Crime & Safety
Mazzaglia Guilty of Lizzi Marriott Murder
Verdict: The jury found Mazzaglia guilty on all counts related to the murder of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott.
A jury has found Seth Mazzaglia guilty of murdering Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott.
The jury reached its verdict June 27 on its second day of deliberating the case against Mazzaglia for strangling and raping the former University of New Hampshire freshman on Oct. 9, 2012.
The verdict in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H., also found Mazzaglia guilty of first-degree murder while committing felonious sexual assault, reckless second-degree murder, and two counts of conspiracy related to efforts to hide the crime and tamper with evidence and witnesses.
The defense for Mazzaglia, 31, tried to convince jurors that his former girlfriend, Kathryn McDonough, was the one responsible for Marriott's death after rough but consensual sex. Defense attorney Joachim Barth questioned McDonough's truthfulness on the stand, based on different versions and lies she admitted telling investigators not long after Marriott's death.
McDonough testified against Mazzaglia and described for jurors how Mazzaglia came up behind Marriott and strangled her and raped her as she lost consciousness.
The trial covered the often graphic details of their relationship, including bondage and sadomasochism, and their scheme to lure Marriott into a sex act after a game of strip poker in their apartment in Dover, N.H. Evidence also reviewed Mazzaglia's plan for a violent escape from jail, his fascination with role-playing games and personas such as "Doomsday" and "Dark Heart."
Mazzaglia did not take the stand to testify, but the jury heard his voice in tape-recorded jailhouse conversations with McDonough.
Geoffrey Ward, one of the state's prosecutors, urged jurors in his closing arguments to see through what he called Mazzaglia's cover-ups and manipulations.
"Send him the message," Ward said, "you've seen through it all and know the truth about him: That he is a cold-blooded killer."
McDonough, 20, is serving one and a half to three years in prison, after reaching a plea agreement last year with the state. Two similar sentences were suspended pending good behavior as she admitted to conspiracy, hindering prosecution, and witness tampering.
Marriott, of Westborough, Mass., was a popular 19-year-old student at the University of New Hampshire. McDonough and Mazzaglia, based on his arrest warrant, told police they had dumped Marriott's body in the swift-moving tidal waters of the Piscataqua River at Peirce Island in Portsmouth.
Her body has never been found.
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