They lived in an apartment Woodbridge, New Jersey. [5], Melanie Lyn Slate grew up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township, New Jersey, attending Middletown High School South. Bills car contained a bottle of chloral hydrate, a sedative, and two syringes, which had been prescribed by Bradley Miller. These documents exist. She again pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $10,000 bail. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie Lyn Slate has spent all of her life in New Jersey growing up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township. In 2004, three separate dark green Kenneth Cole suitcases, containing pieces of a dismembered body, were found in and around the Chesapeake Bay, near Virginia Beach, Virginia. 'Suitcase Killer' Melanie McGuire defends innocence from inside prison 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. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. This is not one of those cases, said Prezioso. Criminologists Dr. Meghan Sacks, and Dr. Amy Shlosberg dig into the evidence on the podcast. The Best Friends - Direct Appeal By that point, the two had only flirted and corresponded via e-mail, only for a romance to blossom. I still feel bothered. Video Convicted murderer Melanie McGuire says she's 'terrified to hope When investigators discovered the affair, they approached Miller. Image Credit: ABC News / 20/20 But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. Its out there., 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." The case involved 21 witnesses qualified as experts, hundreds of pieces of evidence and 21 days of testimony. I still feel bothered. McGuire will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. If I wanted to look for something like that, I have a [physicians' desk reference]. [9] Police released a facial reconstruction sketch of the victim, which an acquaintance of Bill McGuire's recognized. 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. 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. 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. She maintains her innocence and . McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. They really turned this place upside down a number of times They couldn't find any forensic evidence whatsoever to establish this was a crime scene.. He ran tests, but he didn't do all the tests that you actually need to definitively say whether these bags match, added Sacks. Direct Appeal on Apple Podcasts Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a womens correctional facility in New Jersey. Although detectives did not find what they were looking for on the surveillance footage, they were able to find something curious on Melanie McGuires statement from her electronic toll payment company, EZ Pass. The appeal details the murder, the night of Bill McGuires disappearance, and the disposal of his body. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. "People ask me, 'Explain this. Data from the New Jersey Department of Corrections details cases since they implemented additional measures. And my answer is I can't explain because I don't think it makes any sense either," Wronko told EW earlier this month. Locane said she worries that her daughters and the public will forget her. The Suitcase Murder - Forensic Tales 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. I'm a nurse or I was a nurse, and I don't need to look up things like that. 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. A staff writer for All That's Interesting, Kaleena Fraga has also had her work featured in The Washington Post and Gastro Obscura, and she published a book on the Seattle food scene for the Eat Like A Local series. A nurse said her husband walked out on her. She allegedly wanted to spend the rest of her life with her lover, and so, she did what she could to get rid of her husband. McGuire was convicted Monday of killing her. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. McGuire appealed her case, saying she did not receive a fair trial. Miller, however, claimed that the prescription was written in Melanies handwriting. She said her husband left and that she never saw him again. 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 McGuire was murdered by his wife Melanie McGuire, and his body was found near Virginia Beach's Chesapeake Bay in 2004. They surmised that Melanie had sedated Bill, shot him, and cut up his body. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. The pair lived in Woodbridge, New Jersey where Bill worked at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and McGuire was a fertility clinic nurse in Morristown. She will not be eligible for parole until she has. Over a period of 12 days in May 2004, three dark green suitcases were discovered in and near the Chesapeake Bay. Melanie McGuire is currently in a New Jersey jail, awaiting sentencing on July 19. But when fishermen discovered a suitcase stuffed with Bill's remains just days after the couple had closed on their new dream home . 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. Offers may be subject to change without notice. He probably would have broken my cheek if it had been a closed fist, Melanie McGuire told 20/20. "Beware of pretty faces that you find, a pretty face can hide an evil mind." -Johnny Ramistella. 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. One of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. 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. The 62-year-old actress posted a jaw-dropping selfie on Instagram Tuesday night, featuring the . 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. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?. 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. [9] Similarly, a medical grade towel found with Bill's body matched those stocked at the clinic where Melanie worked. In the meantime, the two young McGuire children, ages 5 and 7, are being raised by Bill's sister, Cindy Ligosh. Convicted N.J. Wife Dubbed 'Suitcase Killer' Tells '20/20 - Peoplemag [9] Police believed that she used a syringe and prescription from her work to obtain the drug used as a means to incapacitate her husband.[11]. 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. Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story airs at 8 p.m. On June 5, 2005, authorities arrested Melanie McGuire on first-degree murder charges. Guilty or not, Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains an object of fascination. Miller agreed to cooperate with investigators and was never charged in the crime. by 2Paragraphs in Culture, True Crime Murder TV | September 25, 2020. Prosecutors believed that McGuire forged the prescription as she had access to this prescription pad. When investigators processed Bill McGuire's car, they also found a bottle of the sedative chloral hydrate and two syringes. Melanie McGuire Sentenced to Life for Murder of Husband | Heavy.com Dig, dig.". That requires two drivers so certainly that means someone helped her, said Prezioso. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. After finishing high school, she enrolled at Rutgers University for a double major in math and psychology, which she achieved in 1994. Now her children have neither a mother or a father, neither one, because of Melanie McGuire. 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. by Sarah Jae Leiber Sep. 21, 2020. https://t.co/ZGewRPfd2o pic.twitter.com/i4dBUBR7PJ. 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". The podcasters and Melanie McGuire also point to unexplained animal hair found on Bill McGuires dismembered body and noted in investigative reports. ", Credit: Jean-Paul Aussenard/WireImage; ABC, Amy Locane's prison cell roommate is the notorious Suitcase Killer. Another important development for investigators was the discovery of Bill McGuire's car. 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. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the murder, Melanie dropped her children off at child care and preschool. He said he was leaving and he wasnt coming back and [that] I could tell my children they didnt have a father.. As a year passed and the investigations continued, on October 26, 2006, Melanie was charged with two more counts of hindering apprehension for allegedly writing letters to the police department to get them off her trail. 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." Police also discovered small pieces of Bill's flesh, which authorities described as "human sawdust," inside the McGuire home, which they believed meant that McGuire had killed her husband.