A four-count indictment came down from a state grand jury. "There was no evidence connecting him to this crime.. At least the prison conversations won't be, ahem, boring for Amy Locane. There were two charges, totaling 90 cents, on her statement that proved she had driven to Atlantic City after her husband went missing. This is not one of those cases, said Prezioso. She said her husband left and that she never saw him again. She will not be eligible for parole until May 20, 2073 In a recent. There were five lands and grooves that my weapon was said to have made based on the company's website. Bill McGuire, 39, disappeared April 28, 2004, shortly after announcing to his friends that he and his wife had just closed the sale of their first home, according to an appeal filed in her case. She may be eligible for parole after serving 66 years in prison, court documents filed in her case said. They brought in the luminol, and they also pulled down parts of the walls. Podcasters believe Melanie McGuire is wrongfully convicted: Part 10. At the time, the local media also reported this detail about the parking lot's surveillance cameras. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. (NJ.com file photo/Tim Hawk), Teen killed 12-year-old, hid her body in recycling bin. She put his remains into a 3-piece suitcase set, and those three pieces were later found in Chesapeake Bay. So where are New Jersey's infamous felons now? [24][25] On April 29, 2014, McGuire filed a motion for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and newly discovered evidence. may be available from PACER. She told her sons, now adults, to look into the case for themselves. Harris has filed and lost many appeals, including state and federal appeals for a new trial because the judge refused to move his trial. Dont accept what youre just being told on the surface. When investigators processed Bill McGuire's car, they also found a bottle of the sedative chloral hydrate and two syringes. His crimes were discovered in May 1980, when a maid at a Hasbrouck Heights motel heard Cottingham's next intended victim an 18-year-old woman screaming from inside his room. Lodzinski tried to get her conviction thrown out on the grounds the jury had been tainted by a foreman's independent research about the case. She was found guilty and the former nurse remains held at the troubled Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, where she is serving a life sentence. Sentence: The jury in Fortin's first trial sentenced him to death. After killing her, he held a gun to his head during a 45-minute standoff with police. McGuire is lodged at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, serving a life sentence in Clinton, New Jersey. APP.com reported that he is locked up alone in a maximum-security cell. Philip Seidle, a former Neptune police sergeant, is pictured in court in 2016, and in his most recent prison mugshot. Follow him on Twitter at@ThomasDMoriarty. These documents exist. With the story debunked, the request for a new trial was withdrawn. Melanie McGuire, currently serving her prison sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County. [9] McGuire persisted in claiming she was innocent, and claimed her husband had become increasingly moody and unpredictable and was a compulsive gambler. Crime: Bergrin was formerly an Army major, a federal prosecutor and a high-profile Newark-based defense attorney whose clients were rappers and drug kingpins. "I won't be home until my oldest is 18 and my youngest is 16," she told EW. Lodzinski's attorney also argued jurors did not have sufficient evidence to convict her. A second trial in 2007 ended in the same verdict. A state appeals court in 2011 rejected McGuire's argument she was denied a fair trial. Tell us. I still feel bothered. (File photo from New Jersey News Photos). It is the largest law enforcement agency in the state with approximately 10,500 employees. Sentence: Koedatich was initially sentenced to death for Hoffman's murder, but the sentence was later overturned by the state Supreme Court. What's happened with their appeals? [9] Melanie admitted that the couple owned the same set of luggage that the body was found in, a matching three-piece set of Kenneth Cole suitcases. A judge in October 2016 rejected both claims, granted Koedatich's request for a new test of DNA evidence. Almost three years after the crime, McGuire's murder trial commenced at the Middlesex County Courthouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey on March 5, 2007. The state Department of Corrections in 2011 rejected his request for a transfer to a prison Illinois so he could be closer to his family. Because the murder did not occur in Virginia, however, authorities turned over their investigation to the New Jersey State Police.[10]. She said in a moment of admitted irrationality she decided to drive down there and look for his car. Although investigators were unable to find physical evidence of murder inside the McGuire's home, they were able to find small pieces of Bill McGuire's flesh -- evidence that would eventually be referred to in the media as human sawdust -- from the car. An application for a federal appeal was rejected in December 2021. Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. 370 years from now. My job is to convince the jury. During her work as a nurse, Melanie formed a longstanding romantic relationship with her boss, Dr. Bradley Miller. Prosecutors believed that McGuire forged the prescription as she had access to this prescription pad. To drive from New Jersey to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia requires driving through Delaware, and the first suitcase turned up the very next day, Prezioso said. During the investigation, incriminating evidence against Melanie was uncovered. Melanie says she yanked her child away and tried to hide in the bathroom, but this was a breaking point for Bill, who fumed out of the house. [11] Through her attorneys, Joe Tacopina,[12] Steve Turano, and Marc Ward, she pleaded not guilty to the charges. He took her out of the yard, sexually assaulted and strangled her, and left her body in a nearby yard. Prezioso is certain that Bill McGuires murderer is the woman who was convicted and is now sitting in prison. [9] Bill and Melanie owned a green couch, and investigators theorized that the murderer used a pillow or couch cushion as a makeshift silencer to shoot Bill. The Georgia Department of Corrections protects and serves the public by managing offenders and helping to provide a safe and secure environment for the state's residents. Powered by. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, Sept. 25, at 9 p.m. [4] She was sentenced to life in prison on July 19, 2007, and is serving her sentence at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey. (Photos via New Jersey News Photos and state Department of Corrections), Woodbridge mom's killer behind bars for good after two trials. Once police honed in on Melanie McGuire as the prime suspect, they began wiretapping her phones. McGuire, now 47, was convicted of killing and dismembering her husband after a lengthy trial in 2007. She was convicted at trial in 2016. Sentence? McGuire maintains her innocence, and wants her two adult sons to look into the case for themselves. His conviction and sentence was upheld in 1999. Cooper appealed for post-conviction relief, taking his case to the state's Supreme Court, but the court ruled against him in 2006. https://t.co/ZGewRPfd2o pic.twitter.com/i4dBUBR7PJ. People explains that she did this all in an effort to maintain her relationship with Mills. In 2004, three separate dark green Kenneth Cole suitcases, containing pieces of a dismembered body, were found in and around the Chesapeake Bay, near Virginia Beach, Virginia. She's ineligible for parole until the age of 101, as reported by ABC News in 2020. They recruited a friend to help dispose of her body, but got caught dumping the trunk into a river. I absolutely tried to have those charges taken off because I feared that people would look and think what they ultimately ended up thinking," McGuire said. Her earliest possible parole date is May 20, 2073, according to the Department of. The state will close the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County, Gov. Shes now a 47-year-old inmate at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, New Jersey, where she claims that shes not only innocent of killing her husband but that his real killer is still out there. I still feel bothered. His body was found in three separate suitcases in the Chesapeake Bay, which led to McGuires nickname, the Suitcase Killer.. Seidle, 62, is housed at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton. Robinson hasn't filed any appeals, according to court records. McGuire's conviction was affirmed by an appeals court on March 16, 2011. [9] A witness testified that Melanie used the same towels to protect furniture when she moved. Crime: Cullen, a nurse who worked at a number of hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in 2005 to killing a total of 29 patients between the two states, beginning in 1988. Some will spend the rest of their days within prison walls. In May 2004, a fisherman and his child were sailing the Chesapeake Bay when they spotted something odd floating in the water. In June 2005, Melanie McGuire was arrested and charged with Bill's murder . She told Miller that she was furniture shopping, according to Prezioso, who said she believes that is when Melanie McGuire drove the suitcases with her husbands remains to Chesapeake Bay. What's happened with their appeals? ", Through her attorney Jim Wronko, Locane describes McGuire as "very nice and pleasant and smart and helpful.". The body was eventually identified as 39 year-old Bill McGuire, an employee of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, who lived more than 300 miles away in Woodbridge, New Jersey. The Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton, NJ, is the only state prison for women in New Jersey. Sentence: 30 years to life in prison. Meghan Sacks and Amy Schlosberg are the hosts of the podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professors. Sentence: Both young men received life sentences plus additional time, butJames Zarate was resentenced last year to 50 years on the murder charge. He admitted to helping run a New York City escort service. Where are they now? A state appellate court in 2011 rejected his first direct appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case. On June 5, 2005, authorities arrested Melanie McGuire on first-degree murder charges. Meghan Sacks, host of podcast "Direct Appeal" and Fairleigh Dickinson University criminology professor questions Melanie McGuire's guilt. Just weeks after Melanie McGuire was found guilty, she appealed her case, claiming that Bill was $90,000 in debt to loan sharks in the mob (via NJ.com). Sentence: 30 years without parole. Melanie McGuire Today: Where Is the Suitcase Killer Now in 2020? Women inmates move between the areas of the maximum and medium security compounds at the Edna Mahan Women's Correctional Facility. William McGuire, a Navy veteran who worked as a computer analyst,was last seen alive at the couple's home in Woodbridge just days after theyhad purchased a $500,000 home in Hunterdon County. McGuire told 20/20 she did not commit the crimes for which she was convicted. This chart demonstrates the significant drop in active cases from approximately 800 active inmate cases in DOC facilities at the peak of the pandemic, the DOC website says. All rights reserved (About Us). The New Jersey Supreme Court has denied her petition for sentence relief. If I wanted to look for something like that, I have a [physicians' desk reference]. Investigators said Cullen killed the patients with overdoses of various drugs injected into their IV bags. Per Asbury Park Press, Melanie and William "Bill" McGuire married in 1999. Although detectives did not find what they were looking for on the surveillance footage, they were able to find something curious on Melanie McGuires statement from her electronic toll payment company, EZ Pass. She didn't contact Bill or report him as a missing person, which some of Bill's friends found suspicious. Then he hired congregant Len Jenoff and Paul Danielsto beat his wife to death and make it look like a botched robbery. Prezioso said she has no doubt Melanie McGuire's gun was the murder weapon. She maintains her innocence, having recently told 20/20 that "after all these years, I still feel hurt. Like, how could somebody think that I did that? https://t.co/f9HrMsbxkY. Jonathan Zarate's earliest parole date is Nov. 10, 2071, when he will be 84. As of June 22, 2020, two inmates had died of COVID-19. (Star-Ledger and State of New Jersey photos), Serial killer's earliest parole date? Melanie McGuire said her husband Bill assaulted her during an argument then left. [6][7] She enrolled at Rutgers University with a double major in math and psychology and graduated in 1994. After all these years, I still feel hurt. Where are they now? (Patti Sapone/Department of Corrections), Neptune police sergeant kills wife in front of daughter. After being released on bail, Melanie faced additional charges on October 11, 2005. I just wanted to get away from him at that point. Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women Facility Type State Prison Authority New Jersey Department of Corrections Address 30 County Road 513 PO Box 4004, Clinton, NJ, 08809 Phone 908-735-7111 Capacity 909 Date Established 1913 Offender Gender Female Offenders Security Level Maximum, medium and minimum City Clinton Postal Code 8809 State Name: James Koedatich Crime: Koedatich, who has been called "one of the most dangerous and despised serial killers in the history of the state," was convicted of kidnapping, sexually assaulting and fatally stabbing an 18-year-old Parsippany high school student and a 25-year-old Mendham Township woman just 12 days apart in November of 1982. Where are they now? Subscribe to Justia's Free Newsletters featuring summaries of federal and state court opinions. Thirteen years have passed since Melanie McGuire's conviction. Possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women, Fisherman Island National Wildlife Refuge, Suitcase Killer: The Melanie McGuire Story, "Melanie McGuire Found Guilty of Murder in 2004 Shooting Death and Dismemberment of Her Husband", "Melanie McGuire, SBI Number: 000319833C", "Author to sign copies of Melanie McGuire book", "Case 120: Bill McGuire from Casefile True Crime", "Wife arrested in gory dismemberment murder", "General Discussion - Melanie McGuire guilty as hell", "Defense to withdraw motion for McGuire retrial", "Bit player in infamous N.J. murder case charged in bizarre murder-for-hire plot", "Man gets jail for plotting to kill online crush", https://www.state.nj.us/grc/decisions/pdf/2014-275.pdf, "McGuire sentenced to life in prison for suitcase murder", "State v. McGuire, 16 A.
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