While she admitted to her affair with Miller, she maintains she did not kill Bill McGuire. 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. Dig, dig.". She didn't fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg said. 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. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. [10] Prosecutors contended her motive for murder was to take up a new life with her lover. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. Melanie Mcguire has been languishing in a prison cell for the past 13 years. It was the 28th of April 2004. The investigation into who killed Bill McGuire began in Virginia but eventually moved to New Jersey. Another important development for investigators was the discovery of Bill McGuire's car. 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. McGuire, 34, a mother of two, is charged with first-degree murder in the April 2004 killing of her husband, 39-year-old state computer analyst William T. McGuire. If youre willing to wear a wire, well believe you, said Sacks. Because the murder did not occur in Virginia, however, authorities turned over their investigation to the New Jersey State Police.[10]. 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. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. 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. Melanie McGuire was convicted in the grisly murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, whose body was found dismembered in suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay. One of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. [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. 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. 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. Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. She said her husband left and that she never saw him again. 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. She became known as the Suitcase Killer during her televised 2007 trial. 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. Getty Images. 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). Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. McGuire was sentenced to 63 years, eight months and 30 days to life for first-degree murder, five to 10 years for desecration of human remains, two years and six months to five years for third-degree perjury, and a maximum sentence of life for second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, according to her prison record. 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. At trial, prosecutors presented an apparent mountain of circumstantial evidence against Melanie McGuire in Bill McGuires disappearance and murder. Melanie McGuire has been in prison for 13 years, but she still maintains her innocence, she said in an interview with 20/20. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. Melanie McGuire was victim Bill's wife, who was accused of his murder and dubbed the "Suitcase Killer" when the case went to 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. 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. "After all these years, I still feel hurt. The film stars Candice King as Melanie McGuire, Michael Roark as William McGuire, Jackson Hurst as Bradley Miller, and Wendie Malick as Patricia Prezioso. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. [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. "I panicked. After all these years, I still feel hurt. I still feel bothered. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Husband Bill. In addition to 20/20, her case is being examined in a podcast, Direct Appeal. She filed an appeal to the New Jersey Superior Court, which affirmed her conviction and sentence in 2011. And shes not the only one who thinks that police arrested the wrong suspect. 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. Melanie claims she's innocent, and hopes that she will be released someday. 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. 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. The Twisted Case of Melanie McGuire That Chapter 1.81M subscribers Subscribe 64K 1.8M views 9 months ago 2004, Chesapeake Bay. The prescription for chloral hydrate came from Millers prescription pad. There were five lands and grooves that my weapon was said to have made based on the company's website. 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. Who Is Melanie McGuire? 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." However, after five years and two kids, their marriage ended on April 28, 2004, with Melanie killing her husband. It says: The State alleged that defendant wanted to end her marriage to Bill but also had concerns about divorce. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | September 25, 2020. Immediately after murdering Bill, according to the State, defendant embarked on a plan to conceal the crimes and to create the appearance that Bill had abandoned his family, his job, and his new house after a violent argument with her. Her defense attorneys argued that anyone could have conducted the searches. 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 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 being released on bail, Melanie faced additional charges on October 11, 2005. I still feel bothered. The victim, a coroner found, had been shot multiple times. Or, learn about Stacey Castor, the Black Widow who killed two of her husbands with antifreeze. She pleaded not guilty to all indictments and soon posted an accumulated bail of over $2 million. 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." The 47-year-old is currently serving a life sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey . In April 2004, defendant conducted internet research to learn about buying a gun and about poisons, sedative drugs, and murder. Bill's body parts were discovered in three suitcases floating in the Chesapeake Bay near Virginia. Now her children have neither a mother or a father, neither one, because of Melanie McGuire. 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. [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. She says she is innocent. 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. But despite her apparent grief, police soon began to suspect that Melanie McGuire had murdered her husband. Did Melanie McGuire dismember her husband? "Beware of pretty faces that you find, a pretty face can hide an evil mind." -Johnny Ramistella. But when fishermen discovered a suitcase stuffed with Bill's remains just days after the couple had closed on their new dream home . Prosecutors argued that she killed her husband so. And about a week later, suitcases containing his body parts began to float to the surface in the Chesapeake Bay. She wished to avoid purchasing a house at substantial expense and beginning a new phase in a marriage she regretted. Melanie McGuire, shown at left during her trial, was convicted of fatally shooting her husband, cutting up his body with a power saw and then stuffing his remains into suitcases she later. Today, Melanie McGuire is almost 50 and is serving a life sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton. But, after that fateful April day, when the sun rose, their father was nowhere to be found. It premiered on 17th June 2022 and is airing exclusively on Lifetime.The show follows the shocking murder of Bill McGuire, so don't miss it - learn how to watch Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story in Canada on Lifetime.. No matter where you live, the alluring Suitcase Killer The . Melanie and Bill McGuire pictured in Atlantic City, New Jersey at an unknown date. 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. Melanie McGuire married her husband in 1999 and later alleged that he had a gambling problem and a violent temper. (The court awarded custody to Bill McGuires sister, Cindy Ligosh.) 2023 Oscars predictions: See who will win at the 95th Academy Awards. At the time, the local media also reported this detail about the parking lot's surveillance cameras. 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. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. William "Bill" McGuire was having a great day. 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. 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. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. She actually obtained the means to incapacitate Bill from her workplace, which eventually became her downfall. Melanie McGuire/Bill McGuire. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? [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. [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. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she earned a double degree in American History and French. 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. Therefore, more than a year after the incident, on June 7, 2005, Melanie was officially arrested and charged with first-degree murder. [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. 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. At her televised trial, prosecutors explained that she had drugged Bill, shot him, and dismembered him. Bill McGuire was murdered by his wife Melanie McGuire, and his body was found near Virginia Beach's Chesapeake Bay in 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.. So I think the police said, Well, prove it. The grainy images appeared to show Bill McGuire's car being pulled into a spot, but did not capture who the driver was. People are feeling this way now, but when it's no longer a story, I'll just be forgotten. Sometimes, she said, hed get violent with her. A nurse said her husband walked out on her. She said that they believe the garbage bags were a prop to sway the jury. I absolutely tried to have those charges taken off because I feared that people would look and think what they ultimately ended up thinking.. A jury convicted McGuire in 2007, and she was sentenced to life in prison plus five years. McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. [Watch on your phone with the ABC GO Digital App found here. It was a mistake on a gun manufacturer's website. He ran tests, but he didn't do all the tests that you actually need to definitively say whether these bags match, added Sacks. [4] 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. Melanie McGuire went on trial on March 5, 2007. 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 offered explanations for the stories she told police,. "People ask me, 'Explain this. After all these years, I still feel hurt. The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. I believe that the evidence presented to the jury told the jury what happened," Prezioso said. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment. The media soon dubbed the case the Suitcase Murder.. September 26, 2020 Examined Investigators also found Bills car where Melanie suggested it would be Atlantic City. She was later charged with other offences including perjury and desecration of human remains, for which she also pled not guilt. One contained a torso and a head, the other a mans thighs and pelvis, according to Oxygen. Locane is back behind bars for killing Helene Seeman, 60, in a 2010 drunk driving collision in New Jersey's Montgomery Township. After all these years, I still feel hurt. There were times I wanted him gone, she told 20/20. A top priority for New Jersey investigators was determining if Melanie McGuire had ever owned a gun. 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. With Candice King, Michael Roark, Tristan Laurence, Jackson Hurst. [13] She was also convicted of the lesser charges of perjury, desecration of human remains, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. 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. I just wanted to get away from him at that point. 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. 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. ", Credit: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage; ABC, Amy Locane's prison cell roommate is the notorious Suitcase Killer. 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. [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. Melanie McGuire was convicted in the grisly murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, whose body was found dismembered in suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay. Investigators also found trash bags in Melanie McGuire's home that they believed matched those used to wrap parts of Bill McGuire's body. 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. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/hlzcKR96Ss. 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. The podcasters and Melanie McGuire also point to unexplained animal hair found on Bill McGuires dismembered body and noted in investigative reports. Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. Melanie McGuire, The Suitcase Killer Who Murdered And Dismembered Her Husband. McGuire had a message for her sons, who are now adults, "Make up your mind. Her defense lawyers have not said if McGuire will testify . Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. In 1999, she started to work as a nurse at Reproductive Medicine Associates, one of the countrys largest fertility clinics. In April 2004, Melanie and Bill McGuire seemed to have it all: successful careers, two young sons and a new $500,000 home. I just burst into tears, Melanie said of learning about her husbands death in a 2007 interview. Melanie McGuire and defense attorney Stephen Turano, right, react to the verdict during her trial in New Brunswick, N.J., Monday, April 23, 2007. We were not gathering evidence from a gun manufacturer's website. After they released a sketch to the public, one of Bill McGuires friends soon came forward. 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 was convicted Monday of killing her. Make up your mind. 3d 411 - NJ: Appellate Div. On July 19, 2007 she was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole until she is 100 years old. 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. 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. 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 did try to appeal her case and later get relief from her long sentence, but her petitions were denied. Melanie McGuire has been dubbed the Suitcase Killer by the media for her role in butchering her own husband, William Bill McGuire, before packing up his remains into three suitcases and then disposing of them in the Chesapeake Bay. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. 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. And my answer is I can't explain because I don't think it makes any sense either," Wronko told EW earlier this month. After a 7-week trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie Lyn Slate has spent all of her life in New Jersey growing up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township. That night, according to the prosecution, McGuire drugged her husband, shot him dead, and subsequently dismembered his body. It's out there," she said. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. Over a period of 12 days in May 2004, three dark green suitcases were discovered in and near the Chesapeake Bay. 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. Melanie McGuire listens to testimony today during her murder trial. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. That requires two drivers so certainly that means someone helped her, said Prezioso. Melanie and Bill McGuire pictured hugging at an unknown date. Melanie McGuire, the Suitcase Killer, gave a rare interview to Amy Robach of ABC News in September 2020. She said in a moment of admitted irrationality she decided to drive down there and look for his car. Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Police quickly found his car in a parking lot there. On May 5, 2004, a couple of fishermen and their children noticed a dark green Kenneth Cole suitcase floating in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay. He probably would have broken my cheek if [the hit] had been a closed fist, Melanie McGuire said. Though a jury agreed and sentenced Melanie McGuire to life in prison, the so-called Suitcase Killer has long insisted upon her innocence. Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now. Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband, said Sacks. They recovered searches including: How to purchase guns illegally, How to commit murder, Undetectable poisons and, generally, how to sedate or kill someone, according to investigators. Read More: Where Is Melanie McGuires Family Now? Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. 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. Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. When investigators discovered the affair, they approached Miller. Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. 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. 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. Miller was also married with children. Yet, in the end, it turned out that shed lied about it all. He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. 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.. Melanie and Bill McGuire were married in 1999 and had two sons at the time of his death. Melanie McGuire was a former nurse in the United States who was found guilty of murdering her husband on April 28, 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. 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. Dig, dig. They recorded her calls with family and friends, including Miller, with whom she was having the affair.
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