Nevertheless, because all the evidence was against her, a jury found her guilty of murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, desecrating human remains, and perjury on April 23, 2007. Melanie and Bill McGuire were married in 1999 and had two sons at the time of his death. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. New Jersey Attorney Generals OfficeOne of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. 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. Meghan Sacks and Amy Schlosberg are the hosts of the podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors. There are times when podcasts and media can shine a light on certain cases where what the government did was not right. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Melanie McGuire is currently in a New Jersey jail, awaiting sentencing on July 19. Bill McGuire, 39, put a down payment down on a $500,000 house for the couple and their two young sons in April 2004. 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. In a new episode of "20/20," co-anchor Amy Robach sits down for the first on-camera interview with Melanie McGuire since she was sentenced to life in prison 13 . Melanie McGuire, The Suitcase Killer Who Murdered And Dismembered Her Husband. Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Melanie McGuire's defense team focused on the lack of physical evidence, insisting it was more likely that Bill McGuire was murdered as the result of his gambling, than at the hands of his diminutive wife. Bill called his friends to happily tell them the news. Bill McGuire's body was found around Chesapeake Bay near Virginia Beach, Virginia, his corpse had been shot and then dismembered, and he was put in three separate suitcases which were found in May 2004. With the story debunked, the request for a new trial was withdrawn. That night, according to the prosecution, McGuire drugged her husband, shot him dead, and subsequently dismembered his body. On June 5, 2005, investigators arrested Melanie McGuire and charged her with first-degree murder. Melanie McGuire, sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband in a case known as the "Suitcase Murder," filed a petition in New Jersey Superior Court Thursday asking a judge for more. Bill had a gambling problem, Melanie explained, and after their fight she knew he would be at the casino. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Husband Bill. Melanie worked as a fertility clinic nurse, while Bill worked as a computer programmer. She will not be eligible for parole until she has. He was 39 years old. 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. But despite her apparent grief, police soon began to suspect that Melanie McGuire had murdered her husband. The Melrose Place actresswho is now serving a second sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jerseyshares a prison cell with Melanie McGuire, the infamous "Suitcase Killer." If I wanted to look for something like that, I have a [physicians' desk reference]. I absolutely tried to have those charges taken off because I feared that people would look and think what they ultimately ended up thinking.. Dig, dig., 20/20 airs Fridays at 9 pm on ABC, right after Americas Funniest Home Videos at 8 pm. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. It is physically exhausting. Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. McGuire maintains her innocence, and wants her two adult sons to look into the case for themselves. Though a jury agreed and sentenced Melanie McGuire to life in prison, the so-called Suitcase Killer has long insisted upon her innocence. Colombia Finds Two New Shipwrecks Near The Site Of An 18th-Century Spanish Galleon That Sank With Billions In Treasure, The Life And Death Of JFK Jr., The Beloved Son Of John F. Kennedy, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a womens correctional facility in New Jersey. Image Credit: ABC News / 20/20 They surmised that Melanie had sedated Bill, shot him, and cut up his body. Through record tracing, they found out that the chloral hydrate was picked up at a Walgreens pharmacy just down the road from the McGuire children's daycare on the morning that Bill McGuire disappeared. The Superior Court of New Jersey affirmed her verdict and sentence in 2011. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? [9] Bill and Melanie owned a green couch, and investigators theorized that the murderer used a pillow or couch cushion as a makeshift silencer) to shoot Bill. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the murder, Melanie dropped her children off at child care and preschool. Melanie McGuire, who is not eligible for parole until she is 101 years old, said the hardest part is not being there for her children. Sara James. She said her marriage to Bill McGuire was not going well and claimed that he was violent. A few weeks later, once Bills body was discovered and Melanie was identified as the prime suspect, Dr. Bradley had asked her to swear upon her childrens life that she had no hand in this homicide, which she did. I still feel bothered. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. [11] Through her attorneys, Joe Tacopina,[12] Steve Turano, and Marc Ward, she pleaded not guilty to the charges. Melanie McGuire/Bill McGuire. It never made sense.. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. 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. "Beware of pretty faces that you find, a pretty face can hide an evil mind." -Johnny Ramistella. When investigators discovered the affair, they approached Miller. 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? ABC News also reported that other evidence included McGuire's purported internet search history, which amongst others included "undetectable poisons.". Sacks and Shlosberg claim that the tests run by the state's plastic expert were not sufficient to conclusively link the bags found in Melanie McGuires house and the ones used to wrap Bill McGuires body. After being released on bail, Melanie faced additional charges on October 11, 2005. The pair lived in Woodbridge, New Jersey where Bill worked at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and McGuire was a fertility clinic nurse in Morristown. Melanie McGuire has had no contact with them since before the verdict. Melanie Griffith set the Internet on fire. After all these years, I still feel hurt," McGuire told "20/20", For some, it mightve seemed like a real-life episode of The Sopranos.. On May 11, another suitcase was discovered. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? Melanie claims that Bill pushed her against the wall during a fight, hit her, and tried to choke her with a dryer sheet. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. Now the former fertility nurse is 47 years old and spending her life sentence in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey. Melanie says in the past, when theyre angry at each other, its a way of messing with each other, I guess you could say., It sounds beyond ridiculous sitting here saying it and I acknowledge that Its the truth, Melanie McGuire told 20/20.. McGuire is lodged at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, serving a life sentence in Clinton, New Jersey. Melanie McGuire admitted to having an affair with Miller. She was later charged with other offences including perjury and desecration of human remains, for which she also pled not guilt. Melanie's receipt for the gun also listed an unspecified purchase of $9.95; there were only two items in the store for that amount, and one of them was a box of wadcutter bullets. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Locane said she worries that her daughters and the public will forget her. Melanie McGuire, the 34-year-old fertility clinic nurse convicted of killing her husband and stuffing his remains into suitcases, was sentenced to life in prison this morning. These documents exist. She said that they believe the garbage bags were a prop to sway the jury. Miller agreed to cooperate with investigators and was never charged in the crime. Melanie went to Middletown High School South and. A four-count indictment came down from a state grand jury. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). She was immediately booked into the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center on first-degree murder charges, but made her $750,000 bail ($1.04 million today). She had apparently grown worried about their well-being upon noticing their behavior and got them tested. She may be eligible for parole after serving 66 years in prison, court documents filed in her case said. Candice King as Melanie McGuire in "Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story," which explore the real death of Bill McGuire in 2004. It's out there," she said. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/hlzcKR96Ss. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. 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. 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. Making matters worse, Melanie McGuire had called the company and attempted to have those charges removed. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. 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. Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. Who Is Melanie McGuire? McGuire went through a lengthy trial, which was televised on Court TV, from February to April 2007. 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." The day before his disappearance, the couple closed on the purchase of their first home. Trial photos of Melanie McGuire, a New Jersey nurse best known for being the perpetrator in the media-dubbed "suitcase murder." . ", Credit: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage; ABC, Amy Locane's prison cell roommate is the notorious Suitcase Killer. Thats what happened the night of April 28, 2004, the day Bill McGuire disappeared, according to his wife. Melanie then became the prime suspect in the investigation. Melanie Lyn McGuire (ne Slate; born October 8, 1972) is an American former nurse who was convicted of murdering her husband on April 28, 2004, in what media dubbed the "suitcase murder". [9] On May 11, a second larger suitcase was found on the beach of Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, by a graduate student cleaning up litter on the beach. One contained a torso and a head, the other a mans thighs and pelvis, according to Oxygen. She drugged him, shot him (in the head and chest) to death, and subsequently dismembered his remains. Melanie and Bill McGuire pictured in Atlantic City, New Jersey at an unknown date. McGuire appealed her case, saying she did not receive a fair trial. Miller was also married with children. They looked high and low to connect Melanie to some pet, and once they found that there was no way to connect Melanie to these pet hairs, it became not of evidentiary value, said Sacks. She then drove to Virginia on May 3, where the suitcases were thrown at night from an isolated stretch of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge into the bay. 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. The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. The prescription for chloral hydrate came from Millers prescription pad. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. Once Melanie spots Bills car from the highway, she decides shes going to move his car, said Shlosberg. Murders A-Z is a collection of true crime stories that take an in-depth look at both little-known and famous murders throughout history. It is physically exhausting. William and Melanie McGuires children, whose names are not revealed in any public records for their own privacy and safety, were placed with Bills elder sister, Cindy Ligosh. She again pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $10,000 bail. Melanie McGuire is a former nurse who worked at a fertility clinic in New Jersey. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. The body was eventually identified as 39 year-old Bill McGuire, an employee of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, who lived more than 300 miles away in Woodbridge, New Jersey. 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. This sensational case has thus often been referred to as the Suitcase Murder and has been profiled on several true-crime shows, including Oxygens Snapped, NBCs Dateline, CBS 48 Hours Mystery, IDs Deadly Affairs, and Forensic Files, amongst many others. 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. The film stars Candice King as Melanie McGuire, Michael Roark as William McGuire, Jackson Hurst as Bradley Miller, and Wendie Malick as Patricia Prezioso. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? In the evening hours of April 28, 2004, after the closing on the new house, she allegedly drugged and incapacitated Bill and then shot him sometime during April 28-29. 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. I dont know how you would dismember a body and effectively clean that up, said McGuire. This episode takes you through the case and trial, while showing Melanie being interviewed on an episode of 20/20 in 2007, and showing Melanie speak from prison today. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. The media soon dubbed the case the Suitcase Murder.. Melanie McGuire, 34-years old, sentenced to life in prison for murdering her husband Photo Source: NJ.com (website) I cannot even think about that. The 48-year-old actress and mother of two has been sober since the 2010 crash. NEW BRUNSWICK - Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that Melanie McGuire was found guilty of murder today in the 2004 shooting death of her husband, William McGuire, whose severed remains were found in three suitcases along the Virginia coast in May 2004. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? Melanie McGuire told ABC News Amy Robach in a rare interview from prison for "20/20.. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | September 25, 2020. Dig, dig. Prezioso believed the "human sawdust" was the result of Bill McGuire's dismemberment. [9] Police released a facial reconstruction sketch of the victim, which an acquaintance of Bill McGuire's recognized. His body was found in three separate suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay, which led to McGuires nickname, the Suitcase Killer.. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Lena Christine Kindschi of Perry, Oklahoma, who passed away on February 27, 2023, at the age of 92, leaving to mourn family and friends. Bill McGuire, 39, went missing on April 29, 2004. Melanie remembers this as. Powered by. Police also discovered small pieces of Bill's flesh, which authorities described as "human sawdust," inside the McGuire home, which they believed meant that McGuire had killed her husband. Pam Grier reflects on her most iconic roles, from Coffy to Jackie Brown. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. After all these years, I still feel hurt. [24][25] On April 29, 2014, McGuire filed a motion for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and newly discovered evidence. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. She offered explanations for the stories she told police,. 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. After seeing this report Melanie McGuire told Miller a story that prosecutors later called preposterous. This stuff exists, she said on the show. 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. As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. I still feel bothered. [6][7] She enrolled at Rutgers University with a double major in math and psychology and graduated in 1994. September 26, 2020 Examined According to 20/20, the police were able to quickly identify the dismembered man. She told Miller that she was furniture shopping, according to Prezioso, who said she believes that is when Melanie McGuire drove the suitcases with her husbands remains to Chesapeake Bay. After re-examining her murder conviction over a decade later,. 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.She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 . Miller, however, claimed that the prescription was written in Melanies handwriting. She became known as the Suitcase Killer during her televised 2007 trial. Dr. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?". Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband, said Sacks. 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 . She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a double degree in American History and French. [14], Shortly after her conviction, but before sentencing, McGuire appealed for a new trial on the basis of the story of jailhouse informant Christopher Thieme that her husband was deeply in debt and may have been killed by Atlantic City mobsters. They really turned this place upside down a number of times They couldn't find any forensic evidence whatsoever to establish this was a crime scene.. Download is FREE. For the two toddlers, they usually woke up, saw their parents, went to daycare, came back, saw their parents, ate, played, and then slept. Melanie McGuire. I panicked, Melanie told 20/20. Therefore, more than a year after the incident, on June 7, 2005, Melanie was officially arrested and charged with first-degree murder. But this was the first time somebody was basically saying, We hear you, said Melanie McGuire. [5], Melanie Lyn Slate grew up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township, New Jersey, attending Middletown High School South. 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. Read More: Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now? [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. The evidence in this case points to a well-organized, meticulously planned execution of a murder, Prezioso said during the trial. 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. Actress Candice King who is best known for her work in the Vampire Diaries will play McGuire. Watch new at 9/8c on ABC. They lived in an apartment Woodbridge, New Jersey. Melanie McGuire married her husband in 1999 and later alleged that he had a gambling problem and a violent temper. He probably would have broken my cheek if [the hit] had been a closed fist, Melanie McGuire said. In 2004, three separate dark green Kenneth Cole suitcases, containing pieces of a dismembered body, were found in and around the Chesapeake Bay, near Virginia Beach, Virginia. 01: Three suitcases, containing human remains, surfaced in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay in May 2004. Melanie McGuire told the podcast "Direct Appeal" that she is not the suitcase killer, and that the true murderer is still on the loose. (The court awarded custody to Bill McGuires sister, Cindy Ligosh.) [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. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. 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. 2011 - Google Scholar", "N.J. appeals court upholds life sentence for convicted suitcase killer Melanie McGuire", "State v. McGuire, 27 A. A jury convicted McGuire in 2007, and she was sentenced to life in prison plus five years. She offered explanations for the stories she told police, such as her claim she stumbled across her husbands car in Atlantic City and moved it. McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. After they released a sketch to the public, one of Bill McGuires friends soon came forward. Yesterday, more than a year after the three grisly discoveries, Melanie McGuire, 32, of Brick, N.J., was charged with first-degree murder in the April 29, 2004, slaying of her husband of four. It says: The State alleged that defendant wanted to end her marriage to Bill but also had concerns about divorce. He lived with his wife Melanie and their two boys in an apartment in Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States. Meghan Sacks, host of podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professor questions Melanie McGuire's guilt. She actually obtained the means to incapacitate Bill from her workplace, which eventually became her downfall. She then graduated from the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing (now Raritan Bay Medical Center) in 1997 with a nursing diploma. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment. When Bill McGuires body was found with bullet wounds, prosecutors pointed to the fact that Melanie McGuire had purchased a gun in Pennsylvania just two days before her husband was reported missing.
March 14, 2023