A former nurse was sentenced last week to life in prison for killing her husband, hacking up his body and stuffing his remains into designer suitcases that later washed ashore along Chesapeake Bay.Melanie McGuire, 34, was convicted of murder and desecrating human remains in the 2004 death of William McGuire, 39. His body was found inside the couple's Kenneth Cole luggage in May 2004 near Norfolk, Va., nearly 300 miles from the couple's Woodbridge, N.J., apartment.
"The depravity of this murder simply shocks the conscience of this court," Judge Frederick DeVesa said in sentencing McGuire. During the trial, prosecutors argued that McGuire organized her husband's murder using her expertise as a nurse to drug him, shoot him and cut him up. They said she wanted to begin a new life with her lover -- her boss at a fertility clinic.
During the course of the trial earlier this year, the following sequence of events came to light:
April 26, 2004: Melanie McGuire purchased a gun in Pennsylvania.
April 27: William McGuire last day at work before a 2-week vacation.
April 28: William and Melanie McGuire closed on $500,000 house.
April 29: William left the couple's Woodbridge apartment at 2:30 am after a fight.
April 30: Grainy security footage showed McGuire's car being parked behind an Atlantic City motel
May 5: First suitcase containing body parts was found on island near Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
May 11: Second suitcase containing body parts was spotted on Fisherman's Island, on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
May 16: Boater found third suitcase floating in waters off a second island in the Chesapeake bay.
May 17: McGuire, failed to show up at work after vacation. Melanie called to ask if the office has heard from her husband.
May 21: Police in Virginia Beach released sketch of murder victim found in suitcases.
May 25: Melanie McGuire filed for divorce.
May 28: McGuire phoned her husband's workplace, told his boss that she had spoken with police and that McGuire was dead.
The New Jersey Attorney General took up the murder investigation after Virginia Beach detectives determined that McGuire likely was killed in New Jersey. Melanie McGuire was eventually arrested, charged with first-degree murder, and released on $750,000 bail. She was later indicted on additional counts after authorities say she wrote anonymous letters to throw detectives off her trail. She remained free after posting additional bail, for a total of $2.1 million.
During the trial earlier this year, Melanie McGuire's former lover, Bradley Miller, testified the couple were intending to leave their respective spouses and start a life together.
According to her defense team, Melanie McGuire had been abused by her husband and wanted to leave him. Her lawyers argued that the petite nurse was physically incapable of killing her 6-foot-3, 210-pound husband and that it would have been impossible to commit such a bloody crime without leaving behind physical evidence.
According to a Fox news report, Attorney Stephen Turano said his client planned to appeal. "She maintains her innocence," he said. McGuire, who cried as he sentence was read, had said in a television interview before the jury returned its verdict that she did not kill her husband. "No matter how I felt about my husband, I could not have done this to my sons," she said.
1 comment:
I have been waiting for the arrest of her parents who evidently was aware of what she was doing before or after....but they did help her cover up the crime and caused great expense to the State of NJ. This is early 2008, and NJ still hasn't officially closed the investigation. Is there more to come. I think so
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