Kriti Mehrotra
ABC’s ’20/20: Interview with Melanie McGuire’ is a two-hour broadcast wherein the “suitcase killer” opens up about the circumstances that landed her in prison for the rest of her life. She was accused and convicted of murdering and dismembering her husband, William “Bill” McGuire, after which she packed him up in three suitcases and threw him into the Chesapeake Bay. In this special, she speaks up about her innocence, her troubled marriage, her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, and how she wishes she could still be a part of her children’s lives. After all, when Bill was murdered in 2004, he and Melanie were the proud parents of two beautiful young boys.
Who Are William and Melanie McGuire’s Children?
Soon after William and Melanie McGuire tied the knot in 1999, they welcomed their first child, a son, in 2000. And then, two years later, they were blessed with another baby boy. It was while Melanie was pregnant for the second time, during the 38th week, that her affair with Dr. Bradley Miller, her co-worker in the fertility clinic where she worked as a nurse, began. By that point, the two had only flirted and corresponded via e-mail, only for a romance to blossom. On April 28, 2004, the last day anyone ever saw Bill alive, Melanie had dropped off their sons, aged 2 and 4, at their daycare as routine at around 8:20 am. However, not much else about the day was typical.
For the two toddlers, they usually woke up, saw their parents, went to daycare, came back, saw their parents, ate, played, and then slept. But, after that fateful April day, when the sun rose, their father was nowhere to be found. A few weeks later, once Bill’s body was discovered and Melanie was identified as the prime suspect, Dr. Bradley had asked her to swear upon her children’s life that she had no hand in this homicide, which she did. Yet, in the end, it turned out that she’d lied about it all. On June 2, 2005, more than a year after the fact, Melanie was charged with first-degree murder, leading to her sons being taken and placed into a much safer home for them to grow up in.
Where Are William and Melanie McGuire’s Children Today?
William and Melanie McGuire’s children, whose names are not revealed in any public records for their own privacy and safety, were placed with Bill’s elder sister, Cindy Ligosh. As a realtor at the Weichert office in Franklin Lakes, she, along with her husband, pharmacist Bill Ligosh of Wyckoff, New Jersey, were deemed well qualified and capable of taking good care of the toddlers. So, as soon as the topic of custody arose, the two boys were sent to them, especially since Bill and Cindy were already great parents to their own adult children: Laura Ligosh and Max Ligosh. We should mention that after Melanie was convicted of the charges against her, her family started a custody battle with Cindy, but to no avail.
Therefore, from what we can tell, even today, as young men, William and Melanie’s sons reside in New Jersey with their aunt, uncle, and cousins – the only family they’ve ever known. According to some reports, in 2007, during Melanie’s murder trial, Cindy put it into evidence that both of her sister-in-law’s children, then aged 5 and 7, had been positively diagnosed with autism. She had apparently grown worried about their well-being upon noticing their behavior and got them tested. Of course, since we do not know either of their names, we have no way of digging up any other credible information concerning their current standing. All we know is that they haven’t been in touch with their mother since before she was convicted.
Read More: Where Is Melanie McGuire’s Family Now?
