Internet browser history and e-mails are evidence in NJ murder case

A search of a defendant’s internet browser history and e-mails are evidence in a murder trial in New Jersey, as shown on Court TV‘s website, On nurse’s computer, an Internet how-to for murder:

Jurors in the trial of a fertility nurse accused of killing her husband heard Tuesday about suspicious Internet research performed on the couple’s home computer before the slaying, including one Google query for “how to commit murder.”

The approximately 40 searches detailed by a forensic computer examiner called by the prosecution occurred on three occasions in the weeks leading up to William McGuire’s disappearance. The topics searched related to poisons, guns and death. Among them were “instant undetectable poison,” “toxic insulin levels,” “how to commit suicide tips” and “how to purchase guns illegally,” the expert said.

Prosecutors maintain Melanie McGuire, 34, used the Internet to plot her husband’s 2004 slaying. A defense attorney told jurors in his opening statement last week that the 39-year-old victim, a computer analyst, was the primary user of the Hewlett-Packard and had conducted the searches in question.

Jennifer Seymour, a former analyst for the state police’s digital technology unit, told jurors there was no way technologically to tell whether the defendant, the victim or someone else in their home had performed the searches.

But under questioning by a prosecutor, she noted that her examination of the same computer uncovered romantic e-mails between Melanie McGuire and her boss, a married physician.