gruesome slaying
By Sam Wood and Jennifer Moroz
Inquirer Staff Writers
An Ocean County woman was arrested and charged yesterday with first-degree murder in the gruesome slaying and dismemberment of her husband, a computer analyst whose body washed ashore in Virginia a year ago in three of the couple's suitcases.
State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes called the case, which began in May 2004 when the remains of William T. McGuire were discovered along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, "a very strange tale of lies, deceit, infidelity and murder."
Authorities said Melanie McGuire, 32, of Brick Township in Ocean County, shot her husband with a .38-caliber handgun before cutting up his body, stuffing it into matching luggage, and driving to Virginia to set it adrift as part of a plot that likely involved accomplices.
Authorities believe the killing of William McGuire, 39, of Woodbridge, occurred on April 29, 2004, one day after the couple closed on a half-million-dollar home in Warren County. Melanie McGuire, a nurse at a Morristown fertility clinic, had told police her husband had stormed out of their Woodbridge apartment the night of April 28, never to be seen again.
She was arrested by troopers for his murder at 9:35 a.m. yesterday in Middlesex County, after she dropped off the couple's young sons at day care. Six hours later, handcuffed and looking scared, she entered a not-guilty plea at her arraignment before a judge in Middlesex County Superior Court.
Bond was set at $750,000, and she was remanded to Middlesex County Adult Correctional Facility. Her attorney argued that the diminutive mother of a 5-year-old autistic child and 3-year-old who is being evaluated for autism had no prior arrests and was not a flight risk.
Michael Pappa, who has been representing Melanie McGuire since shortly after her husband's death, said his client "was in a state of shock."
"We knew she was a target of the investigation because the spouse is always a suspect," Pappa said after the hearing. "But the arrest came as a complete surprise. This is like an out-of-body experience for her."
State Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said the state would consider seeking the death penalty for what he called "the principal murderer" in the case.
Other arrests are expected to follow.
"She did not act alone," Harvey said. "It's pretty clear to us that she had help. It's not easy to cut up a body that way. It was cut up very carefully."
He did not elaborate on any potential accomplices, and authorities said they were still investigating the motive for the slaying.
Department of Criminal Justice spokesman John Hagerty said investigators had confirmed that Melanie McGuire was having an affair at the time of her husband's murder, but he could not say whether that relationship was a factor in the slaying.
"We'll let the investigation complete itself before that question is answered," Hagerty said.
As part of the continuing investigation, authorities said they were executing two search warrants yesterday - one at Melanie McGuire's Brick Township home, and one at the Barnegat home of her mother and stepfather.
Authorities said they believed Melanie McGuire shot her husband in the head and chest with a .38-caliber handgun she had bought three days earlier. The woman used a false address to make the purchase at a gun shop in Easton, Pa., investigators said.
The corpse was then cut up with what one official described as "a sharp cutting instrument and something like a reciprocating saw."
Before being stuffed into the luggage, the pieces were placed into plastic garbage bags that authorities say matched those in the couple's Woodbridge apartment. Authorities said a paint chip found on tape attached to one of the garbage bags was consistent with nail polish worn by Melanie McGuire.
Investigators became suspicious after Melanie McGuire made inconsistent statements to police in Virginia, who eight months ago handed the investigation over to New Jersey. At first, she told them she did not recognize the suitcases containing her husband's remains. She later acknowledged the luggage had belonged to the couple.
Authorities said that for the last year, Melanie McGuire had misled authorities, friends and family, creating a web of lies to throw off suspicion.
"She has been orchestrating her defense, creating excuses to her friends and family," Assistant Attorney General Patricia Prezioso said yesterday at the arraignment. "She was not expecting the forensic evidence would be this clear. The forensic evidence is overwhelming."
State Police Superintendent Fuentes said yesterday's arrest, more than a year after the slaying, gave "a loud and somewhat vengeful voice to the murder victim."
William McGuire's sister, Nancy Taylor, said she was "stunned" by the news.
"It doesn't bring him back, but at least justice will be served," she said.
Melanie McGuire has said she last saw her husband the night of April 28, 2004. She told investigators that they had had a fight that turned physical and she locked herself in the bathroom. She said her husband took off, never to be seen again.
Earlier that day, the couple had closed on a $500,000 house in Warren County. William McGuire, a computer analyst for the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, had taken the next two weeks off work to move into the new home.
Prezioso said that while Melanie McGuire was packing up the apartment after her husband's disappearance, she told her best friend that "she was intent on getting rid of all of her husband's belongings."
On May 8, William McGuire's abandoned 2002 Nissan Maxima was towed from the lot of an Atlantic City motel after being parked there illegally for eight days. Later that month, Melanie McGuire, who never reported her husband missing, filed for divorce, contending he had been abusive and had a gambling problem. |
