ET on Saturday, June 18 on the Lifetime network. After all these years, I still feel hurt. 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. McGuire is lodged at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, serving a life sentence in Clinton, New Jersey. She was indicted on four additional, relatively smaller charges in October. Getty Images. 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. Melanie McGuire told the podcast "Direct Appeal" that she is not the suitcase killer, and that the true murderer is still on the loose. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. By that point, the two had only flirted and corresponded via e-mail, only for a romance to blossom. Her 2007 trial became a nationally televised event. It was hard. Download is FREE. Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. As improbable as it sounds, Melanie McGuire said she actually stumbled upon her husband's car. It was the 28th of April 2004. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. She wished to avoid purchasing a house at substantial expense and beginning a new phase in a marriage she regretted. I still feel bothered. 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. 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. Colombia Finds Two New Shipwrecks Near The Site Of An 18th-Century Spanish Galleon That Sank With Billions In Treasure, The Life And Death Of JFK Jr., The Beloved Son Of John F. Kennedy, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Also if the crime scene didnt happen [at the family home] and shes home with her children all night, where is this happening? If youre willing to wear a wire, well believe you, said Sacks. Melanie remembers this as. 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. During the 20/20 interview, Melanie sends a message to her now adult sons, whom she hasnt had contact with since her 2007 trial. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. Prosecutors called 64 witnesses, and the defense called 16 witnesses. Don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. 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. It never made sense.. 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. I still feel bothered. So she drove around until she found his car and then moved it as a prank. [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. McGuire was convicted Monday of killing her. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. For the first time in years, she says she has hope that an explosive new podcast, "Direct Appeal," could help exonerate her. 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. It was reliving it. I still feel bothered. NEW BRUNSWICK - Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that Melanie McGuire was sentenced to life in prison today for the 2004 shooting death of her husband, William McGuire, whose severed remains were found in three suitcases along the Virginia coast. 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. At her televised trial, prosecutors explained that she had drugged Bill, shot him, and dismembered him. At least the prison conversations won't be, ahem, boring for Amy Locane. The Departments virus mitigation tactics, along with its universal testing initiative of staff and inmates, has controlled the spread of COVID-19 within NJDOC facilities. 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. Five days after Bill McGuire went missing, investigators said Melanie McGuire made another bizarre road trip, this time to Delaware. 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'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. These documents exist. The appeal details the murder, the night of Bill McGuires disappearance, and the disposal of his body. 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Melanie McGuire is a former nurse who worked at a fertility clinic in New Jersey. McGuire had been married for five years by April 2004. Prezioso said she believed that Melanie McGuire was planting the car in Atlantic City to create an illusion that Bill McGuire was still alive. 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. She then called Miller the next morning, and he said "she was upset" and had told him about the fight they'd had. It says: The State alleged that defendant wanted to end her marriage to Bill but also had concerns about divorce. 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 offered explanations for the stories she told police, such as her claim she stumbled across her husbands car in Atlantic City and moved it. After all, when Bill was murdered in 2004, he and Melanie were the proud parents of two beautiful young boys. Bill McGuire, 39, disappeared April 28, 2004, shortly after announcing to his friends that he and his wife had just closed the sale of their first home, according to an appeal filed in her case. The Twisted Case of Melanie McGuire That Chapter 1.81M subscribers Subscribe 64K 1.8M views 9 months ago 2004, Chesapeake Bay. 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. The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. [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. It also promised to better educate staff and inmates about the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act, and said it had set up an early-warning system to identify problematic behavior by staff. 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. Dr. People are feeling this way now, but when it's no longer a story, I'll just be forgotten. [9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. As a realtor at the Weichert office in Franklin Lakes, she, along with her husband, pharmacist Bill Ligosh of Wyckoff, New Jersey, were deemed well qualified and capable of taking good care of the toddlers. 2011 - Google Scholar", "N.J. appeals court upholds life sentence for convicted suitcase killer Melanie McGuire", "State v. McGuire, 27 A. I still feel bothered. The investigation into who killed Bill McGuire began in Virginia but eventually moved to New Jersey. [6][7] She enrolled at Rutgers University with a double major in math and psychology and graduated in 1994. says the actress. Now her children have neither a mother or a father, neither one, because of Melanie McGuire. McGuire testified that during their argument her husband had become violent and he threatened to take their children away before leaving the home by himself, per CBS News. From Austin Butler and Cate Blanchett to a potential Best Supporting Actress toss-up, see who EW thinks will win at the 2023 Oscars. Melanie McGuire said she's speaking in a new #ABC2020 interview tonight with @ARobach, 16 years after she was convicted of murdering her husband, because she believes "the killer is out there and it's not me." Guilty or not, Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains an object of fascination. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. When investigators discovered the affair, they approached Miller. Prosecutors allege that McGuire, 34, shot him to death, sliced his body into four pieces with a power saw and then dumped his remains in the Chesapeake Bay. New Jersey fertility clinic nurse Melanie McGuire stands accused of murdering her husband, William, in 2004. [1], By April 2004, the McGuires had been married for five years. These documents exist. Would love your thoughts, please comment. Dig, dig.". She didnt fit the profile, I guess, of a murderer, Shlosberg told 20/20. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment. [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. They recorded her calls with family and friends, including Miller, with whom she was having the affair. [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. The evidence in this case points to a well-organized, meticulously planned execution of a murder, Prezioso said during the trial. In addition, Melanie was 38-weeks pregnant with her second child when the relationship started, based on reporting from New Jersey-based news outlet CentralJersey.com. 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. They knew that Pennsylvania was close and a lot of people will go to Pennsylvania for firearms because gun laws are more lax, Sacks said. The New Jersey fertility nurse was sentenced to life in prison back in 2007 for murdering her husband Bill in April 2004. William "Bill" McGuire was a husband and father of two. Background Bill McGuire was born in September of 1964. 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. Melanie McGuire - Wikipedia. Therefore, at the age of 49, Melanie McGuire is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, Hunterdon County. Melanie did file for a re-trial before her sentencing on the basis that her husband was deeply in debt and may have been killed by Atlantic City mobsters, but to no avail. They opened it and found a mans dismembered legs, cut off at the knee. 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. NEW BRUNSWICK - Attorney General Stuart Rabner and Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw announced that Melanie McGuire was found guilty of murder today in the 2004 shooting death of her husband, William McGuire, whose severed remains were found in three suitcases along the Virginia coast in May 2004. Nothing in Melanie McGuires early life suggested shed turn to murder. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Was Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Husband Bill. [9] McGuire persisted in claiming she was innocent, and claimed her husband had become increasingly moody and unpredictable and was a compulsive gambler. "I can't even fathom that. On June 5, 2005, investigators arrested Melanie McGuire and charged her with first-degree murder. So if you wish to learn more about her and her current whereabouts, heres what we know. Bill McGuire was murdered by his wife Melanie McGuire, and his body was found near Virginia Beach's Chesapeake Bay in 2004. 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. The 62-year-old actress posted a jaw-dropping selfie on Instagram Tuesday night, featuring the . Though a jury agreed and sentenced Melanie McGuire to life in prison, the so-called Suitcase Killer has long insisted upon her innocence. Lifetime's new film Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story explores the shocking death of Bill McGuire on April 28, 2004. According to 20/20, the police were able to quickly identify the dismembered man. She was given a life sentence on July 19, 2007, and she is currently in jail at the Edna Mahan . 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 grainy images appeared to show Bill McGuire's car being pulled into a spot, but did not capture who the driver was. McGuire had a message for her sons, who are now adults, "Make up your mind. "After all these years, I still feel hurt. 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. Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. There were two charges, totaling 90 cents, on her statement that proved she had driven to Atlantic City after her husband went missing. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. One of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. She said her marriage to Bill McGuire was not going well and claimed that he was violent. 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. She put his remains into a 3-piece suitcase set, and those three pieces were later found in Chesapeake Bay. [Watch on your phone with the ABC GO Digital App found here. Melanie McGuire defends her innocence from inside prison in 2019, over a decade after she was convicted. 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? 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. ET on ABC. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. But this was the first time somebody was basically saying, We hear you, said Melanie McGuire. She also made inquiries of a friend about how to buy a gun. Melanie went to work at a fertility clinic and Bill began teaching computer science at a technical college. The killer is out there and it's not me. Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. She maintains her innocence and . [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. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. 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. 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.. [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. 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. 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 graduated from the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing (now Raritan Bay Medical Center) in 1997 with a nursing diploma. Family and friends can send flowers and/or light a candle as a loving gesture for their loved one. McGuire was charged with first-degree murder on June 2, 2005, for which she pleaded not guilty, and she made bail. 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. They searched gun records in the state but found nothing. YouTubeMelanie McGuire married her husband in 1999 and later alleged that he had a gambling problem and a violent temper. Prezioso said the evidence presented by the states computer forensic expert at trial was robust and Melanie McGuires legal team presented their own expert as well.