All we know is that they havent been in touch with their mother since before she was convicted. 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. 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. Her 2007 trial became a nationally televised event. On July 19, 2007 she was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole until she is 100 years old. 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 . After all these years, I still feel hurt. They insisted he was a compulsive gambler who had become increasingly moody, unpredictable, and tempestuous in the months before his passing. 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. Melanie Mcguire has been languishing in a prison cell for the past 13 years. There are just too many holes in this story.. Meanwhile, investigators found more and more evidence that suggested that Melanie McGuire had killed her husband. She again pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $10,000 bail. Offers may be subject to change without notice. [22] She must serve more than 63 years before she is eligible for parole. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. McGuire went through a lengthy trial, which was televised on Court TV, from February to April 2007. says the actress. 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. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/hlzcKR96Ss. He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. Investigators searched the home for evidence multiple times, checking to see if Bill McGuire had been killed and dismembered there. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment. Nothing in Melanie McGuires early life suggested shed turn to murder. 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. 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. The appeal details the murder, the night of Bill McGuires disappearance, and the disposal of his body. According to PEOPLE, Melanie claimed that Bill had a gambling problem and a volatile temper. Few, if any, knew that McGuire, a mother of two young sons, was having an affair with her physician boss, Dr. Bradley Miller. Although investigators were unable to find physical evidence of murder inside the McGuire's home, they were able to find small pieces of Bill McGuire's flesh -- evidence that would eventually be referred to in the media as human sawdust -- from the car. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. I believe that the evidence presented to the jury told the jury what happened," Prezioso said. 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. At the time, the case created a media sensation, with McGuire dubbed the "suitcase killer.". Investigators discovered that the parking lot had surveillance cameras, and they pulled the security footage thinking they had stumbled upon a smoking gun that would show who dumped Bill McGuire's car. At her televised trial, prosecutors explained that she had drugged Bill, shot him, and dismembered him. 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. 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. 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. Read More: Where Is Melanie McGuires Family Now? Investigators also found Bills car where Melanie suggested it would be Atlantic City. 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. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Image Credit: ABC News / 20/20 Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. We looked very closely at Dr. Miller, said Prezioso. Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story is available to watch in Canada with a Philo subscription! In September 2020, Melanie McGuire sat down with 20/20 and gave her first interview in 13 years. "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. The very next day, Melanie spoke with divorce attorneys and attempted to file for a restraining order. 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. During her arraignment on murder charges, McGuire's case was dubbed the "Suitcase Murder" by various media outlets. She suggested that her husband had been killed over his gambling debts, claiming that he was the one whod insisted that she buy a gun in the first place. As improbable as it sounds, Melanie McGuire said she actually stumbled upon her husband's car. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. 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. She said she was unhappy in her marriage. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. She had apparently grown worried about their well-being upon noticing their behavior and got them tested. After all, when Bill was murdered in 2004, he and Melanie were the proud parents of two beautiful young boys. Melanie went to work at a fertility clinic and Bill began teaching computer science at a technical college. It is physically exhausting. Police quickly found his car in a parking lot there. Would love your thoughts, please comment. A New Jersey grand jury indicted McGuire on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, second-degree desecration of human remains and third-degree perjury in October 2005. Melanie and Bill McGuire cut the cake at their wedding. 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". But despite her apparent grief, police soon began to suspect that Melanie McGuire had murdered her husband. Lifetime is planning to release a movie about her case, Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story in June 2022. Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. 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. Miller was also married with children. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. Yet, in the end, it turned out that shed lied about it all. Melanie claims that Bill pushed her against the wall during a fight, hit her, and tried to choke her with a dryer sheet. Sometimes, she said, hed get violent with her. But she didnt report Bill missing. But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. I'm a nurse or I was a nurse, and I don't need to look up things like that. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie Lyn Slate has spent all of her life in New Jersey growing up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township. 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. Pam Grier reflects on her most iconic roles, from, State Superior Court Judge Angela Borkowski gave Locane more time after the punishment, Wrong Turn: The tragic story of former It Girl Amy Locane, Amy Locane to be re-sentenced for fatal auto crash, Amy Locane recalls drunk-driving crash in post-prison interview. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. Melanie McGuire has had no contact with them since before the verdict. Melanie and Bill McGuire pictured in Atlantic City, New Jersey at an unknown date. If I wanted to look for something like that, I have a [physicians' desk reference]. 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. Prezioso said she has no doubt Melanie McGuire's gun was the murder weapon. One contained a torso and a head, the other a mans thighs and pelvis, according to Oxygen. 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. After all these years, I still feel hurt, Melanie said. Melanie McGuire denies this, pointing to the fact that there are hundreds of miles between Delaware and Virginia Beach. She was later charged with other offences including perjury and desecration of human remains, for which she also pled not guilt. Days later, an unidentified man, believed by many to be her stepfather, also contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the charge removed. 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. In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. Melanie McGuire went on trial on March 5, 2007. 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? I still feel bothered. 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. 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. 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. [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. At least the prison conversations won't be, ahem, boring for Amy Locane. Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. 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. She is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, according to her prison records. Once Melanie spots Bills car from the highway, she decides shes going to move his car, said Shlosberg. This is not one of those cases, said Prezioso. According to state records, she must serve at least 85% of her sentence before she can even be considered for parole, which means shell become eligible for it on May 20, 2073. 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. 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. So I think the police said, Well, prove it. But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. [24][25] On April 29, 2014, McGuire filed a motion for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and newly discovered evidence. Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for WomenMelanie McGuire prison record. Melanie, who grew up in Brick, and William McGuire were married in 1999 and had lived with their two sons in Woodbridge at the time of the murder. On camera, Melanie tells them: Make up your mind. Melanie McGuire says 'it's a coincidence' she bought gun before husband disappeared McGuire said she spoke in a new "20/20" interview, 16 years after she was convicted of murdering her husband . 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. 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. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. The killer is out there and it's not me. Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story airs at 8 p.m. Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. They recorded her calls with family and friends, including Miller, with whom she was having the affair. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Bill had a gambling problem, Melanie explained, and after their fight she knew he would be at the casino. The 48-year-old actress and mother of two has been sober since the 2010 crash. In April 2004, Melanie and Bill McGuire seemed to have it all: successful careers, two young sons and a new $500,000 home. Dubbed the "Suitcase Killer," she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, at the age of 34. I dont know how you would dismember a body and effectively clean that up, said McGuire. New Jersey Attorney Generals OfficeOne of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. 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. 2011 - Google Scholar", "N.J. appeals court upholds life sentence for convicted suitcase killer Melanie McGuire", "State v. McGuire, 27 A. 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.. I still feel bothered. For the first time in years, she says she has hope that an explosive new podcast, "Direct Appeal," could help exonerate her. [9] McGuire persisted in claiming she was innocent, and claimed her husband had become increasingly moody and unpredictable and was a compulsive gambler. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave To drive from New Jersey to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia requires driving through Delaware, and the first suitcase turned up the very next day, Prezioso said. Melanie McGuire is currently in a New Jersey jail, awaiting sentencing on July 19. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. "There was no evidence connecting him to this crime.. 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. They were confident Miller was not involved in the crime but were never able to bring charges against anyone else. I absolutely tried to have those charges taken off because I feared that people would look and think what they ultimately ended up thinking.. Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. McGuire had a message for her sons, who are now adults, "Make up your mind. McGuire was charged with first-degree murder on June 2, 2005, for which she pleaded not guilty, and she made bail. It was a mistake on a gun manufacturer's website. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. Prosecutors argued that she killed her husband so. 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. I guess it is comforting [that people are interested]. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. Lifetime's new film Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story explores the shocking death of Bill McGuire on April 28, 2004. 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. 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. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. [1], By April 2004, the McGuires had been married for five years. 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. He did not return a call from the seller later that evening. [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. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. 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. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. During her conversation with ABCs Amy Robach, Melanie continued to insist on her innocence. That same year, she married her husband, a U.S. Navy veteran named William Bill McGuire. Bill called his friends to happily tell them the news. 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. They brought in the luminol, and they also pulled down parts of the walls. NEW BRUNSWICK - Melanie McGuire the former Woodbridge resident convicted of killing her husband, dismembering his body, packing it in suitcases and tossing it off a bridge in Virginia . She put his remains into a 3-piece suitcase set, and those three pieces were later found in Chesapeake Bay. Locane is back behind bars for killing Helene Seeman, 60, in a 2010 drunk driving collision in New Jersey's Montgomery Township. McGuire is lodged at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, serving a life sentence in Clinton, New Jersey. Miller also said in his . "I panicked. But though Bill and Melanie had two sons together, their marriage swiftly soured. She says she is innocent. 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. Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband, said Sacks. I panicked, Melanie told 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. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a womens correctional facility in New Jersey. Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story: Directed by Nicole L. Thompson. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. 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 admitted to having an affair with a doctor at the fertility clinic where she worked. 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. No one plugged the serial number of my gun into a website to find out what the specifications were, said Melanie McGuire. 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. It says: The State alleged that defendant wanted to end her marriage to Bill but also had concerns about divorce. Two years later, in 1999, she married William Bill McGuire, a US Navy veteran, and started a life with him in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. 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. Locane said she worries that her daughters and the public will forget her. Meghan Sacks, host of podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professor questions Melanie McGuire's guilt. Powered by. Who Is Melanie McGuire? McGuire got the unfortunate luggage nickname after she was convicted of drugging her husband, shooting him to death, and stuffing his dismembered body into three dark green suitcases that were later found in the Chesapeake Bay. He had been married to Melanie Lyn Slate McGuire for about five years had two beautiful sons with her. https://directappealpodcast.com/. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. ", Credit: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage; ABC, Amy Locane's prison cell roommate is the notorious Suitcase Killer. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Because the murder did not occur in Virginia, however, authorities turned over their investigation to the New Jersey State Police.[10]. She will not be eligible for parole until she has. WOODBRIDGE - Former township resident Melanie McGuire has spent 13 years in prison after receiving a life sentence for the death of her husband, William McGuire, but in a new television. 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. This stuff exists, she said on the show. Therefore, from what we can tell, even today, as young men, William and Melanies sons reside in New Jersey with their aunt, uncle, and cousins the only family theyve ever known. "Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story" premieres June 18 at 8 pm on Lifetime. I still feel bothered. But, after that fateful April day, when the sun rose, their father was nowhere to be found. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the murder, Melanie dropped her children off at child care and preschool. The Superior Court of New Jersey affirmed her verdict and sentence in 2011. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? 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". Melanie McGuire is an American former nurse who was found guilty of killing her husband, Bill McGuire, on April 28, 2004, in a case called the "suitcase murder" by the media. The 47-year-old is currently serving a life sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, 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; Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. [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 will not be eligible for parole until she has served 66 years in prison.

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