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The 'Suitcase Killer', Melanie McGuire

When luggage carrying human body parts began floating up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in May 2004, police soon tracked the gory evidence trail to Melanie McGuire, whom they suspect murdered her spouse Bill in order to begin a fresh life with her secret boyfriend.

By Victoria VelkovaPublished 12 months ago 6 min read
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Three dark green bags were recovered in and near the Chesapeake Bay over the course of 12 days in May 2004. One included legs, another a pelvis, and the third a torso and head. The body pieces belonged to Bill McGuire, a father of two from New Jersey, and investigators immediately assumed that his wife, Melanie McGuire, had murdered him. The case was immediately called the "Suitcase Murder" by the media.

Melanie stated that her partner had stormed away following a disagreement. Nevertheless, investigators quickly discovered that the couple had a severely troubled marriage, Melanie had had an affair with a colleague, and someone in the McGuire's house had googled topics like "how to commit murder" online.

Melanie was suspected of drugging Bill, shooting him, and dismembering his body. Despite the fact that a jury agreed and put Melanie McGuire to life behind bars, the infamous "Suitcase Killer" has long maintained her innocence.

She says that somebody went after Bill because of his personal debts, and that the true Suitcase Murderer is still free.

Melanie McGuire's Divorce  

Nothing about Melanie McGuire's background suggested she'd become a murderer. She did, after all, spend the majority of her time birthing new life into the world.

Melanie was born on October 8, 1972, in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and attended Rutgers University, where she majored in statistics before going to a nursing school, according to The New York Times.

She began working as a nurse at Reproductive Medical Associates, one of the country's leading reproductive clinics, in 1999. She married her spouse, a US Navy veteran named William "Bill" McGuire, the same year.

Despite the fact that Bill and Melanie had two boys together, their marriage quickly fell apart. Melanie said that Bill had a gambling issue and an explosive temper, according to PEOPLE. He'd get aggressive with her on occasion, she claimed.

According to his wife, this is what transpired the night of April 28, 2004, the day Bill McGuire went missing. Melanie states that during a disagreement, Bill slammed her against the wall, punched her, and tried to suffocate her with a dryer sheet.

Melanie McGuire told 20/20, "He probably would have fractured my face if it had been a closed hand." "He stated he was going and wouldn't return, and that I could tell my kids they didn't have a dad."

Melanie met with divorce lawyers the next day and tried to obtain a restraining order. Yet, she did not report Bill missing. A week later, luggage carrying his body parts started to rise from the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay.

The Suitcase Murder had been exposed.

The Case Of Bill McGuire's Murder

A pair of fisherman and their kids found a dark green Kenneth Cole luggage drifting in the Chesapeake Bay on May 5, 2004. As they unzipped it, they discovered a man's mutilated legs, severed at the knee.

Another bag was recovered on May 11. And a third on May 16. According to Oxygen, one included a torso and a head, while the other included a man's thighs and pelvis. A doctor discovered that the deceased had been shot many times.

The authorities were able to swiftly identify the mutilated male, according to 20/20. Once they made a drawing public, one of Bill McGuire's buddies quickly stepped forward.

"I simply fell into tears," Melanie stated in a 2007 interview after hearing of her husband's death.

Despite her obvious anguish, authorities swiftly suspected Melanie McGuire of murdering her husband. Melanie had purchased a pistol in Pennsylvania two days before Bill went missing, and she had a relationship with a doctor at her clinic, Bradley Miller.

Authorities also discovered Bill's automobile in Atlantic City, as Melanie predicted. Melanie then stated that she had traveled to Atlantic City and relocated the automobile to "mess" with him, despite her denial of parking it there.

Melanie revealed that Bill had a gambling habit, and she knew he'd be in the casino after their dispute. Then she travelled around till she discovered his car and then jokingly moved it.

"I recognize that it seems absurd sitting here saying it... "It's the truth," she eventually admitted to 20/20.

Melanie then attempted to have 90-cent EZ Pass toll charges, which revealed she'd gone to Atlantic City, erased from her account, which investigators considered extremely odd.

Melanie told 20/20, "I started to panic." "I tried all I could to get the charges dropped because I was afraid people would look and think what they eventually did."

In the meantime, investigators discovered more and more proof that Melanie McGuire had murdered her spouse. Bradley Miller had prescribed a vial of chloral hydrate, a sedative, and two syringes, which Bill had in his vehicle. Miller, on the other hand, stated that Melanie's writing style was on the prescription.

On the McGuires' computer at home, police discovered a number of strange online queries, including "how to acquire firearms illegally," "how to murder people," and "undetectable poisons." And they thought the waste bags at the McGuire house were the same as the ones wrapped around Bill McGuire's severed remains.

Melanie McGuire was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder on June 5, 2005. On July 19, 2007, at the age of 34, she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment as the "Suitcase Killer."

Melanie, on the other hand, insists that she didn't commit the crime. And she isn't the only one who believes the cops arrested the incorrect person.

The "Suitcase Killer" and Her Liberation Struggle

Melanie McGuire sat down with 20/20 in September 2020 for her first interview in 13 years. Melanie insisted on her innocence throughout her interview with ABC's Amy Robach.

"The killer is out there, and it isn't me," Melanie said to Robach. She claimed that her husband was murdered because of his gambling debts, alleging that he was the one who kept insisting on her purchasing a pistol in the first place.

"I'm still wounded after all these years," Melanie said. "I'm still concerned. Like, how could anyone believe I did that?”

Melanie isn't the only one who thinks the cops got it wrong. Meghan Sacks and Amy Shlosberg, criminology lecturers at Fairleigh Dickinson University, have devoted a whole podcast called Direct Appeal to calling Melanie's conviction into doubt.

"She didn't match the profile of a killer, I think," Shlosberg told 20/20.

"Melanie did not incapacitate, shoot, or use a saw to dismember her spouse," Sacks agreed with her co-host. Do you realize how difficult it is to cut through bone? It is physically demanding. Additionally, if the crime scene did not occur [at the family home] and she has been at home with her kids all night, where is this taking place? There are simply too many gaps in this tale."

Melanie McGuire, the so-called Suitcase Killer, remains a source of intrigue, guilty or not.

Yet, while both the podcast and the filming of the Suitcase Murder have drawn attention to the case, Melanie McGuire remains imprisoned. Melanie continues to insist that she did not murder her partner, dismember him, and dispose of his body parts in luggage.

"There were moments when I wished he was gone," she admitted to 20/20. "But gone does not imply dead."

juryinvestigationinnocenceincarcerationguiltycartelcapital punishment
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About the Creator

Victoria Velkova

With a passion for words and a love of storytelling.

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