♪♪
Up next, a suitcase in the water
holds a gruesome surprise.
And when he looked inside,
they found two human legs.
The torso contained the arms,
hands, and head.
This victim will be
nearly impossible to identify.
His face had been decomposed
while it was sitting out
in the water.
The k*ller appeared to have left
no trace behind.
Sometimes the lack of evidence
is evidence.
Could microscopic clues
reveal the k*ller's identity?
♪♪
♪♪
In the late spring of 2004,
the tourist season in
Virginia's Chesapeake Bay
did not get off
to an auspicious start.
The story started when a family
out boating
in the Chesapeake Bay
found a suitcase
floating on the water.
They brought it up
onto the deck,
thinking that it was
buried treasure.
The family opened it up
and they found two human legs
inside the suitcase.
The legs, wrapped in black
plastic bags,
were from an adult male.
News of this gruesome discovery
spread quickly
throughout the area.
That's not a crime
that's typical,
to have somebody dismembered
and thrown at sea like that.
Obviously, it's foul play.
This is not an accident.
The community wanted answers,
but six days later,
all they got was more questions.
On the shore of an island next
to the Chesapeake Bay bridge
and tunnel,
another suitcase was found.
Opening up the suitcase,
there were more black trash bags
similar to the first one.
Peeling back the trash bags,
it revealed a torso
of a white male.
The torso contained the arms,
hands,
and head of the white male.
As with the body parts
in the first suitcase,
there was no way
to identify the remains,
but the contents
of the second suitcase
at least provided some clues
to the victim's identity.
The description... white male
between 25 and 35,
about 180, 160 pounds,
a short-cropped
m*llitary haircut,
but no other scars,
marks, or tattoos.
In addition to the plastic bags
that wrapped the body,
there was a hospital blanket
around his head.
An autopsy on the remains
indicated
the likely cause of death.
We x-rayed the torso and found
that there was an entrance exit
through his head
and then two b*llet wounds
to his chest cavity.
The second suitcase,
the largest suitcase...
that probably had the most
amount of evidence in it.
Recovered in there
were two projectiles,
.38 caliber.
Where was the rest of the body?
The answer came five days later,
when yet another suitcase
was found floating in the bay.
By the time
we got the third one,
we just we stuck it on board
and took it straight back.
The rest of the victim
was in the third suitcase.
Gas created by decomposing body
parts caused the suitcases
to float to the surface.
DNA testing on those remains
showed they were all
from the same person,
but that DNA did nothing
to identify who he was.
We ran it through
the Virginia DNA databank,
but unfortunately, there was
no identification in there.
But while investigators
knew next to nothing
about their victim,
the skill with which
he'd been dismembered
revealed possible clues
about his k*ller.
It did look surgical.
It looked very neat,
like somebody did have some
sort of medical knowledge.
Since investigators
had few options,
they took an unusual step.
Even though the victim's head
had been submerged in salt water
for at least two weeks,
they commissioned
a forensic sketch
in an attempt
to determine his identity.
They had a drawing made of
the victim as best they could,
and they televised it
on the local morning news.
♪♪
When three suitcases
containing body parts
were plucked
from the Chesapeake Bay,
investigators were eager for
any evidence they could find.
Though there were three b*llet
wounds, only two slugs from a
.38 caliber were recovered
from the body.
One of them was covered
with green cotton fibers.
The three suitcases containing
the body parts
were from a matching set.
The plastic bags that wrapped
the body appeared to be similar.
The body parts were wrapped
in black garbage bags.
They were tied with
blue painter's tape.
The blanket that wrapped the
victim's head was distinctive.
It was like a white or cream
colored blanket
with an HCSC tag.
We learned that HCSC
is a company that provides
medical linens to hospitals
and doctors offices.
The first step was to at least
attempt an identification.
The victim had been in
salt water for weeks,
and his face was decomposing.
Investigators took a photograph
of the face
and gave it
to a forensic artist.
The sketch seemed like
a long sh*t.
In addition to basic
facial features,
key details like eye color,
race,
and a reasonable estimate
of age could be determined.
The resulting sketch and
additional information
was broadcast
on local television,
and police soon got a call.
It's mindblowing to think
that these people
actually recognized him.
The tipster said she thought
the man was Bill McGuire.
She and her husband knew him
when he was
stationed in Virginia
with the Navy.
Fingerprints confirm this hunch.
McGuire was a 39-year-old
computer programmer
and father of two young children
who had been living
in New Jersey.
He was described as loyal
to his friends,
loving to the people
around him, a lot of fun.
He seemed to be a regular guy.
At the time Bill McGuire
was identified,
he'd been missing
for four weeks,
so investigators'
first question was,
"Had anyone been
looking for him?"
His wife never reported him
missing,
but there was concern
about his location.
His wife, Melanie,
said there was a good reason
she didn't file
a missing persons report.
Melanie said to police that her
and Bill
had a terrible fight
in which he became physical,
stuffed a dryer sheet
in her mouth,
pushed her up against the wall,
and then left the home.
According to Melanie,
Bill told her,
"You'll never see me again."
In fact, instead of reporting
her husband missing,
Melanie McGuire got
a restraining order against him.
And when asked who she thought
might want Bill dead,
she said she didn't know,
but that Bill spent
a lot of time and money
gambling in Atlantic City.
We did find that
he enjoyed gambling.
New Jersey is a gambling state.
We have a very heavily
regulated,
legalized gambling system,
and at the time, it was really
solely located in Atlantic City.
This jibed with the potential
break in the case.
Detectives ran Bill's
license plate number
and discovered his car in
an impound lot in Atlantic City.
Surveillance video
from the night Bill
was last seen showed
the car being parked
at the Flamingo Hotel.
When the video was examined,
we couldn't identify
who had parked the car.
This was a setback,
but Bill's car was proving to be
a rich source of evidence.
The car in Atlantic City
ended up being critical.
In the glove compartment
was a small vial of pink liquid.
We could not figure out what was
in the vial for some time.
It became very frustrating.
And even though there were no
foreign fingerprints in the car,
analysts found something else
that could help their case.
They vacuumed both
the driver's side rug
and the passenger side rug
in the front seat.
Those vacuumings were later
analyzed,
and they found small...
very small... pieces of flesh.
We bring in an expert
and he finds
what he called human sawdust.
This was microscopic bits
of skin and flesh.
Unfortunately, it's gruesome,
but it's also accurate.
It was human sawdust.
It was tested, and it was
a positive match
for Bill McGuire
based on nuclear DNA.
There were skin cells that had
fallen onto the floor
that you're not gonna
be able to see,
and whoever drove his car
to Atlantic City
then transferred them
onto his floorboard.
But since the surveillance video
couldn't identify the driver,
this was looking
like a dead end.
The case that had been
moving forward now stalled.
♪♪
In the search
for Bill McGuire's k*ller,
a vial and a syringe
containing a pink liquid
that was found
in the glove compartment
of his abandoned car
confounded investigators.
It became very frustrating.
We couldn't figure out
what it was.
Meanwhile, investigators
checked out the possibility
that Bill's gambling
might have led to his m*rder,
and they got
a bit of a surprise.
Bill McGuire was known
to the casinos.
He went there a lot, and he was
a very disciplined gambler.
In fact, Bill wasn't in debt
from gambling.
He was firmly in the black.
The last time he had been down
in Atlantic City,
he had won a jackpot of $30,000.
So, he had done very well
for himself.
Not only that, in a weird irony,
on the last day Bill
was seen alive,
he and his wife Melanie
put a down payment
on a half-million-dollar house.
He was a very
goal-oriented person.
One of his goals was to own
a home before he turned 40.
And he achieved that dream.
So, who would want him dead?
Ballistics showed
he'd been sh*t with a
.38-caliber g*n, which still
had not been located.
Did anybody in Bill's circle
have a g*n?
Investigators went through
all Bill's known contacts
to see if anyone owned a
.38-caliber g*n,
and someone did.
His wife, Melanie.
Melanie McGuire
had purchased a g*n
in Pennsylvania two days
before Bill went missing,
and what she had purchased was a
.38-caliber Taurus
Special revolver.
Melanie said she bought
the .38 caliber
because Bill told her to.
He wanted some extra protection
when they moved
into the new house.
And Melanie, a k*ller?
No one who knew her
was buying it.
She was a highly respected
reproductive nurse
with no criminal history.
From all reports,
she was a wonderful nurse.
She seemed to have been
very popular where she worked.
She was very efficient.
People liked her.
Melanie denied having
anything to do
with her husband's m*rder,
but this was the same Melanie
who intimated Bill
might have a gambling problem,
which wasn't exactly true.
And she said they had a horrific
fight the day he disappeared.
Was this also false?
Melanie's work as a nurse
also presented a possible tie
to the m*rder.
And there was the hospital
blanket found
wrapped around William McGuire's
face from that company
known as HCSC,
which supplied blankets
and other things to Melanie
McGuire's fertility clinic.
The blanket,
and more importantly,
the purchase of the
.38-caliber g*n
gave investigators enough
to put a wiretap
on Melanie McGuire's phone.
And this introduced
a new player into the mix.
His name was Dr. Bradley Miller.
He worked with Melanie
at the fertility clinic.
And their phone calls
indicated a relationship
that went well beyond work.
Bradley Miller was
Melanie McGuire's lover,
and that affair had lasted
more than two years
and was what was called
a very intense love affair.
Could this affair
finally provide the motive
for Bill McGuire's m*rder?
And we put it together.
She purchases a house
with a husband
which will strap her
for 30 years financially
when she really wants
to be with this doctor.
Access to the fertility clinic
helped answer the question
about the so-far
unidentified drug found
in Bill McGuire's car.
A prescription
from Dr. Miller's office
had been filled the day Bill
was last seen alive.
It was for a substance
called chloral hydrate,
a sedative
sometimes administered
just before surgery.
So, chloral hydrate was what
you would read
about in detective novels
from the 1940s,
known as a Mickey Finn
or knockout pills.
Forensic testing showed
this was the pink substance
in the syringe
found in Bill's car.
Chloral hydrate is not used
in reproductive medicine.
But it would be very effective
if you wanted to knock
someone out before k*lling them
and cutting up their body.
The reputation
of chloral hydrate
is that it's used
for nefarious reasons.
♪♪
Detectives investigating
the m*rder of Bill McGuire
were focused on the sedative
chloral hydrate
found in his abandoned car.
There was a prescription
for chloral hydrate
filled on the day that Bill
was last known to be alive
at the Walgreens pharmacy one
and a half miles away
from where Melanie had just
dropped off her children.
And that prescription
was written on the pad
of Dr. Bradley Miller,
a fertility doctor
who'd been carrying on an affair
with Melanie McGuire
for more than two years.
But when shown the chloral
hydrate prescription,
Dr. Miller said someone
had forged his signature,
and it looked like the forger
could be Melanie McGuire.
We found out, did she have
access to prescription pads?
And indeed, she did.
Dr. Miller freely admitted
to the affair with Melanie,
but strenuously denied
having anything to do
with her husband's m*rder,
and he was eager to prove it.
He is what we call a consensual,
where he records conversations
with her to see
if they can't get to the truth
of what she had done.
When Dr. Miller pressed Melanie
in these conversations,
she got very cagey.
What we learned
from listening shocked
some seasoned detectives,
that we were dealing
with a very cunning
and chilling woman.
But in another
of the wiretap calls,
Melanie made a crucial mistake.
She admitted that she
was the person
who parked Bill's car in
Atlantic City after the m*rder.
And that meant the nearly
invisible human sawdust
found in Bill's car
was almost certainly
tracked there by Melanie.
It was hugely significant
evidence,
that there were pieces
of Bill's flesh
recovered from the car that was
parked at the Flamingo Hotel,
and Melanie McGuire
herself admits
that she's the one
who parked it there.
The question now was, "Where was
Bill k*lled and dismembered?"
A team of forensic analysts
descended on
the McGuires' apartment,
but this was months
after the m*rder and Melanie
and the kids
had already moved out.
The apartment was immaculate.
It was cleaned.
It was scrubbed.
It had been repainted... like,
three or four coats of paint.
No proof of m*rder
was found there,
not even, to the surprise
of forensic technicians,
in the bathrooms.
Bathrooms are like petri dish
for forensic biology,
and not one single source of DNA
was recovered
from the bathroom area.
Analysts now turn to
the black garbage bags
found with Bill's body.
After his m*rder,
Melanie gave some of his clothes
to a family friend
and packed them
in black garbage bags.
We learned that these
garbage bags were made
from reprocessed plastic.
Which meant the chemical
composition of these bags
was distinctive,
and in this case,
both sets of bags,
the ones found with Bill's body
and the ones Melanie used
to pack his clothes,
were chemically consistent.
Even worse for Melanie,
as plastic is cut
to make individual bags,
a blade leaves
distinctive tool marks
along the perforated edge
of each bag.
As the blade dulls,
those marks change.
Bags cut within seconds
of each other
will have nearly identical
marks, and these did.
We matched them to the bags
that were found in the suitcases
with the body parts.
Prosecutors say
Melanie bought the
.38 caliber two days
before the m*rder
and bought it for one reason...
to sh**t her husband.
She slipped the chloral hydrate
into his drink
to incapacitate him,
then she sh*t him three times.
Fibers on one of the b*ll*ts
had police believing
she used a pillow as a sil*ncer.
Her medical background
gave her the knowledge
she needed to expertly
cut up the body.
She wrapped the body parts
in black plastic bags
that were consistent with bags
she later used
to pack Bill's clothes.
In a key mistake, she later
admitted on the police wiretap
that she drove Bill's car
in Atlantic City
right after the m*rder,
but her being in the car
explained
how the so-called
human sawdust got there.
She unknowingly tracked it
on the soles of her shoes.
She drove nearly 350 miles
and dumped the suitcases
with the body parts
into the Atlantic,
not realizing that decomposition
would cause those suitcases
to rise to the surface.
All the evidence pointed
in one direction...
to a woman whose passion
to be with her lover
and away from her husband led to
an indescribably brutal m*rder.
If she's having an affair,
why wouldn't she
just divorce him?
But the thing is,
m*rder is never reasonable.
I think that was part
of the public's
fascination with the case.
You had this compassionate woman
on one side
and this diabolical k*ller
on the other side.
In July of 2007,
after a seven-week trial
with more than 80 witnesses,
Melanie McGuire was found guilty
of first-degree m*rder
and sentenced to life in prison.
Dr. Bradley Miller
was found to have
no connection to the m*rder.
The McGuires' children are
being raised by Bill's sister.
Melanie still maintains
her innocence,
but investigators say the
mountain of forensic evidence
leaves no doubt that this most
unlikely of suspects k*lled
and cut up her husband.
People who think that
they're criminal masterminds
usually forget something,
and in this case,
Melanie McGuire
forgot to wipe off
the bottom of her shoes.
To look at her,
you wouldn't think
that she was capable
of doing this.
It's only when you put it
all together
that you come
to that determination.
The forensic evidence
was the whole case.
I can tell you, I firmly believe
that justice was done
in this case,
and absolutely the right person
is in jail today.
♪♪