Bill McGuire was murdered by his wife Melanie McGuire, and his body was found near Virginia Beach's Chesapeake Bay in 2004. 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 . Sara James. Melanie Griffith set the Internet on fire. Melanie McGuire claimed that her gun could not have been the murder weapon since the numbers of lands and grooves on the bullets that came out of Bill McGuire didn't match the number that the manufacturing website said it had made her gun with. So if you wish to learn more about her and her current whereabouts, heres what we know. Friday on #ABC2020: The co-hosts of the @directappeal podcast tell @ARobach why they believe Melanie McGuire was wrongfully convicted: I dont think that there was enough evidence to convict her. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/qJfD3ATBkD. 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". After all these years, I still feel hurt. Investigators searched the home for evidence multiple times, checking to see if Bill McGuire had been killed and dismembered there. Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. I panicked, Melanie told 20/20. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. According to 20/20, the police were able to quickly identify the dismembered man. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. For her part, Melanie insisted that her husband had stormed out after a fight. They shared two children together but their marriage was seemingly not a happy one as McGuire embarked on an affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, who was then a partner at the clinic she worked in, per Fox News. 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. 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. Another important development for investigators was the discovery of Bill McGuire's car. "After all these years, I still feel hurt. Download is FREE. McGuire's conviction was affirmed by an appeals court on March 16, 2011. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie Lyn Slate has spent all of her life in New Jersey growing up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township. Would love your thoughts, please comment. So she drove around until she found his car and then moved it as a prank. Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. Also if the crime scene didnt happen [at the family home] and shes home with her children all night, where is this happening? McGuire had been married for five years by April 2004. Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. Her defense lawyers have not said if McGuire will testify . At trial, prosecutors presented an apparent mountain of circumstantial evidence against Melanie McGuire in Bill McGuires disappearance and murder. Five days after Bill McGuire went missing, investigators said Melanie McGuire made another bizarre road trip, this time to Delaware. As of June 22, 2020, two inmates had died of COVID-19. 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. After seeing this report Melanie McGuire told Miller a story that prosecutors later called preposterous. 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. Few, if any, knew that McGuire, a mother of two young sons, was having an affair with her physician boss, Dr. Bradley Miller. 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. In the early morning hours of April 29, 2004, the day her husband disappeared, Melanie McGuire said that they had a violent fight and claimed that he choked her with a dryer sheet and hit her before leaving the house. But this was the first time somebody was basically saying, We hear you, said Melanie McGuire. Lifetime's new film Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story explores the shocking death of Bill McGuire on April 28, 2004. This stuff exists, she said on the show. 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. 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. They were confident Miller was not involved in the crime but were never able to bring charges against anyone else. 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. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? Police also found a number of suspicious internet searches on the McGuires home computer, including questions like: how to purchase guns illegally, how to commit murder, and undetectable poisons. And they believed that the garbage bags in the McGuire home matched the bags wrapped around Bill McGuires dismembered body. [22] She must serve more than 63 years before she is eligible for parole. My job is to convince the jury. 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. Powered by. She claimed he walked out on her and the kids . Melanie then became the prime suspect in the investigation. These documents exist. On June 5, 2005, authorities arrested Melanie McGuire on first-degree murder charges. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Melanie went to work at a fertility clinic and Bill began teaching computer science at a technical college. These documents exist. 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 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. Melanie McGuire - Wikipedia. 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. 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. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. [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. "My job is not to convince the world. A four-count indictment came down from a state grand jury. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. On June 5, 2005, investigators arrested Melanie McGuire and charged her with first-degree murder. by Sarah Jae Leiber Sep. 21, 2020. Most recently, though, it has been the subject of ABCs 20/20, in an episode entitled Interview with Melanie McGuire, where we get Melanies complete perspective for the first time. 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. She offered explanations for the stories she told police,. 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. Guilty or not, Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains an object of fascination. A Wednesday. She pleaded not guilty to all indictments and soon posted an accumulated bail of over $2 million. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. Melanie did try to appeal her case and later get relief from her long sentence, but her petitions were denied. 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. 2011 - Google Scholar", "N.J. appeals court upholds life sentence for convicted suitcase killer Melanie McGuire", "State v. McGuire, 27 A. 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. Melanie McGuire, 34-years old, sentenced to life in prison for murdering her husband Photo Source: NJ.com (website) Melanie McGuire, a 34-year-old mother of two, maintains that she didn't kill her husband and says the real killer tried to frame her. A nurse said her husband walked out on her. 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 McGuire family resided in a Woodbridge Township apartment but had plans to move to a much larger home in Warren County by the end of April. But she didnt report Bill missing. ET on ABC All we know is that they havent been in touch with their mother since before she was convicted. 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. There are just too many holes in this story.. The Departments virus mitigation tactics, along with its universal testing initiative of staff and inmates, has controlled the spread of COVID-19 within NJDOC facilities. 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. Investigators also found trash bags in Melanie McGuire's home that they believed matched those used to wrap parts of Bill McGuire's body. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. The New Jersey fertility nurse was sentenced to life in prison back in 2007 for murdering her husband Bill in April 2004. [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. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? [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. She maintains her innocence and . In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. A top priority for New Jersey investigators was determining if Melanie McGuire had ever owned a gun. Melanie McGuire admitted to having an affair with Miller. They closed the documents on their new house on April 28, but never moved in. Welcome to the Quantum Realm. Less than a year later, the McGuires had their first son. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. A dramatization of the romance and marriage of the McGuires, the 2004 murder of Bill, the investigation, and the subsequent trial of Melanie, who who dismembered and disposed of her husband's body in suitcases. [13] She was also convicted of the lesser charges of perjury, desecration of human remains, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. 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. 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. McGuire maintains her innocence, and wants her two adult sons to look into the case for themselves. The grainy images appeared to show Bill McGuire's car being pulled into a spot, but did not capture who the driver was. After being released on bail, Melanie faced additional charges on October 11, 2005. 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. Melanie McGuire, the Suitcase Killer, gave a rare interview to Amy Robach of ABC News in September 2020. She says she is innocent. The 47-year-old is currently serving a life sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey . He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?". ", Through her attorney Jim Wronko, Locane describes McGuire as "very nice and pleasant and smart and helpful.". She actually obtained the means to incapacitate Bill from her workplace, which eventually became her downfall. For the first time in years, she says she has hope that an explosive new podcast, "Direct Appeal," could help exonerate her. I believe that the evidence presented to the jury told the jury what happened," Prezioso said. Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story is available to watch in Canada with a Philo subscription! 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. They brought in the luminol, and they also pulled down parts of the walls. "I have this Forrest Gump-ian way of touching something and it becomes a hit!" [23] On September 20, 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear her further appeal. [10] Prosecutors contended her motive for murder was to take up a new life with her lover. 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. There were times I wanted him gone, she told 20/20. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. The 62-year-old actress posted a jaw-dropping selfie on Instagram Tuesday night, featuring the . On July 19, 2007 she was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole until she is 100 years old. They insisted he was a compulsive gambler who had become increasingly moody, unpredictable, and tempestuous in the months before his passing. 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. 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? [9] Similarly, a medical grade towel found with Bill's body matched those stocked at the clinic where Melanie worked. 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. Prosecutors argued that she killed her husband so. Now the former fertility nurse is 47 years old and spending her life sentence in Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey. State Superior Court Judge Angela Borkowski gave Locane more time after the punishmentfor her original conviction (second-degree vehicular homicide and assault by an auto), which was deemed too lenient. Dig, dig.". Melanie McGuire and defense attorney Stephen Turano, right, react to the verdict during her trial in New Brunswick, N.J., Monday, April 23, 2007. ET on Saturday, June 18 on the Lifetime network. McGuire told 20/20 she did not commit the crimes for which she was convicted. They searched gun records in the state but found nothing. However, not much else about the day was typical. The request was subsequently denied. ABCs 20/20: Interview with Melanie McGuire is a two-hour broadcast wherein the suitcase killer opens up about the circumstances that landed her in prison for the rest of her life. Prezioso said she believed that Melanie McGuire was planting the car in Atlantic City to create an illusion that Bill McGuire was still alive. On camera, Melanie tells them: Make up your mind. 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. Powered by. Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. In September 2020 McGuire took part in a rare interview with ABC News, in which she continued to profess her innocence for the crime. 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. The body parts belonged to a New Jersey father of two named Bill McGuire, and police soon suspected that his wife, Melanie McGuire, had killed him. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a double degree in American History and French. 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.. Melanie McGuire listens to testimony today during her murder trial. Following the 2018 investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the prison, the DOC released a statement in April, 2020, saying reforms were introduced at the prison to make it easier for inmates to report sexual abuse. As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. Melanie McGuire has had no contact with them since before the verdict. She didnt fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg told 20/20. Bill McGuire, 39, disappeared April 28, 2004, shortly after announcing to his friends that he and his wife had just closed the sale of their first home, according to an appeal filed in her case.