Crime & Safety

NH AG Seeks Extension in Lizzi Marriott Murder Case

The NH Attorney General's office filed a motion on Jan. 29 to bind over the second-degree murder case against Seth Mazzaglia.

New Hampshire state prosecutors are asking a Strafford County Superior Court judge for more time to investigate the Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott murder case.

According to the Strafford County Superior Court clerk's office, New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley filed a motion on Jan. 29 to bind over the second-degree murder case against Seth Mazzaglia, 30, of Dover, N.H.

On Monday morning, Hinckley said he filed the motion because “there is still follow up investigation that needs to be made.”

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He said that if the judge denies his motion, state prosecutors will present their case against Mazzaglia when the grand jury sits on Feb. 14. If the motion is granted, Hinckley said the state would have until early April to present its case.

Strafford County Superior Court officials said the grand jury is scheduled to convene on Feb. 14. State prosecutors originally had 90 days to present their case after Mazzaglia waived probable cause on Oct. 26.

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State prosecutors filed their first motion to extend the bind-over period on Jan. 7, which was subsequently approved by the court. As a result, they had until the end of February to present their case against Mazzaglia to a grand jury.

The New Hampshire Attorney General's office alleges that Mazzaglia strangled or suffocated Marriott on Oct 9 in his Dover apartment. Marriott, of Westborough, had attended a class at the University of New Hampshire that night and headed to Dover to see some friends.

Authorities launched a massive search for Marriott's body that began in October, but no trace of her body has yet been found. Some of the areas where New Hampshire Marine Patrol and New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officers focused their search were around Peirce Island in Portsmouth and off Fox Point in Newington.

Meanwhile, or prosecution and conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension or prosecution after authorities say she lied to police about Mazzaglia's whereabouts following Marriott's murder, will be presented to a Rockingham County Superior Court grand jury after she waived probable cause on Jan. 2.

McDonough is currently free on $35,000 cash bail or corporate surety bond. Hinckley said her case is scheduled to be presented to a Rockingham County grand jury sometime in March.

with their case against Mazzaglia, who continues to be held at the Strafford County Jail in Dover. Hinckley said then that state prosecutors have enough evidence against Mazzaglia to proceed.

On Monday, Hinckley said his decision to seek more time to present the case to a grand jury is not connected to the fact that Marriott's body hasn't been recovered.

“One has nothing to do with the other," he said.


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