In 1999, she started to work as a nurse at Reproductive Medicine Associates, one of the countrys largest fertility clinics. 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. 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. Melanie worked as a fertility clinic nurse, while Bill worked as a computer programmer. Also if the crime scene didn't happen [at the family home] and she's home with her children all night, where is this happening? Melanie McGuire admitted to having an affair with a doctor at the fertility clinic where she worked. The podcast, hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors Meghan Sacks and Amy Schlosberg questions Melanie McGuire's guilt and suggests that there is evidence in the case that never received the legal scrutiny it deserved. Melanie McGuire Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Husband Bill, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020. It was reliving it. She actually obtained the means to incapacitate Bill from her workplace, which eventually became her downfall. 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 . Because the murder did not occur in Virginia, however, authorities turned over their investigation to the New Jersey State Police.[10]. 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. When a bullet passes through, its smooth surface becomes imprinted with the same number of lands and grooves as the barrel. YouTubeMelanie McGuire married her husband in 1999 and later alleged that he had a gambling problem and a violent temper. It never made sense.. 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. 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. 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.. During her conversation with ABCs Amy Robach, Melanie continued to insist on her innocence. The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women near Clinton, New Jersey, made headlines for allegations of sexual abuse and for the recent spread of the coronavirus, New Jersey Spotlight News reported. They lived in an apartment Woodbridge, New Jersey. Melanie McGuire is a former nurse who worked at a fertility clinic in New Jersey. "It turned out that when the record check was done with Pennsylvania, a record came back that Melanie McGuire had purchased a gun," said Patti Prezioso, the lead investigator and prosecutor at Melanie McGuire's trial. 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. These documents exist. Speaking to ABC News' Amy Robach for 20/20, she said: "I'm doing this because there's a murderer walking around. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. It was the 28th of April 2004. Though a jury agreed and sentenced Melanie McGuire to life in prison, the so-called Suitcase Killer has long insisted upon her innocence. She didn't fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg said. 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. 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. 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. It is physically exhausting. I just wanted to get away from him at that point. 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. Police identified the man in the suitcases as 39-year-old William McGuire, from Woodbridge New Jersey, and they quickly focused their attention on Bill's wife, Melanie McGuire, who did not report him missing. Her defense attorneys argued that anyone could have conducted the searches. There are times when podcasts and media can shine a light on certain cases where what the government did was not right. Prosecutors believed that McGuire forged the prescription as she had access to this prescription pad. 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. William "Bill" McGuire was a husband and father of two. Watch new at 9/8c on ABC. When investigators processed Bill McGuire's car, they also found a bottle of the sedative chloral hydrate and two syringes. [15][16][17][18][19] On July 19, 2007, at the age of 34, McGuire was sentenced to life in prison.[20]. [9] Melanie admitted that the couple owned the same set of luggage that the body was found in, a matching three-piece set of Kenneth Cole suitcases. 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. by Sarah Jae Leiber Sep. 21, 2020. [9] Police released a facial reconstruction sketch of the victim, which an acquaintance of Bill McGuire's recognized. They brought in the luminol, and they also pulled down parts of the walls. 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. That requires two drivers so certainly that means someone helped her, said Prezioso. "I panicked. 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. Melanie McGuire, a New Jersey woman who was sentenced to life in prison, in 2007, for the murder of her husband Bill McGuire, discusses the case and maintains her innocence; Her defense lawyers have not said if McGuire will testify . by Chilling Crimes July 20, 2020. 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.. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. On April 23, 2007 McGuire was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder, perjury, desecration of human remains and possession of a weapon for unlawful means. Guilty or not, Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains an object of fascination. 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 went on trial on March 5, 2007. He ran tests, but he didn't do all the tests that you actually need to definitively say whether these bags match, added Sacks. I still feel bothered. "I can't even fathom that. However, McGuire was acquitted of the two counts of hindering apprehension, as well as tampering with evidence and possession of Xanax without prescription. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Or, learn about Stacey Castor, the Black Widow who killed two of her husbands with antifreeze. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | September 25, 2020. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the fact, Melanie was charged with first-degree murder, leading to her sons being taken and placed into a much safer home for them to grow up in. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. The Secret in the Suitcase: With David Muir, Amy Robach, Melanie McGuire, William McGuire. McGuire's conviction was affirmed by an appeals court on March 16, 2011. It shows no inmates or staff at the facility had confirmed positive test results between August 22, 2020, and September 25, 2020. 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. It was hard. Youre talking about hours [of driving] and there isnt enough time, said McGuire. I still feel bothered. Did Melanie McGuire dismember her husband? "I won't be home until my oldest is 18 and my youngest is 16," she told EW. As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. She may be eligible for parole after serving 66 years in prison, court documents filed in her case said. Melanie McGuire has had no contact with them since before the verdict. The grainy images appeared to show Bill McGuire's car being pulled into a spot, but did not capture who the driver was. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. Melanie McGuire/Bill McGuire. After pulling the surveillance footage from the parking lot, however, investigators were disappointed. When investigators discovered the affair, they approached Miller. 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. Police quickly found his car in a parking lot there. Bill and Melanie McGuire in happier days. 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. On June 5, 2005, authorities arrested Melanie McGuire on first-degree murder charges. Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. At trial, prosecutors presented an apparent mountain of circumstantial evidence against Melanie McGuire in Bill McGuires disappearance and murder. 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 McGuire was found guilty of murdering Bill McGuire, 39, in April 2004. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. 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. Prezioso said she believed that Melanie McGuire was planting the car in Atlantic City to create an illusion that Bill McGuire was still alive. Prosecutors believed that Melanie McGuires motive to kill her husband came from her desire to start a new life with her lover, Dr. Bradley Miller, a partner at the medical practice RMA Associates, where she worked as a nurse. Melanie and Bill McGuire cut the cake at their wedding. Sacks firmly believes that prosecutors failed to answer key questions in the case. During her trial, Miller protested McGuire's innocence, testifying that she had called him on April 28 to say that she was going to tell her husband she wanted a divorce after they had closed the deal on a new home, ABC News reported. Prosecutors argued that she killed her husband so. 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. They discovered that Melanie had bought a gun in Pennsylvania two days before Bill went missing and that she was having an affair with a doctor at her practice, Bradley Miller. Melanie remembers this as. 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. 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. Melanie Griffith set the Internet on fire. She claimed he walked out on her and the kids . After all these years, I still feel hurt. [9] Melanie later claimed she had moved the car as a "prank",[8] even though she had applied for a protection from abuse order days earlier after allegedly being slapped by her husband. Dig, dig. No one plugged the serial number of my gun into a website to find out what the specifications were, said Melanie McGuire. Miller was also married with children. The prosecution argued McGuires motive was her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, a partner at the medical practice RMA Associates. 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. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. They searched gun records in the state but found nothing. I absolutely tried to have those charges taken off because I feared that people would look and think what they ultimately ended up thinking," McGuire said. Trial photos of Melanie McGuire, a New Jersey nurse best known for being the perpetrator in the media-dubbed "suitcase murder." . She was accused and convicted of murdering and dismembering her husband, William Bill McGuire, after which she packed him up in three suitcases and threw him into the Chesapeake Bay. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. [21] The case has been profiled on television outlets: Snapped Oxygen Network; Dateline NBC; 48 Hours Mystery CBS; and The Investigators TruTV; Deadly Affairs Investigation Discovery, and Forensic Files II, among other true crime television shows. Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. Melanie McGuire said that Bill McGuire had asked her to buy the gun for him since he had a felony conviction from a bad driving record, which barred him from purchasing one on his own. People are feeling this way now, but when it's no longer a story, I'll just be forgotten. Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. McGuire had a message for her sons, who are now adults, "Make up your mind. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. Investigators, however, found it highly suspicious that Melanie had then tried to have 90-cent EZ Pass toll charges, which proved shed gone to Atlantic City, removed from her account. Few, if any, knew that McGuire, a mother of two young sons, was having an affair with her physician boss, Dr. Bradley Miller. 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. Investigators also found trash bags in Melanie McGuire's home that they believed matched those used to wrap parts of Bill McGuire's body. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave But though Bill and Melanie had two sons together, their marriage swiftly soured. They closed the documents on their new house on April 28, but never moved in. Police discovered Bill's car in Atlantic City and when they obtained surveillance footage, they discovered that McGuire had used a highway toll twice to drive to the location, and that she'd attempted to have the charges removed, per ABC News. Nothing in Melanie McGuires early life suggested shed turn to murder. But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. Prezioso said the evidence presented by the states computer forensic expert at trial was robust and Melanie McGuires legal team presented their own expert as well. McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie Lyn Slate has spent all of her life in New Jersey growing up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township. Prezioso said she has no doubt Melanie McGuire's gun was the murder weapon. There was. Miller looked at the prescription and he said, Thats not my signature and it appears to be Melanie McGuires handwriting, recalled Prezioso. [9] Police received a tip from a private towing company employee who said he towed a 2002 Nissan Maxima (Bill McGuire's car) from the Flamingo Motel in Atlantic City, on May 8, 2004. 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. 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. We were not gathering evidence from a gun manufacturer's website. 3d 411 - NJ: Appellate Div. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. McGuire offered a message to her sons on 20/20, who are now adults, encouraging them to look deeper into the case and find the truth for themselves. She offered explanations for the stories she told police,. Lifetime's new film Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story explores the shocking death of Bill McGuire on April 28, 2004. There are just too many holes in this story.. 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. 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. On May 11, another suitcase was discovered. Candice King as Melanie McGuire in "Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story," which explore the real death of Bill McGuire in 2004. Her 2007 trial became a nationally televised event. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. There were times I wanted him gone, she told 20/20. The evidence in this case points to a well-organized, meticulously planned execution of a murder, Prezioso said during the trial. So if you wish to learn more about her and her current whereabouts, heres what we know. 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. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a double degree in American History and French. According to PEOPLE, Melanie claimed that Bill had a gambling problem and a volatile temper. 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 contained a torso and a head, the other a mans thighs and pelvis, according to Oxygen. Melanie Mcguire has been languishing in a prison cell for the past 13 years. 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 says shes innocent and that someone else killed her husband, Bill, in 2004. I still feel bothered. Yet, in the end, it turned out that shed lied about it all. She said in a moment of admitted irrationality she decided to drive down there and look for his car. Indeed, she spent most of her time bringing new life into the world. The bullets that came out of my husband had six lands and grooves," said Melanie McGuire. 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. Melanie McGuire is currently in a New Jersey jail, awaiting sentencing on July 19. McGuire maintains her innocence, and wants her two adult sons to look into the case for themselves. Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. 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. She bought a gun two days before his disappearance in Pennsylvania, but said she did so for her husband, and speculated he was having trouble with someone. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?. This stuff exists, she said on the show. It sounds beyond ridiculous sitting here saying it and I acknowledge that Its the truth, she later told 20/20. At that time, Melanie was a nurse at a fertility clinic and had managed to have a long-standing affair with one of the doctors there, Bradley Miller. The circumstantial evidence against Melanie McGuire was mounting by this point, but investigators were still having trouble finding any physical evidence that would link Melanie McGuire to her husband's murder, according to Sacks. Download is FREE. Miller also said in his . Melanie McGuire - Wikipedia. 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." At the time, the local media also reported this detail about the parking lot's surveillance cameras. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. 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. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. 1:15. Prezioso believed the "human sawdust" was the result of Bill McGuire's dismemberment. McGuire appealed her case, saying she did not receive a fair trial. There's less of a waiting period.. 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. Of course, since we do not know either of their names, we have no way of digging up any other credible information concerning their current standing. 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.. I grabbed the baby and went to the bathroom right behind me and shut the door. Another important development for investigators was the discovery of Bill McGuire's car. A nurse said her husband walked out on her. Now the former fertility nurse is 47 years old and spending her life sentence in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey. But though she denied parking it there, Melanie later claimed that she had gone to Atlantic City and moved the car to mess with him. After all these years, I still feel hurt, Melanie said. But this was the first time somebody was basically saying, We hear you, said Melanie McGuire. It was a mistake on a gun manufacturer's website. [1], By April 2004, the McGuires had been married for five years. The killer is out there and its not me, Melanie told Robach. [8] She married United States Navy veteran William T. "Bill" McGuire (born September 21, 1964) in 1999. Melanie claims she's innocent, and hopes that she will be released someday. Her penalty is actually categorized as the following: life in prison for first-degree murder; life in prison for the possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose; 10 years for desecrating human remains; and five years for perjury. Miller, however, claimed that the prescription was written in Melanies handwriting. Meanwhile, investigators found more and more evidence that suggested that Melanie McGuire had killed her husband. The court awarded custody of her two sons to Bill McGuires sister, Cindy Ligosh, and Melanie McGuire has had no contact with them since her trial. The investigation into who killed Bill McGuire began in Virginia but eventually moved to New Jersey. Melanie McGuire, now 47, maintains her innocence from the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, the state's only women's prison where there are approximately 500. However, not much else about the day was typical. With all of her appeals exhausted, Melanie McGuire said she participated in the podcast hoping that new evidence might be discovered that could lead to her exoneration. 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. 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. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. In April 2004, Melanie and Bill McGuire seemed to have it all: successful careers, two young sons and a new $500,000 home. ET on ABC. Melanie McGuire is now serving a lifetime sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, as Entertainment Weekly reports.
