They searched gun records in the state but found nothing. 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. 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. Three suitcases were found washed up, inside each were the remains. 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. "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. 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. During the next three days, according to the State, and likely with the help of an accomplice as yet unidentified, defendant caused Bills body to be cut into sections with a reciprocating saw and a knife, wrapped the body in industrial-type garbage bags sealed with adhesive tape, and packed it into the matching set of luggage. Getty Images. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. 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. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. 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. However, the state's expert disagreed, testifying that he ran the tests he believed were necessary to link the bags. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a womens correctional facility in New Jersey. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Youre talking about hours [of driving] and there isnt enough time, said McGuire. 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. Thats what happened the night of April 28, 2004, the day Bill McGuire disappeared, according to his wife. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? But, after that fateful April day, when the sun rose, their father was nowhere to be found. The Secret in the Suitcase: With David Muir, Amy Robach, Melanie McGuire, William McGuire. 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. In 2004, Bill McGuire was found dismembered in three separate dark green Kenneth Cole suitcases that were found in and around the Chesapeake Bay, near Virginia Beach, Virginia. Melanie McGuire was victim Bill's wife, who was accused of his murder and dubbed the "Suitcase Killer" when the case went to trial. She claims that someone went after Bill because of his gambling debts and that the real perpetrator of the Suitcase Murder is still out there. William "Bill" McGuire was having a great day. [9] The third and smallest suitcase, containing arms, was recovered floating in the water near the Chesapeake Bay BridgeTunnel's second artificial island on May 16. Police also learned that Melanie had been having a long-term affair with a co-worker named Bradley Miller. 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. It never made sense.. When a bullet passes through, its smooth surface becomes imprinted with the same number of lands and grooves as the barrel. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). says the actress. (The court awarded custody to Bill McGuires sister, Cindy Ligosh.) She is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, according to her prison records. Before she was charged with murder, Melanie contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the $0.90 charge removed from her account history. 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. Over a period of 12 days in May 2004, three dark green suitcases were discovered in and near the Chesapeake Bay. Five days after Bill McGuire went missing, investigators said Melanie McGuire made another bizarre road trip, this time to Delaware. This chart demonstrates the significant drop in active cases from approximately 800 active inmate cases in DOC facilities at the peak of the pandemic, the DOC website says. The Twisted Case of Melanie McGuire That Chapter 1.81M subscribers Subscribe 64K 1.8M views 9 months ago 2004, Chesapeake Bay. "People ask me, 'Explain this. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/hlzcKR96Ss. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? Melanie went to work at a fertility clinic and Bill began teaching computer science at a technical college. Lifetime's new film Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story explores the shocking death of Bill McGuire on April 28, 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 . 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. [B]ut gone doesnt mean dead.. The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. However, McGuire was acquitted of the two counts of hindering apprehension, as well as tampering with evidence and possession of Xanax without prescription. ], Pretty Little Liars Reboot Is Coming-of-RAGE Horror with More Murder, Cast of Pretty Little Liars, 2017, l-r: Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, (cropped) photo: Dominick D / CC BY-SA, 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC. Wronko, who is also Locane's boyfriend, is appealing the new sentence, which he believes violates her double jeopardy protections. Dr. She offered explanations for the stories she told police,. She didnt fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg told 20/20. But though both the podcast and the making of the movie have brought attention to the Suitcase Murder, it doesnt change the fact that Melanie McGuire is behind bars. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. [22] She must serve more than 63 years before she is eligible for parole. Offers may be subject to change without notice. "I can't even fathom that. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. After re-examining her murder conviction over a decade later, Sacks and Shlosberg, believe Melanie McGuire was wrongfully convicted. [9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. 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. Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors Meghan Sacks and Amy Shlosberg have an entire podcast called Direct Appeal dedicated to questioning Melanies conviction. There was. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | September 25, 2020. Dig, dig. As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. ET on ABC. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Melanie Griffith set the Internet on fire. 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. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. Melanie McGuire, 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". However, after five years and two kids, their marriage ended on April 28, 2004, with Melanie killing her husband. They insisted he was a compulsive gambler who had become increasingly moody, unpredictable, and tempestuous in the months before his passing. Melanie McGuire/Bill McGuire. 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 was convicted in the grisly murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, whose body was found dismembered in suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay. 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. After pulling the surveillance footage from the parking lot, however, investigators were disappointed. Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. After re-examining her murder conviction over a decade later,. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Melanie McGuire has been in prison for 13 years, but she still maintains her innocence, she said in an interview with 20/20. 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. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. [9] McGuire persisted in claiming she was innocent, and claimed her husband had become increasingly moody and unpredictable and was a compulsive gambler. The 62-year-old actress posted a jaw-dropping selfie on Instagram Tuesday night, featuring the . 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. That same year, she married her husband, a U.S. Navy veteran named William Bill McGuire. "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." . He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. 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. After being released on bail, Melanie faced additional charges on October 11, 2005. Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. 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. However, not much else about the day was typical. 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. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. So if you wish to learn more about her and her current whereabouts, heres what we know. She does have an interesting new cellmate: In 2020, Melanie began sharing a cell with former actress Amy Locane, who starred in the TV show "Melrose Place." 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. In September 2020 McGuire took part in a rare interview with ABC News, in which she continued to profess her innocence for the crime. Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. 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. Prezioso said she believed that Melanie McGuire was planting the car in Atlantic City to create an illusion that Bill McGuire was still alive. She later told police that she believed he'd gone to Atlantic City to gamble as he had a penchant for doing so. This stuff exists, she said on the show. McGuire was charged with first-degree murder on June 2, 2005, for which she pleaded not guilty, and she made bail. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. "There was no evidence connecting him to this crime.. Lands and grooves are rifling characteristics that are machine pressed into the barrel of a gun. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook . During the 20/20 interview, Melanie sends a message to her now adult sons, whom she hasnt had contact with since her 2007 trial. Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband, said Sacks. Melanie was a nurse at a fertility clinic and Bill was a computer programmer. 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. 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. Dig, dig. Now her children have neither a mother or a father, neither one, because of Melanie McGuire. 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. 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. Police quickly found his car in a parking lot there. 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. 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. A few days later, a suitcase surfaced in a bay miles away with a horrifying discovery inside. Once Melanie spots Bills car from the highway, she decides shes going to move his car, said Shlosberg. She again pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $10,000 bail. They opened it and found a mans dismembered legs, cut off at the knee. At trial, prosecutors presented an apparent mountain of circumstantial evidence against Melanie McGuire in Bill McGuires disappearance and murder. It doesn't make any sense.' Download is FREE. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. His business partner described him as a good father . [9] Police released a facial reconstruction sketch of the victim, which an acquaintance of Bill McGuire's recognized. She was later charged with other offences including perjury and desecration of human remains, for which she also pled not guilt. Melanie McGuire, The Suitcase Killer Who Murdered And Dismembered Her Husband. In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. I still feel bothered. Dig, dig., 20/20 airs Fridays at 9 pm on ABC, right after Americas Funniest Home Videos at 8 pm. Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. 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. Prezioso is certain that Bill McGuires murderer is the woman who was convicted and is now sitting in prison. Dig, dig. Meghan Sacks and Amy Schlosberg are the hosts of the podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors. The podcasters and Melanie McGuire also point to unexplained animal hair found on Bill McGuires dismembered body and noted in investigative reports. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. I have a book that I can look in that doesn't leave an internet history, Melanie McGuire told "20/20.". There are times when podcasts and media can shine a light on certain cases where what the government did was not right. Miller, however, claimed that the prescription was written in Melanies handwriting. There were times I wanted him gone, she told 20/20. McGuire is lodged at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, serving a life sentence in Clinton, New Jersey. September 26, 2020 Examined When investigators processed Bill McGuire's car, they also found a bottle of the sedative chloral hydrate and two syringes. Miller eventually testified against Melanie McGuire at her trial. Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. 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.. His wife, Melanie McGuire, a fertility nurse and the mother of his two sons, was eventually convicted of murdering him and dumping his body. [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. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? She was sentenced to life in prison. 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. Guilty or not, Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains an object of fascination. Would love your thoughts, please comment. The New Jersey fertility nurse was sentenced to life in prison back in 2007 for murdering her husband Bill in April 2004. 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. 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. 3d 948 - NJ: Supreme Court 2011 - Google Scholar", "N.J. Supreme Court won't hear appeal of convicted 'suitcase killer', "Convicted killer Melanie McGuire seeking post-conviction relief in June hearing", "Suitcase killer Melanie McGuire seeks new review of evidence", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Melanie_McGuire&oldid=1142209125, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 02:58. Her defense attorneys argued that anyone could have conducted the searches. That requires two drivers so certainly that means someone helped her, said Prezioso. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. McGuire's conviction was affirmed by an appeals court on March 16, 2011. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. 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; Dubbed the "Suitcase Killer," she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, at the age of 34. After all these years, I still feel hurt. 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. In 1999, she started to work as a nurse at Reproductive Medicine Associates, one of the countrys largest fertility clinics. 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. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. With the story debunked, the request for a new trial was withdrawn. She then called Miller the next morning, and he said "she was upset" and had told him about the fight they'd had. The investigation into who killed Bill McGuire began in Virginia but eventually moved to New Jersey. She will not be eligible for parole until she has served 66 years in prison. Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story is available to watch in Canada with a Philo subscription! Miller looked at the prescription and he said, Thats not my signature and it appears to be Melanie McGuires handwriting, recalled Prezioso. The prosecution argued McGuires motive was her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, a partner at the medical practice RMA Associates. Melanie McGuire is a former nurse who worked at a fertility clinic in New Jersey. 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. 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. ET on Saturday, June 18 on the Lifetime network. 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. Melanie McGuires story made national headlines in the mid-2000s, when she was charged with first-degree murder and dubbed the Suitcase Killer by some in the media. I guess it is comforting [that people are interested]. ", Through her attorney Jim Wronko, Locane describes McGuire as "very nice and pleasant and smart and helpful.". [27][28], In 2022, Lifetime produced a movie called Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" series of movies for television. From Austin Butler and Cate Blanchett to a potential Best Supporting Actress toss-up, see who EW thinks will win at the 2023 Oscars. 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". It was the timing of that purchase, though, that really caught the eye of investigators: It happened just two days before Bill McGuire went missing. The MCUs tiniest heroes are kicking off its biggest phase yet, setting up the next several years of storytelling. Melanie McGuire was a former nurse in the United States who was found guilty of murdering her husband on April 28, 2004. [26], On September 25, 2014, McGuire appeared in court with her new attorney Lois DeJulio, a public defender, to try to get a hearing that could overturn her 2007 murder conviction, on the grounds that her previous legal representation by Joe Tacopina was inadequate or ineffective. 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. 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. This suitcase was found to contain the head and torso with three bullet wounds, two in the chest and one in the head. But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. Then, they looked in Pennsylvania. After seeing this report Melanie McGuire told Miller a story that prosecutors later called preposterous. I grabbed the baby and went to the bathroom right behind me and shut the door. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. Melanie McGuire defends her innocence from inside prison in 2019, over a decade after she was convicted. 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. They pulled out the piping, pulling floorboards up, said Sacks. [24][25] On April 29, 2014, McGuire filed a motion for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and newly discovered evidence. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Less than a year later, the McGuires had their first son. [8] She married United States Navy veteran William T. "Bill" McGuire (born September 21, 1964) in 1999. https://directappealpodcast.com/. I just burst into tears, Melanie said of learning about her husbands death in a 2007 interview. [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. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. 01: Three suitcases, containing human remains, surfaced in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay in May 2004. 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.