True Crime All The Time - Melanie McGuire

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

Melanie and Bill McGuire closed on their first home on April 28th, 2004. Two days later, Melanie filed a restraining order against her husband, claiming Bill hit her before leaving the house. Bill was missing for several days until his dismembered remains were found in three suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay. Melanie soon became the main suspect.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Melanie McGuire. The spouse is one of the first people that police have to rule out in a homicide case. They were unable to rule Melanie out. The more details the police learned, the more Melanie's story changed. And very little of what she had to say made sense.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 437 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime, Mike Gibson. Give me, how are you? I'm good. How about you? I'm doing great. Yeah. Did you have a good memorial weekend? Yeah, I did too.

The kids came up and they actually stayed for like five days. They stayed till Wednesday. Wow. Which was awesome. That is good. So we got to spend a lot of time with him. I got to, my boy came in town from L.A., so I got to see him. and then him and me went over and hung out with my daughter and my son-in-law, and that was good, too.

Yeah, good time. Good time. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Merritt Anderson. Hey, Merritt. Aaron Kane. I think it's A-Ron. A-A-Rond.

Diane. Diane. Angie West. What's going on, Angie? Rachel Drew. Well, thanks, Rachel. Crystal Strot-Camp. There's Crystal.

Veronica Gough. Oh, Veronica. Tasha Volk. Well, hey, Tasha. Lori Prusack. Uh, Pusak. Which you,

uh, said in a very strange way on Patreon. Uh, we had Kristen Graves. Hey, Kristen. And last but not least, Jade Ryan. Hey, Jade.

And if we go back into the vault. This week, we selected Melissa Carruth. The Carruth is in the house. Yep. Appreciate all the support. Speaking of Patreon, we dropped a new Patreon episode on Saturday night. It's on Joseph Volani and Raquel Gereux.

out. And these two kind of plotted the murder of a marijuana dealer. They wanted to take his stash, his money, his car, his watch. But it's really, you know, the stories they told, and then what was proven out by their, their text messages and their digital footprint. It's not good storytellers. No, no, absolutely not. We also have a new episode out on true crime all the time unsolved, where we're talking about 14-year-old Tristan Dilley, who was found dead in her bedroom in 2017. Phone records led to a 19-year-old named Paul Adams, who had been secretly communicating with Tristan for weeks. So this is a very interesting episode in that I think most people would call it more unresolved than unsolved. Yeah. So for the ones that don't typically

like listening to Unsolved cases? Go out and listen to this. Yeah, yeah. This one is not solved, but, you know, pretty much so. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're talking about Melanie McGuire. Melanie and Bill McGuire closed on their first home on April 28, 2004.

Two days later, Melanie filed a restraining order against her husband, claiming Bill hit her before leaving the house. Bill was missing for several days until his dismembered remains were found in three suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay. And it didn't take long for Melanie to become the main suspect. What's a lot of things happening right there? It's also quite a number of suitcases. Bill McGuire grew up in New Jersey in a troubled household, according to the Morristown Daily Record. He and his sisters left the home as teenagers. Bill moved in with his friend Lynn Polsky

and later married Lynn's sister Marcy Polk. Do you have any friends that left home early? No, but I had a friend whose sister left home as a pretty young teenager. Yeah. And struck out on her own, which we always thought was strange. You had a couple friends in that same vein.

Vane, yeah, and I always wonder why. You know, you wonder why. why. I mean, no one ever tells you why. Well, and you also don't know what's going on in the house probably. Like we always say, nobody really knows what goes on behind closed doors. You know, how bad is it? What, where are they trying to get away from? Bill graduated high school and joined the Navy in 1982.

He worked as a computer specialist for the military. He married Marcy in 1986. After she graduated high school, Bill was discharged in 1990. and the couple moved to Edison, New Jersey. I think what a computer specialist would have been back then, you know? Well, obviously they had computers in the early 80s, but they were nothing like what we're used to today. Marcy told the Daily Record that Bill was physically and emotionally abusive and their marriage eventually came to an end. During their separation, Marcy went to Bill's apartment and met Melanie Slate, whom he was having an affair with.

And okay, if you have a person who is both physically and emotionally abusive, that's going to be a bad marriage. It's going to be tough. Yeah. But then if that person is also cheating at the same time, okay, very tough to keep a marriage together or even keep a happy relationship with all those things. I mean, you're already struggling over the abuse and then you have to worry about the cheating. Yeah, but I'm guessing, you know, he'll probably learn this from his childhood home. It could be, right? We don't have all the details, but it did say it was a troubled household. Marcy told the Daily Record, she was young and naive like I once was.

I know it sounds awful, but he probably got what he deserved. And obviously, she's talking about what is going to happen to Bill later on. And yeah, it does sound awful. But Gibbs, I think this is a woman who was not happy with this guy. Yeah. He was abusive towards her. He cheated on her. It wasn't like she had a soft spot in her heart for him.

He was such a great guy. She's not going to say that. Sources didn't provide much information on Melanie's early life. However, her mother, Linda Caparera, told her. 48 hours that Melanie was every mother's dream. She never got in trouble and was a good student. I think that's what moms would say about me too. Like all moms or your mom? All moms. Oh, okay. You're just like, all moms around the world would say this about me. Melanie and Bill married in June 1999. Their first son was born less than a year later. The McGuire's lived in an apartment

in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Melanie worked as a nurse at a fertility clinic. Bill was a computer program analyst for the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark. So we said, right, he was a computer specialist in the military. He got out and continued to work in that field. Now, Melanie was a nurse at a fertility clinic. And I know you have a lot of experience with being handed a cup and a magazine. for what reason I don't know.

I mean, sometimes I feel like you just go into these places for... Recreational. The material, which does not seem right at all. Sometimes I'm just, you know, there's nothing to do that day. I'm going to go down to the lab. By the time their second son was born, Bill and Melanie had grown apart.

Melanie said that this was partially due to Bill's trips to Atlantic City, where he gambled off. she told 48 hours in a 2007 interview. The bill became volatile. He once called her after getting a speeding ticket and was furious. She hung up on him and he called back and cursed her. He threatened to kill her if she was home when he returned. She didn't believe him, but she was still scared.

Yeah, I don't know how that would come across. Like, if you're still home, I'm going to kill you. Yeah, I don't think it would be something that, you know, most spouses would want to hear. But he's mad because he got a speeding ticket. Slow down or don't complain about it if you get a ticket. You know, it's not her fault. In 2002, Melanie began having an affair with Dr. Bradley Miller,

one of the partners at the fertility clinic. Like Melanie, Dr. Miller was married with young children. Miller would later testify that they talked about getting married, buying a house together and having kids, but neither of them had plans to divorce their spouses anytime soon. Sounds like a Hallmark show or maybe. Homeark always has a happy ending, doesn't it? Yes, I don't think a lot of the Homemark movies are about, you know, cheating and

emotionally and physically abusive husbands and stuff like that. It's more like a lifetime show. Yes. You'd probably find that on Lifetime as opposed to Hallmark. Melanie said about the affair, as quoted by 48 hours, I was looking for attention, affection, understanding, and I found it there. And I am deeply, deeply ashamed of that. But I get it. She was looking for the opposite of what she was getting at home. And like she said, she found that. But it wasn't the right way to do it. So she's ashamed of it. But at the time,

it sounds like it fit the need. Melanie told that. Dr. Miller that Bill once threatened to take their sons and disappeared if she ever filed for divorce. One of Melanie's coworkers testified that she discussed the high cost of her own divorce with Melanie in the months leading up to the murder. So there's a couple of things there. Threats against Melanie if she were to file for divorce. And then the money aspect, right? You start hearing about, you know, one of your friends, one of your friends, one of your friends,

one of your coworkers divorced and how much it caused. Does that play a factor in what is to come? I think it does. Both of those things. Yeah. According to State v. McGuire, Melanie regretted her marriage and didn't want to purchase a house with Bill, but on April 24, 2004, the couple closed on their first home. They purchased a half a million dollar home in the Asbury section of Franklin Township. 48 hours asked Melanie why she would agree to buy a house.

If she was having marriage problems and wanted to divorce, Melanie said she did it for their children because they weren't going to end the marriage anytime soon. Well, we do do a lot of things for our kids. Yeah, we do. I mean, you also, I think, have to take some of the stuff that Melanie says with a grain of salt. For sure. You know, some of it, I'm sure is true. Some of it is sprinkled with truth. and some of it could be an outright lot.

In a future complaint against Bill, Melanie wrote that he was obsessed with purchasing their home, adding he would go through periods of not sleeping for 48 hours, literally spending every minute that he was not at work, looking at real estate listings. I don't think that's healthy. I don't think it's healthy at all. Missing out on sleep.

The couple returned to their apartment after closing. Bill called the gas. company at 537 p.m. to transfer their account to their new address at 544 and 559, Bill called two friends to tell them about the new house. So it does seem like Bill was a guy who was really fixated on this house. Yeah, really happy about, you know, finally buying it. Later that evening, Bill did not return a call from the seller, which he had done promptly on other occasions. There's no evidence that Bill spoke to anyone after 6.10 p.m. According to State v. McGuire, the lack of activity was unusual because Bill was active on his phone and his Blackberry. So one, he wanted this house really bad.

So I find it strange that he didn't call the seller back. Um, and then two, Blackberry, I had a Blackberry. Those were cool back in the day. Never liked him. Really? Not a fan. Especially once the iPhone came out. Well, after that I was it. Yeah, yeah. And that was like 2004. So you were probably still rocking a Blackberry while the rest of us had iPhones. I was a little late to the iPhone party.

But you're right. I mean, this is a guy who the minute they get back from the closing, he's on the phone with the gas company. That's how excited he is about this new house. He's calling friends. And he doesn't return a call from the cell. Okay, that seems odd. On April 29th, Melanie told friends, family, and Dr. Miller that bill attacked her early that morning

before storming out of their apartment. She said this was the first time he had ever hit her. Melanie claimed that they got into an argument over a dryer sheet. She told 48 hours he hated them and I always left them in the pile of laundry. And from there, the fight progresses to me getting somewhere. slammed up against the doorway and getting the dryer sheet shoved in my mouth and slapped across the face. At this point, one of the kids is there and I grab him, scoop him up, and lock myself in the bathroom. Now, there are a lot of reasons why, you know, couples get into arguments. I don't know

how many people argue over dryer sheets. Yeah, can they stick to your clothes? Yeah, they do all the time. I'll go to put on a pair of pants and a dryer sheet will pop out the bottom of the I hate that. The pants legs. But do I immediately turn and start cussing out my wife? No, it's a dryer sheet. It's going to end up somewhere. You don't want static. You don't want softness, the smell of the downy. I love all that. Yeah. If you don't like it, bounce it out of there. See what I did. Bounce it out of there. Now, I got you. But, But if what Melanie said was true, this is a very serious case of domestic violence. Sure it is.

In front of your kid, too. Yeah. Yeah, it makes it even worse. I mean, getting slammed up against the doorway, getting slapped across the face. Bill threatened to take the boys and she would never see them again. He packed his things and drove off. That same day, Melanie spoke to attorneys about filing for divorce and went to the courthouse to get a domestic violence restraining order.

She did not go through with the restraining order because the court was crowded that day. The following day, Melanie went to family court to get a restraining order against Bill. Now, I just wonder how many people are listening and thinking, I don't care how crowded the court is. If I'm in, you know, this terrible situation, I need to get this thing. That's what I'm thinking, you know. But it could be that, you know, she had to get back to whoever was watching her kids. You just never know in some of these situations, but could you read into it that, well, maybe she didn't need it that badly? Maybe.

I mean, she didn't have an issue telling her friends, family, and doctor what happened that day. And I think anybody in that family of hers that would have heard that would have said, hey, I'll watch the kids. Go do what you have to do. Didn't take as long as you need. Yeah. As time passed with no word from Bill, his sister questioned why Melanie didn't report him missing. Melanie explained 48 hours. It wasn't unusual for Bill to have a tantrum and leave.

But I get it, right? If you're someone's sister and that person is missing, I think you're going to have questions of the spouse. You know, why have you not reported the person missing? Right. On May 5th, 2004, a fisherman. in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay, found a suitcase floating in the water, an officer opened it

and found human legs, dismembered from the knees down. Okay? That is going to be a bad day for all involved. Yeah, he's not going to get home early that night. On May 11th, another suitcase washed up on the shore

of Fisherman's Island. Inside was a man's torso, severed at the waist, with the head and arms, still attached. And all of this would be bad. I have to imagine that would be even tougher than finding the human legs. I would think so.

And the fact that it's seven days later than the first suitcase, so that means more decomposition, more smell. But you also have a face, a head. A fisherman and his wife found a third suitcase on May 16th that contained additional dismembered remains. I think at that point, if you're out there and you're fine in a suitcase, I feel like maybe we're like, let's just turn around. Well, I don't know if all these people open them.

I would think by the time the third suitcase is found, you're like immediately calling the police. You know, we're not touching this. We're not opening this. I don't want to see what's inside this. Also, I'm thinking, I got to find myself a different place to fit. For sure. Because there's too many

suitcases with body parts floating around here. The body had been drained of blood, wrapped in garbage bags, and packed into three matching suitcases. The medical examiner found two 38 caliber bullets in the torso and entrance and exit wounds

in the head and chest. Okay, this has given me some Dexter-type vibes. Sure. Now, the draining of the blood, the wrapping in, you know, garbage bags and things like that. And he didn't put them in suitcases. He didn't shoot people.

He was more of a stabber. But the draining of the blood. And I took that to mean that that had been done before the dismemberment. Right. You're talking about some macabre stuff here. But if you're going to do something like that, it kind of benefits you to drain the blood. Yeah, I would think easier done with the body drained of blood, as sick as that that is. On May 21st, the police released an artist sketch of the victim.

Within days, an anonymous caller contacted the police suggesting it was Bill McGuire. The Daily Record reported that the caller was Susan Rice, whose husband Jonathan served in the Navy with Bill and remained friends with him. A fingerprint check confirmed the body was Bill McGuire. wire. So it must have been a pretty good sketch for this woman to say, oh, yeah, that looks like Bill. Yeah. And call in. Melanie had filed for divorce on May 25th, 2004. Four weeks after her husband disappeared, the police notified her that his body had been found. She had her first interview with a Virginia Beach detective on June 2nd, 2004. She described how Bill attacked her on April 29th.

Instead, she heard him rummaging around before he left. He said she would never see him again. She reluctantly admitted that the three suitcases belonged to her and Bill. Melanie mentioned that Bill had a habit of saying things that angered people. And he often gambled in Atlantic City. She suggested the police could find Bill or his vehicle there. So he's a gambler. Maybe he's hooked up with the wrong people.

in Atlantic City. Maybe he owes somebody some money. I mean, when you have a habit of saying things that anger people, could somebody want to do you harm? Yeah, obviously. But to me, the big thing here is her admitting that the three suitcases are theirs. Yeah. So what does that mean? That Bill left and took the suitcases with him.

Somebody killed him and used his own suitcases to pack up his remains? It's strange for a guy to take a suitcase, let alone three, right? Three suitcases. I don't even know if I own enough to fill three suitcases. She was asked if Bill used EasyPats, an automatic toll collection system that is pretty common on the East Coast. Melanie told the detective that Bill had an account, but didn't always use it. Two days after the interview, Bill's car was found at a towyard. In Atlantic City, it had been.

been abandoned at a motel. So the car is found in Atlantic City. She mentioned a police that he often gambled there. Right. And that maybe you'll find his vehicle there. And that's where it was found. Conveniently. Only Bill's fingerprints were found in the vehicle.

His cell phone and pamphlets for hotels in Atlantic City and Virginia Beach were also found in the car. In the glove compartment, police found a syringe and a vial of chloral of chlorohydrate acetate. Really? Chlorohydrate. You ever injected yourself with that? No. No. But I think you're playing it off as that you, as if you don't know exactly what chloral hydrate is and you don't have your own stash, which I think is pretty funny. The prescription was made out to a patient of Dr. Bradley Miller. It was filled on the morning of April 20, 2008, 2004, and a Walgreens in Edison, New Jersey.

And I didn't even know you could get a prescription for a sedative that came in a syringe. Like, you're literally poking yourself with a sedative that's been prescribed. I guess, I mean, how do you monitor the dosage? I have no idea. I mean, you really trust in the patient to not exceed the recommended dose. But the key here is obviously right that it's Dr. Bradley Miller. Right. According to State v. McGuire, records show that Melanie dropped her boys off at daycare about 12 minutes before the prescription was filled.

And the Walgreens in Edison is about one and a half miles from the daycare about an eight minute drive. So pretty suspicious. Very. I would say very. There's the Dr. Bradley Miller tie. there's her in the area of the Walgroom. Yeah. At the time that the prescription was filled.

The prescription was ordered by Dr. Miller on his prescription pad, but he denied writing the prescription. And a handwriting expert later determined the writing was not his. The expert couldn't definitively say Melanie wrote the prescription, but she couldn't be excluded either. Well, she was the nurse at his office and she was sleeping with him. So she could have got her hands on that prescription pad. Yeah, I think it's safe to say, you know, when you're sleeping with someone, you might have a little more access to things than you would just in your normal course of business, you know, at the clinic.

Yeah. A little more free, free range. Free range. I mean, you know, when people are taking their clothes off, okay, there's the ability to maybe get into somebody's pocket. Maybe he wore his lab coat over. I don't know. Maybe they were role-playing.

I don't know. Maybe she was the doctor or the lab coat. I have no idea. This thing could have gone a myriad of different ways. It really could have. The managing partner at the clinic later testified that he and other doctors were unlikely to prescribe chloral hydrate for their patients. He said nurses,

were allowed to sign prescriptions. And it was not unusual for Melanie to sign Dr. Miller's name. So the first part doesn't surprise me. Like I said, I was kind of flabbergasted that, you know, they're prescribing this kind of sedative in a syringe for patients to use at home. What does surprise me is that nurses were signing prescriptions and maybe that happens more often than I think it does. But for her, to be signing his name. That has to be out of the ordinary, right? And against some code. I think DEA probably came down pretty hard on that kind of stuff.

I don't think you can do that. Dr. Miller's patient later testified that she had appointments with him in March and April 2004, but he never prescribed her chloral hydrate, and she had never been to the Walgreens in Edison. Soon after Bill's car was found. Media outlets reported that the police had surveillance video of the person who parked it at the motel. And I think if you are the person who parked the car upon hearing that, you're going to need a change of underwear. Yeah, I think you shit yourself.

Yes, because it has to feel like the bomb is about ready to be dropped. Kind of reminds me of our Patreon episode where the individual had to keep changing their story. because certain things were dropped on them. I think it's going to happen in this story. Well, it does for sure, a little bit. Because after these reports came out, Melanie told Dr. Miller, she drove to Atlantic City on April 29th. To search for Bill in his car,

she claimed she found the car in the parking lot of the Taj Mahal Casino. And to spite Bill, she moved his car to the Flamingo Motel one and a half miles away. She then took a cab back to Woodbridge because she was tired. She napped during the ride. So she decided to take another cab back to Atlantic City to get her own car.

Well, I'd be pissed if someone took me from the Taj over to the Flamingo. Yeah. What the hell? One half miles away. But, you know, like you said, right? Okay. Some information comes out. She's not talking to the police.

Right. She's talking to her lover and kind of trying to explain things to him. State versus McGuire also reported that before traveling to Atlantic City. Melanie drove to a motel in Edison and paid cash for her room. Melanie claimed she made two additional trips to Atlantic City on May 2nd and May 18th to look for Bill and check on the car. So first of all, she doesn't give her rat's ass about Bill. and where he's gone.

And now suddenly she's worried and she's making multiple trips to Atlantic City to check on him. Although at one point, she does move his car a mile and a half away out of spite. But she wants to check on it to make sure it's okay because it's over at the Flamingo and, you know,

never know what's going to happen over there at the Flamingo. Divas etage be much safer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A detective later looked into her statements and found no record of taxi fare to Atlantic City in the early hours of April 30th, 2004. So Melanie had been caught in a major lot.

On April 30th, she went to the courthouse to testify in order to get a restraining order. She claimed she didn't know where Bill could be found, despite moving his car hours earlier. Yeah, that's a big lie to be caught in. New Jersey authorities took over the case in October 2004, based on the theory that Bill was killed in his home state. Melanie was identified as the prime suspect. And I don't know how she couldn't be. I mean, number one, she's the spouse. So you've got to eliminate the spouse as one of the first people. But then also, you know, once you get caught in a lie and especially in the lies that she was caught in, okay, that's going to racket you up the suspect. Oh, yeah. New Jersey police soon

learned that Melanie purchased a 38 caliber handgun in Pennsylvania on April 26, 2004, just two days before Bill went missing. However, this weapon could not be found. But he was shot with a 38 caliber. So that for sure is not going to lessen the focus on you. Right. If anything, it's just going to intensify it. You purchased a gun a couple of days before. Bill goes missing. For some reason you go to Pennsylvania to buy it. And then after, it turns out that it's the exact same caliber as the gunshots that are found in Bill's remains. And then you don't know where the gun is. Mysteriously, it's gone. Yeah. After the murder was discovered, Melanie told Dr. Miller and other friends that Bill asked her to buy a gun for him because he couldn't purchase one himself due to a felony

driving conviction, Bill had a poor driving record in New Jersey and had 33 suspensions per the daily record. In 1997, he was sentenced to three years of probation and fines for false tampering with a witness regarding the circumstances surrounding a traffic stop. 33 suspensions is pretty hefty. Quite a number. But it still doesn't look good. You went and bought this gun. You can say you bought it for him, but he bought it two days before he was killed with a similar caliber weapon. But it's just so interesting, right? How everything she says is to try to kind of circumvent or explain what police are finding out. Yeah.

Everything. It's like, hey, baby, I know this doesn't look good. You're talking to the doctor, right? Right. It doesn't look good. But let me tell you, this is what. happened. This is why I did it. And it's, it's not what you think. Yeah. Or when she's talking to the police. Yeah. Right. She doesn't say beforehand that she bought a gun. No. Or that Bill wanted her to buy a gun. That

comes after they learned that she purchased one. In her application for the restraining order, Melanie answered no to a question about whether Bill had a gun or if there were guns in her house. And you would think if you really want that restraining order, that would be a yes, if you knew that he had a gun. And you knew that he had a gun because you just said you went and bought him a gun. Right. So, you know, just again, things don't add up. Why do they not add up? It's because people lie. She told Dr. Miller and others that she believed Bill locked a gun in a box, which she put away in storage. During the investigation, the police searched the storage area with melanched. Melanie's permission and found a locked box that contained batteries, but not a gun.

I mean, you always want to keep your batteries in a locked box because they're so precious. And you want to be able to find them like three years later and they have all that, you know, corrosion coming out of them. Acid? Acid. Like battery acid. The police started working with James Finn, who attended nursing school with Melanie. Finn later testified that he had a romantic interest in Melanie that she did. not returned. They remained friends and kept in contact with each other over the years. In mid-April

2004, Melanie wrote to him about her marriage problems and made a joke about him owning a gun. She said Bill was acting strange and had started drinking more and she feared for her safety. In his response, Finn spoke to her about the requirements for purchasing a gun in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Melanie purchased a revolver and ammunition. at a gun store in Palmer Township, Pennsylvania. She used her Pennsylvania issued driver's license that had her aunts address on it. She continued emailing James Finn after making this purchase, but she didn't tell him about it. And Gibbs was the one thing that kind of stuck out to me was, okay, you're emailing back and forth

with this guy. You're talking about your husband, your marriage problems, and you're making a joke that this guy owns a gun. Yeah. Meaning what? You could take care of my problems for me? It may be. Is that a joke that is somehow a test to see if the other person bites? Could be. Yeah. Maybe trying to drop it out and see what she gets back in return. Without coming out and asking, hey, will you kill my husband? A year after the murder, Finn allowed the police to record his phone conversation with Melanie. she told Finn that Bill asked her to buy a gun for protection in their new home. Prosecutors didn't buy Melanie's story that Bill was involved with shady figures due to his gambling in Atlantic City.

As there was no evidence of this, they tapped Melanie's phones and put her and her parents under surveillance. It was during this period that investigators discovered Melanie's affair with her bombs. Oh, so the affair was going on even after all this. Yeah, before and after. And we talked about her being a focus of the investigation, finding out that she bought the gun, finding out that she made these multiple trips to Atlantic City, that she moved his car.

Then you have this stuff with James Finn, and now they find out that she's having an affair with her boss. The police believe this could be a potential motive and secured Dr. Miller's cooperation investigators recorded their conversations in which Melanie swore she did not kill her husband. And I'm just wondering at what point did he have to come out and tell his wife that he had an affair with this woman. I think when the police are at your house. You probably had to say something by then.

Or at some point, I'm sure he had to tell her. A state police computer expert found suspicious Google searches on the McGuire's personal computer between April 11th and April 26th. The searches included the following topics listed in state versus McGuire. Undetectable poisons. State gun laws. Instant poison. Gun laws in Pennsylvania.

Toxic insulin levels. Fatal insulin doses. Fatal dejoxin doses. Instant undetectable poisons. How to commit suicide. How to commit suicide. commit murder, how to purchase hunting rifles in New Jersey, pesticide is poison, insulin as a poison, morphine poisoning, how to find chloroform, insulin shock, neuromuscular blocking agents, sedatives, tranquilizers,

barbiturates, nimbutal, pharmacy, chloro hydrate, chloral and side effects, and walgreens. That's a library of information right there. Or Gibby on a normal Tuesday night. Yeah, a couple nights ago. Yeah, I had some pretty good searches. But I mean, clearly, whoever searched us on the computer really wants to do harm to somebody. Well, and how many of these searches kind of fit with what we already know, right? gun laws in Pennsylvania.

Did she go to Pennsylvania because it's easier to buy a gun in Pennsylvania than it is in New Jersey? Yeah, chlorohydrate. What did she find out when she searched that? Yeah, and I think that was a big one, right, that stood out to investigators because the drug was found in Bill's car. And obviously, we know there was a prescription. We know it was picked up at Walgreens. You have Walgreens in the searches. Yeah.

With the help of Melanie's friends, investigators eventually learned about her trip to Atlantic City on April 29th and her admission that she found and moved Bill's car. And all of this was enough to charge her with murder. Melanie was arrested on June 2nd, 2005. Not looking good for Melanie McGuire at this point. Not looking good at all. After she was released on bail, law enforcement received anonymous. communication, directing them to persons other than Mellon. In August 2005, copies of a four-page letter were sent to a newspaper, Melanie's former attorney,

and others. The letter was addressed to the attorney general and written by someone who was concerned about the children being left without a mother. The writer claimed to have killed Billy Mack because he was unreliable and greedy. Oh, wait. So the person wrote a letter because they killed them and they wanted to make sure that the police and the public knew they were concerned for the kids and didn't want the mom to be in trouble for something they did. Yes. Okay. Makes total sense.

Yeah. Because you know how concerned most killers are with other people being accused of their crimes. Now, there have been killers who have been mad because they, They want the credit for their crimes. Your Zodiac, didn't he write a letter? Yeah, but I don't know how many hardcore killers are worried that, you know, these kids are going to be left without their mother. Right.

The writer provided three facts about the murder and dismemberment that were not public knowledge. The letter also contained detailed information about Bill's thoughts and his mistreatment of Melanie. Okay. So you have facts that are not known. the public. And that often lends cretons, right, that you were involved in the murder. It's also a very big risk if they find out if she wrote that letter, because now you just put things in the letter that only the killer can know. Yeah. But I think it's the second part, you know, information about Bill's thoughts, his mistreatment of Melanie. Yeah. How does the killer know

that? Yeah, I think it'd be a hard thing for the killer to know. Unless the killer was someone really close, you know, family, a family friend, or Melanie herself. Sure. On October 11, 2005, Melanie was indicted on four charges, first degree murder, second degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, second degree desecration of human remains, and third degree perjury. I, I got to be honest with you, Gibbs. I really don't understand the different degrees of perjury. I was just thinking the same thing. You either lied or you didn't lie.

I thought it was just perjury. You know, I didn't know there was like different degrees. Well, you know. That's a really bad perjury right there. Yeah, this is just a white lie, so it's only third degree. Yeah. Next time I'm caught lying, I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Is it a third degree lie?

Or first degree? Or second degree. You know, I mean, if I'm going to take heat for it, let's label it so I can determine what type of heat I should take. That day, the prosecutor received a package that contained a letter supposedly from a co-worker of Bill's sister, Cindy Ligash. The writer enclosed items that were allegedly found in the trash at Cindy's office building, including Bill's ring and bracelet. An empty ammunition box, a key to his car, a key to a lockbox at a storage facility, rubber gloves, prescription medications, and marijuana wrapped in tinfoil. The package also contained sheets of paper with writing that the sender claimed was Cindy

Ligoshes. So what does that even mean? I don't know. I feel like someone is trying to cast suspicion in different directions, right? Is it Bill's sister that killed him? Was it this person who somehow has a soft spot for children and doesn't want? their mother to be framed for this?

It does seem suspicious but not for the suspicious reasons you would think. Yeah. The return address was a realtor's office in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey. However, the address was incorrect and the wrong number was listed. The shipping charge for the package

was paid with an American Express gift card, purchased on October 9th at a riot aide in Passaer. Surveillance showed woman walking into the pharmacy, but Melanie could not be definitively identified. A forensic linguist pointed out similarities between known samples of Melanie's handwriting and the letter addressed to the Attorney General. On October 26, 2006, Melanie was indicted for the anonymous communications sent a year earlier.

Not good for her. No, because as you said, right, there were facts. disclosed in that letter that only the killer could know. So if it's proven that she wrote and sent that letter, it's very damaging. Melanie McGuire's murder trial started on March 5th, 2007. The prosecution set out to prove that the murder was calculated. In April 2004, Melanie did research online about buying a gun, poisons, and sedative drugs. On April 28th, 2004, she drugged Bill with chlorohydrate and shot him while he was unconscious.

No chloral hydrate was found in Bill's body, but the state said that that was because he was found too late to detect the drug. Melanie then tried to make it seem like Bill abandoned his family. On April 29th, she sent an email to his supervisor stating, I will be out sick today. His phone was found in his car. It turned out that one of his emails was sent to the incorrect address, which would be unusual for Bill. Prosecutor said that Melanie also used Bill's phone to call his best friend in Virginia, but the friend claimed he did not receive a call from Bill. They argued that Melanie made the call and hung up quickly as part of her efforts to make it seem like Bill was still a lot.

And I get it right. the prosecution is laying their case out. They're they're kind of putting their their theories forth. The one thing I will say is that, you know, if all this stuff is true, this woman went to great lengths to try to make it seem as though Bill just up and left and was still a lot. Yeah, she really put some planning behind this. And some effort. Yeah.

Now, all of it didn't work out. I'm sure the way that she thought it would. the court heard that Melanie took a second trip to Atlantic City on May 1st through the second, allegedly with her stepfather Michael Caparera to check on Bill's car and create additional false evidence, suggesting he was still alive. Prosecutors alleged that Michael helped get rid of Bill's car and said that Melanie's close friend Celine Trevisis, unknowingly helped clean the apartment crime scene. No charges were filed against Caparero or Travisas.

And I could see somebody, you know, being asked to help or offering to help, not realizing that they were actually cleaning up a crime scene. Yeah, you're thinking, I'm just helping them clean up the apartment before they move into the house and just going to get all this cleaned up. And this looks like blood, but I guess it's just dirty. Well, I'm assuming that she didn't drain Bill's blood in the middle of the apartment all over the place. Yeah, thinking she probably didn't. She seems to be somewhat educated. I think she was smarter than a lot of criminals.

Yeah. I mean, again, she went through great efforts. It doesn't mean that you're not going to get caught. According to the prosecution, Melanie dismembered Bill's body over the next three days, likely with the help of an accomplice using a reciprocating salt and a knife. She wrapped the body in garbage bags and put it in suitcases. And I just want to know who this accomplice is that is helping you cut up a body. Well, it would have to be somebody that really liked you a lot.

You mean like someone you were having an affair with? Maybe because now you are part of the murder, right? After the fact. After the fact. Yeah. But here's my thought. She could have done it by herself. I think so, too.

you know, with a reciprocating saw, which is very powerful. Most of them are very powerful. And she was a nurse, so she has some knowledge of the body. Yeah. I was watching a crime show the other day, and, you know, they had a guy on there who was talking about how he cut up a body. And he said, the trick is you don't saw through bone. That's too hard. You just cut through the joints.

Much easier. There you go. And he said it just like that. It was so matter of fact, like he was telling you how to carve up a Thanksgiving turkey. Yeah. Like, this is how you do it. It meant nothing to him. She drove to Virginia on May 3rd, where she threw the suitcases off a bridge into the Chesapeake Bay.

Prosecutors relied on easy pass records as part of their evidence in May and June 2004. Melanie told a detective that her call her ID. showed a call from Bill's phone to their apartment on May 2nd, but he didn't leave a message. Bill's records did show a call in the early hours of May 2nd, and Easy Pass records showed the transponder in his vehicle, passing a toll plaza on the Atlantic City Expressway at 12.54 a.m., 16 minutes before the call. Phone records also showed that on June 3, 2004, the day after her first interview with the police, Melanie called customer service at EasyPats to dispute two charges on May 2nd and May 18th. Customer service refused to remove the charges.

Why would she do that? Well, the estate alleged that Melanie purposely paid her tolls in cash because she knew using EasyPets would create records of her trips. No other EasyPass records were found for travel to Atlantic City despite Melanie's admissions. about making multiple trips. It's a little flaw in her plan. Well, but that's the kind of digital stuff, right, that trips people up. The defense countered with evidence of other occasions when Bill was in Atlantic City without corresponding Easy Pass records and argued that Melanie panicked after a detective

asked about Easy Pass and didn't want to be falsely implicated in the murder, which is why she made the call to get the charges removed. I'm sure she was sitting on the couch or chair during that conversation, just couldn't wait for him to leave so she can make that call like, shit, I forgot. Easy Pass. The state also presented evidence of Melanie's parents, Easy Pass records, according to State v. McQuire. They frequently traveled the highways, but their records showed an unusual absence of activity from April 28th through May 2nd. When Melanie traveled to Atlantic City and Bill's body was dismembered. Okay.

I mean, they are potentially throwing out there that her parents could possibly have been involved. Yeah. Easy Pass records suggested Melanie and her parents met on May 3rd. Records from the daycare facility show Melanie picked up her sons and gave them to one or both of her parents. Prosecutor said she returned her to her apartment in Woodbury. afterwards to pick up the suitcases to dump Bill's body. Afterwards, she placed the chloral hydrate and a syringe in Bill's car to make it seem like he was abusing drugs, which she told friends.

She kind of set it up already for that, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of this she did try to set up ahead of time. Brochures for Atlantic City and Virginia Beach hotels were placed on the front seat of Bill's car to make it seem like he was staying in hotels. However, Bill was familiar with these areas and had compensation offers from the Taj Mahal Casino that he could have used to pay for a room.

And let's face it, if you're a person who goes to Atlantic City often to gamble, I don't really think you need brochures of the different motels, hotels there. I think you know where you're going to stay? Yeah. And you're probably going to be comped. Yeah. If you're any type of significant.

gambler. The defense emphasized the lack of eyewitnesses and trace evidence. Despite multiple detailed searches, the police had no forensic evidence that a murder or dismemberment took place at the Woodbridge apartment. However, one of the bullets recovered from Bill's body was covered in greenish-brown fibers. The state argued that this was evidence the gunfire was muffled by something like a pillow. a forensic scientist could not match the fibers with the McGuire's couch or throw pillows in the apartment, but Bill's sister testified that the family had other green throw pillows that were not recovered by investigators. So they were missing somewhere. Well, and let's face it, if you used a throw pillow as a makeshift suppressor to muffle the sound of a gunshot,

Are you then going to throw that throw pillow back on the couch with a big bullet hole in it? I don't think so. No, you're going to get rid of it somehow. Yeah, besides the bullet hole on the one side, wouldn't you have a blood and other spatter or splatter on the other side? Or body material of some sort? Yeah. Yeah. It's not going to be good.

And it's not something that someone is not going to notice when they sit down. One expert testified that garbage bags from the McGuire's home matched the ones that were used to dispose of Bill's remains. When moving out of her apartment, Melanie put Bill's clothing in several industrial garbage bags. An acquaintance who helped her move kept the clothing and later gave these bags to the police. The garbage bags that contained human remains were sealed with tape. The DNA expert testified that they found one of Melanie's hair. on the adhesive tape inside one of the suitcases. Yeah, but you could argue that, right?

Well, that if tape is lying around, it could have, you know, somebody's hair on it. Yeah, you can argue all these things, but I think the mountain of evidence, right? Could you poke holes in any one thing? Yeah, absolutely. But can you poke a hole in the whole mountain? I think that's when it becomes tough.

Yeah. Additionally, Bill's head was wrapped in a blanket from a hospital supply company. A representative of the company testified that the fertility clinic that employed Melanie had been their client since 2001. Well, I guess she figured no one's ever going to find these suitcases. I can wrap it with anything. The defense emphasized that all the evidence against Melanie was circumstantial, and Bill was most likely killed due to his gambling habits.

They accused the police of not pursuing these leads. The defense claimed Bill took the three suitcases with him. On the night of his disappearance, a detective testified, however, that he did not think three suitcases would have fit in Bill's trunk. And there were two car seats and the back seats of his vehicle. The defense pointed out that the absence of forensic evidence to prove a shooting or dismemberment took place in the apartment. Neighbors did not report any strange noises. on the night prosecutors believed the murder occurred.

And I get it, right? When you look at a lot of these trials, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence. But here, I think it just keeps piling up and piling up. And eventually it's just so high that it doesn't really point in any other direction. Yeah. Doesn't look good. Melanie did not make any incriminating statements during the investigation.

and she said she purchased the gun for her husband because of his prior conviction. Regarding the suspicious searches, the defense got an investigator to acknowledge they didn't know who actually made those searches. The defense pointed out that seconds after some of the incriminating searches, the browser history showed someone access the site that only Bill could access because it was password protected. Okay. I get what the defense is doing. but is it not possible that maybe Melanie had that password? Yeah, she could have. Although there was no forensic evidence in the apartment,

crime scene investigators did find particles of Bill's flash on the floor of his car. At the time, the media called it human sawdust. Oh, that's gross, isn't it? It's very gross. Prosecutor said Melanie transferred the particles to the car after dismembering the remains. The medical examiner testified that the particles were deep layers of skin that would not normally be shed by a living person. Ooh, okay. I mean, we all shed skin, but only to a certain level.

Yeah. And the medical examiner is saying this is way beyond that level, way deeper. On April 23rd, 2007, Melanie was found guilty of murder, desecrating human remains, perjury and unlawful possession of a firearm. She was acquitted of hindering her arrest, writing the anonymous letters, tampering with evidence and drug possession. Prosecutors alleged she was illegally obtaining Xanax to relieve her stress while carrying out the murder and cover up. Sure she was stressed. I don't know how you couldn't be stressed if you had murdered someone and were in the process of trying to cover it up, dismember the body and get rid of it. Melanie received a life sentence on July 19, 2007, but she still maintains her innocence.

In 2020, Melanie did an interview with ABC, where she raised questions about whether it was possible for the gun she purchased to be the murder weapon saying, no one plugged the serial number of my gun into a website to find out what the specifications were. There were five lands and grooves that my weapon, was said to have made based on the company's website. The bullets that came out of my husband had six lands in groups. However, former prosecutor Patty Prezioso told 2020, it was a mistake on a gun manufacturer's website.

We were not gathering evidence from a gun manufacturer's website. The evidence that was at trial was from ballistic experts. The real stuff. Yeah. Melanie also discussed the, the suspicious internet searches and said, I'm a nurse, or I was a nurse, and I don't need to look up things like that.

If I wanted to look for something like that, I have a physician's desk reference. I have a book that I can look in that doesn't leave an internet history. But it's not as convenient. Well, I don't think that a physician's desk reference tells you how to commit a murder. It also does not tell you where the Walgreens is.

No, it does not. She also pointed out an unexplained animal hair found on Bill's body, which was noted in reports. Melanie has joined an advisory group for prison reform, co-runs a meditation group, and has tutored other inmates. In June 2023, she was commended for being charged free. While in custody, Melanie also writes health advice columns for perceptions, the NG, the NJ DOC newsletter for inmates, which is posted online. In one newsletter, Melanie wrote that she hopes to get home and care for my parents before they die and added, I have no contact with or knowledge of my sons.

I mourn their loss like a death. In the years since the murder, Bill's family has defended him and said he wasn't a violent person. He was not abusive towards Melanie. they also do not think he would abandon his children unless she files a successful appeal Melanie will not be eligible for parole until May 273 when she would be 100 years old. Wow, that is a long time away. It is, but also justified. Sure it is.

I mean, you took somebody's life. Now, she maintains she didn't. I feel as though the prosecution believes they had more than enough evidence. It seems like the courts, the judge, the jury, you know, everybody else believes that as well, based on the fact that she was convicted. But the doctor's like, oh, man, good thing I'm out of this. Yeah, I think it probably couldn't have gone great for him from a number of standpoints. number one, I'm sure his wife had to find out that he was having this affair.

And number two, I don't know how many people want to go to a doctor who is kind of embroiled, at least on the fringe and, you know, this, this murder case. Yeah. And was also having an affair with one of his nurses. All of that had to come out. But there are a couple of things that trouble me about this case. you know, didn't read a lot in the research about motive, right, that the prosecution put forth. And they, they don't really have to find a motive. I mean, I'm assuming that most people would think it was that she

wanted to be with the doctor. Probably. And the other question that I have is, you know, did she really have accomplices? I mean, the prosecution. And without, I think, really coming out and saying it, kind of dangled it out there that her parents, in that that kind of timeline, it seemed as though maybe they were helping her out. The problem is we just don't know. I don't think we're ever going to know that. No. No, I can't imagine she would rat on her parents if they did have something to do with it, what would be in it for her. It's not going to help her at all.

but it's grisly, right, to think about killing your husband, draining the blood, dismembering the body, putting it in three different suitcases, and then chucking it off a bridge. And then all the pre-work into the story and then all the work she did after that to try to make it appear she had nothing to do with it. Well, the one thing you would have to say is it wasn't a spur of the moment thing. No, not at all. She had put some thought into it beforehand. There was planning. There was stuff afterwards to try to combat the evidence, to explain it away.

I can understand why the sons aren't talking to her. No, I get it as well. But that's it for our case on Melanie McGuire. We got some voicemails, Gibbs. You want to check those out? Let's hear him. Hey, Mike and Gibby. Good afternoon.

This is Brandy and North Fort Worth. I know I've called you a lot the last couple of days about cases, but I just, I just wanted to tell you about this funny dream I had last night. I had a dream that y'all invited me to the studio, and Gibby showed me his wood chair, his wooden chair, and he really had a wooden chair. And I looked at Mike Ferguson and said, that's it, I'm Teen Gibby now.

Anyway, keep up the good work. I love the show. I love the podcast. I love you both. Y'all are great. I love the humor. Between y'all, I love how you take cases. that are really gruesome and put a little, how would you say,

a little laughter into them, but you respect the dead and you respect the people in the cases so wonderfully. Anyways, guys, again, I love the podcast. Keep up the good work and keep your own time ticking. Thanks. Well, I used to have a wooden chair. You kept it over here, too, for a while. Whatever happened to it?

Did you finally throw it away? What happened to it was that it never, existed. That wooden slatted chair. Never existed, ever. And I think, did we not prove that on the Patreon episode where I hooked you up to the lie detector test? No, I think you failed that one. I pass flying cutler. No, I don't think you did. Hi, this is Veronica. I'm calling from San Diego, California. I just wanted to say that I started listening to TCAT in November and I sped through all of the episodes, love your podcast. I just signed up for Patreon so I can hear even more of your podcasts.

I love you guys. Best podcast out there, and I listen to a lot of True Time podcasts. My favorite part about you two is when you repeat each other. One of you will say, like, on a Tuesday, and the other one goes, yeah, on Tuesday. It's really funny. I haven't heard anybody mention it on any voicemails yet. And then I had a case suggestion from my hometown. It's Ellie Nestler from Sonora, California.

She went into a courtroom and shot and murdered her son's abuser. So really interesting case, tons of information out there on it. And she had an interesting life even afterwards. So maybe something you can check out. Have a great day. Keep your own time ticking. All right. Thanks for the kudos.

And thanks for signing up for Patreon. Yeah, Veronica. That means a lot. That sounds like a very interesting case that we'll have to check out. It's kind of, what's that movie with Samuel L. Jackson where he goes and kills his daughter's rapist, a view to a kill? Or Matthew McConaug and Sandra Bullock? Yeah. He does it in the courtroom.

He does it in the courtroom. Yeah. I don't remember the name of the movie. I think it's a John Grisham one. It is. But I can't. I don't know if it's a view to a kill or it's something like that. Yeah.

But anyway, that's it for another episode of true crime all the time. for Mike and Gibby. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.