ELIZABETH "LIZZI" MARRIOTT - 19 yo (10/12) - T/ Convicted: Seth Mazzaglia - Dover, NH

Lizzi Marriott Believed Dead, Authorities Say, Seth Mazzaglia Charged With Murder

10/13/12 11:52 PM ET


Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott was last heard from on Tuesday, October 9.


DOVER, N.H. -- A martial arts instructor active in community theater was charged Saturday in the death of a 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student who disappeared days earlier.

Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, a marine biology major who volunteered at the New England Aquarium, is believed to be dead and law enforcement officials continued to search for her body, Assistant Attorney General James Vara said Saturday.

Seth Mazzaglia, 29, of Dover, who's charged with second-degree murder, knew Marriott, Yara said, but he declined to say how or what led to Mazzaglia's arrest. He said police had "credible" information leading them to believe Marriott is dead, though he wouldn't elaborate.

"This is the worst parents nightmare, a missing child and with an unfavorable outcome,' Marriott's family said in a statement Saturday. The family asked for prayers for rescue personnel who are looking for their daughter, saying they need to "bring her home."

A family friend, Dawn Downey of Westborough, Mass., described Marriott as an attractive young woman who was active in chorus in high school and was prom queen during her junior year. Marriott was helping to put herself through college by working at Target.

"She was just a good girl. That's probably what got her in trouble. She was too trusting and she was beautiful. Those two things will kill you," Downey said.

Marriott had attended a class Tuesday night and made plans to visit friends in Dover. Her cellphone was last used in Dover that night, according to fliers that family members posted around town. Her car was later found in a parking lot on campus in Durham.

"We were greatly saddened to learn of Lizzi's death and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and friends," UNH President Mark W. Huddleston said in a statement. "Lizzi was a new member of the university community and will be missed in our classrooms. Our focus now will be on supporting our campus community during this difficult time."

The university was making counselors available to students. A moment of silence was planned in Marriott's honor at the school's hockey game Saturday night.

Marriott was a 2011 graduate of Westborough High School in Massachusetts. She lived with an aunt in Chester and commuted to the Durham campus. A message seeking comment was left with her parents, Robert and Melissa Marriott of Westborough.

Hundreds gathered for a vigil Saturday night in Westborough.

Robert Marriott told the crowd, "Together we created an angel, and tonight she is home in heaven."

Downey's daughter Nicole, who was Marriott's best friend, described Marriott as a "fun-loving and goofy" young woman who got along easily with others and had a wide circle of friends. She also was a good student who loved animals and science and volunteered at the New England Aquarium in Boston, Nicole Downey said.

"It was a shock to me when I found outshe was missing. That was not like her at all," she said. "She was just all around a great person. I don't know why anyone would want to hurt her."

Mazzaglia, who graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in theater, was active in the arts, performing in several dozen plays and musicals over the last decade in southern New Hampshire.

He also was a martial arts instructor who described himself on websites as having a black belt in karate and being familiar with several forms of martial arts and weapons. And he described other interests including juggling.

Robert Modee, a friend of Mazzaglia's and a martial arts instructor in Kittery, Maine, said he was struggling to comprehend how his friend could be charged with murder.

"I don't understand what's going on right now," he told the Foster's Daily Democrat in Dover, N.H. "I'm completely floored with all this."

Mazzaglia is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. A working telephone number for him could not immediately be located. It was unclear whether he had a lawyer yet.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/13/lizzie-marriott-believed-dead-seth-mazzaglia_n_1964051.html

Elizabeth Marriott Update: Authorities Searching Water For Missing University Of New Hampshire Undergrad


By HOLLY RAMER and BRIDGET MURPHY 10/16/12 03:12 AM ET





DOVER, N.H. -- Authorities in Maine and Massachusetts are being asked to watch their shores for the body of a University of New Hampshire student believed to have been killed a week ago.

Nineteen-year-old Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, of Westborough, Mass., vanished Oct. 9 after attending an evening class in Durham. Seth Mazzaglia, 29, was charged Saturday with second-degree murder and is accused of strangling or suffocating her in his apartment that night. Her body hasn't been found, but authorities have been searching the waters around Peirce Island in nearby Portsmouth.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Jane Young said Monday that "credible information" has led authorities to focus their efforts on the 27-acre island that separates the city from the Piscataqua River. Marine patrol officials have been using sonar and an underwater camera, she said, but the river's currents and eddies have hampered their efforts.

"The search in that area may last several more days," she said. "We have not discussed an end date. We have discussed continuing this until we find her."

Authorities in Maine and Massachusetts also have been notified in case her body washes up there, Young said.

Mazzaglia, an actor and martial arts instructor, didn't speak during a brief arraignment Monday, and his court-appointed attorneys didn't object to the prosecutor's request that he be held without bail.

Craig Faulkner, who works at a theater company where Mazzaglia had auditioned, said he chatted with Mazzaglia for about 20 minutes on Friday while shopping at Best Buy in Newington. Mazzaglia, who was working in the store's video game section, told him: "Life is good," said Faulkner, producing artistic director at Seacoast Repertory Theatre in Portsmouth.

"I just asked him, `How are things?' He said, `Things are really good,'" Faulkner told The Associated Press on Monday.

Marriott, of Westborough, Mass., was living with an aunt in Chester, N.H., and commuting to the university in Durham, where she was majoring in marine biology. She was last heard from Oct. 9 when she made plans to visit friends in Dover after class, but she never showed up. Her cellphone was last used in Dover that night, according to fliers posted by family members, but authorities said her car was found several miles away in a parking lot on campus in Durham.

Family and friends spent several frantic days searching for her before charges were announced over the weekend. Police have not said what led them to arrest Mazzaglia or how he knew Marriott.

"They were familiar with each other," Young said Monday.

Mazzaglia graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2006 with a degree in theater, Faulkner said. He was known as the "go-to guy" for fight choreography in the area.

Faulkner described Mazzaglia as a quiet, respectful guy but also as someone with a nerdy vibe that made him a bit of "an odd duck."

"He's just a little unusual. ... I don't really know how to explain it," he said. "You don't meet him and go, `Wow, that guy's a murderer.'"

Faulkner said he never ended up casting Mazzaglia, called him more of a character actor than a leading man. He said Mazzaglia has an advanced black belt designation.

Faulkner said he was later playing the video game Mazzaglia sold him when he heard news of the man's arrest.

"What I thought about is, I shook his hand two times and if he actually did this. It was one of those, Are you ... kidding me moments," Faulkner said.

Friends and family have described Marriott as a fun-loving, trusting young woman with a wide circle of friends who was active in chorus and a prom queen in high school. She loved animals, volunteered at the New England Aquarium and helped put herself through school by working at Target.

Ken Ziniti, a store manager at the Target store in Greenland, said Marriott was one of the nicest young people he's met.

"Put a smile on everybody's faces," he said. "She worked all over the sales floor, always out in front of the guests."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/elizabeth-marriott-update-water-search_n_1969638.html

Lizzi Marriot Death: Seth Mazzaglia's Story Changed, Multiple Times, New Documents Allege


By LYNNE TUOHY 05/25/13 04:36 PM ET EDT


DOVER, N.H. — Lizzi Marriott left a message saying she'd be home by midnight.
Five weeks into her first semester at the University of New Hampshire, the sophomore planned to attend a Tuesday night lab class that would end at 9 p.m. She wouldn't have to hurry – she was staying with her aunt and uncle only about a half-hour drive from the campus where she'd transferred to study marine biology.
At 8:55 p.m., the 19-year-old sent a text saying she was going to visit a new friend, a co-worker at a department store near campus.

Less than two hours later, the former prom queen died with a rope around her neck.

The man charged with killing Marriott in October says her death was an accident during a night of consensual sex. Prosecutors call it murder. Either way, Marriott's body is gone – dumped in a river that pours into the Atlantic Ocean.

The circumstances of Elizabeth Marriott's death remain a dark mystery involving a couple who authorities say trolled fetish websites in search of sex slaves.

Thirty-year-old Seth Mazzaglio was a 2006 graduate of UNH with a degree in theater and a fourth-degree black belt in karate who taught at the dojo he started attending as a child in Kittery, Maine. Nineteen-year-old Kathryn McDonough is a former honors student who dropped out of high school in February of last year.

Authorities describe them as bondage enthusiasts who frequented fetish sites – him under the monikers "DarkKaiser" and "Enigmatic Shadows" and her as "Rouge Temptress."

The appeared together in a play – "Last Rites" – in July 2011 at a theater in Portsmouth. Eventually, they moved in together, sharing an apartment in Dover.

Police affidavits describe a text message Mazzaglia sent to McDonough in August. It described in lurid detail a bondage sexual encounter and suggested McDonough include a friend, someone to "offer" to him.

Authorities believe Marriott may have been that offering, lured to their apartment after class on Oct. 9 – not long after McDonough met her at work.

Marriott's disappearance set off a full-scale search in the seacoast region that is home to the UNH campus. But it didn't take long before Marriott's last text message – telling a friend she was going to "Kat's" – had investigators looking hard at McDonough and Mazzaglia.

Recently released court documents describe the couple's interviews with police starting three days after Marriott disappeared. First Mazzaglia said Marriott had never made it to their place that night – he had gone out for a run, hurt his ankle and was slow returning to the house. McDonough told police she went to a nearby cemetery in hopes of capturing images of ghosts with her digital camera.

But Mazzaglia's story soon began to change.

In an interview later the same day, he talked of bondage and sadomasochism. He implicated McDonough and another couple in harming Marriott, saying when he arrived home Marriott had a ligature mark around her neck. He suggested another man had done something terrible, but he wouldn't say what.

Finally, police said, Mazzaglia admitted he was involved. He and McDonough were playing strip poker with Marriott and that led to intercourse. Mazzaglia said he was having sex with Marriott – and tightening a rope around her neck – when she had a "seizure."

Mazzaglia told investigators neither he nor McDonough tried to revive Marriott or summon help. Instead, he told them, he put a grocery bag over her head and tied it at the neck.


A police affidavit describes interviews with another couple McDonough called the night Marriott died.

Roberta Gerkin said McDonough sounded "shaken" when she called asking Gerkin to come over at 10:49 p.m. When Gerkin and her housemate arrived, they both told police they saw a white female lying on the floor, a grocery bag tied over her head.

Gerkin told investigators when she used a box cutter to remove the bag, the woman's face was blue. Gerkin and her housemate told investigators they overheard the couple talking about "dumping the body."

Mazzaglia told investigators he and McDonough used Marriott's 2001 Mazda to take her body to Peirce Island in Portsmouth, where they threw it and her cellphone into the Piscataqua River. When Marriott's torso remained above water, he said, McDonough went into the water and pushed it under, making a joke about "Davy Jones' locker."

The pair then drove Marriott's car to UNH, left it in a student lot and discarded her belongings in trash bins, authorities allege.

Mazzaglia was arrested Oct. 13 – a day after he was interviewed – and McDonough on Christmas Eve. He is being held without bond, charged with first-degree murder. She has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and hindering prosecution. She was released on $35,000 bond on the condition she live with her parents in Portsmouth.

Trial dates haven't been set for either defendant.

Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, who has secured five first-degree murder convictions in all five "no-body" homicides he's tried, said such cases can sometimes give prosecutors greater latitude at trial to explore the character of the victim – showing how she wouldn't voluntarily leave family, friends and career behind.

While he would not discuss the Marriott case, he said defendants often convict themselves by giving multiple stories of what happened.


"You only have so much credibility," Lewin said. "You can't come in and argue five different things. But I want a jury to believe him because, when they find out half an hour later from his own mouth that he's a liar, it's three times as bad."

Attorneys for Mazzaglia and McDonough did not return calls seeking comment, nor did a lawyer for McDonough's parents.

Marriott's family has declined to discuss her death. Through a family spokesman, they have railed at that notion she died during consensual sex with Mazzaglia. Prosecutors say there was nothing consensual about Marriott's death but won't say what evidence they have to back up their contention.

Family members describe Marriott as "gullible" – someone who easily could be taken advantage of because of her trusting nature. One family friend from Westborough, Mass., where Marriott grew up, called her naive.

"She was just a good girl. That's probably what got her in trouble," Dawn Downey said. "She was too trusting and she was beautiful. Those two things will kill you."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/26/lizzi-marriott-death-murder-seth-mazzaglia-new-documents_n_3339111.html

Seth Mazzaglia on trial for killing UNH student


Seth Mazzaglia on trial for killing UNH student

Chris Rose, WCSH 5:51 p.m. EDT May 27, 2014



DOVER, New Hampshire (NEWS CENTER) -- Seth Mazzaglia is on trial for the strangulation death of Lizzi Marriott. Marriott was a Sophomore at the University of New Hampshire when she was reported missing in October of 2012. Investigators say Mazzagila choked her with a rope during forced sex.

16 jurors were sworn in this morning. They were then taken to the Dover apartment Mazzaglia lived in at the time of Lizzi Marriott's death. It is there the prosecution says Marriott was killed as an unwilling participant in Bondage style sex.

"This is the apartment the defendant lived in with his girlfriend at the time, Kathryn McDonough, back in October 2012 and it's in this apartment that Lizzi Marriott was raped and murdered", Assistant Attorney General Geoffrey Ward told jurors.

McDonough was there when Marriott died. She is the state's star witness. She pleaded guilty and was given a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying against Mazzaglia. The defense claims it was McDonough who killed Marriott.

"It was inside that apartment where McDonough caused Liz Marriotts death", said Mazzaglia's attorney Joachim Barth.

Jurors also visited Peirce Island where investigators say Mazzaglia and McDonough dumped Marriott's body into the Piscataquis River.

Opening statements are set for Wednesday morning.


http://www.wcsh6.com/story/news/local/2014/05/27/mazzaglia-murder-unh-marriott/9642309/

Man accused of New Hampshire killing wanted to form cult: witness


By By Ted Siefer June 6, 2014 5:36 PM

By Ted Siefer

DOVER N.H. (Reuters) - The ex-girlfriend of a man accused of murdering a New Hampshire college student in October 2012 testified on Friday that the killing was the act of a man with a dark fantasy life that included dreams of forming a cult.

But defense attorneys worked to discredit the woman, the state's chief witness in a case that has riveted New England, noting that she shared his interest in the occult and lured the victim to the apartment where Seth Mazzaglia is accused of murdering the college student after a game of strip poker.

The witness, Kathryn McDonough, previously pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation into the death of Elizabeth Marriott, 19. McDonough is serving a sentence of 18 months to three years in prison.

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Joachim Barth at Strafford County Superior Court, McDonough, 20, said Mazzaglia had visions of taking over the world.

"That's one of the reasons why he needed a cult that would do his every whim, why he needed an army of people who would do anything he asked them to," McDonough said in her fourth day on the witness stand. "He wanted to do something big."

Mazzaglia has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers said in opening statements last week that it was McDonough who killed Marriott during a sex act involving restraints.

McDonough first told investigators, shortly after Mazzaglia's arrest, that Marriott died accidentally.

McDonough has testified that she brought Marriott, a co-worker at a department store, to Mazzaglia's apartment to satisfy his sexual desires. When Marriott spurned his advances, he strangled her from behind with a rope and then raped her while she lay motionless.

Defense attorney Barth sought to undercut McDonough's credibility, asking about her acknowledgment that she used to have several "personas" - one of them a woman named Scarlett.

"It was a character, an alter-ego of sorts," McDonough said in a soft voice. "But I only had one stream of thoughts. I didn't need to embrace these other personas."

McDonough acknowledged that she shared an interest in tarot cards and the occult with Mazzaglia, who faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted.

The trial is expected to continue for several weeks.


http://news.yahoo.com/man-accused-hampshire-killing-wanted-form-cult-witness-213612970.html

Wild About Trial coverage - video: http://new.livestream.com/wildabouttrial/events/3039746

(Begins with Day 1)

Lawyer for accused murderer Seth Mazzaglia, charged in death of Lizzi Marriott of Westborough, challenges ex-girlfriend's outburst on witness stand

The Associated Press By The Associated Press
on June 10, 2014 at 6:20 PM, updated June 10, 2014 at 6:24 PM


By LYNNE TUOHY


DOVER, N.H. — The star witness against a man charged with raping and strangling a University of New Hampshire college student from Westborough, Mass., broke down on the stand Tuesday, saying she can't get the image of the victim's death out of her mind.

Kathryn McDonough is a former girlfriend of defendant Seth Mazzaglia, who's charged with first-degree murder in the death of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott on Oct. 9, 2012.

During her fourth day of cross-examination, McDonough began sobbing as she blurted out that she couldn't remember minor details from that night because the image of Mazzaglia strangling Marriott, who was 19, takes over her mind.

Defense attorney Joachim Barth immediately challenged the authenticity of her outburst.

"You cry without tears, Ms. McDonough?" he said.

No tears were visible in her eyes, and she did not reply.

McDonough originally told defense investigators that she and Marriott were engaged in rough sex involving restraints when Marriott died. She said she lied to protect Mazzaglia but changed her story after being given immunity from prosecution. She is serving a 1 1/2-to-3-year sentence after pleading guilty last July to conspiracy, hindering the prosecution and witness tampering. Her plea deal hinges on her testimony against Mazzaglia.

Barth has peppered McDonough with questions in a bid to undermine her credibility. He questioned her about details she omitted from her grand jury testimony last year, including a text message she received from Mazzaglia that she has testified was a coded reference to an imminent sexual advance on Marriott in the Dover apartment the couple shared. She testified she lured Marriott, her friend and co-worker, to the apartment because Mazzaglia wanted women to join their sexual relationship.

Prosecutors say Mazzaglia and McDonough dumped Marriott's body in a river. Marriot would have turned 21 on Tuesday. Her body hasn't been found.

McDonough talked with investigators from Barth's office two days after Mazzaglia's arrest on Oct. 13, 2012. She had testified she told them one of the stories she had Mazzaglia had concocted to cover the killing, saying Marriott had a seizure and died during rough sex.

"In our office you didn't cry, you didn't flinch," Barth pointed out to her Tuesday.

She answered that it was because she was telling them a lie.

"It wasn't real," she said. "I was able to push the images aside and keep up with the fake story I was telling you."

Barth pointed out that, when asked during grand jury testimony last year whether she had anything she wanted to tell Marriott's family, her response had been, "She got into a bad situation."

He contrasted that with her sobbing statement of remorse last week, when she said, "Because of us she never got to live her life."

McDonough testified Tuesday that she has been "at a loss for words" to describe her emotions since Marriott died.

Jurors on Tuesday also heard a recorded jailhouse conversation between Mazzaglia and McDonough less than two weeks after his arrest, in which they discussed plans to marry despite his incarceration.

"I'm sorry it couldn't have a little more pomp and circumstance to it," says Mazzaglia, who is not expected to testify.

McDonough returns Wednesday for a seventh day of testimony.



http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/06/lawyer_for_accused_murderer_se.html

Seth Mazzaglia found guilty of murdering Lizzi Marriott

Posted: Jun 27, 2014 12:20 PM CDT
Updated: Jun 28, 2014 12:48 PM CDT

DOVER, N.H. (AP) - Defense lawyers and prosecutors stressed one thing throughout the trial of a 31-year-old man convicted of raping and killing a University of New Hampshire student: The key was the truthfulness of the defendant's ex-girlfriend.

The jury decided Friday that Kathryn McDonough, the star witness in Seth Mazzaglia's murder trial, was telling the truth, convicting Mazzaglia of first- and second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott in October 2012.

McDonough, 20, first told investigators that she lured Marriott to their apartment as a sexual offering for Mazzaglia and she died while the women were engaged in consensual rough sex. She later testified that she made the story up because she still loved Mazzaglia and wanted to protect him. After getting immunity from prosecution, she testified that Mazzaglia choked then raped Marriott after she twice rejected his sexual advances. The Westborough woman's body was never found.

McDonough has already pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and is serving 1½ to 3 years in prison. The plea deal was contingent on her telling the truth at trial.

Defense lawyers painted her as an opportunistic liar who killed Marriott then changed her story when she found out she could cut a deal and get less time in prison if she pinned the crime on her ex-boyfriend.

"The main thoughts were that she was a pathological liar most of her life and up until she took that witness stand, her life had been based upon lie after lie after lie," juror Maria Clifford, 52, said of McDonough. "I think Mr. Mazzaglia had control over her and she was afraid of him. We just thought, 'She's on the witness stand now and she doesn't have anything left to lose,' and she came to the realization that 'I need to do the right thing.'"

Clifford also said McDonough's efforts to reconnect with her mother after being estranged from her influenced jurors.

The verdict was bittersweet for Marriott's father, Bob, who read a statement in a shaky voice that broke several times. Mazzaglia's life sentence without chance of parole will never soothe their grief, he said.

"We will always miss her and we wonder what could have been," Marriott said. "In fact, the trial has been torturous for us. The truth of what happened to Lizzi is horrendous. And every time it's been told, it has reinforced the despair that we feel."

Marriott said the verdict, which included convictions on lesser charges of conspiracy, will keep a dangerous man off the streets and protect other women.

He also had harsh words for Mazzaglia's lawyers for what he called intentionally misstating his daughter's actions the night she died.

"Blaming a victim who is unable to defend herself is a typical ploy used by defense teams. If you are dead, you cannot correct a mischaracterization," he said.

Mazzaglia showed no emotion as the verdict from the jury of seven women and five men was read. He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. His lawyers did not comment after the verdict.

Clifford, the juror, said she approached the trial as if Mazzaglia was one of her own family members.

"Everybody deserves a fair trial, no matter what they did," she said.

Clifford said the jury looked at all the evidence and "just felt that the prosecution just made a really strong case." She hopes the verdict helps the Marriott family, even a little.

"They'll never forget what happened but maybe they'll get a little more peace knowing the murderer is behind bars," she said.

http://www.whdh.com/story/25889232/seth-mazzaglia-found-guilty-on-all-counts-in-unh-student-murder

Seth Mazzaglia Found Guilty In Rape, Murder Of University Student


   | By LYNNE TUOHY  
Posted:  06/27/2014 2:39 pm EDT   
Updated:  06/27/2014 2:59 pm EDT



DOVER, N.H. (AP) -- A jury on Friday convicted a 31-year-old man of killing and raping a University of New Hampshire college student following a trial filled with lurid details of sexual domination, experimentation and violence.

The jury in Strafford Superior Court found Seth Mazzaglia guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott of Westborough, Massachusetts, in October 2012.

The key witness, 20-year-old Kathryn McDonough, was Mazzaglia's girlfriend when she lured Marriott to their apartment. She testified that Mazzaglia wanted another woman to join their sexual escapades, which included bondage and discipline.

McDonough first told investigators that Marriott died during rough sex between the two women that involved restraints. After getting immunity from prosecution, McDonough changed her story and said Mazzaglia strangled Marriott then raped her. After Marriott was dead, Mazzaglia and McDonough dumped her body in a river. It has never been found.

Mazzaglia was found guilty of one count of first-degree murder that stated he strangled Marriott "before, after or while" sexually assaulting her. He also was convicted of conspiracy to falsify evidence and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses.

Mazzaglia showed no emotion as the verdict was read. He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

He will be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.

Marriott's father, Bob, said the family is grateful for the verdict but that even a life sentence will never soothe their grief. Marriott gave a police officer a bear hug after the verdicts were read.

"We will always miss her and we wonder what could have been," Marriott said, his voice quavering. "In fact, the trial has been torturous for us. The truth of what happened to Lizzi is horrendous. And every time it's been told, it has reinforced the despair that we feel."

Marriott said the verdict will keep a dangerous man off the streets and protect other women.

He also had harsh words for Mazzaglia's lawyers for what he called intentionally misstating his daughter's action the night she died.

"Blaming a victim who is unable to defend herself is a typical ploy used by defense teams. If you are dead, you cannot correct a mischaracterization," he said.

Mazzaglia's lawyers did not comment after the verdict.

Jurors began deliberating Thursday, after hearing 19 days of testimony.
McDonough was on the stand for 10 of those days.

The trial hinged on McDonough's credibility. Mazzaglia did not testify.

McDonough initially told investigators that she killed Marriott during consensual sex but later said she made that story because she loved Mazzaglia, thought they still had a future together and wanted to protect him.

Defense lawyers, though, painted her as an opportunistic liar who killed Marriott then changed her story when she found out she could cut a deal and get less time in prison if she pinned the crime on her ex-boyfriend.

The deal was conditioned on her testifying truthfully.

In court, she testified that Mazzaglia was the sexually dominant partner in their relationship and became angry when she left for nearly two weeks at theater camp without recruiting a sex partner for him. As what she called punishment, Mazzaglia told her to lure a woman - Marriott - to the apartment on Oct. 9, 2012.

After a game of strip poker which prosecutors say Marriott willingly joined, Mazzaglia suggested she kiss McDonough. Marriott said no, saying she was in a committed relationship. Mazzaglia then asked if she would watch as he and McDonough had sex. She again said no.

Prosecutors said the domineering Mazzaglia was unaccustomed to being rejected so, as the two women watched a movie, he sneaked up behind Marriott and choked her with a rope. McDonough testified that she left the room briefly and when she returned, found Mazzaglia raping Marriott's limp body.

Mazzaglia's lawyers said McDonough, who pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and is spending 1 1/2 to 3 years in prison, was interested in experimenting with women and initiated the sexual activity that night in the apartment she shared with Mazzaglia.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/seth-mazzaglia-guilty-rape-murder-unh_n_5537894.html

Man Convicted Of Rape And Murder Of College Student Wants To Skip Own Sentencing

Posted: 08/11/2014 2:17 pm EDT Updated: 08/11/2014 2:59 pm EDT Print Article

DOVER, N.H. (AP) — A man who faces life imprisonment for raping and killing a University of New Hampshire student in 2012 does not want to appear for his sentencing this week.

Seth Mazzaglia was convicted June 27 of first-degree murder and other felonies in the death of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott of Westborough, Massachusetts. Prosecutors say he strangled, then raped the 19-year-old Marriott in his Dover apartment after she rebuffed his sexual advances.

Mazzaglia's girlfriend, Kathryn McDonough, is already serving jail time for hindering prosecution.


Mazzaglia, 31, is facing a mandatory sentence of life without parole. He is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, and at least 11 family and friends of the victim are expected to give statements. In a brief motion filed Friday, Mazzaglia said it is his constitutional right to not appear.

In his response, prosecutor Peter Hinckley wrote, "To be sure, the defendant has a constitutional right to be present, and can waive that right." But he said Mazzaglia has not set forth any reasons he should be absent, and that the interests in having him present outweigh his objection.

Prosecutors will argue against the motion at a hearing Tuesday in Dover.

Hinckley said Mazzaglia should be held accountable for the crime, that his presence in court will help avoid any unnecessary and unwanted confusion, and that the interests of the victim and her family are "hardly more compelling than in this case."

"The defendant received his fair trial," Hinckley wrote. "It is now fair for him to personally receive the sentence that will result from such."

Albert "Buzz" Scherr, a University of New Hampshire law professor, said such requests are "not remarkably unusual," and he's seen judges grant them.

"What's he going to miss? He's going to miss the judge probably saying nasty things about him, and other people saying nasty things about him," Scherr said.

He added, "I think it will be painful to the victim's family that he's not going to be there, I would imagine."

Jurors heard testimony over the course of 19 days and convicted Mazzaglia after a full day of deliberations.

The key witness, the 20-year-old McDonough, lured Marriott to their Dover apartment. She testified that Mazzaglia wanted another woman to join their sexual escapades, which included bondage.

McDonough first told investigators that Marriott died during rough sex between the two women that involved restraints. After getting immunity from prosecution, McDonough changed her story and said Mazzaglia strangled Marriott, then raped her.

Mazzaglia did not testify.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/seth-mazzaglia-sentencing_n_5669126.html