How to Catch A Criminal: A Messy Separation Part 2

Every officer with a decent amount of time on the job knows the unexpected turns an investigation can take. Seeing a major case through to completion often involves giving up on a theory and taking your investigation in a different direction as new information becomes available. In How to Catch A Criminal, we look at the many ways not-so-perfect crimes are solved. This month, the conclusion of Bill and Melanie McGuire's story, and the crucial difference between coincidence and evidence.

Melanie McGuire had just learned of her husband, Bill’s death, and was speaking to detectives about what could have happened to him. During questioning, two important facts were learned: Melanie was a nurse at a fertility clinic, and she did not own firearm. At the time, these pieces of information were little more than case notes, but in time, her statements would have a snowball effect, creating an avalanche of evidence.

This article appeared in the March/April issue of OFFICER Magazine. Click Here to subscribe to OFFICER Magazine.

A records check showed it was true, Melanie had never purchased a firearm in the state of New Jersey. Gun laws are somewhat strict in New Jersey, whereas nearby Pennsylvania is more lax with firearm purchases, and in some cases a waiting period is not necessary for the purchase. Just to be thorough, detectives checked Melanie’s name in Pennsylvania’s firearm purchase records. Despite insisting she did not own a gun, Melanie had purchased a .38 revolver at a PA gun shop and bullets consistent with those found in Bill’s body, just a two days before her final argument with Bill. Though her dishonesty was suspicious, her tip about locating Bill’s car was spot on. New Jersey State Police detectives, now leading the investigation, received a tip that Bill McGuire’s car had been towed from the Flamingo casino in Atlantic City on May 8, 2004. Surveillance video from the Flamingo showed Bill’s car being parked at the Flamingo on the morning of April 30, but the driver was unidentifiable in the video. Fortunately, payment passes used at tollbooths on highways on the east coast are easily traceable, and Melanie’s pass was used twice on the highway to Atlantic City on April 30. When questioned about her travels to Atlantic City that morning, Melanie gave a perfectly reasonable explanation. She drove to Atlantic City thinking she would find Bill, the man she wanted to divorce and did not want to report missing, gambling and enjoying himself. She quickly located his car and decided she would play a prank on Bill. She drove Bill’s car from where he left it, to the Flamingo, so he would have to go through the trouble of finding his car before he could come home.

Melanie’s tollbooth pass also showed two May 4 passes through Delaware, along a highway which leads to Virginia, specifically Chesapeake Bay. Melanie insisted she drove to Delaware to shop for furniture, not to throw Bill’s body parts off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A search was conducted on Bill’s car, and in addition to tiny bits of human flesh belonging to Bill, detectives also uncovered a bottle of chloral hydrate, as well as a syringe. Chloral hydrate is a powerful sedative often used as a date-rape drug, and requires a prescription from a doctor to obtain. Tracing the bottle back to the pharmacy from whence it came, detectives found the drug had been prescribed on April 28, by Dr. Bradley Miller, for a patient who had no knowledge of the prescription. Remarkably, Dr. Miller was Melanie McGuire’s boss and stated the signature on the prescription was not his. Tapped phone calls revealed Melanie and Dr. Miller had not only a working relationship, but also been involved in an affair since 2002, unbeknownst to Bill. Melanie and Dr. Miller had plans to leave their respective spouses and formally get together, but they agreed to wait until the time was right.

The circumstantial evidence against Melanie was stacking up like pancakes at a breakfast buffet, but if there’s one thing pancakes need, its a healthy drizzle of warm maple syrup on top. In this case, the maple syrup was be found on Melanie’s computer. On April 26, the same day she purchased a revolver, Melanie utilized her computer to conduct internet searches for things like “state gun laws,” “undetectable poisons,” “how to commit murder,” “how to find chloroform,” and “chloral hydrate.” Everything detectives needed to obtain an arrest warrant for Melanie was in hand, and she was arrested on the morning of June 2, 2005. She was eventually released on bail, facing the charges of first degree murder, perjury, desecration of human remains, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Her trial commenced on March 5, 2007, lasting seven weeks. The State of New Jersey used the evidence to assert that Melanie planned to kill her husband and researched how to do so. She drugged him using an ill-gotten sedative after forging a prescription. She shot him with a gun and bullets purchased just before the crime. She dismembered him, wrapped his body parts in garbage bags and a blanket taken from the clinic where she works. She placed the body parts in her and Bill’s suitcase set, drove to Chesapeake Bay and dumped the suitcases in the water. She drove home and fabricated the story of the argument and Bill leaving. She later drove to Atlantic City in Bill’s car and placed it there to give her story some weight. She was then driven home by an accomplice, who likely helped with the dismemberment and disposal. To this day the identity of the accomplice has not been discovered, however Melanie’s step-father and Dr. Miller were both investigated. In the end, Melanie McGuire was convicted of sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole at the age of 100. Melanie has since exhausted her appeals, but she maintains her innocence and is currently searching for ways to have her conviction overturned. Regardless, Bill McGuire was the victim of a heinous murder, and Melanie McGuire is either the victim of the most unbelievable run of bad luck and coincidences in human history, or she is a murderer.

About the Author

Brendan Rodela is a Deputy for the Lincoln County (NM) Sheriff’s Office. He holds a degree in Criminal Justice and is a certified instructor with specialized training in Domestic Violence and Interactions with Persons with Mental Impairments.

This article appeared in the March/April issue of OFFICER Magazine.