Melanie McGuire ‘Suitcase Killer’ homicide case again in highlight many years later

[ad_1] A passerby’s horrifying discovery of a blood-soaked suitcase alongside the Chesapeake Bay cracked open one of the disturbing homicide instances of the early 2000s — a criminal offense now again within the highlight many years later.

The case is drawing renewed consideration after "Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story," a 2022 Lifetime film dramatizing the crime, started streaming on Netflix, introducing a brand new viewers to the surprising killing of William "Invoice" McGuire and the conviction of his spouse, Melanie McGuire.

Suitcases wash ashore In Might 2004, authorities have been alerted after fishermen noticed a suitcase floating within the Chesapeake Bay. Inside have been human stays. Two extra suitcases later surfaced alongside the Virginia shoreline , every containing further physique components.

In response to the New Jersey Legal professional Common’s Workplace, the sufferer was recognized as William McGuire, a 39-year-old pc programmer, whose severed stays had been positioned inside three matching suitcases and dumped into the Chesapeake Bay. The baggage later washed ashore close to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Virginia.

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Melanie McGuire listens to testimony in her homicide trial on March 27, 2007, earlier than Decide Frederick DeVesa sitting in state superior courtroom. (Residence Information Tribune-USA At the moment Community through Imagn Pictures)

Consideration shortly turned to McGuire’s spouse, Melanie McGuire, a nurse and mom of two from Woodbridge, New Jersey.

Prosecutors allege a calculated killing Throughout a six-week trial, prosecutors argued that McGuire used her medical coaching as a nurse to carefully plot her husband’s murder so she may begin a brand new life together with her lover — a health care provider who labored together with her at a fertility clinic.

The New Jersey Legal professional Common’s Workplace mentioned proof confirmed McGuire bought a .38-caliber handgun and ammunition in Pennsylvania simply days earlier than her husband disappeared. Prosecutors mentioned William McGuire was shot twice — as soon as within the head and as soon as within the chest — after he was probably drugged with a strong sedative.

Authorities additionally alleged McGuire solid a prescription for chloral hydrate, a sedative , utilizing the title of a fertility clinic affected person. Investigators mentioned she bought the drug at a Walgreens on the morning of the killing, shortly after dropping her kids off at daycare.

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U.S. Deputy Legal professional Common Christopher Romanyshyn (with again to digicam) lifts one of many suitcases introduced on the homicide trial. The bag, a 30-inch Kenneth Cole suitcase, contained the torso of William McGuire. (Residence Information Tribune-USA At the moment Community through Imagn Pictures)

Web searches recovered from the couple’s residence pc included queries akin to " commit murder ," "undetectable poisons," and illegally receive firearms, based on the Legal professional Common’s Workplace.

Forensic proof and cover-up claims Prosecutors advised jurors that McGuire shot her husband contained in the couple’s Woodbridge house, dismembered his physique, and wrapped the stays in black trash baggage earlier than inserting them into suitcases.

Forensic specialists testified that tiny fragments of flesh discovered inside William McGuire’s deserted Nissan Maxima belonged to the sufferer and weren't in line with materials shed by a dwelling particular person. The car had been left at a motel in Atlantic Metropolis, authorities mentioned.

A blanket that was recovered from one of many suitcases containing the dismembered physique of William McGuire is displayed in courtroom through the Melanie McGuire homicide trial on March 7, 2007. (Asbury Park Press-USA At the moment Community through Imagn Pictures)

Investigators additionally linked the trash baggage used to eliminate the physique to baggage discovered within the McGuires’ house. Tape recovered from the luggage contained razor stubble with DNA from each Melanie and William McGuire, based on the Legal professional Common’s Workplace.

Protection disputes the case McGuire’s lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, argued that the petite nurse was bodily incapable of killing her 6-foot-3-inch, 210-pound husband, not to mention dismembering his physique.

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Tacopina additionally advised jurors it will have been inconceivable to hold out such a violent crime contained in the house with out neighbors listening to one thing or investigators discovering clearer bodily proof.

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Forensic pathologist Dr. Wendy Gunther attracts a line to point one of many locations William McGuire was dismembered as a part of her testimony on March 7, 2007, earlier than Decide Frederick DeVesa in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Asbury Park Press-USA At the moment Community through Imagn Pictures)

The protection urged William McGuire, who prosecutors mentioned had playing money owed, might have been killed by another person.

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McGuire didn't testify. Jurors as an alternative heard secretly recorded conversations between McGuire and two males near her — her lover, Dr. Bradley Miller, and a buddy — wherein she repeatedly denied any involvement in her husband’s loss of life.

Jury reaches verdict In April 2007, a Middlesex County jury convicted McGuire of first-degree murder , desecration of a corpse, perjury, and possession of a firearm for an illegal function, based on the Legal professional Common’s Workplace.

Melanie McGuire watches through the testimony of James Finn, a registered nurse. (Residence Information Tribune-USA At the moment Community through Imagn Pictures)

She was acquitted on a number of further counts tied to nameless communications despatched to legislation enforcement.

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Prosecutors acknowledged that some questions remained, together with whether or not McGuire had an confederate, however mentioned the proof towards the mom of two was overwhelming. No confederate has ever been named or charged.

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"Melanie McGuire went to extraordinary lengths to cowl up her crime," then–Legal professional Common Stuart Rabner mentioned following the decision. "The state additionally went to nice lengths to reveal and convict her."

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McGuire was sentenced to life in jail, the place she stays incarcerated on the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Girls in New Jersey. She has repeatedly appealed her conviction, however courts have denied these efforts.

The Related Press contributed to this report.

Stepheny Worth covers crime, together with lacking individuals, homicides and migrant crime. Ship story tricks to stepheny.worth@fox.com.

Stepheny Worth is a Author at Fox News with a give attention to West Coast and Midwest information, lacking individuals, nationwide and worldwide crime tales, murder instances, and border safety.