It’s been 12 years since one of New Jersey’s most notorious felons was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. With a nickname like the suitcase killer, Melanie McGuire’s name is not one that will be forgotten any time soon in the Garden State, or the world or true crime.

McGuire was 31 and the mother of two young children when she was charged in 2004 with killing her husband, cutting his body into pieces and disposing of them in matching suitcases that were hurled off a bridge in Virginia.

McGuire’s appeals have been dismissed by judges over the years, but now her claims that she was wrongfully imprisoned are being heard in a new venue: the world of true crime podcasts.

In, "Direct Appeal,” two criminologists from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck promise an in-depth analysis of the notorious case, with a critical look at whether the investigation was comprehensive and the trial fair.

But for the big question -- did she do it? -- they’re reserving judgement until the end of the 14th episode.

“You never know what you’re going to get until you start digging,” Amy Shlosberg, an assistant professor of criminology with expertise in wrongful convictions, said of researching the case.

Shlosberg and her colleague, Meghan Sacks, associate professor and director of the university’s criminology program, said they aren’t trying to prove her guilt or innocence but instead trying to get to the truth and draw conclusions about how the case was handled.

Fairleigh Dickinson University criminologists Amy Shlosberg, left, and Meghan Sacks record their podcast "Direct Appeal" about the murder case against Melanie McGuire. (Provided by Amy Shlosberg)Provided by Amy Shlosberg

The project got its start in 2017, when Sacks agreed to meet with McGuire after hearing that she continued to maintain her innocence. Sacks if a former probation officer and uses inmate interviews in her academic books, so meeting with a convicted murderer in the cafeteria of a high-security prison in Clinton wasn’t wildly outside her comfort zone.

“She’s smiling and waving. She’s a small-looking thing. She actually hugged me and thanked me for coming,” Sacks said of her first impression. “She really wanted someone to look into the case and I said, ‘You might not like what I find. I may find I think you’re guilty,’ and she said, ‘That’s fine.’”

After that first meeting, Sacks knew she wanted to dig into the case, but she didn’t know what she would do with the research and interview material. Then the idea of a podcast came up in a conversation with her boyfriend and a friend, and “Direct Appeal” was born.

Recording equipment isn’t allowed in the prison, but many hours of recorded phone conversations with McGuire, now 46, from inside the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County will help tell the story. Sacks and Shlosberg, who both have doctorates from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, also interviewed others including experts, witnesses and McGuire’s family members.

Direct Appeal Podcast Teaser! Teaser is here! Direct Appeal is a new TrueCrime podcast featuring the high-profile Melanie McGuire case, whom the media dubbed “The Suitcase Killer”. Currently serving a life sentence for the murder and dismemberment of her husband, Melanie is sharing her version of events. She claims she is innocent to this day. Two criminologists (Meghan Sacks Ph.D, Amy Shlosberg Ph.D) will examine the case through exclusive interviews with Melanie, forensic experts, key witnesses and friends and family. Posted by Direct Appeal Podcast on Monday, April 1, 2019

Shlosberg said she was in graduate school when the so-called suitcase killer trial unfolded in the media before a national audience, broadcast live on Court TV.

“It was so sensational,” Shlosberg said. “They found out she was cheating on her husband. She was a middle-class white woman with young kids. She was attractive. She didn’t fit the bill of a murderer.”

And that made it all the more interesting that she was accused of chopping up her husband.

Prosecutors convinced a jury that McGuire was cheating with a doctor from the fertility clinic where she worked as a nurse when she drugged and shot her husband of five years, cut him up in their townhouse and disposed of the suitcases holding his remains in Virginia.

But Sacks said police found no forensic evidence linking her to the crime. They had strong circumstantial evidence including the internet search history, a forged prescription for the sedative chloral hydrate, the purchase of a handgun and testimony that the kind of garbage bags used to dispose of the body were found in her home.

Melanie McGuire cries as the guilty verdict is read and holds onto to her defense attorneys Joseph Tacopina, left, and Stephen Turano April 23, 2007. (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Without giving too much of the podcast away, Sacks said McGuire has raised good points in her appeals, including that her lawyer failed to call forensic and other experts and that a judge barred testimony about William McGuire wanting a gun and the possibility his wife purchased it for him. She said the total lack of forensic evidence at the townhouse means that the prosecutor’s theory about the crime can’t be completely accurate.

Of course, Sacks and Shlosberg are well aware that many people will think that it is wrong to bring this up years later and that the woman convicted of murdering a well-loved father in cold blood deserves nothing more than a life behind bars. They didn’t reach out to William McGuire’s family out of respect, they said, but did try to talk to the former assistant attorney general on the case, investigators and all the jurors. They got only silence or hostility, Sacks said.

The first three episodes of “Direct Appeal” are online now and will be available on podcast apps and Spotify by the end of the week. New episodes will be posted weekly after that. Sacks and Shlosberg are waiting to produce the final episode until the end in the hopes that the podcast will bring in new tips, witnesses and theories that they can report out before making their final conclusions on the case.

“I think we’re going to get something that could open it up,” Shlosberg said. “We’re hoping crowdsourcing is going to shed some light.”

Meanwhile, McGuire’s attempts at an actual legal appeal are still continuing. She exhausted her last appeal in state court in 2018, but then filed a petition in federal court on her own. In March, a federal judge denied her request for a court-appointed lawyer, saying the legal issues are not very complex and McGuire seems capable of arguing on her own behalf.

Melanie McGuireNJ Dept. of Corrections

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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