral hydrate and two syringes. So I think the police said, Well, prove it. At her televised trial, prosecutors explained that she had drugged Bill, shot him, and dismembered him. As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. In September 2020, Melanie McGuire sat down with 20/20 and gave her first interview in 13 years. 0:45. His head and torso with bullet wounds were found in a medium size suitcase and his arms in a smaller suitcase in the Chesapeake Bay. However, not much else about the day was typical. Its out there., Melanie McGuire said she's speaking in a new #ABC2020 interview tonight with @ARobach, 16 years after she was convicted of murdering her husband, because she believes "the killer is out there and it's not me." Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story is available to watch in Canada with a Philo subscription! After pulling the surveillance footage from the parking lot, however, investigators were disappointed. Her trial began in March 5, 2007. Melanie went to Middletown High School South and. Prosecutors allege that McGuire, 34, shot him to death, sliced his body into four pieces with a power saw and then dumped his remains in the Chesapeake Bay. says the actress. She didnt fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg told 20/20. [4] She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, and is serving her sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey. It also promised to better educate staff and inmates about the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, and said it had set up an early-warning system to identify problematic behavior by staff. [29], Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, Possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story, "Melanie McGuire Found Guilty of Murder in 2004 Shooting Death and Dismemberment of Her Husband", "Melanie McGuire, SBI Number: 000319833C", "Author to sign copies of Melanie McGuire book", "Case 120: Bill McGuire from Casefile True Crime", "Wife arrested in gory dismemberment murder", "General Discussion - Melanie McGuire guilty as hell", "Defense to withdraw motion for McGuire retrial", "Bit player in infamous N.J. murder case charged in bizarre murder-for-hire plot", "Man gets jail for plotting to kill online crush", https://www.state.nj.us/grc/decisions/pdf/2014-275.pdf, "McGuire sentenced to life in prison for suitcase murder", "State v. McGuire, 16 A. https://directappealpodcast.com/. In this special, she speaks up about her innocence, her troubled marriage, her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, and how she wishes she could still be a part of her childrens lives. After all these years, I still feel hurt. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. She adds, Is she trying to say that the man who was so excited to be buying this house, because he wanted to have this house for the wife that he loved and his children, that at the same time trying to kill her? Melanie Mcguire has been languishing in a prison cell for the past 13 years. "People ask me, 'Explain this. After all these years, I still feel hurt, Melanie said. Because the murder did not occur in Virginia, however, authorities turned over their investigation to the New Jersey State Police.[10]. The Secret in the Suitcase: With David Muir, Amy Robach, Melanie McGuire, William McGuire. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. "And I'm driving down, and I take the first pass on this, on this highway, and I see a dark sedan, and lo and behold, there it is, Melanie McGuire said. McGuire appealed her case, saying she did not receive a fair trial. Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now. McGuire testified that during their argument her husband had become violent and he threatened to take their children away before leaving the home by himself, per CBS News. NEW BRUNSWICK - Melanie McGuire the former Woodbridge resident convicted of killing her husband, dismembering his body, packing it in suitcases and tossing it off a bridge in Virginia . Their theory was that this nurse, who was kind of so meticulous, had somehow just forgotten to wipe the bottom of her shoes, that she accidentally tracked these human sawdust particles of Bill's body from the house to the car, said John Glatt, a true crime author who wrote To Have and To Kill, a book about Melanie McGuires case. These documents exist. She will not be eligible for parole until she has served 66 years in prison. The publication reported that two days after Bill left, McGuire filed for a restraining order so he couldn't unexpectedly take their children, and three weeks after he had disappeared she filed for a divorce. After they released a sketch to the public, one of Bill McGuires friends soon came forward. She is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, according to her prison records. On April 28, 2004, the last day anyone ever saw Bill alive, Melanie had dropped off their sons, aged 2 and 4, at their daycare as routine at around 8:20 am. Shes now a 47-year-old inmate at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey, where she claims that shes not only innocent of killing her husband but that his real killer is still out there. McGuire began drinking heavily and gambling regularly in Atlantic City soon after the couple returned to New Jersey around 1990, said Ms. Paulk, who now lives in Milford, N.Y. ''It went downhill . Melanie had to withdraw her appeal after the prosecutors debunked the story, and so, on July 19, 2007, she was sentenced to life in prison. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a womens correctional facility in New Jersey. It was the 28th of April 2004. At the time, the case created a media sensation, with McGuire dubbed the "suitcase killer.". He was 39 years old. Melanie went to work at a fertility clinic and Bill began teaching computer science at a technical college. She suggested that her husband had been killed over his gambling debts, claiming that he was the one whod insisted that she buy a gun in the first place. Melanie McGuire and defense attorney Stephen Turano, right, react to the verdict during her trial in New Brunswick, N.J., Monday, April 23, 2007. Bill called his friends to happily tell them the news. Melanie was a nurse at a fertility clinic and Bill was a computer programmer. I still feel bothered. I grabbed the baby and went to the bathroom right behind me and shut the door. Her 2007 trial became a nationally televised event. Few, if any, knew that McGuire, a mother of two young sons, was having an affair with her physician boss, Dr. Bradley Miller. She's now a 47-year-old inmate at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey, where she claims that she's not only innocent of killing her husband but that his real killer is still out there. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. So she drove around until she found his car and then moved it as a prank. Melanie McGuire listens to testimony today during her murder trial. While the prosecutors claimed, supported by evidence, that Melanie killed her husband in cold blood in the hopes of freely taking up a new life with Bradley Miller, her defense team argued that she was innocent and it was Bill who had issues. [9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. Dubbed the Suitcase Killer, she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, at the age of 34. Melanie McGuire, The Suitcase Killer Who Murdered And Dismembered Her Husband. "I panicked. As a year passed and the investigations continued, on October 26, 2006, Melanie was charged with two more counts of hindering apprehension for allegedly writing letters to the police department to get them off her trail. Although detectives did not find what they were looking for on the surveillance footage, they were able to find something curious on Melanie McGuires statement from her electronic toll payment company, EZ Pass. Therefore, from what we can tell, even today, as young men, William and Melanies sons reside in New Jersey with their aunt, uncle, and cousins the only family theyve ever known. After all these years, I still feel hurt. With the story debunked, the request for a new trial was withdrawn. After all, a medical-grade towel found with Bills body matched those stocked at the clinic as well as those she kept at her home. After exiting the older child's school, Melanie started walking toward her vehicle when law enforcement emerged from the bushes, taking her into custody without incident. A grand jury returned a second indictment in 2006, charging her with eight additional counts regarding anonymous communications, according to the appeal filed in her case. Melanie Griffith set the Internet on fire. Melanie did file for a re-trial before her sentencing on the basis that her husband was deeply in debt and may have been killed by Atlantic City mobsters, but to no avail. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. We should mention that after Melanie was convicted of the charges against her, her family started a custody battle with Cindy, but to no avail. Or, learn about Stacey Castor, the Black Widow who killed two of her husbands with antifreeze. They closed the documents on their new house on April 28, but never moved in. She said her husband left and that she never saw him again. On April 26, 2004, Melanie had purchased a .38 caliber handgun from a store in Easton, Pennsylvania; Bill had been killed with a .38 caliber handgun with wadcutter bullets. Bill worked as a computer program analyst for a Newark, New Jersey college and Melanie worked as a fertility nurse, according to a 2011 appeal filed in her case. He probably would have broken my cheek if [the hit] had been a closed fist, Melanie McGuire said. Wronko, who is also Locane's boyfriend, is appealing the new sentence, which he believes violates her double jeopardy protections. Melanie McGuire, now 47, maintains her innocence from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, the states only womens prison where there are approximately 500 inmates. The Suitcase Killer, Melanie McGuire Story shows the real-life incident that occurred in 2004 in New Jersey, when Melanie, a local nurse killed her husband, William, a computer programmer, and dismembered his body and packed them in a suitcase, and dumped them in the Chesapeake Bay. But though Bill and Melanie had two sons together, their marriage swiftly soured. In the interview, she continued to say that she was innocent and asked her sons to look into the case and not believe what they were seeing. [Watch on your phone with the ABC GO Digital App found here. The day before his disappearance, the couple closed on the purchase of their first home. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Now the former fertility nurse is 47 years old and spending her life sentence in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey. Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. It is physically exhausting. More than a year later, on October 26, 2006, McGuire was charged with two counts of hindering apprehension for allegedly writing letters to police aimed at getting them off her trail. After all, when Bill was murdered in 2004, he and Melanie were the proud parents of two beautiful young boys. If I wanted to look for something like that, I have a [physicians' desk reference]. Melanie McGuire has been in prison for 13 years, but she still maintains her innocence, she said in an interview with 20/20. On May 11, another suitcase was discovered. Bill and Melanie McGuire in happier days. The bullets that came out of my husband had six lands and grooves," said Melanie McGuire. A Wednesday. McGuires case is being featured on a podcast, Direct Appeal. She is nearly out of options in the judicial system, the podcast website said, and now she is appealing to the public for help. One of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. Offers may be subject to change without notice. She had apparently grown worried about their well-being upon noticing their behavior and got them tested. Melanie then became the prime suspect in the investigation. We heard from Barbara, a close friend of Melanie's, who has witnessed Melanie's ups and downs.I cant think of anyone more qualified to give an opinion on Melanie's behavior and emotional status. The plastic bags that contained Bill's body parts and the bags that contained Bill's clothes, which Melanie had given away to a friend, were demonstrated by forensics to have been manufactured on the same assembly line within hours of one another. The podcast hosts and Melanie McGuire herself, raise questions about whether it's even possible the gun she purchased was the murder weapon. On June 5, 2005, authorities arrested Melanie McGuire on first-degree murder charges. A top priority for New Jersey investigators was determining if Melanie McGuire had ever owned a gun. Nothing in Melanie McGuires early life suggested shed turn to murder. WOODBRIDGE - Former township resident Melanie McGuire has spent 13 years in prison after receiving a life sentence for the death of her husband, William McGuire, but in a new television. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband, said Sacks. 2023 Oscars predictions: See who will win at the 95th Academy Awards. The podcasters and Melanie McGuire also point to unexplained animal hair found on Bill McGuires dismembered body and noted in investigative reports. There was. And on May 16, a third. The news outlet reported in June, 2020, COVID-19 was spreading because of a low supply of protective masks, poorly enforced social distancing measures, and inadequate quarantining of infected inmates. The request was subsequently denied. Investigators also found trash bags in Melanie McGuire's home that they believed matched those used to wrap parts of Bill McGuire's body. But police soon found that the couple had a deeply unhappy marriage, that Melanie had begun an affair with a co-worker, and that someone in the McGuires home had searched for things like how to commit murder online. They recovered searches including: How to purchase guns illegally, How to commit murder, Undetectable poisons and, generally, how to sedate or kill someone, according to investigators. It was while Melanie was pregnant for the second time, during the 38th week, that her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, her co-worker in the fertility clinic where she worked as a nurse, began. Before she was charged with murder, Melanie contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the $0.90 charge removed from her account history. She became known as the Suitcase Killer during her televised 2007 trial. Her defense lawyers have not said if McGuire will testify . McGuire and Miller began their affair in 2002 when she was pregnant with her second child, and their relationship continued until June 2005 when she was charged with her husband's murder. The case is being featured on a two-hour ABC special, Suitcase Killer, which airs Friday, September 25, 2020 at 9 p.m. Eastern time. "After all these years, I still feel hurt. Trial photos of Melanie McGuire, a New Jersey nurse best known for being the perpetrator in the media-dubbed "suitcase murder." . As Dr. Bradley Miller testified in the Melanie McGuire court case, there was an ongoing affair between himself and Melanie when Bill McGuire was killed. Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors Meghan Sacks and Amy Shlosberg have an entire podcast called Direct Appeal dedicated to questioning Melanies conviction. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Kaleena Fraga has also had her work featured in The Washington Post and Gastro Obscura, and she published a book on the Seattle food scene for the Eat Like A Local series. William McGuire was 39 when he died. Melanie McGuire is a former nurse who worked at a fertility clinic in New Jersey. 1:15. There are just too many holes in this story.. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. The appeal raised many claims contending she did not receive a fair trial, including prosecutorial misconduct, failure to consider a mitigating factor, a tainted jury, and exposure of the jury to inflammatory media accounts. As of June 22, 2020, two inmates had died of COVID-19. A New Jersey grand jury indicted McGuire on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree desecration of human remains and third-degree perjury in October 2005. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. Melanie McGuire says she is innocent, and wants her sons to know she did not kill their father, she said in interviews with 20/20. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. Melanie McGuire admitted to having an affair with Miller. It shows no inmates or staff at the facility had confirmed positive test results between August 22, 2020, and September 25, 2020. Police also learned that Melanie had been having a long-term affair with a co-worker named Bradley Miller. Lands and grooves are rifling characteristics that are machine pressed into the barrel of a gun. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?". Melanie worked as a fertility clinic nurse, while Bill worked as a computer programmer. Criminologists Dr. Meghan Sacks, and Dr. Amy Shlosberg dig into the evidence on the podcast. In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. [9], On May 5, 2004, the first suitcase, containing human legs, was found by two fishermen and two children floating near the Chesapeake Bay BridgeTunnel's fourth artificial island, and a murder investigation was launched.
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