Every Town - Woodbridge Township, NJ - The Suitcase Killer - Melanie McGuire

Episode Date: October 29, 2021

"We thought it was a perfect marriage." Coming from their closest friends, these words may have been the ultimate compliment for Woodbridge Township, New Jersey couple William or Bill and Melanie McGuire. They were a lovely pair blessed with two beautiful boys and stable careers. 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. There was no direct evidence, no eyewitness, but a great deal of circumstances that were amassed implicated Melanie as the perpetrator. She became the infamous "Suitcase Killer" in the sensational "Suitcase Murder." Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Every town has a dark side. Today we head to Woodbridge Township in New Jersey, where we check out the heinous crime of suitcase killer Melanie McGuire. We thought it was the perfect marriage. Coming from their closest friends, these words may have been the ultimate compliment for Woodbridge Township New Jersey couple, William, also known as Bill, and Melanie McGuire. They were a lovely pair. blessed with two beautiful boys and stable careers.

But life can spring an unexpected surprise, and it was an alleged infidelity in the McGuire's case that shattered to tragic pieces their marriage with the gruesome death of Bill in 2004. There was no direct evidence, no eyewitness, but a great deal of circumstances that were amassed that implicated Melanie as the perpetrator. She became the infamous suitcase killer and the sensational story of the suitcase murder.

Hi, I'm Andrew Fitzgerald, and in this week's episode of Everytown, I'm bringing you another unbelievable story of a husband's murder, which happened in New Jersey but was discovered in Virginia. Why and how Melanie McGuire managed to reduce her husband and a chopped-up remains that she hid in three suitcases was indeed something that incredibly happened in real life. Justice has been served, but Melanie continues to uphold her innocence to this day

while serving her sentence behind bars. Individually, Bill McGuire and Melanie Slate were accomplished individuals before their shadows even trailed each other. Bill was a native New Yorker, born on September 21st, 1964 in the Bronx. A U.S. Navy veteran, he relocated in Middlesex County in New Jersey and graduated from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2001. He then worked as an adjunct professor and senior programmer analyst

with the NJIT's Department of Information Resource Development. On the other hand, Melanie is a true blue jersey girl, born on October 8th, 1972, and raised in the towns of Middletown and Ridgewood. After graduating from Middletown High School South, Melanie enrolled at Rutgers University and finished with a double major in math and psychology in 1994. Despite this accomplishment, she wanted to pursue her goal of becoming a nurse, so she enrolled at the Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing, now known as Rarrow. Burrottin Bay Medical Center and earned a nursing diploma that she received in 1997 while finishing

second in her class. She then landed a job as a fertility nurse at reproductive medical associates of New Jersey or RMA in Morristown. Bill was previously married, but it ended up in divorce as he and his first wife turned ex-wife didn't seem compatible in terms of their personality and intellectual level. Then Bill and Melanie's paths crossed, and soon fate entwined their hearts, and then they tied the nod in 1999. The union of two smart individuals had their friends and family expecting a marriage that would be brimming with happiness and success.

For a while, their expectations were met, as Bill and Melanie seemed a perfect couple. They settled in the Central Plaza apartment. in Woodbridge, a municipality in New Jersey, with a population close to 100,000 back then. The McGuire's close friends, couple John and Susan Rice, were witness to Bill and Melanie's relationship from the beginning. In fact, the Rice couple treated the then-cash-strapped newlyweds to a Bahamas vacation after their 1999 wedding. John has known Bill since their U.S. Navy days in the 1980s, so he can't. could aptly describe Bill. He's charismatic. Bill has a sense of humor, a lot of Saturday night

live type sense of humor. He could pick on you, but make you feel good about it at the same time, John said. He knew that it would take a woman with a high IQ to keep up with Bill's antics and sharp tongue banter, and Melanie fit the bill to a tea. John and Susan found the new Mrs. McGuire, sweet and charismatic, yet witty and very intelligent. Standing at five feet three inches tall, Melanie was mentally and physically strong. Her patients at the fertility clinic showered her with praises for being dedicated and gifted, and one of them said, Melanie McGuire is just a powerhouse and a tiny, petite little body,

and she makes you feel like you're her only patient. Bill and Melanie it would appear were the epitivis. to me of a perfect combination, but could it last forever. As the two both worked hard in their professions, they also started building a family. Later in 1999, they were blessed with a son, which was followed by another baby boy just two years later. The material wealth was also in abundance as the McGuire started to make good money. In preparation for a brighter future, they planned on buying their dream house in Warren County, which was about 63 miles from their temporary Woodbridge residence.

With two small kids and a dream house in the pipeline, Bill still found spare time and cash for a high-stakes hobby at Atlantic City and New Jersey's gaming mecca. According to John Blackjack was his game, he took the game very seriously. In fact, as a grateful act of returning a favor to the rice couple, John invited them to an all-expense weekend getaway to Atlantic City in 2003. And it was worth Bill's generosity as he walked away from that weekend thousands of dollars richer.

Also, Susan gladly noted that her favorite couple was still high in love. But Bill's gambling somehow proved to be detrimental to, his marriage because it didn't escape anyone's scrutiny. But there was something too with Melanie that was far worse. The McGuire's marriage wasn't the most ideal one their family and close friends perceived it to be. It also had dark secrets that unpredictably led into something regrettably fatal and heinous. On August 28, 2004, or six months after the Atlantic City weekend holiday, of the McGuire and Rice couples, Bill and Melanie closed on a 450,000 mortgage to purchase their dream house with a big yard for their four and two-year-old boys. John Rice remembered that Bill

enthusiastically phoned him about the wonderful news. John recalled, he was very excited, and I said, Bill, that's fantastic. He says, yeah, y'all got to come up and help me move in. After exchanging a hearty congratulations and a quick talk to you later, John hung up on his longtime pal without any inkling that it would be the last time that they would ever speak. The McGuire family never got to move into their new house and begin a new chapter in their lives. Because on April 29th, 39-year-old Bill was nowhere to be found, and his two boys woke up to a bright spring morning without their father by their side. who else could shed light on his mysterious vanishing but his 31-year-old wife, Melanie.

She talked with John and Susan about trouble in their marriage and claimed that Bill was violent. They had had a terrible argument about their new house, just hours after they signed on the dotted line, and Bill got physical with her. He apparently slapped her and stuffed a dryer cloth into her mouth, then fled in a rage when she locked herself in the bathroom. Bill stormed out of the apartment, vowing never to return. In Melanie's words, this was a frightening experience with Bill. He probably would have broken my cheek if the hit had been a closed fist.

I looked down, and there's my two-year-old. I grabbed the baby and went to the bathroom right behind me and shut the door. I just wanted to get away from him at that point. He said he was leaving, and he wasn't coming back, and I could tell my children, they'd be. didn't have a father. But John was skeptical that Bill would just go off and not come back because he would never leave his boys, and he had just bought a new house, so Melanie's tail didn't quite add up. While the Rises were stunned, some friends who lived closer to the McGuire's in New Jersey weren't.

One of them was Melanie's loyal friend, Celine Trevisis, who thought that Bill was stressed by all his responsibilities and couldn't control his anger. Celine said, I don't think he was a good husband, nor do I think he was a great father. She added that the arguments between the McGuire couple had become a one-way tongue-lashing, and Melanie had become tired so she no longer fought back. Celine also disclosed that Melanie later confided to her and another friend, Alison LaColsey, that Bill had a gambling problem. Perhaps he'd gone to Atlantic City to cool off

and messed up with the wrong people. The Rises refuted it saying that Bill didn't have a serious gambling problem and wasn't the type to be around unsavory characters. However, they entertained the thought that their missing friend was in Atlantic City. They called some hotels there but got negative responses, so they're concerned turned into fear. But on April 30th, Bill's 2002 Blue Nissan Maximum was found outside the Flamingo Motel in Atlantic City, and the police discovered, in its security video, a grainy image of someone moving the car,

getting out of it, and walking away. The abandoned vehicle was towed to a police impound yard on May 8th, but where was William Maguire? The answer, everyone was anxiously wearing. waiting for came seven days later, and it was specially packaged inside a dark green Kenneth Cole's suitcase. On May 5, 2004, fishermen Chris Henkel and Don Connor thought they might get lucky with a catch or two of bluefish or perch at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel near Virginia Beach. After all, springtime is trophy fishing season in the bay, but to their surprise, they noticed a suitcase bobbing in the water. Then Don's 12-year-old son excitedly pulled the case into their

fishing boat like it was a real treasure chest. But when he opened it, they were horrified to see a swirl of black plastic bags containing a pair of bloodless human legs severed at the knees. Virginia Beach crime scene supervisor Beth Dutton had already been processing the first case when police hauled in the second suitcase, identical to the first one but a bit bigger. It was retrieved on May 11th by a graduate student while birdwatching as the suitcase was washed ashore on Fisherman's Island off Virginia's eastern shore. Weighing five pounds, the second suitcase contained a man's head and torso with two bullet wounds. The third and final suitcase surfaced on May 16th and was found by a man's suitcase.

a boater floating in the bay near the second island off the bridge and tunnel. This time, it had a man's hips and thighs, but who was the man? The Virginia Beach PD launched an intensive investigation to identify the victim. Upon releasing on May 21st, a composite sketch of the face of the unidentified dead man. Susan Rice recognized the victim as Bill. I remember my heart just sunk to my stomach, recalled Sue. who lived in Chesapeake with husband John. Virginia Beach detective Ray Pickle was the one who broke the horrible news to the Rices.

Now that he had the victim's name, the detective might be able to figure out who killed and dismembered Bill. He said, whoever would go to the extreme of dismembering a body definitely does not want to be caught. He was especially interested in speaking with Melanie to ask for her health. Little did he know just how much help she would be to him. Ironically, on the same day, Melanie signed the papers seeking a divorce and filed them in Middlesex County, New Jersey on May 25th. Detective Pickle was the first one to investigate Bill's murder, and the initial evidence he found seemed substantial.

For example, the surgical cuts on Bill's body indicated someone with medical training had done it, and not a thug off the streets. Crime scene technicians also found a hospital blanket inside one of the suitcases, and the detectives quickly discovered Bill's wife was a nurse. A week later, Detective Pickle was in New Jersey asking Melanie pertinent questions. She denied owning the suitcases but told the detective her husband's missing car might be in Atlantic City. And that's exactly where to tell her to the detective. Detective Pickle later found Bill's car, which was photographed, fingerprinted, and vacuumed.

A vial of clear liquid next to a syringe was found inside the glove box. Next, the detective searched the McGuire's Woodbridge apartment, which was empty, spotless, and showed no sign of struggle had taken place there. By that time, Melanie had already moved out. At first, she said that she had given away Bill. clothes but Detective Pickle, later found them packed in a plastic trash bag, just like those found with Bill McGuire's remains. A day after, when the detective showed Melanie a picture of one of the pieces of luggage recovered from the Chesapeake Bay, she identified it as being their

family's luggage. Despite Melanie's changing story and hard-to-believe coincidences, there was nothing that would firmly tire to Bill's murder. Nevertheless, though, she remained a suspect, and Detective Pickle was only sure of one thing. Bill may have been dumped in Virginia, but he'd been killed in New Jersey. On September 15th, Virginia police closed their investigation and turned the case over to New Jersey after concluding that William Maguire was killed in the Garden State. Detective David Dalrymple of the New Jersey State Police wanted to take a fresh look at Bill McGuire's case.

Thus, he searched gun registries called gun shops and searched for anyone in Bill's circle who might have been armed. And then he got a hit on April 26, 2004. Two days before Bill disappeared, Melanie had purchased a 38 special handgun with unusual wad-cutter bullets at a small gun shop in Easton, Pennsylvania. Forensics findings showed Bill was shot twice. using the same exact gun. Melanie's gun enthusiast friend, James Finn,

recommended she could buy one in Pennsylvania in just one day. Weeks prior, Melanie had emailed James that trouble was brewing at their home as Bill was getting paranoid and she wanted protection. But when police prodded James to ask Melanie about the gun, she said it was missing. Authorities needed to find someone else with whom Melanie might have shared her darkest secrets.

That's when they discovered Dr. Bradley Miller, Melanie's boss at the fertility clinic. Authorities uncovered their shocking secret. Melanie and Dr. Miller had been involved in a three-year extramarital affair. When police talked to the doctor, he didn't cover up for his lover, but instead spilled the beans. Dr. Miller said Melanie admitted to him that after her violent, fight with Bill on April 29th, and then getting a protection order against him, she drove for two hours to Atlantic City. There she found Bill's car and out of spite moved it to an out-of-the-way motel, the Flamingo, which was captured by a surveillance camera. Melanie then left her car there

and took a cab home but went back the next day to Atlantic City via a taxi to retrieve her car. Moreover, Dr. Miller told police that a day before the first suitcase containing bills severed legs were found, Melanie said she went furniture shopping in Delaware, which wasn't far from Chesapeake Bay. Her Easy Pass tag was recorded at a toll in Delaware two days after Bill's murder. Police then learned that Melanie called Easy Pass and attempted to have the 85 cent charge removed from her account history. Days later, an unidentified man believed to be her stepfather, also called and attempted to have the charge removed.

Then, more circumstantial evidence was discovered that further nailed Melanie as the prime suspect and her husband's brutal murder. First, the plastic bags that wrapped Bill's chopped up body parts with the same role of bags found in Melanie's home as determined by forensic experts. Second, the Kenneth Cole's suitcases used to hide Bill's remains with the missing pieces that matched a luggage set Melanie stored in her basement. Third, fibers found on Bill's body matched those from the sofa that the McGuire couple had owned, indicating that a cushion had probably been used as a makeshift silencer while Melanie shot Bill after drugging him.

Fourth, the medical grade blanket found in the first suitcase matched those in Melanie's house and at her fertility clinic. Police believe that Melanie, being a nurse, used a syringe and prescription from her work to obtain the drug used to incapacitate Bill before shooting him twice. Although the evidence police had was circumstantial, it was incriminating all the same, and that warranted the arrest of Melanie McGuire just a year after the suitcase murder shocked America. June 2nd, 2005 was a usual day for Melanie, doing her routine, which included dropping her sons off for daycare, before rushing off to her patients at the fertility clinic. However, Melanie got the biggest surprise of her life, or perhaps realized her worst fear,

when police arrested and took her into custody that day without incident, for first-degree murder. She was immediately booked into the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center, but made her $750,000 bail. Through her attorneys, she pleaded not guilty to the charges. On October 11th, a state grand jury handed down a four-count indictment. Melanie again settled the raised bail of $2.1 million for her release from custody. More than a year later on October 26, 2006, she was charged with two counts of hindering apprehension

for allegedly writing letters to police aimed at getting them off her trail. She again pleaded not guilty and was released after posting $10,000 bail. Finally, though, on March 5, 2007, Melanie's murder trial began at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, with tons of circumstantial evidence at her disposal. Prosecutor Patty Prezioso prepared to convince a jury that all these pointed to Melanie's guilt. She was depicted as a wife who first drugged

and subsequently shot twice her husband while asleep, dismembered his body parts, and stuffed them inside luxury suitcases before dumping them into the sea like garbage. But what motivated Melancholyne's? Melanie to commit such a brutal and calculated crime. Prosecutors contended her motive was to start a new life with her lover, and the only way for her plan to materialize was to dispose of Bill. Melanie professed her innocence and claimed Bill had become increasingly moody and unpredictable

and was a compulsive gambler. But Melanie admitted to her affair with Dr. Miller, whose statement gave it all. We were hoping to be together in the future to have kids together. Melanie's defense attorney, however, argue that investigators had got it wrong by zeroing in on Melanie from the start, focusing on evidence that incriminated her and disregarding other leads. They said that the prosecution's case was circumstantial at best and utterly unconvincing. They also focused on the lack of physical evidence, insisting, it was more likely that Bill was murdered because of his gambling, and not by his diminutive wife.

After more than five weeks of a grueling trial, the jury clearly was convinced with the prosecutor's case. On April 23rd, 2007, they then found Melanie guilty, a first-degree murder, finding that the evidence established her culpability for the murder beyond a reasonable doubt. She was likewise, convicted of the lesser charges of her. perjury, desecration of human remains and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, but was acquitted of the two counts of hindering apprehension and tampering with evidence and possession of Xanax without a prescription. So, on July 19, 2007 at the age of 34, Melanie was sentenced to life in prison and will be eligible for parole when she's 100 years old.

Her conviction was affirmed by an appeals court on March 16, 2011. Then on September 20th, 2011, the New Jersey Supreme Court declined to even hear her further appeal. Today, Melanie McGuire is 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 William McGuire, but that his real killer is still out there. After all these years, I still feel hurt, I still feel bothered. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? Melanie said in a September 2020 interview. The biggest losers, and all these, are the McGuire children,

who've grown into young adults without a father, estranged from their mother, and under the care of their father's sister, Cindy. To her boys, Melanie has this message. Make up your mind. don't accept what you're just being told on the surface. Dig. Dig.

So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Tune in next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because who knows? Maybe your town will be next.