Going West: True Crime - The Suitcase Murder // 112

Episode Date: March 17, 2021

In 2004, three suitcases were discovered by different people in the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, and they all contained the dismembered remains of an unknown person. But when police released a composite sketch of the victim, someone came forward believing it to be an old friend from New Jersey. As police began to question his family, co-workers, and friends, one person in particular stood out as a clear suspect, and suspicions against them just kept coming in. This is the story of Bill McGuire, also known as Suitcase Murder. *BONUS EPISODES* patreon.com/goingwestpodcast *CASE SOURCES* https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/nyregion/light-is-shed-on-victim-but-no-clues-in-murder.html https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-superior-court-appellate-division/1559582.html https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72310107/william-theodore-mcguire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_McGuire https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20040609-2004-06-09-0406090098-story.html https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=3301941&page=1 https://thecinemaholic.com/where-is-melanie-mcguires-family-now/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mcguire-diaries/ https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/10/nyregion/light-is-shed-on-victim-but-no-clues-in-murder.html https://archive.centraljersey.com/2007/03/28/mcguires-lover-tells-jury-of-their-affair/ https://www.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/03/mcguire_murder_trial_continues_1.html https://archive.centraljersey.com/2007/04/18/defense-defendant-did-not-conduct-internet-searches/ https://murderpedia.org/female.M/m/mcguire-melanie-evidence.htm https://murderpedia.org/female.M/m/mcguire-melanie.htm https://www.nj.com/ledgerarchives/2007/07/mcguire_timeline.html Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Tee. And I'm your other host, Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Howdy everybody, hope you're all having a wonderful week so far. Thank you so much for joining us today here at Going West. If you're all caught up on Going West and you need more, we have over 35 full-length ad-free bonus episodes on our Patreon, which is patreon.com slash Going West podcast. And usually over there we cover international cases. Cases we would cover on this podcast, but we save for the bonus episodes and they're all really interesting.

So head over there if you want to check it out. Yeah, definitely come join our rad community over on Patreon. Also, you know, there's different tiers that you guys can subscribe to. So, you know, we have like a $5 tier, we have a $10 tier, and depending on what level you want to go to, you can get more or less bonus episodes a month, so definitely check that out. It really helps out our show and keeps going west going. It really, really does, and we do shout out for all our new patrons in the end of every

episode, so if you join, don't forget to listen for your shout out. This week's case is bananas. It's so, so interesting, and there so much to this case. I tried to include as much information as possible and squeezed it all in one episode, but this could be like a doc you series or a podcast of its own, but I episode 112 of going west, so let's get into it. In 2004, three suitcases were discovered by different people in the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, and they all contained the dismembered remains of an unknown person. But when police released a composite sketch of the victim, someone came forward believing it to be an old friend from New Jersey. As police began to question his family, co-workers, and friends,

his family, co-workers and friends, one person in particular stood out as a clear suspect and suspicions against them just kept coming in. This is the story of Bill McGuire, also known as the suitcase murder. William McGuire, who went by Bill, was born on September 21, 1964 in Bronx, New York to parents Ruth and William McGuire, along with his sisters Cindy and Nancy. Bill and his sisters grew up in Clifton, New Jersey and then moved to Vernon Township, New Jersey, which is known to be a very rural area with lots of greenery and nature spots, and in fact, the Appalachian Trail runs through it, and it has an absolutely gorgeous countryside. And it's directly on the border of New York, so it's only about an hour and a half out of New York City. While living in Clifton, which is about an hour from Vernon

Township, Bill briefly lived with his best friend's family, the Polks. His best friend's sister is named Marcy Polk, and she was a few years younger than Bill, but they began dating in high school, and in 1982, Bill graduated from Vernon Township High School. With that, Bill enlisted in the Navy, and soon after began working in the coastal East Coast City of Virginia Beach, Virginia, as a Navy electronics technician. Marcy didn't graduate until four years later in 1986, but once she graduated, she moved to Virginia Beach to be with Bill and the two alooped. They remained in Virginia Beach together for about four years until 1990, when they returned back to New Jersey.

Marcy states that then 26-year-old Bill began to drink alcohol in excess and started gambling pretty consistently. And he would often do this in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which some people kind of think is the East Coast's Las Vegas, but instead of in the desert, it's on the beach. With these new found addictions, Bill apparently grew increasingly aggressive with his wife, Marcy, which turned into physical and emotional abuse. Another four years went by and Marcy had had enough, so she followed for divorce and for a restraining order against her husband Bill McGuire in 1994.

But three years later in 1997, 33-year-old Bill McGuire would meet another woman, 25-year-old Melanie Slate. Melanie Lynn Slate was born on October 8th, 1972, so she was 8 years younger than Bill, and Ridgewood, New Jersey to her mother Linda and her stepfather, Michael Caparero, along with her brother. Melanie's mother described Melanie as every mother's dream, saying that she was a good girl who never got into trouble. She was smart, supportive of her family, and a happy girl, and a wonderful student. Originally, Melanie Slate went to Rutgers University, which is one of the oldest universities in America and located in her home state of New Jersey, to do a double major in psychology and math.

She graduated in 1994 and then decided she wanted to attend nursing school, and this really didn't surprise her family one bit, because she was known to be the type of person who, upon seeing a car accident, would pull over, get out of her own car, and assist anyone at the scene who needed help. She graduated second in her class with a nursing diploma from Charles E. Gregory School of Nursing, three years later, the same year she met Bill. And Bill and Melanie dated for less than two years before getting married in June of 1999.

And at this time, Bill was teaching at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and New Work, while Melanie was just beginning her career with reproductive menacinus associates, which is one of the largest fertility clinics in the US. Everything seemed perfect, and both of their families thought they wanted the very same things at a life and meshed very well together. So much so that while approaching their first anniversary of marriage, Melanie gave birth to their first son. And this only seemed to make their picturesque

life even better, and Melanie recognized what an amazing father and family man Bill was becoming. However, this couldn't really be said two years later when their second son was born in 2002. Much like with his first marriage, Bill's relationship with Melanie began to crumble when he began gambling again. According to Melanie, he started taking frequent trips to Atlantic City, which seemed to make him enraged and oftentimes pretty violent. And Bill's ex-wife Marcy had actually visited Melanie and told her that she had previously filed a restraining order against him and that she should get away while she still can,

because, quote, he's going to make you think you're crazy. This is what he's done to me and he's going to do it to you. Melanie later stated that on one occasion in 2003, he was pulled over for a speeding ticket and called her in a rage about it, so she hung up. He then called her back, cursing up a storm, and said that if she was home when he got there, he'd kill her and smash her face in. But nothing ended up happening that night, and they tried to work things out. About a year after this supposedly occurred, on April 28, 2004, Bill and Melanie closed

on a $450,000 mortgage to buy a home in Warren County, New Jersey. They had been looking to move out of their apartment so that they could live in a larger home and they were finally doing this. And we hate to say supposedly, especially when we're talking about emotional or physical abuse, but because of what's coming up, we always like to make sure everyone knows when certain details are accounts made by one individual.

It's not to discount what they're saying, it's just to cover our bases. So for anyone wondering why we say supposedly. So around this time, Melanie was still working and nursing at the fertility clinic and her patients loved her, saying that she was easy to talk to, but could be sassy and kept it real. Bill and Melanie and their kids hadn't quite moved into their new home yet. So late April of 2004, Bill, Melanie and their two sons were still living in their apartment at the Woodbridge Center in Woodbridge, New Jersey. After finalizing the purchase of their first home on Wednesday, April 28, 2004, Bill and

Melanie returned to their apartment in the early evening together. At 5.37pm, Bill made a phone call to the gas company to inform them of the upcoming move to have services transferred. When he got off the phone seven minutes later, he called one of his good friends and explained how excited he was about the purchase of the home. A few minutes later, at 5.59pm, he called another friend to share the news with them. So it was very obvious to his friends that Bill was looking forward to the move and he and his family's next chapter. That same evening, the seller of their new home called Bill on his blackberry cell phone. But he didn't answer nor did he return the call. And this was strange because he had been very much on top of everything regarding the house.

Days went by and no one had heard from Bill, which again was very odd. Bill always had his phone on him and he was constantly talking to friends and colleagues. He was also known to be a very well respected and responsible employee who excelled in his work. But days later, everyone would find out why he'd been MIA. On May 5th, 2004, one week after Bill disappeared at 11.30am, a local fisherman was fishing near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel in Virginia when he noticed a piece of luggage floating in the water.

Curious as to what it was, the man pulled the luggage out and opened it up. And to his absolute horror, he discovered dismembered human remains, a pair of legs to be specific, inside black plastic trash bags inside of this suitcase. He informed the police of his discovery immediately, and they had the luggage sent to a Norfolk Virginia medical examiner. Six days later, on May 11, 2004, a graduate student was conducting research on Fisherman's Island in Virginia, where he came across a luggage that had washed onto shore. The piece of luggage contained a man's head and upper body, as well as a five-and-a-half-pound

freeway. Five days later, on May 16, 2004, a boater discovered the third and final suitcase by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel, and it contained a man's lower torso. It appeared now that all the remains totaled up and belonged to the same man, but Virginia Beach police didn't know who he was, so they were able to have a composite sketch done based on the remains and they released it to the public in hopes that someone could identify him. If anyone wants to see the composite, it's all over our socials, by the way, at Going West Podcast on Instagram, at Going West Pod on Twitter, and then we also have a Facebook. Luckily, a woman named Susan Rice came forward within just a few days of the sketch being

released, and explained that she felt she knew exactly who it was. A man named Bill McGuire. And Susan was living in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Bill was her husband's long-time friend who he was actually in the Navy with. So let's just stop for one second. So now we have three different pieces of luggage that people have found in Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. Containing body parts. Yes, and they're all the same type of luggage. We also have photos of those on our social media. It's like three matching suitcases. And just to be clear, three different people had found each piece of luggage. Yeah, within probably about 10 days of each other in the same general area. So these did not float far. Could you even imagine just out there fishing and like you just you see like a piece of

luggage floating on the water and you're like oh one of there's like clothes or some treasure in there. Yeah you're like what's in here let's open it up not expecting that at all. God I just I feel so bad for people who come across stuff like that. It must have been horrifying. So the very same day that Susan Rice came forward Melanie McGuire filed for divorce and also filed for a restraining order. She hadn't reported to her husband missing even though he'd been gone for almost an entire month, so ding, red flags, but in the divorce paperwork, she stated that Bill began to exhibit extremely bizarre behavior over the last few months, including believing someone was in their attic and scratching his own body until

he broke skin. She also mentioned various fights that they had where she feared for she and her son safety, which was another reason that she was filing for divorce. Meanwhile, police tried to figure out if the body really did belong to Bill, but as they soon discovered, the sketch didn't really resemble Bill, and many of his co-workers would later say how odd it was that someone knew it was him, because Bill would never come to their mind while looking at this sketch. Yeah, I mean, to me, looking at it, I'm kinda like, I see it kind of in a way, but I don't know if I knew him if I would say that's Bill. It's just kinda like, maybe the nose is similar and maybe the face shape kind of but it's not like dead on. Yeah and that's kind of the tough thing with sketches is you know you really only have so much to work with and sometimes they don't look

anything like the victim. Well and the body had been in the water for many days so. Correct, it's decomposing. Yeah, it probably bloated all that kind of stuff so but yeah his friends just thought that was kind of weird but after doing DNA tests on the victim's body they did actually positively identify the remains to be that of 39 year old Bill McGuire. A big question was how did Bill's remains get all the way to Virginia? When police found that Bill lived in New Jersey, since this was now out of their jurisdiction, they had to pass the case off to New Jersey authorities. We know that bill used to reside in Virginia Beach, but it had been years and the Chesapeake

Bay Bridge tunnel, which is the general area where all three suitcases were discovered, within two weeks of each other, is a five-hour drive from where Bill and his family lived in 2004. As soon as the case was passed to New Jersey law enforcement, they contacted Melanie to tell her that her husband's body had been found and that he was the victim of a homicide. At this point, the McGuire boys were just two and four years old, so from this point on, they would be raised by just Melanie. And many of her friends and family commended her for doing so because she was a working mom and, you know, now a single mom.

She did take six weeks off work to kind of cope and figure out her life, and she was questioned twice by police. But other than that, things kind of had to go on. When police questioned Melanie, Melanie stated that on April 29th, the day after Bill was last heard from, she and Bill had gotten into a huge fight, and that Bill slapped her and stuffed a dryer cloth into her mouth, which resulted in Melanie locking herself in the bathroom, and Bill angrily leaving the house. So after this, she told police that she didn't see him again. Hence the reason she didn't report a missing because they had gotten into a bad argument

and their relationship had kind of been on the rocks anyway. Melanie also mentioned that she thought Bill was more than likely in Atlantic City gambling since he had a gambling addiction. So police headed over there and found his car in the Flamingo Hotel's parking lot. Of course, they checked with the hotel security footage to try and put a timeline together, and they discovered that on April 30th, the day after the supposed fight, Bill's 2002 blue Nissan Maxima pulled into the parking lot. After police found the car, Melanie told them a story that they thought

sounded pretty unlikely. And it was that after their fight, she suspected he would be an Atlantic city which angered her. So she drove over there and as she was getting off the highway, she saw his dark sedan in the parking lot. After happening upon his car, she, for whatever reason, decided to move his car to a different area. She said that she did this because it was something they did when they were mad at each other as a way of messing with each other. But this couldn't be confirmed. Police did a full investigation of the McGuire's apartment and didn't find that any crime had taken place there. But when they received

the surveillance footage of the hotel parking lot, it showed someone getting out of the car, but the footage was far too grainy to see any of the person's features whatsoever. Police didn't find any useful information on the Flamingo Hotel security footage, other than to just kind of prove that bill was not seen inside the hotel nor the casinos at all after his car pulled in. Man, it's like what's the point of even having this security footage if it like you literally can't even tell anybody's like I totally agree and this was 2004 so obviously you know cameras are better now but I agree it's like what why even have them you can't see shit

exactly this is the feats the whole purpose but we do have a photo of that on our social media as well. There was something that police found on Melanie's bank statements that made them question things about her story even more though. In some parts of the United States, people use something called an easy pass. It's basically an electronic toll collection system that lets you pay the toll when driving like certain roads, bridges and tunnels. So if you're a person who lives in areas where there are tolls and you have a car, you probably have an easy pass so it can be scanned easily and you can go through them faster versus having to wait in line to pay the toll and cash. A couple days after Bill went missing,

Melanie's easy pass was used twice, totaling to just 90 cents as she randomly drove to Delaware. Even more suspicious, she called the company and tried to have them remove these charges from her statement. I always want to stay on track and eat healthy, but that's really hard in these unpredictable times when all I want to do is get take out, but not anymore now that I've found gobble. Gobble is a meal kit delivery service designed for real life. It's an incredibly easy and delicious way to make healthy meals at home in just 15 minutes. And definitely I've found this service to be so helpful and amazing.

Gobble has everything already set and prepared for you, which is done by an awesome team of sous chefs that do all the time consuming work so we don't have to, like portioning the food, prepping fresh ingredients, and coming up with clean recipes you'll love. And it's all delivered straight to your doorstep. Literally just last night, we had their garden vegetable puttinesca, and let me just tell you, it was so good and everything was ready to be cooked.

It was so satisfying and delicious, you guys have to try it. Right now, they're offering 6 meals for just $36 plus free shipping. So that's dinner for 2 people for 3 nights for just 36 bucks. Get this special offer now. Go to gobble.com slash going west. That's gobble.com slash going west for six meals for just $36. I have been fed that's a fact. I have been fed that's a fact. My credit card purchases get me cash back. My credit card purchases get me cash back. No one else gets these rewards.

Sergeant, that is just plain untrue. What? Internation? Sir! PenFed's PowerCash Rewards Card isn't just for military members. Anyone can get cash back on all purchases. Ah, Friggins! You've ruined my favorite song! PenFed Credit Union. Visit penfed.org slash PowerCash. To receive any advertised product, you must become a member of PenFed in Shared By NCUA. When investigators asked Melanie why she attempted to have the charges removed, she said that

she panicked and admitted to doing so. But she said that she did this because she was afraid of how it would look, and that she would be questioned suspiciously about the charges. If you ask me, this makes her look more suspicious that she's saying, I knew how it would look, like, okay, so what's your excuse? It's only going to look weird if it is weird. So don't incriminate yourself further by constantly trying to back up your actions before police catch on to them, because she did this with the surveillance footage

and with the tolls, you know, saying, oh, by the way, you know, I went to go move his car. So in case you see me on the footage, that's why. And now she's saying, oh, I was going to remove the charges because I knew it would look weird. It's like, what? What are these weird excuses? I mean, she clearly didn't cover her tracks,

but now she's just kind of making it worse for herself. Exactly! You're just making it worse. So, back to Bill's car being found. While investigators were processing it, they found a bottle of Chloral Hydrate, which is a sedative and two syringes. Of course, the next step was to trace where exactly this sedative came from. And investigators were able to discover that it was picked up on the morning of April 28th, so the day Melanie and Bill bought their house and a day that Bill was last seen, from

a Walgreens pharmacy near their son's daycare. And the prescription came from none other than Dr. Bradley Miller. Talk about lazy murder work. Like you're gonna leave evidence in the car like that. The syringes and the bottle of sedative? Yeah, I mean, oh my god. I just, I can't even explain to you. Like, there are people who really, really cover their tracks and murder cases.

This is not one of them. This is just sloppy-ass stuff. So, of course, you're probably wondering, who Dr. Bradley Miller is. Well, we haven't mentioned him yet, but here it comes. He was a man who Melanie McGuire was having an affair with. Boom, my head just literally exploded. I know.

Bill Miller was a partner at the same fertility clinic that Melanie worked at, which is how they met. He was married with three children, but in 2002, while Melanie was 38 weeks pregnant with her second son, the two took their flirtatious coworker relationship to new heights by expressing their love for each other. They got together outside of work secretly whenever they could, but this was very difficult

since they were both married with families, so a lot of the time they spent together was at work. But they even sometimes got together for cookouts or holiday parties with their respective families, yet found it pretty hard seeing each other have to be affectionate with their spouses. Melanie had discussed divorcing Bill, too Brad, but her only hesitation was that Bill would somehow gain custody of the kids and she wouldn't be able to see them. And I don't know why she would think this, because she was a good mom, she had a good

job. I don't know why they wouldn't just get joint custody, I don't know why this was a concern of hers, but it was. Get the divorce, get a voice. Exactly. But she and Brad had a whole future plan together where they would be married and buy a house and have kids together. So they did both have that kind of agreement of we're eventually going to not be with our current spouses and we're going to be together. Bill really wanted to buy a house, so when he and Melanie found one in 2004, Melanie told Brad that she truly didn't believe that they would close on the house.

So thinking that they wouldn't actually get this house, she and Brad loosely planned on Melanie getting her own apartment temporarily and telling Bill that she wanted a divorce. Then within a few months of that, Brad would divorce his wife and he and Melanie could start their life together. But that plan fell apart when Bill and Melanie did close on the house together. The day that Bill was last seen, Melanie spoke with Brad multiple times, including at around 4pm to tell him that they closed on the house. Brad admits that he was enraged and told her to rip up the papers because if she moved into that new house with him, divorcing Bill would become

so much more complicated. Melanie just told Brad that everything would be fine and not to worry. And she actually said this in the car with Bill because Brad could hear Bill talking to someone on his cell phone. So she was talking to her lover on the phone while in the car with her husband who's on the phone with somebody else. So you can only assume that she was hiding her affair in plain sight. Yeah, I mean to me that's really risky. Oh for sure. So according to Brad, later that same night, Melanie called him again at about 9 p.m. and

told him that Bill was sleeping on the couch, but when he woke up, she promised to talk to him about the house and tell him that she wanted to get a divorce. She also told Brad that she would call him in the morning and tell him how it all went, and she did. At 9 a.m. the following morning, which was April 29th, Melanie called Brad and explained that they had gotten into a fight the night before and she was really upset about it, and her heart was jittery and racing and Bill had left. To help her out, Brad called in a Xanax prescription for her, but Melanie explained that she was

staying at the Red Roof Inn in Edison, Pennsylvania, which is around an hour away from her apartment, so that she wouldn't have to see Bill in case she came back home. That day and the day after, Brad was not able to go see Melanie, but he states that he did go over to the Red Roof Inn on May 1st at 5am, and that Melanie appeared completely normal physically as if she didn't have any injuries, not that she claimed to have any but just FYI she looked normal. Melanie said she was tired, so she went back to bed and had lunch with Brad in the town of Edison, Pennsylvania a few hours later.

Although they continued to talk multiple times per day, like I'm talking 20 times a day, Brad Miller claims that he did not see Melanie again for another four days. So the next four days, we're not sure exactly what Melanie really was doing or where she was at this time. Regarding Melanie claiming that she drove to Atlantic City to move Bill's car, she didn't mention that to Brad until about two months later, and she said the only reason she didn't mention it was because she was angry and upset when it all happened. Of course this makes you wonder if she didn't tell him this originally because it wasn't true, and she made it up later. At the same time she told him this, she also mentioned that for whatever reason, she took Bill's cell phones that were apparently just sitting in his car, his personal in his work phone, and she threw them out, which

is really weird, I don't know why you would do something like that. Then she took a cab back home, but since her car was supposedly still in Atlantic City, since she made the hour and a half drive down there just for the sole purpose of moving his car to mess with him. She took another cab down there the next day, April 29th, and then drove up to the Red Roof Inn in Edison, Pennsylvania. So, like, that just doesn't make any sense at all. It's just very complicated. It's an the fact that she's saying this later after she had told this story to police. It's again, it's like she's trying to cover her tracks and it doesn't, it just doesn't add up, it's just weird.

Yeah. So Brad also mentioned that between May 2 and May 5, the days he didn't see her, Melanie told Brad that she was in Delaware shopping for furniture because Delaware doesn't have sales tax. And that was the reason for being in Delaware. But again, she was just mentioning this to him, which made her story of going to Delaware for furniture seem a little more suspicious, and opening the possibility even more that she really may have just driven a few more hours further south and gone to Virginia Beach to dump the body.

And I mean this isn't a stretch because all we know, the facts are that her car passed through that toll in Delaware twice. So we just know that she passed through Delaware, which she could have done on her way to Virginia. So her saying she was in Delaware to get furniture, there's no proof of that, there's just proof that she drove through Delaware. Which means, technically, she could have continued down to Virginia because why was she in Delaware

because for those who don't know, Delaware is south of New Jersey and Virginia Beach is south of Delaware. So regarding the prescription on the chlorohydrate, it did come from Dr. Miller, but investigators agreed that it didn't look like his signature, but instead, possibly like Melanie's handwriting. And it could make sense that it possibly was her handwriting too because she had access

to his prescription pad, so she easily could have signed off on the chloro hydrate and picked up that prescription herself. Police have definitely speculated that Dr. Miller could have helped her, but there was no evidence to prove that he had anything to do with it. They interviewed him and checked up on him as well, and everything seemed to check out. They just had this sneaking suspicion

that since he loved her and wanted to be with her, he would have helped her carry out such a crime. But at this point, they at least fully believed that Melanie was behind her husband's murder. At this point, Brad didn't believe that Melanie had anything to do with her husband's murder, so to prove it, he told police that he would tape his call with her, and Brad asked Melanie on the phone to swear on her children that she did not kill her husband, and she did. aware on her children that she did not kill her husband and she did. She outright denied having anything to do with his death. Which obviously doesn't mean she didn't do it, it's just what she told Brad.

There are a few suspicious internet searches that were done on the McGuire's home computer within the weeks leading up to Bill's murder that police found during their investigation. The first one that stood out to investigators was searched on April 11, 2004 at 7.32 p.m., so about two weeks prior to the murder. Someone using Bill's email logged on to njlinks.net, which is a website for New Jersey's health services portal, and then searched, undetectable poisons into Google. One week later, on April 18, 2004, at 5.44pm, someone Googled how to commit suicide. One hour later, someone searched the word, chloroform, which, as many of us know, is a dangerous

chemical compound that can be toxic when inhaled and can be used on a rag to make a person pass out. This was searched on the MSN search engine. 13 minutes later, someone logged on to Bill's email, went on to classmates.com and searched the year 1982, which is the year that Bill graduated from high school. Marcy later testified that in 2004 she received a message from Bill on classmates.com and he said, I'm sorry about what I did to you. And this is thought to refer to the emotional and physical abuse that Marcy states she

suffered at the hands of Bill. She said that she did not respond to this message, but this helps us determine that Bill was likely on the computer either when how to commit suicide or chloroform was searched, or he went on the computer after someone else, i.e. Melanie, searched this. Also around this same time, the following things were searched. Gun laws in Pennsylvania, toxic insulin levels, fatal insulin doses, fatal digoxin doses, how to purchase hunting rifles in New Jersey, pesticide as poison, morphine poisoning, how to find chloroform, sedatives, tranquilizers, barbituits, pharmacy, chloral hydrate, which remember was found in Bill's car,

and Walgreens, which is where the chloral hydrate came from. Pretty suspicious searches here. And it also goes back to when we were saying earlier how sloppy it all is, how all of these were just done on the home computer like it was nothing. On April 26, 2004, so just two days before Bill McGuire is believed to have been murdered, Melanie McGuire headed to John's Gun and Tackle Room Gun Shop in East in Pennsylvania and purchased a Taurus Model 85 38

caliber handgun along with a box of bullets. For reference, this shop was about an hour's drive from her home. For anyone wondering the gun laws in Pennsylvania at least at this time in the story were, slash maybe are, much more lax than New Jersey and there's less of a waiting period. The gun was registered under Melanie's name and more on the guns, Melanie had a friend named James Finn, and James had gone to nursing school with Melanie and had been romantically interested in her for a long time, which was not reciprocated, but they remained friends. In an email chain he shared with police, the two had been emailing back and forth shortly

before Bill's disappearance, where Melanie mentioned that she was having problems in her marriage, and almost joked about getting a gun for protection against him. She also mentioned that Bill had been acting strangely and was starting to drink more, which made her fear for her safety. Then, they discussed gun laws in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Even after Melanie bought the gun, she didn't tell James despite the fact that they had been talking about guns. But the following year, James agreed to let the police record a phone conversation between him and Melanie, and during that call, she told him that Bill asked her to buy a gun for protection for their

new home. But this went against her reasoning for potentially getting a gun and their emails the year prior. But still Melanie told everyone that the reason for her buying a gun was for Bill. However, said gun had never been found. Which makes you wonder was it the murder weapon? So it had to be disposed of and her excuse for buying a gun for Bill instead of him buying one for himself is because he had a previous felony conviction for a bad driving record, which made him ineligible for purchasing his own gun. But it's hard not to notice

that the gun was purchased just two days before Bill went missing. But to go along with the claim that the gun was for Bill, a man named George Lowry, who had worked with Bill previously, testified that Bill had indeed discussed buying a gun on April 6, 2004, so 20 days before Melanie bought a handgun. He remembered this because they had been working on a project together that day, and it came

up in conversation. Although the same day Melanie purchased the gun, someone searched how to commit suicide on the McGuire's home computer. When police asked Melanie where the gun was, she said that, oh, you know, I think that bill locked it in a box for safety and that it's in the storage unit, but she wasn't sure. When police searched the storage unit,

they did find a locked box, but inside was just batteries, no gun whatsoever anywhere. And speaking of, I can't believe I forgot to mention this, so sorry guys, the medical examiner found two bullets in Bill's torso as well as shots to his head and chest. The bullets were 38 caliber wad cutter bullets. And based on the ballistic markings, it was determined that it could have absolutely been fired from the Taurus model gun that Melanie had purchased. And as we mentioned, the gun she bought was a 38 caliber gun. Oh yeah, so now this gun is missing and I don't know where it's at. I have no idea

where this gun is that I bought that I bought for my husband. Yeah, okay. The excuse is just keep coming. Bill's body had been shot numerous times, had been cut into three sections, drained of blood, and wrapped in black plastic garbage bags. Just days after Melanie had been informed of her husband's murder, Melanie was in the process of moving out of their apartment, and she gathered all of his clothes together and threw them out in multiple black plastic garbage bags. One of her friends was helping her move out and decided to keep the bags of Bill's clothes, which police later collected as evidence. Plastic bag technology experts, which I didn't even know existed, and the state of New Jersey

compared these trash bags to the ones that Bill's body had been wrapped in, and conclusively determined that those bags were produced on the very same production line within hours of each other, indicating that whoever killed Bill used trash bags from the very same production line within hours of each other, indicating that whoever killed Bill used trash bags from the very same source that Melanie used to pack Bill's clothes. On top of this, there was also adhesive tape that was used to wrap the bags where the body was found, and they were covered a particle of red nail polish along with small hairs that appeared to cut short like they were shaved

hairs. One of the hairs matched Bill's DNA and the other matched Melonies. Clients of Melonies at the fertility clinic said that she was appropriately sad when she returned to work but never went into details on what had happened. Somehow most of her clients and patients had not heard what had happened, and Melanie just said that her husband passed away, but never that he was murdered. Melanie started to turn her life around, and by the following year in March 2005, she had closed on a coastal home in Brick, New Jersey for her and her two sons. But just a couple months later, in June of 2005,

so just over a year after the investigation began, 32-year-old Melanie dropped her sons off at daycare and was promptly pulled over by police, who arrested her for the murder of her husband, Bill McGuire. Shortly after Melanie was charged with Bill's murder, she was released on bail, which had been set at $750,000. Melanie pleaded not guilty to the charges, and while she was out, the department working on Bill's case received an anonymous letter that was four typed pages stating that Melanie

was being framed for her husband's murder. The writer of the letter claimed that they were the one to kill quote Billy Mack because he was a greedy and unreliable man. And to prove that they were the killer and not Melanie, they included a few details about how the body was dismembered that hadn't been released to the public and the details were correct. There was also a package sent to the public and the details were correct. There was also a package sent to the prosecutor that contained another letter from the killer and it stated that there were certain items hidden at Bill's sister Cindy's office that

could help prove that she was the one framing Melanie for Bill's murder. After police tracked the FedEx package, it was found to have been sent by someone using a $50 American Express gift card for the delivery charges. The purchase of the AMX gift card was tracked to a nearby ride aid and was made on October 9th at 3.48 pm. And although they couldn't determine who bought it, they did recover security footage of someone leaving the ride aid just after the gift card was purchased. It was taken from outside the store, but the footage is very grainy, so it's incredibly

hard to tell who the woman is, and whether or not it's Melanie McGuire. Yeah, just looking at that photo, it's so hard to tell, because it's black and white, and it's grainy, and we have a photo that we posted on our socials along with everything else from this case. She's in the lower left corner of the frame. She has her hair up, but I just don't know. I will, however, say that it does kind of seem like you can tell body shape and hairstyle. You may not be able to tell exactly the face, but you can pretty much make out relatively close that it could be Melanie. It looks like it could be her, but maybe that would be easier for somebody who knows her well to say,

but let us know what you guys think, because it is hard to tell. Melanie faced additional charges four months after her release in October of 2005, and a grand jury indicted her. And with that, her bail was set to $2.1 million, but she was once again released on bail. Then a year later, she was charged with two counts of hindering apprehension, because police believed that she was the one who wrote the letters trying to get police off her trail and point blame in the opposite direction while she awaited trial. And to me that seems really obvious. Right.

And obvious enough to bring these charges against her. So, you know, they have the video footage like we said we they couldn't even confirm whether or not it was her, but all the pieces just lined up and they really thought that she was the one behind this. But Melanie pleaded not guilty and was for the third time released on bail. In the spring of 2007, so nearly three years after the murder occurred, Melanie McGuire's trial began. Regarding the surveillance footage at the Flamingo Hotel where Bill's car was found, the prosecution pondered if Melanie had potentially made up that story about moving his car and possibly planting it there, on the security footage, so she had to come up with a reason

for why they'd see her, which is what I think personally. They also realized that if Melanie did indeed murder her husband, make up a scenario that after their fight he went to the casino and she did plant his car there, she would more than likely have needed someone to pick her up. So they wondered if two people were involved in this murder, but Melanie was the only one to face charges and of course the main case surrounded her. Like she was the mastermind no matter what. But we do also, I mean in my mind, I have to question the doctor because obviously, like you said, like you just said, she does have to get a ride from the casino and you know, the whole thing with the prescription. All of that is just kind of messing with my mind in this case. I totally hear you, but for some reason, I just have this weird gut feeling that he was not involved, and usually I probably would think that he was, but researching everything he said about

everything to me, I'm just kinda like, I don't know, I don't think so, but it's definitely possible. And the state claimed to the court that Melanie likely did have an accomplice who helped her saw Bill's body, wrap it up in garbage bags, and put them in the luggage. Although it's possible that she did this alone because they also claimed that she drove down to Virginia on the evening of May 3rd, where she then threw the suitcases off the Chesapeake Bay bridge into the bay, where they were discovered just days later. As we mentioned, the garbage bags were crucial evidence used by the prosecution.

So was the nail polish and the hairs that were found on the tape, and the state claimed that this helped prove that Bill's body was wrapped in the McGuire's bathroom, where such stubble and nail polish would be found. Also in the suitcase where Bill's torso was found, part of the remains were wrapped in a blanket that was imprinted with the initials HCSC, which is a company that supplied linens to various New Jersey doctors, offices, and hospitals. After investigators looked into this, they found those exact blankets where the same facility were Melanie worked.

The defense, on the other hand, presented the testimony of a linguistics expert regarding the letters from the killer, and they were not able to identify whether or not the handwriting was Melanie's. They also pointed out the major lack of evidence proving Melanie was behind the murder, as well as the lack of forensic evidence in the McGuire's apartment. Considering Bill was shot multiple times, drained of blood and dismembered, they discussed how difficult it would have been to clean up that crime scene to the point where investigators wouldn't find any spot of evidence that the crime took place there.

But investigators searched the home multiple times, they used lumenol everywhere, they pulled down parts of the wall inside, they pulled up the floorboards and pulled out the piping, and they didn't find anything at all. The only evidence they found was in Bill's car, and it was actually referred to as human sawdust because they were small pieces of his flesh. Oh man, that is brutal. Yes, sorry if you're eating. And this was believed to have been tracked into his car from Melanie's shoes, says the prosecution. But back to the defense's thoughts. On top of this, none of their neighbors nor anyone else heard or saw anything happen that night, which would be incredibly

unlikely. Especially since the prosecution pointed out that they believed Bill was dismembered in the couple's bathroom. So the defense is kind of like, oh was he? Okay, then why didn't anybody hear it? And where's all the evidence? Yeah, where's the evidence? Yeah, where's the evidence in the bathroom? There's no evidence. So it's just, it's weird. Well, that right there leads me to believe that an accomplice could have helped Melanie with this whole thing because, I mean, think about it.

If you're dismembering a person in a bathroom, there is going to be trace amounts of blood somewhere. Oh yeah, I mean, we've covered so many cases where there's just a little, a little speck on the wall or on the ceiling or on the bed. Like, there's always at least a speck. There's no way that, there's no way there was completely cleaned. I don't believe that. Yeah, literally, we've covered cases where they have pulled up floorboards and found tiny,

tiny microscopic traces of blood underneath floorboards. So to me, not being able to find anything there means it didn't occur there. Yeah, the investigators clearly did their due diligence tearing this place apart. So I think it had to have happened somewhere else. I just don't aware." The prosecutor argued in court that Melanie had the motive and the opportunity to murder her husband, and that on the night of April 28, 2004, she drugged and shot Bill before dismembering his body with a power saw likely after a fight about divorce.

With the help of Dr. Bradley Miller's testimony regarding he and Melanie's affair, which included all the information we already told you about this relationship, the prosecution was able to point out the sense of urgency that Melanie more than likely had when they closed on the house and she was about to be stuck with Bill and had to get rid of him immediately.

But her buying the gun two days prior to the murder and allegedly picking up the sedative the morning of his disappearance proved that she had been planning it anyway. On April 23rd, 2007, Melanie McGuire was found guilty of perjury, desecration of human remains, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and first-degree murder. At the age of 34, she was sentenced to life in prison and following her arrangement, this case was dubbed as the suit-case murder. So we briefly touched on Brad Miller possibly being Melanie's accomplice, but it's also believed that Melanie's stepfather, Michael Capararo, could have potentially been her accomplice in the whole thing.

Allegedly on the evening of May 1, 2004, Michael took Melanie to Atlantic City to help her plant Bill's car at the hospital and then used his cell phone to call their apartment, his meaning Bill's cell phone, from that spot to make it look like he was still alive. But when Bill's body was discovered, the plan of pretending that he had skipped out on his family had fallen through, and Melanie had to backpedal.

Meaning that Melanie was trying to make it seem like, oh, he skipped out, he went gambling and then he went missing on his own. Yeah, he took off on his own accord. Right, but then of course his body was found and she's like, oh, he skipped out, he went gambling, and then he went missing on his own. Yeah, he took off on his own accord. Right, but then of course his body is found and she's like, oh shoot, now I gotta think of something else. One day after Melanie tried to get the charges removed from the easy pass when she went to Delaware, an unknown man who is believed to have been her stepdad Michael, called the same company himself and asked for the charges to be removed as well, but it didn't work. Oh my gosh. So now another person is trying to get these charges removed. I mean, like red flags

everywhere. Exactly. So that really makes me believe that she did have an accomplice. And also, going towards potentially being Michael, police also found Google searches about murder on Michael and Linda, Linda is male in these moms, home computer. But charges were never brought on Michael because there was no evidence he was involved. It's just really speculation. But I think it's pretty likely that he would have helped her. I mean, being her stepdad, he was a big part of her life. And, you know, either him or Brad, but I don't know, my money's on Michael.

I mean, if she got herself into, you know, a bad scenario or a bad situation, it's possible. I mean, parents do a lot of thing for their kids. I hate to say that because obviously it is just speculation. So for anybody out there thinking that's crazy that I'm saying, my money's on him. I hope he didn't do anything, but I think it's pretty interesting that he's believed to possibly be involved Right, that's just a theory that's out there exactly just a theory Bill's sister Cindy received custody of her brother's two sons after Melanie was originally arrested and she's the person who raised them Melanie was originally arrested, and she's the person who raised them. To this day, Melanie maintains her innocence and had attempted to appeal her conviction

multiple times since, but to no avail. Today, Melanie is 48 years old and remains incarcerated in the state of New Jersey. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going Last. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and like I always say, next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. This case was so, so crazy, there were so many little pieces of this case that I just thought were really interesting, and I also think it's interesting that Melanie is still maintaining her innocence after all these years even though there's a lot

Pointing towards her. So I hope she's not innocent because she's gonna be in prison the rest of her life Yeah, a lot of evidence going against her on this one Thank you so much to everyone who has joined our Patreon in the last week Patreon is where you can get bonus episodes, we have over 35 total, their full length ad free lots of international cases we wouldn't usually cover on going west. So here is the time for all the shoutouts. For everyone who joined the last week, thank you so much.

Thank you to Madison, Becca, Nathan, Megan, Allison, Dawn, thank you Amanda, Kaylyn, and Alana. Big thanks going out to Pamela, Kristen, Alyssa, Stacey, Dianne, Haley, Angela, Kenzie, and Amber. Thank you so much to Elena, Katelyn, Tiffany, Lauren,

Adrienne, Kalista, Denise, and Alessandro. Big thanks going out to Darla, Erin, Tahara, Jess, Christine, and Ashley. And last but not least, thank you so much to Vivian, Natalie, Fatal. I think it's Fatal, or it's just Fatal. Probably Fatal.

Could be Fatal. Thank you so much to Jack and thank you to Christie. Guys are awesome. We really appreciate you being patrons. It is what keeps going, West going. We wouldn't have this show without you. So thank you so much. And honestly, the last couple episodes that we did for Real Crime, that's what we call

our Patreon episodes, we're really crazy. I mean, if you guys haven't listened to the Phil Island mystery, you got to check that one out so insane so make sure you go subscribe patreon.com slash going west podcast. All right guys, so for everybody out there in the world Cheerio and don't be a stranger Thank you. you