Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. [9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007 and is serving her sentence at the Edna. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. Melanie McGuire is now serving a lifetime sentence at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, as Entertainment Weekly reports. But when fishermen discovered a suitcase stuffed with Bill's remains just days after the couple had closed on their new dream home . 01: Three suitcases, containing human remains, surfaced in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay in May 2004. 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. We were not gathering evidence from a gun manufacturer's website. They closed the documents on their new house on April 28, but never moved in. McGuire will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. 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. 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. 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. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder (per NBC News ). Days later, an unidentified man, believed by many to be her stepfather, also contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the charge removed. She became known as the "Suitcase Killer" during her televised 2007 trial. 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. Prezioso believed the "human sawdust" was the result of Bill McGuire's dismemberment. Their relationship began in 2002, according to the appeal. Melanie did try to appeal her case and later get relief from her long sentence, but her petitions were denied. Sacks seconded her co-host, saying: Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband. 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. ], Pretty Little Liars Reboot Is Coming-of-RAGE Horror with More Murder, Cast of Pretty Little Liars, 2017, l-r: Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Lucy Hale, Shay Mitchell, (cropped) photo: Dominick D / CC BY-SA, 2012-2023, 2paragraphs Productions, LLC. Bill had a gambling problem, Melanie explained, and after their fight she knew he would be at the casino. 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. Watch new at 9/8c on ABC. Would love your thoughts, please comment. It shows no inmates or staff at the facility had confirmed positive test results between August 22, 2020, and September 25, 2020. 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. 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. All we know is that they havent been in touch with their mother since before she was convicted. She put his remains into a 3-piece suitcase set, and those three pieces were later found in Chesapeake Bay. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?. 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. It was the 28th of April 2004. 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. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. 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 . As McGuire maintains her innocence, she is running out of appeal options. The killer is out there and it's not me. At trial, prosecutors presented an apparent mountain of circumstantial evidence against Melanie McGuire in Bill McGuires disappearance and murder. The day before his disappearance, the couple closed on the purchase of their first home. And my answer is I can't explain because I don't think it makes any sense either," Wronko told EW earlier this month. (Video By Bumper. 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. 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. 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, 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. Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now. "There was no evidence connecting him to this crime.. Welcome to the Quantum Realm. 0:45. https://t.co/ZGewRPfd2o pic.twitter.com/i4dBUBR7PJ. 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. 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. I have a book that I can look in that doesn't leave an internet history, Melanie McGuire told "20/20.". Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. [9] Her E-ZPass tag was recorded at a toll booth in Delaware two days after the murder; she claimed that this was the result of her going furniture shopping in Delaware, since it has no sales tax. 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 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 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. A four-count indictment came down from a state grand jury. Melanie McGuire, the Suitcase Killer, gave a rare interview to Amy Robach of ABC News in September 2020. These documents exist. Dig, dig., 20/20 airs Fridays at 9 pm on ABC, right after Americas Funniest Home Videos at 8 pm. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? September 26, 2020 Examined Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story airs at 8 p.m. There was. ET on ABC [15][16][17][18][19] On July 19, 2007, at the age of 34, McGuire was sentenced to life in prison.[20]. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Melanie went to work at a fertility clinic and Bill began teaching computer science at a technical college. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a women's correctional facility in New Jersey. This is not one of those cases, said Prezioso. 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. I dont know how you would dismember a body and effectively clean that up, said McGuire. During her interview with ABC News, McGuire shared a message for her sons, saying: "Make up your mind. Miller looked at the prescription and he said, Thats not my signature and it appears to be Melanie McGuires handwriting, recalled Prezioso. It was hard. McGuire's conviction was affirmed by an appeals court on March 16, 2011. That same year, she married her husband, a U.S. Navy veteran named William Bill McGuire. In September 2020 McGuire took part in a rare interview with ABC News, in which she continued to profess her innocence for the crime. Melanie claims she's innocent, and hopes that she will be released someday. Therefore, at the age of 49, Melanie McGuire is currently incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, Hunterdon County. ET on Saturday, June 18 on the Lifetime network. Melanie McGuire, a 34-year-old mother of two, maintains that she didn't kill her husband and says the real killer tried to frame her. Melanie McGuire - Wikipedia. Five days after Bill McGuire went missing, investigators said Melanie McGuire made another bizarre road trip, this time to Delaware. Bradley Miller told a Middlesex County court this afternoon that he lied to a grand jury when he said he stopped having sex with . Melanies not the only person who believes that the police got it wrong. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? she said on 20/20. [23] On September 20, 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear her further appeal. He probably would have broken my cheek if it had been a closed fist, Melanie McGuire told 20/20. In the evening hours of April 28, 2004, after the closing on the new house, she allegedly drugged and incapacitated Bill and then shot him sometime during April 28-29. This stuff exists, she said on the show. 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. I believe that the evidence presented to the jury told the jury what happened," Prezioso said. Bill called his friends to happily tell them the news. Like, how could somebody think that I did that?". 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. Melanie McGuire, who is not eligible for parole until she is 101 years old, said the hardest part is not being there for her children. Melanie McGuire was convicted in the grisly murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, whose body was found dismembered in suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay. Her defense attorneys argued that anyone could have conducted the searches. New Jersey Department of Corrections/Find a Grave 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. Bill McGuire, 39, put a down payment down on a $500,000 house for the couple and their two young sons in April 2004. There were five lands and grooves that my weapon was said to have made based on the company's website. 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. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Melanie McGuire listens to testimony today during her murder trial. 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. However, not much else about the day was typical. And on May 16, a third. She will not be eligible for parole until she is 100 years old. I still feel bothered. Prosecutors have always maintained that they believed Melanie McGuire likely had an accomplice. Born on October 8, 1972, Melanie Lyn Slate has spent all of her life in New Jersey growing up in Ridgewood and Middletown Township. Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot [or] use a saw to dismember her husband, said Sacks. To this day, Melanie maintains that she did not kill her husband, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in suitcases. 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. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. says the actress. "I can't even fathom that. Miller agreed to cooperate with investigators and was never charged in the crime. So if you wish to learn more about her and her current whereabouts, heres what we know. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. At her televised trial, prosecutors explained that she had drugged Bill, shot him, and dismembered him. Melanie then became the prime suspect in the investigation. 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. That requires two drivers so certainly that means someone helped her, said Prezioso. Melanie McGuire was a former nurse in the United States who was found guilty of murdering her husband on April 28, 2004. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? Dig, dig." Suitcase Killer: The. Before she was charged with murder, Melanie contacted E-ZPass and attempted to have the $0.90 charge removed from her account history. With the story debunked, the request for a new trial was withdrawn. And shes not the only one who thinks that police arrested the wrong suspect. [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. 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. She will not be eligible for parole until she has. 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. Suitcase Killer The Melanie McGuire Story is available to watch in Canada with a Philo subscription! 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 . These documents exist. On June 5, 2005, investigators arrested Melanie McGuire and charged her with first-degree murder. Melanie McGuire has been in prison for 13 years, but she still maintains her innocence, she said in an interview with 20/20. 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.. 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.. 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. Friday on #ABC2020: The co-hosts of the @directappeal podcast tell @ARobach why they believe Melanie McGuire was wrongfully convicted: I dont think that there was enough evidence to convict her. https://t.co/ZGewROXCaQ pic.twitter.com/qJfD3ATBkD. Another important development for investigators was the discovery of Bill McGuire's car. "And I'm driving down, and I take the first pass on this, on this highway, and I see a dark sedan, and lo and behold, there it is, Melanie McGuire said. There are just too many holes in this story.. 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. 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. Locane is back behind bars for killing Helene Seeman, 60, in a 2010 drunk driving collision in New Jersey's Montgomery Township. Do you know how hard it is to cut through bone? 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. 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. 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. The very next day, Melanie spoke with divorce attorneys and attempted to file for a restraining order. [9] McGuire persisted in claiming she was innocent, and claimed her husband had become increasingly moody and unpredictable and was a compulsive gambler. The prescription for chloral hydrate came from Millers prescription pad. Indeed, she spent most of her time bringing new life into the world. But despite her apparent grief, police soon began to suspect that Melanie McGuire had murdered her husband. Melanie McGuire is serving a life sentence in the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire, at a womens correctional facility in New Jersey. No one plugged the serial number of my gun into a website to find out what the specifications were, said Melanie McGuire. Dig, dig.". Melanie went to Middletown High School South and. 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. She actually obtained the means to incapacitate Bill from her workplace, which eventually became her downfall. 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.. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Read More: Where Are William and Melanie McGuires Kids Now? There are times when podcasts and media can shine a light on certain cases where what the government did was not right. Melanie claims that Bill pushed her against the wall during a fight, hit her, and tried to choke her with a dryer sheet. Melanie McGuire. I still feel bothered. "People ask me, 'Explain this. 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. A grand jury returned a second indictment in 2006, charging her with eight additional counts regarding anonymous communications, according to the appeal filed in her case. 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. As of June 22, 2020, two inmates had died of COVID-19. Melanie remembers this as. The New Jersey fertility nurse was sentenced to life in prison back in 2007 for murdering her husband Bill in April 2004. https://directappealpodcast.com/. 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. However, the state's expert disagreed, testifying that he ran the tests he believed were necessary to link the bags. Her 2007 trial became a nationally televised event. [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. 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. Dubbed the Suitcase Killer, she was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, at the age of 34. https://t.co/ZGewRPfd2o pic.twitter.com/i4dBUBR7PJ. Melanie's receipt for the gun also listed an unspecified purchase of $9.95; there were only two items in the store for that amount, and one of them was a box of wadcutter bullets. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. [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. 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. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the murder, Melanie dropped her children off at child care and preschool. These documents exist. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? For the first time in years, she says she has hope that an explosive new podcast, "Direct Appeal," could help exonerate her. But this was the first time somebody was basically saying, We hear you, said Melanie McGuire. New Jersey Attorney Generals OfficeOne of the three suitcases that contained parts of Bill McGuires body. She reportedly spent most of her life in New Jersey. [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. Melanie and Bill McGuire were married in 1999 and had two sons at the time of his death. The podcasters and Melanie McGuire also point to unexplained animal hair found on Bill McGuires dismembered body and noted in investigative reports. Read More: Where Is Melanie McGuires Family Now? Miller was also married with children. In September 2020, Melanie McGuire sat down with 20/20 and gave her first interview in 13 years. [22] She must serve more than 63 years before she is eligible for parole. One contained a torso and a head, the other a mans thighs and pelvis, according to Oxygen. 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. 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. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. After a nearly month and a half long trial, Melanie McGuire was found guilty. Meghan Sacks, host of podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professor questions Melanie McGuire's guilt. 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 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. She said she was unhappy in her marriage. [1], By April 2004, the McGuires had been married for five years. Thats what happened the night of April 28, 2004, the day Bill McGuire disappeared, according to his wife. For her part, Melanie insisted that her husband had stormed out after a fight. She says she is innocent. 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. The 62-year-old actress posted a jaw-dropping selfie on Instagram Tuesday night, featuring the . [Watch on your phone with the ABC GO Digital App found here. But Melanie maintains that she did not commit the infamous Suitcase Murder. 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. On July 19, 2007 she was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole until she is 100 years old. Offers may be subject to change without notice. The 47-year-old is currently serving a life sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey . At the time, the case created a media sensation, with McGuire dubbed the "suitcase killer.". 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Melanie McGuire says she isnt hoping for prison release, in a new jailhouse interview with @ARobach Friday at 9/8c during a new #ABC2020. 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. READ NEXT: Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? Melanie McGuire was found guilty of murdering Bill McGuire, 39, in April 2004. 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. They searched gun records in the state but found nothing. McGuire told 20/20 she did not commit the crimes for which she was convicted. They surmised that Melanie had sedated Bill, shot him, and cut up his body. 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. Guilty or not, Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains an object of fascination. 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 cannot even think about that. The Secret in the Suitcase: With David Muir, Amy Robach, Melanie McGuire, William McGuire. In 2007, McGuire was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband, Bill. How Marvel went big with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. [11] Through her attorneys, Joe Tacopina,[12] Steve Turano, and Marc Ward, she pleaded not guilty to the charges. Her bail was raised to $2.1million ($2.9 million today), but she was again released. 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; 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. Upon further investigation, police discovered a security video of the car being moved in the early morning hours of April 30, 2004. Candice King as Melanie McGuire in "Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story," which explore the real death of Bill McGuire in 2004. by Chilling Crimes July 20, 2020. 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."
When A Guy Says You're Hard To Read,
Is Stephanie Izard Still Married,
Articles M