[9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. It is physically exhausting. She wished to avoid purchasing a house at substantial expense and beginning a new phase in a marriage she regretted. Days later, an unidentified man, believed by many to be her stepfather, also contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the charge removed. Miller, however, claimed that the prescription was written in Melanies handwriting. "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. She then graduated from the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing (now Raritan Bay Medical Center) in 1997 with a nursing diploma. 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. Indeed, she spent most of her time bringing new life into the world. Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. I dont know how you would dismember a body and effectively clean that up, said McGuire. 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. McGuire was convicted Monday of killing her. 3d 411 - NJ: Appellate Div. 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. He ran tests, but he didn't do all the tests that you actually need to definitively say whether these bags match, added Sacks. 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. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. The chart below captures the current COVID cases within the inmate and staff population, following Phase 2 testing, which includes retesting those individuals who were previously negative. 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. Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now. https://t.co/ZGewRPfd2o pic.twitter.com/i4dBUBR7PJ. ], 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. The appeal raised many claims contending she did not receive a fair trial, including prosecutorial misconduct, failure to consider a mitigating factor, a tainted jury, and exposure of the jury to inflammatory media accounts. However, prosecutors established that the informant was "entirely incredible and routinely and habitually fabricates stories" according to a New Jersey State Police investigation, before recanting and accusing McGuire's attorney of suborning perjury. 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. After reading about Melanie McGuire and the Suitcase Murder, discover the story of Nancy Brophy, the woman who wrote How To Murder Your Husband and may have indeed murdered her husband. 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. I still feel bothered. So she drove around until she found his car and then moved it as a prank. 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. 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. But despite her apparent grief, police soon began to suspect that Melanie McGuire had murdered her husband. McGuire is lodged at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, serving a life sentence in Clinton, New Jersey. Melanie McGuire. 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. "After all these years, I still feel hurt. The 62-year-old actress posted a jaw-dropping selfie on Instagram Tuesday night, featuring the . Getty Images. There are times when podcasts and media can shine a light on certain cases where what the government did was not right. 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. 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. 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. Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. 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. There are just too many holes in this story.. Melanie McGuire, the Suitcase Killer, gave a rare interview to Amy Robach of ABC News in September 2020. This stuff exists. McGuire appealed her case, saying she did not receive a fair trial. However, the state's expert disagreed, testifying that he ran the tests he believed were necessary to link the bags. A Wednesday. The media soon dubbed the case the Suitcase Murder.. ET on ABC. On April 23, 2007, McGuire's murder trial jury found her guilty of first-degree murder, finding that the evidence established her culpability for the murder beyond a reasonable doubt. I still feel bothered. 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. The medical examiner determined that the body had been shot multiple times. I believe that the evidence presented to the jury told the jury what happened," Prezioso said. [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. [8] She married United States Navy veteran William T. "Bill" McGuire (born September 21, 1964) in 1999. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. 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. As Dr. Bradley Miller testified in the Melanie McGuire court case, there was an ongoing affair between himself and Melanie when Bill McGuire was killed. Over a period of 12 days in May 2004, three dark green suitcases were discovered in and near the Chesapeake Bay. The New Jersey fertility nurse was sentenced to life in prison back in 2007 for murdering her husband Bill in April 2004. So, as soon as the topic of custody arose, the two boys were sent to them, especially since Bill and Cindy were already great parents to their own adult children: Laura Ligosh and Max Ligosh. Yet, in the end, it turned out that shed lied about it all. At the time, the case created a media sensation, with McGuire dubbed the "suitcase killer.". She then called Miller the next morning, and he said "she was upset" and had told him about the fight they'd had. says the actress. In September 2020, Melanie McGuire sat down with 20/20 and gave her first interview in 13 years. Therefore, more than a year after the incident, on June 7, 2005, Melanie was officially arrested and charged with first-degree murder. For the first time in years, she says she has hope that an explosive new podcast, "Direct Appeal," could help exonerate her. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. However, not much else about the day was typical. 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. The MCUs tiniest heroes are kicking off its biggest phase yet, setting up the next several years of storytelling. Background Bill McGuire was born in September of 1964. It never made sense.. McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. The Secret in the Suitcase: With David Muir, Amy Robach, Melanie McGuire, William McGuire. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. Melanie did try to appeal her case and later get relief from her long sentence, but her petitions were denied. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. Bill McGuire was murdered by his wife Melanie McGuire, and his body was found near Virginia Beach's Chesapeake Bay in 2004. Melanie McGuire, The Suitcase Killer Who Murdered And Dismembered Her Husband. Melanie McGuire told the podcast "Direct Appeal" that she is not the suitcase killer, and that the true murderer is still on the loose. She drugged him, shot him (in the head and chest) to death, and subsequently dismembered his remains. 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. Bill McGuire, 39, put a down payment down on a $500,000 house for the couple and their two young sons in April 2004. It was a mistake on a gun manufacturer's website. With Candice King, Michael Roark, Tristan Laurence, Jackson Hurst. She may be eligible for parole after serving 66 years in prison, court documents filed in her case said. I have a book that I can look in that doesn't leave an internet history, Melanie McGuire told "20/20.". I still feel bothered. Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story: Directed by Nicole L. Thompson. McGuire maintains her innocence, and wants her two adult sons to look into the case for themselves. But she didnt report Bill missing. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the murder, Melanie dropped her children off at child care and preschool. Nothing in Melanie McGuires early life suggested shed turn to murder. [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. The jury deliberated for three days before convicting her of all four counts lodged against her in the first indictment, and acquitted her of the eight counts filed in the second indictment. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. [1], By April 2004, the McGuires had been married for five years. 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. I just burst into tears, Melanie said of learning about her husbands death in a 2007 interview. 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. [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. 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. Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. Dr. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Husband Bill. Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors Meghan Sacks and Amy Shlosberg have an entire podcast called Direct Appeal dedicated to questioning Melanies conviction. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?". 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. No one plugged the serial number of my gun into a website to find out what the specifications were, said Melanie McGuire. 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. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?. Meghan Sacks, host of podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professor questions Melanie McGuire's guilt. I still feel bothered. 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. 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. 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. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. Speaking to ABC News' Amy Robach for 20/20, she said: "I'm doing this because there's a murderer walking around. 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". 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. Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. 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. 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. Melanie McGuire explained that the night after Bill McGuire went missing, she was becoming angrier at her husband and suspected she knew where he was: Atlantic City. 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. [10] Prosecutors contended her motive for murder was to take up a new life with her lover. Powered by. However, after five years and two kids, their marriage ended on April 28, 2004, with Melanie killing her husband. Download is FREE. She will not be eligible for parole until she has. Police quickly found his car in a parking lot there. "I can't even fathom that. I'm a nurse or I was a nurse, and I don't need to look up things like that. She pleaded not guilty. Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for WomenMelanie McGuire prison record. 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. [5], Melanie Lyn Slate grew up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township, New Jersey, attending Middletown High School South. She didn't fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg said. But this was the first time somebody was basically saying, We hear you, said Melanie McGuire. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. We were not gathering evidence from a gun manufacturer's website. Who Is Melanie McGuire? There were two charges, totaling 90 cents, on her statement that proved she had driven to Atlantic City after her husband went missing. Melanie claims she's innocent, and hopes that she will be released someday. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. [1] She graduated, second in her class, from the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing (now Raritan Bay Medical Center) in 1997 with a nursing diploma. The victim, a coroner found, had been shot multiple times.