Crime & Safety
Witness Describes Heinous Lizzi Marriott Murder and Cover-up
Witness to the murder: "She never got to get married. She never got to have kids. She never got to live her life. It was because of us that she never got to live her life."
The murder of Lizzi Marriott was a sudden attack on an unsuspecting victim, but it dragged on as Seth Mazzaglia raped her limp body, his former girlfriend said June 4.
"It seemed like forever," said Kathryn "Kat" McDonough, testifying for a second day against Mazzaglia in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H.
McDonough previously told jurors that Marriott was strangled to death by Mazzaglia. On Wednesday, she described in detail the disturbing actions, as well as the derogatory comments she said Mazzaglia made to the life-less body on the night of Oct. 9, 2012.
Mazzaglia instructed her to hold the rope down over the 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student's neck while he went to the bathroom to clean himself up, according to the testimony.
Under questioning, McDonough claimed she didn't know what else to do, other than to obey Mazzaglia's commands.
"The whole scene was just so unbelievable and so shocking," she said. When he returned from the bathroom, she said he told her to slip a plastic grocery bag over her head.
"I was scared," she said. "In my head I was freaking out."
McDonough, 20, is serving one and a half to three years as part of an agreement to testify against Mazzaglia. She testified they decided almost immediately to conceal the murder. She soon sent a text message to Marriott's phone to try to make it appear that she had never shown up at the apartment Mazzaglia and McDonough shared in Dover.
McDonough was expressionless at times and she broke down sobbing at others during her testimony.
She recounted how she and Mazzaglia conspired to dump Marriott off Peirce Island in Portsmouth because her mother once told her how strong the currents are in the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth Harbor.
She described how they dumped Marriott's body over a cliff and to the water's edge, and how she went down to pull the body into the water, covering it up with seaweed.
"I stood there for a second and just thought how surreal this all was," McDonough said. "Her body was half floated and covered in seaweed."
McDonough said she felt "awful" and "so confused," but tamped down the emotions in order to complete the hideous actions.
She was asked if she had remorse. She quietly replied that she did, and began crying. "She never got to get married. She never got to have kids. She never got to live her life. It was because of us that she never got to live her life."
The questioning included more evidence of the violent escape plans Mazzaglia was hatching while incarcerated at the Strafford County jail. Messages between he and McDonough, reviewed before the jury, touched upon his hope to flee to Australia. They even had a list of things to take on their get-away, such as blond hair dye, blue contacts, cash, and tarot cards.
Another message recovered by investigators showed that Mazzaglia wanted to kill off a witness. Roberta Gerkin, a friend who was previously called a spiritual adviser, was to be run off the road and stabbed, according to the testimony.
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