Pranitha Koya

Computer yields Internet search about murder

NEW BRUNSWICK - Someone at approximately 5:44 p.m. on April 18, 2004, typed the words "how to commit murder" into a search engine on the Internet on the McGuires' home desktop computer, according to a New Jersey State Police computer forensics expert.

The state alleges that Melanie McGuire, the 34-year-old former fertility clinic nurse, who is on trial for killing her husband, William McGuire, in their Woodbridge Center Plaza apartment and later dismembering his body almost three years ago, typed in those words in the search engine. McGuire, who resides in Brick Township, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her and remains free on $2.1 million bail.

Jennifer Seymour, a computer forensics expert who was working at the New Jersey State Police digital technology unit at the time, testified on March 13 about what she recovered from an HP Pavilion desktop computer that was seized from McGuire's divorce attorney's office (Risa Kliener of Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer law firm in Woodbridge, on Sept. 8, 2005) originally from the McGuires' residence, and two Dell Dimension desktops - one seized from the McGuires' residence and one seized from the residence of Melanie McGuire's parents, Michael and Linda Cappararo, in Barnegat. Seymour also looked for evidence on five other computers and eight hand-held devices, but focused on the three desktops.

During her investigation, Seymour found two Hotmail account e-mails that had been deleted between the defendant and Dr. Bradley Miller, who was McGuire's boss. The state believes that McGuire killed her husband in part because she was having an affair with Miller. "The conversations appeared to be two people who had an intimate relationship," said Seymour. "Expressions that were made were comments like "I miss you" and "I love you." Seymour searched the Pavilion for any Internet activity by searching the word search, but she acknowledged it was only a small portion of the computer she searched."The nature of searches I found related to names of chemicals, poisons, guns and gun laws," she said. The state displayed the searches, which were found from April 11, 2004, to April 26, 2004, to the jury of 12 women and four men.

The state contends that McGuire killed her husband between April 28, 2004, and May 5, 2004.

Reference:

http://ems.gmnews.com/news/2007/0321/Front_page/010.html