[9] The footage was blurry and the police weren't able to identify the person in the video. [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. The MCUs tiniest heroes are kicking off its biggest phase yet, setting up the next several years of storytelling. You can read the appeal and court decision in full here. It is physically exhausting. Read More: Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now? On June 5, 2005, investigators arrested Melanie McGuire and charged her with first-degree murder. These documents exist. At least the prison conversations won't be, ahem, boring for Amy Locane. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. Shes now a 47-year-old inmate at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey, where she claims that shes not only innocent of killing her husband but that his real killer is still out there. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. They discovered that Melanie had bought a gun in Pennsylvania two days before Bill went missing and that she was having an affair with a doctor at her practice, Bradley Miller. There were two charges, totaling 90 cents, on her statement that proved she had driven to Atlantic City after her husband went missing. 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. He lived with his wife Melanie and their two boys in an apartment in Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States. Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story is available to watch in Canada with a Philo subscription! However, not much else about the day was typical. The killer is out there and it's not me. Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. McGuire appealed her case, saying she did not receive a fair trial. William "Bill" McGuire was a husband and father of two. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. 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. Author John Glatt wrote a book about the case, entitled To Have and To Kill. Melanie and Bill McGuire were married in 1999 and had two sons at the time of his death. They recorded her calls with family and friends, including Miller, with whom she was having the affair. 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. McGuire offered a message to her sons on 20/20, who are now adults, encouraging them to look deeper into the case and find the truth for themselves. Melanie McGuire admitted to having an affair with a doctor at the fertility clinic where she worked. 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'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. 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. [13] She was also convicted of the lesser charges of perjury, desecration of human remains, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. 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). 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. 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 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. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. On July 19, 2007 she was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole until she is 100 years old. 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. [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. [14], Shortly after her conviction, but before sentencing, McGuire appealed for a new trial on the basis of the story of jailhouse informant Christopher Thieme that her husband was deeply in debt and may have been killed by Atlantic City mobsters. Meghan Sacks and Amy Schlosberg are the hosts of the podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors. This stuff exists, she said on the show. I still feel bothered. 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. ABC News correspondent Amy Roach sits down for the first on-camera interview with Melanie McGuire since she was sentenced 13 years ago in 2007 to life in prison for the murder of her husband and father of her two children, William Bill McGuire. 1:15. I still feel bothered. "My job is not to convince the world. Sara James. It was hard. ET on ABC. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. I still feel bothered. https://directappealpodcast.com/. We looked very closely at Dr. Miller, said Prezioso. William McGuire was 39 when he died. The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. Her trial began in March 5, 2007. A nurse said her husband walked out on her. The victim, a coroner found, had been shot multiple times. She was sentenced to life in prison. 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. (Video By Bumper. Locane is back behind bars for killing Helene Seeman, 60, in a 2010 drunk driving collision in New Jersey's Montgomery Township. On May 11, another suitcase was discovered. 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. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Less than a year later, the McGuires had their first son. He did not return a call from the seller later that evening. Melanie McGuire. After all these years, I still feel hurt. 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. She then called Miller the next morning, and he said "she was upset" and had told him about the fight they'd had. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. 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. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020. It says: The State alleged that defendant wanted to end her marriage to Bill but also had concerns about divorce. She pleaded not guilty to all indictments and soon posted an accumulated bail of over $2 million. Powered by. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. Melanie McGuire says shes innocent and that someone else killed her husband, Bill, in 2004. "Beware of pretty faces that you find, a pretty face can hide an evil mind." -Johnny Ramistella. Its out there.. He ran tests, but he didn't do all the tests that you actually need to definitively say whether these bags match, added Sacks. The 47-year-old is currently serving a life sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey . YouTubeMelanie McGuire says shes innocent and that someone else killed her husband, Bill, in 2004. 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. Welcome to the Quantum Realm. 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. In September 2020, Melanie McGuire sat down with 20/20 and gave her first interview in 13 years. Therefore, at the age of 49, Melanie McGuire is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, Hunterdon County. 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. It was while Melanie was pregnant for the second time, during the 38th week, that her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, her co-worker in the fertility clinic where she worked as a nurse, began. Therefore, more than a year after the incident, on June 7, 2005, Melanie was officially arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Watch new at 9/8c on ABC. 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. Miller was adamant that he had nothing to do with any crime, and he didnt know anything about this. Melanie then became the prime suspect in the investigation. 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? The grainy images appeared to show Bill McGuire's car being pulled into a spot, but did not capture who the driver was. Background Bill McGuire was born in September of 1964. 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. They closed the documents on their new house on April 28, but never moved in. One of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. I just burst into tears, Melanie said of learning about her husbands death in a 2007 interview. But she didnt report Bill missing. Then, they looked in Pennsylvania. In a new episode of "20/20," co-anchor Amy Robach sits down for the first on-camera interview with Melanie McGuire since she was sentenced to life in prison 13 . 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. But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. 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. Bill McGuire, 39, put a down payment down on a $500,000 house for the couple and their two young sons in April 2004. 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". 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. 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; Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. 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. 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. 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. They surmised that Melanie had sedated Bill, shot him, and cut up his body. New Jersey Attorney Generals OfficeOne of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. 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. The 2004 case was dubbed the suitcase murder because the victims legs were found in a suitcase that washed up in Virginia Beach. After all these years, I still feel hurt. By that point, the two had only flirted and corresponded via e-mail, only for a romance to blossom. After all, when Bill was murdered in 2004, he and Melanie were the proud parents of two beautiful young boys. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Prezioso said she has no doubt Melanie McGuire's gun was the murder weapon. 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. 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.. The medical examiner determined that the body had been shot multiple times. All we know is that they havent been in touch with their mother since before she was convicted. Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for WomenMelanie McGuire prison record. They lived in an apartment Woodbridge, New Jersey. Sacks seconded her co-host, saying: Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband. 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 . McGuire told 20/20 she did not commit the crimes for which she was convicted. ", Through her attorney Jim Wronko, Locane describes McGuire as "very nice and pleasant and smart and helpful.". McGuire and Miller began their affair in 2002 when she was pregnant with her second child, and their relationship continued until June 2005 when she was charged with her husband's murder. 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. 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. 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.. Actress Candice King who is best known for her work in the Vampire Diaries will play McGuire. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007. 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. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? She put his remains into a 3-piece suitcase set, and those three pieces were later found in Chesapeake Bay. McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. 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. After all these years, I still feel hurt, Melanie said. However, the state's expert disagreed, testifying that he ran the tests he believed were necessary to link the bags. So she drove around until she found his car and then moved it as a prank. Nothing in Melanie McGuires early life suggested shed turn to murder. His business partner described him as a good father . And my answer is I can't explain because I don't think it makes any sense either," Wronko told EW earlier this month. She said that they believe the garbage bags were a prop to sway the jury. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. One contained a torso and a head, the other a mans thighs and pelvis, according to Oxygen. I cannot even think about that. Melanie McGuire - Wikipedia. Murders A-Z is a collection of true crime stories that take an in-depth look at both little-known and famous murders throughout history. After his body was found and detectives notified Melanie McGuire of her husband's death, she told them to look for Bill McGuires missing car in Atlantic City -- she claimed he had a gambling problem and frequented the city. There was. 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. They searched gun records in the state but found nothing. Melanie McGuire is now serving a lifetime sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, as Entertainment Weekly reports. Indeed, she spent most of her time bringing new life into the world. For the first time in years, she says she has hope that an explosive new podcast, "Direct Appeal," could help exonerate her. His body was found in three separate suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay, which led to McGuires nickname, the Suitcase Killer.. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. Sacks firmly believes that prosecutors failed to answer key questions in the case. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?". In 1999, she started to work as a nurse at Reproductive Medicine Associates, one of the countrys largest fertility clinics. 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. [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. This stuff exists, she said on the show. Miller was also married with children. For the two toddlers, they usually woke up, saw their parents, went to daycare, came back, saw their parents, ate, played, and then slept. Dubbed the Suitcase Killer, she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, at the age of 34. 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.She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 . 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. Though a jury agreed and sentenced Melanie McGuire to life in prison, the so-called Suitcase Killer has long insisted upon her innocence. For her part, Melanie insisted that her husband had stormed out after a fight. The day before his disappearance, the couple closed on the purchase of their first home. [9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. He probably would have broken my cheek if it had been a closed fist, Melanie McGuire told 20/20. Melanie McGuire is currently in a New Jersey jail, awaiting sentencing on July 19. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave 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. He had been married to Melanie Lyn Slate McGuire for about five years had two beautiful sons with her. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. Meanwhile, investigators found more and more evidence that suggested that Melanie McGuire had killed her husband. 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. There are just too many holes in this story.. From Austin Butler and Cate Blanchett to a potential Best Supporting Actress toss-up, see who EW thinks will win at the 2023 Oscars. Lifetime is planning to release a movie about her case, Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story in June 2022. 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. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. They also discovered a bottle of the sedative chloral hydrate and two syringes in Bill's car, which they traced to a pharmacy near their children's daycare, and they learned that McGuire had bought a gun 48 hours before her husband's disappearance. Yesterday, more than a year after the three grisly discoveries, Melanie McGuire, 32, of Brick, N.J., was charged with first-degree murder in the April 29, 2004, slaying of her husband of four. Bill McGuire, 39, went missing on April 29, 2004. Melanie Lyn McGuire (ne Slate; born October 8, 1972) is an American former nurse who was convicted of murdering her husband on April 28, 2004, in what media dubbed the "suitcase murder". After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. According to 20/20, the police were able to quickly identify the dismembered man. 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 . During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. Offers may be subject to change without notice. The killer is out there and its not me, Melanie told Robach. The appeal details the murder, the night of Bill McGuires disappearance, and the disposal of his body. Melanie and Bill McGuire pictured in Atlantic City, New Jersey at an unknown date. 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 June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). She adds, Is she trying to say that the man who was so excited to be buying this house, because he wanted to have this house for the wife that he loved and his children, that at the same time trying to kill her? says the actress. Trial photos of Melanie McGuire, a New Jersey nurse best known for being the perpetrator in the media-dubbed "suitcase murder." . She is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, according to her prison records. Melanie and Bill McGuire cut the cake at their wedding. Melanie McGuire. [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. She also made inquiries of a friend about how to buy a gun. She said her marriage to Bill McGuire was not going well and claimed that he was violent. 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. But when fishermen discovered a suitcase stuffed with Bill's remains just days after the couple had closed on their new dream home . He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. She will not be eligible for parole until she has served 66 years in prison. 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." Investigators searched the home for evidence multiple times, checking to see if Bill McGuire had been killed and dismembered there.