Melanie McGuire: The Suitcase Killer

The McGuire’s

William Theodore McGuire was born on September 21, 1964 in the Bronx, New York to William and Ruth. After high school, Bill joined the US Navy. Bill married his first wife, Marci Paulk, who moved to Virginia Beach in 1986 where Bill was working as an electronics technician in the Navy. Marci was from Vernon, New Jersey, and around 1990, the couple moved back to the Atlantic City area.

After the move to Atlantic City, Bill began gambling and drinking excessively. Marci has said that after this began, their relationship started going downhill. In 1995, Marci filed a restraining order against Bill after he had thrown rocks through her window. The couple divorced shortly after this incident.

Bill met Melanie at a restaurant where they were both servers. Bill was a highly sought after server as he was known as the “rude waiter.” Melanie was born on October 8, 1972 to Linda and Michael in New Jersey. She is described as a “New Jersey girl” and her parents say that she is a great daughter, mother and friend and is a good girl who never got in trouble.

Melanie described Bill as being clever, funny and someone with a big heart – when he wanted to. Bill’s friend, Jim, said that Bill was a great friend, a practical joker and funny. Melanie’s friend, Wendy, described Melanie as being very caring.

Bill’s friends, Sue and John, said that in 1998, Bill called them up and said that he wanted to bring Melanie around to meet them. They said that Melanie was nice to be around and had the same sense of humor as Bill. However, Bill and Melanie’s relationship was described as being tumultuous. The couple would break up and get back together often and it is speculated that they liked the drama. Despite the ever changing relationship status, the couple was married in 1999 (I sure do hope everyone did, indeed, party like it was 1999).

Bill and Melanie lived in a working class town, Woodbridge, in New Jersey. Woodbridge has a population of about 100,000 people with an average crime rate. Bill worked at the New Jersey Institute of Technology as a computer specialist and Melanie was a fertility nurse. The couple had two sons together.

During their relationship, Melanie says that Bill had a problem with gambling and that he expected to get what he wanted when he wanted it. She says that if he didn’t, he would get frustrated and direct that frustration toward her. She described to 20/20 a time when Bill had gotten pulled over and called her after. On the phone they began arguing and Bill threatened to kill her. Melanie says that she did leave that night, but she came back. She also told 20/20 that she was having an affair at the time of the argument and threat.

Melanie’s Affair – June 2001

While Melanie was pregnant with their second son, she began an affair with a doctor she worked with. Melanie says that they had a flirtatious relationship and sometimes she would return to her desk after a consult with a patient and lunch would be waiting for her at her desk. According to Melanie, the affair began when she was 38-weeks pregnant. She was in Dr. Brad Miller’s office when she complained that she was having some pain in her back due to a pinched nerve. Dr. Miller began rubbing her back and after she returned from maternity leave, they began a full blown affair.

After their second son was born, Melanie and Bill moved to a townhome in Woodbridge, but Bill was hoping to move to Virginia Beach where his friends John and Sue lived. Melanie was against moving to Virginia Beach, though, so the couple ended up putting down a sizable deposit on a home in New Jersey in 2004. The house had a significant amount of land and cost a half million dollars. Melanie has said that even though their marriage wasn’t doing well and she was having an affair, she went ahead with the purchase of their home so that Bill wouldn’t gamble their money away.

On April 28, 2004, the couple’s house closing was planned for two o’clock that afternoon. According to Sue and John, Bill had called them after closing on the house and had told them how excited he was and that he had never been happier. Melanie, however, was in constant communication with Brad who was begging her not to buy the home. The two were biding their time to be together and Melanie told him not to worry. She told Brad that she was planning on talking to Bill later that evening after he woke up. He had had some red wine and was asleep.

Bill and Melanie’s Fight

Bill and Melanie had a big fight in the early morning hours of April 29. According to Melanie, Bill told her that he had settled for the house in New Jersey because he had really wanted to find a cheaper one in Virginia Beach, but she wouldn’t let them do that. As the fight continued, Melanie says that Bill grabbed a dryer sheet that had been in a basket near where they were and shoved it in her mouth and that “he had a thing about dryer sheets.” She says that he called her lazy because she used dryer sheets versus liquid fabric softener. After shoving the dryer sheet in her mouth, she says that he slapped her across the face. She says that after she was slapped she saw that her two-year-old was standing there.

She says that she then grabbed her son and locked them both in the bathroom. While she was locked in the bathroom with her son, she says that Bill was going up and down the stairs and she believes he was packing some of his things and taking them to the car. She says that every time he passed the bathroom, he was berating her. She recalls that the last thing she said to Bill was, “Stop.”

Bill’s Missing

After Bill left that night, Melanie assumed that he went to Atlantic City to gamble, but that he would be back. The morning after the fight, Melanie took her sons to daycare and started trying to figure out how she was going to live her life without Bill. Even though she assumed he would be back. That same day, April 29, Melanie sought out a divorce attorney. At the advice of her attorney, Melanie didn’t file a missing persons’ report. On April 30, at the advice of a friend who was also an attorney, Melanie filed a restraining order against Bill. During the hearing, she told the judge that Bill had slapped her and when asked if she was aware of any firearms in the home, she said that she was not aware of any. In the days following Bill’s disappearance, Melanie moved out of the townhome and into their new house with their two sons.

The Suitcases

On May 5, 2004, a couple of men went out fishing with one of their sons. They went out on the Chesapeake Bay on a boat by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and anchored at Fisherman Island. Fisherman Island is the southernmost island on the Delmarva Peninsula and is located at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Fisherman Island is about 300 miles from Woodbridge, New Jersey and is about a five hour car ride.

After the men anchored and began fishing, they saw a suitcase floating in the Bay. The men assumed that it likely had fallen off the top of a car and landed in the water. They decided to try to bring it into the boat, but it was quite heavy. Eventually they were able to do so and saw that it was a dark green Kenneth Cole suitcase and it was in good condition.

The young boy that had been with them really wanted to open the suitcase because he thought that they had found a treasure. They unzipped the suitcase and saw that the contents of the bag were covered with a black trash bag. The young man ripped open the bag and what they saw was not at all what they expected. Inside the suitcase was a pair of human legs from the knee down. They immediately called 911. Once the police arrived and saw what was in the suitcase, they assumed that there would be more suitcases to follow.

On May 11, 2004, a student was at Fisherman Island when she found a dark green Kenneth Cole suitcase. She was curious about the suitcase so she opened it up, pulled back the black garbage bag and was immediately hit with the smell of decomposition. She didn’t open the bag any further and called 911. The suitcase was transferred to the medical office in Norfolk, Virginia where the contents were reviewed. Inside the second suitcase was a torso with the arms still attached and a head. The face was somewhat identifiable, however, it had been submerged in water so it was very bloated.

The medical examiner determined that the victim had been shot twice in the torso and once in the head. Two wadcutter bullets were recovered from the body. Wadcutters are a special-purpose flat-fronted bullet designed specifically for shooting paper targets typically at close range. However, they have also gained popularity for use in self-defense guns, though not common.

On May 16, 2004, a third suitcase was found by a fisherman. Inside this dark green Kenneth Cole suitcase was a pelvis and legs cut off at the knees. After the third case was found, investigators began looking through missing persons cases in the hopes of finding out who was in the three suitcases. They focused heavily on the military because there was a large military base near Virginia Beach. The police then decided to have a sketch artist draw up a rendering of the man’s face to put out to the public.

On May 21, 2004, Sue and John Rice, Bill’s good friends, saw the sketch on the news. She knew that Bill hadn’t been seen for a couple of weeks and believed that it was Bill. She called her husband who took a look at the news and he was skeptical, but Sue insisted it was Bill. Sue told John to call Crime Stoppers. John spoke with police and told them that he was concerned that the man in the sketch was his friend Bill McGuire who had been missing. After learning about Bill, the police ran his name and found that he had been arrested in the 80s in Virginia for reckless driving and had been charged. Because of this, Bill’s fingerprints were on file and they were able to determine that it was a match to the man in the suitcase.

The Investigation

Now that the police had determined who the body belonged to, they needed to inform his wife. Melanie was called into the police station and was told that Bill was deceased. The police said that Melanie never asked how he was murdered and they found that to be concerning. Melanie said that she was in shock. The police wanted to speak with Melanie and she agreed to an interview. Melanie brought her divorce attorney with her as well as another criminal attorney from the law firm. Investigators say that it is unusual for someone to bring these types of attorneys for this kind of interview. One investigator said that Melanie was nervous and would make expressions like she was crying, but never actually shed a tear. It should be noted that on May 25, 2004, Melanie officially filed for divorce.

During the interview, Melanie was asked if she had any luggage and she told them that they didn’t have any matching luggage. However, the next day, Melanie suddenly remembered that they did own a set of matching designer luggage and let investigators know. She was shown a photo of one of the suitcases found in the Bay and she was able to identify it as belonging to her and Bill. Melanie also told the detectives that Bill had a knack for pissing people off. She also asked them where they found Bill’s vehicle and they told her that they actually hadn’t found it. Melanie informed them that a good place to start would be in Atlantic City. She told them that Bill had had a gambling problem and she believed that he was in with the wrong people.

As the investigation continued, the Virginia police turned the investigation over to the New Jersey police because Melanie was their focus. There was evidence found against Melanie pretty quickly, but all was circumstantial. First, as soon as Bill’s body was released to her, she had him cremated. She held a funeral for him with Sue and John that last no more than fifteen minutes.
Police also found that on April 26, 2004, Melanie had purchased a firearm. There were no records of her buying a gun in New Jersey, however, when they expanded their search to include Pennsylvania, they found that she had done so. Melanie purchased a Taurus 38 Special as well as wadcutter bullets. Melanie’s attorneys had advised her not to offer that information to police unless she was asked about it. When asked about it, Melanie told police that Bill wanted her to buy the gun for him because he had a felony and couldn’t do it himself.

The police decided to wiretap Melanie’s phone as well and that was how they discovered her affair with Dr. Brad Miller. The police had 40 days of phone calls totaling 500 hours where they heard several cryptic calls. Dr. Miller became a suspect as well, but when confronted, he said that he had nothing to do with it. They asked him to prove it by wearing a wire and he agreed.

Dr. Miller spoke on the phone with Melanie while wearing a wire, but she never admitted to anything. The police also got in touch with a friend of Melanie’s from nursing school, Jim Finn. Jim was someone who Melanie talked to only when she needed something and she knew that whatever she needed, he would do. Jim knew about guns and in February of 2004, Melanie had asked some questions about guns. Jim also agreed to wear a wire, but she revealed nothing. Police cleared both Dr. Miller and Jim Finn as they believed both had nothing to do with Bill’s murder.

Trips to AC and Delaware

In January of 2005, the police tracked Melanie’s movements via her EZ Pass. They found that she had taken two trips to Atlantic City. On April 30, Melanie told the police that she drove down to Atlantic City to look for Bill’s car after their fight. She said that she saw his car from the freeway and she decided to move his car. She claims that this was something they would do to each other often. She says that she moved his car from where it was parked to the parking lot of the Flamingo Hotel.

Surveillance at the hotel showed that Bill’s car was moved, but it did not capture who was driving the car because it was dark and there was a glare from the lights. The police believe that Melanie moved the car, but had someone else with her because this would take two people. Someone to drive the car to the hotel and someone to drive Melanie back.

Melanie says that Dr. Miller had given her a script for Xanax because of the stress of Bill being gone and she had taken it for the first time this day. So she allegedly takes this Xanax, drives the almost 2 hours to AC to move Bill’s car over a mile from the hotel she found it in. At like 1AM. She then realizes she’s too fucked up to drive back home so rather than get a hotel room she spends like $150 on a cab back home. Almost. She has this driver drop her off NEAR but not too close to the train station back home. She then says she didn’t know if there was a train back to AC so she is approached by some random man- like 3AM now- who offers her a ride to AC for $200 which she takes. He drives her back to her car and she drives back home. All alone. All in one night. All for a “prank.” She never once calls Bill, she never sees him or speaks to him. Just drives almost 2 hours in the middle of the night to see if that’s where he is. She also took back roads so that her EZ pass would not be recorded.

Five days later, Melanie drove to Delaware. Melanie told investigators that she went to look for furniture. She says her parents kept her kids and she left VERY early (between 7 and 7:30Am) to make the 45 min drive to Delaware to buy furniture as there is no sales tax in Delaware. However, when she got to Delaware she realized the furniture stores would not open for another hour. She then got a call from Brad and when she asked how his day was going his response was “oh, just another Tuesday.” This reminded Melanie that she had a lunch date with her best friend Celine in NYC this day and she abandoned ship in Delaware to get to NYC on time for her lunch with Celine. She ended up getting to the city like an hour before the lunch started. So she never bought any furniture and never even went into one furniture store….

The road Melanie drove to get to Delaware is the same road that would take her to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel. The day after Melanie took this trip, the first suitcase was found in the Bay.

It should also be noted that she attempted to obscure the EZ pass record by paying cash at some of the tolls and called EZ pass to have the charges removed so that police would not know she had taken these trips.

The townhouse that Melanie and Bill were living in before his disappearance and murder was searched using luminol. They also pulled walls, piping and the floors looking for any evidence that Bill was murdered in the Woodbridge townhouse. No forensic evidence was found, however, investigators believed that circumstantial evidence was enough to arrest Melanie.

Police surveilled Melanie on June 2, 2005 and after she dropped her children off at school, Melanie was arrested and charged for the murder of her husband. Melanie was released on bail, but was charged again in October of 2006. This time she was charged with two counts of hindering apprehension. Melanie had allegedly written letters to police trying to take the blame off of her. She pleaded not guilty and was again released on bail.

The Trial

Two years and 10 months after the first suitcase containing part of Bill McGuire’s deceased body was found, Melanie McGuire’s trial began. Melanie had a few attorney’s fighting in her defense including a high-profile attorney named Joe Tacopina.

The prosecution presented a lot of circumstantial evidence that made Melanie look guilty. They presented the fact that once Bill’s car was located and searched, they found a syringe and chlorhydrate. Chlorohydrate is commonly known as the knockout drug or what someone would use when you hear they were “slipping a mickey.”

Chlorohydrate is a sedative that is typically used short-term for the treatment of insomnia or to relieve anxiety and induce sleep before surgery. It can also be used for pain after surgery and to treat alcohol withdrawal. The prescription had been purchased the morning Bill disappeared. Prosecutors found that the prescription had been written on Dr. Brad Miller’s pad. Dr. Miller testified that the handwriting on the prescription wasn’t his and that he recognized it as Melanie’s.

The prescription was also written in a patients name at the fertility clinic Melanie worked for and had all her correct demographic information except the phone number which was one number off. Presumably so the pharmacy could not contact her which would have tipped her off that something was going on. Melanie says she worked from home often and had prescription pads with her and Bill could have easily gotten into her computer and gotten patient info as well as written a prescription on the pad. He did have pharmacy training- he almost completed pharmacy school but was unable to graduate due to the felony on his record.

Melanie also claims that chlorohydrate is something people on steroids typically take to help them sleep and that her sister in law had commented that Bill’s head “looked weird” like “someone on steroids” before his death. None of any of the substances were actually found in his system though.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that there had been searches made on Melanie’s computer for how to purchase guns illegally, how to commit murder and how one would poison another. The big issue with this piece of evidence, though, is that both Bill and Melanie used the same computer and they could not prove who had done the searches. Melanie also alleges that there were other searches on the computer around the same time such as “unfaithfulwife.net” but were never presented at trial. She claims that she already has knowledge of how much of a medication such as morphine or chlorohydrate to use to poison someone and wouldn’t have to search it. She also says she had a book with dosages in it for every med you can think of- the physicians desk reference so why would she need to leave a paper trail online when she could have looked it up and the investigators have been none the wiser.

Bill’s car had also turned up pieces of flesh called human sawdust. Human sawdust is described as being pieces of skin that are deeper than what we typically shed. It is reportedly not something that would just be left behind in your car.

Overall, Melanie’s trial lasted seven weeks and there were 81 witnesses called. As mentioned before, Dr. Brad Miller was one of the witnesses. He testified that he had a three year affair with Melanie and that at one point, he received oral sex from her in his office. Melanie was very uncomfy during this. Dr. Miller also testified that he was unaware that Melanie had purchased a firearm and stated that he didn’t know about the rendezvous at the Flamingo Hotel at the time she made the trip. Melanie has stated that she was very hurt that he testified against her and that the two have had no contact since his testimony.

On April 17, 2007, both sides presented their closing arguments. The prosecution accused Melanie’s stepfather as being her accomplice as well at this time. On April 23, 2007, Melanie McGuire was found guilty of murder in the first degree of her husband, Bill. She was also found guilty of perjury, the discretion of human remains and the possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. She was, however, acquitted of the charges of hindering apprehension, tampering with evidence and possession of Xanax without a prescription. On July 19, 2007, Melanie was sentenced to the max sentence of life in prison plus five years. She was 34 years old at the time. She is currently serving her sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in New Jersey.

Melanie is eligible for parole on May 20, 2073. At this point, she has exhausted all of her appeals and the New Jersey Supreme Court has denied her petition for sentence relief. There was an application for a federal appeal that was rejected in December of 2021 as well.

Possible Wrongful Conviction

Meghan Sacks and Amy Shlosberg, the hosts of Women & Crime, have another podcast called Direct Appeal where they discuss this case in detail. Both women believe that Melanie was wrongfully convicted and hope that their podcast helps to free her. One of the biggest reasons they believe in her innocence is the fact that the gun Melanie purchased was not confirmed to be the murder weapon. There was no search on the serial number on her firearm. Melanie’s gun was said to have five lands and grooves and the bullets recovered from Bill’s body had six. The barrels of handguns and rifles have impressions called rifling – the raised portions being lands and the recessed being grooves. The prosecution states that it was a manufacturer error and it was Melanie’s gun that was used.

Another argument the prosecution used was that the black garbage bags found in the suitcases matched garbage bags at Melanie’s home. Amy and Meghan have stated that the plastic’s expert used by the state did not run all of the tests needed to definitely determine that the bags were a match.

There are several other reasons why they believe in Melanie’s innocence, but until another person comes forward or new evidence is found, Melanie will stay in prison.