Melanie McGuire
Note to self: Stop searching on my home computer for “undetectable poisons” and “ways to kill people.”
A jury convicted a nurse of killing her husband, hacking up his body and stuffing the parts into three suitcases she tossed into Chesapeake Bay.
Melanie McGuire, who sobbed as she heard the verdict, was convicted of murder, desecration of a corpse, perjury and a weapons offense. She was acquitted on two counts of hindering prosecution and falsifying evidence. Authorities charged that she wrote anonymous letters in an attempt to thwart investigators.
During the six-week trial, prosecutors said McGuire, 34, organized William McGuire’s 2004 murder using her expertise as a nurse so she could begin a new life with her lover, her boss at a fertility clinic.
The Middlesex County jury was told that two days before her husband was last seen alive, McGuire bought a gun and bullets that matched those found in her husband’s body. The body parts of William McGuire, 39, a computer programmer, were found in matching Kenneth Cole luggage that washed ashore in May 2004 near Norfolk, Va., nearly 300 miles from the couple’s Woodbridge, N.J., apartment.
The verdict from the jury of nine women and three men came after about 13 hours of deliberations over four days.
McGuire’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, had argued that the petite nurse was physically incapable of killing her 6-foot-3, 210-pound husband.
Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso told jurors McGuire forged a prescription for a powerful sedative, chloral hydrate, using the name of a patient from her clinic April 28, 2004, the day her husband disappeared.
During his closing argument, Tacopina also said it would have been impossible to carry out such a bloody crime in the couple’s apartment without neighbors hearing something and without leaving behind physical evidence.
Prezioso told jurors that McGuire most likely had an accomplice, but no one has been named or charged. The prosecutor acknowledged that there were some unanswered questions, but said there was still “overwhelming” evidence to convict the mother of two.
Prosecutors also highlighted Internet searches made from the couple’s apartment on topics such as “undetectable poisons” and “ways to kill people.”
Tacopina said the defense did not to call McGuire to the stand because the jury had heard the key elements of what she had to say when audio recordings made by two men close to her, who were cooperating with authorities, were played in court.
The recordings were made by Dr. Bradley Miller, with whom she was having the affair, and her good friend, James Finn. In the recordings, McGuire repeatedly says she had nothing to do with her husband’s death.
The defense portrayed William McGuire as a man with gambling debts who might have been killed by a creditor.
Superior Court Judge Frederick DeVesa revoked McGuire’s $1.2 million bail and set sentencing for July 13. McGuire faces 30 years to life in prison on the murder charge.
Tacopina said his client would appeal.
Prezioso said that “justice was served” but that she was saddened that the McGuires’ two children are now without both parents.
18 Comments »
I don’t see anything wrong with what this lovely misunderstood women did. She will be an angel when she dies. IN HELL
Stupid woman. Clear your history! Or use someone else’s computer!
She deserves to go to hell.
A seriously messed up individual. She deserves all that Hell has to offer..
She’s in my top 10on Women who killed their husbands. She was totally coldblooded and cocky ad hell, right up until the jury foreman read the the words “is guilt of first degree murder”. She totally lost it then, crying hysterically and moaning no, no, no. It was a beautiful thing to see.
I just don’t believe she could do it…..
So forensic evidence, and a guilty verdict from a jury is not enough to convince you?
Oh she did it alright Amy. She was having an affair with the doctor she worked with, she forged his signature for the Chloral Hydrate that she used to knock Bill McGuire out before she shot him, the blankets that his body parts were wrapped in came from the clinic she worked at – Christ, and the ridiculous defense theory. Bookies killed him because he owed them money? Oh really Melanie, and who do they expect is going to pay them now that the guy who owes them is dead? They just don’t do that – break bones, yes, but commit murder, very rarely if at all. I could list a dozen other reasons why she’s guilty.
You are one smart cat Max. I agree 100%.
During the entire interview, she rarely looked the interviewer in the eyes. Her entire story is BS and this is one case that she should have to prove that she didn’t do it, vice the opposite. Thank God for jurors whom can see past the lies.
One more thing, Ms. McGuire never seemed sad about what happened to her husband nor did she demand that the police find the real killer.
She is CLEARLY GUILTY and sitting her butt right where she belongs with a front row seat on the ride straight to HELL!
I hear you Dan – She’s in my top 10 evil people. There was so much evidence against her it was sickening. For a supposedly intelligent woman, she made a series of incredibly foolish mistakes. Starting with using such a distinctive set of luggage to dispose of Bill’s body, to using the Chloral Hydrate that she got with a forged prescription (from the doctor she was screwing) that she picked up at the pharmacy on the way home from her kid’s daycare (wow, that’s a mouthful), to the blankets she used to wrap the body parts. She might have been better off shooting him in broad daylight in front of a dozen witnesses.
You take an oath when you enter the medical field…..
Not to hurt, but to heal.
This skank abused her power and used her knowledge as a Nurse to hurt. Plus she used the fact that she was banging an MD to get what she did to get the “job” done. Basically, to kill.
This should be a case which is prosecuted to the fullest extent. As a health professional who abused the system and a murderer.
She is a disgrace to all working Nurses.
You should have seen when the verdict was read poptart. Melanie McGuire came into court like it was the prelude to her acquittal party – laughing and joking with her supporters. But when the guilty verdict was read, the party was over, so to speak, she broke down a began bawling almost immediately – it was deeply satisfying for anyone who had watched he sit in court for weeks like the ice queen, with absolutely no sign of emotion.
even if she goes to hell,shes still hot!!
why should she look sad about hubby’s death? he caused her alot of grief & now she is charged w/his murder…..because she is guilty of adultery doesn’t make her a murderer? she is an intelligent woman…why would bshe use the towels that would lead back to her? no forensic evidence @ all…he had alot of enemies…loan sharks do kill those who don’t pay—it spreads the message.
Oh boy, another defender of a convicted murderer. Well, maybe you’re right – let’s take a look at this case.
Seems the prosecution did have some forensic evidence. For one thing, a handwriting expert testified that Melanie forged the prescription for Chloral Hydrate, and she picked it up at a pharmacy on the way home from the fertility clinic – Bill had high levels of the drug in his system. And the cops forensically matched the plastic garbage bags he was wrapped in to the ones from the McGuire home. Oh yes, they also had the bits of human tissue recovered from the carpet of Bill’s car – Bill’s tissue – that had stuck to the bottom of Melanie’s shoes and transfered to the carpet when she drove his car to Atlantic City to establish part of her alibi.
There was absolute no evidence that Bill McGuire owed any money to loan sharks. You say that people get killed all the time for owing money to the mob – maybe so, but it’s a last resort. Bill would have shown up with mysterious broken bones well before that happened, and there was no evidence of this either.
On April 26th of 2004, Melanie purchased a .38 special handgun at a small gun shop in Easton, Pennsylvania – two days before Bill was murdered. The same type of gun that was used to kill him. The gun that “mysteriously” disappeared. And her incredible story about a cab ride to Atlantic City, which would have cost 100′s of dollars – no cab company had a receipt for such a trip, and no cabbie made one.
How am I doing mercedes texan? She sounds pretty guilty to me. But more importantly, she sounded guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to 12 jurors. And back in July of 2009, The Appellate Court of New Jersey rejected Melanie McGuire’s appeal of her conviction. That’s pretty damning, don’t you think?
mercedes texan is it painful having your ass handed to you? I would really like to know as it has never happened so completly to me as it has happened to you.
Have a great week ya hear!
So it’s just a coincedence that untraceable poisons and ways to kill people were featured searches on her pc? Oh, and everybody makes mistakes… how do you think they caught Ted Bundy and Armin Miewes? Minor slip-ups led to big captures.
Moron.
Rot in Hell Psycho woman that’s where your headed.