Crime & Safety

Cellmate Says Accused Murderer Plotted Violent Jail Escape

"He wanted to have a couple of guns on hand, two get-away cars, some small explosives to blow the doors open; get-away cars to get to some kind of a boat."

Seth Mazzaglia's cellmate testified that the accused murderer was plotting to escape from jail in a scheme that involved guns, explosives and a boat to flee the country.

"He wanted to have a couple of guns on hand, two get-away cars, some small explosives to blow the doors open; get-away cars to get to some kind of a boat. He wanted to leave the country to a country where there was no extradition," Ryan John Bachman said on the witness stand June 2.

Bachman said he took advantage of money that Mazzaglia placed in his prison commissary to fund his escape plan. Instead of using it to satisfy Mazzaglia's wishes to buy guns at the Kittery Trading Post or to buy a get-away car, Bachman said he spent most of about $1,000 on heroin.

The two were cellmates at the Strafford County jail on two occasions and, under questioning on the stand, Bachman said Mazzaglia confided in him about how he was focused on the grandiose, violent breakout scenario and on getting rid of two witnesses.

"He told me that if I knew some people who could be paid off to go there and hurt or kill those witnesses it would help his case tremendously," he said.

Bachman said he did not take Mazzaglia seriously on his escape plans, but he said Mazzaglia was serious about it. 

Mazzaglia is on trial for the murder of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, of Westborough, Mass., on Oct. 9, 2012. He told police the 19-year-old died during a consensual sex act with he and his then girlfriend, Kathryn McDonough, and that they dumped her body into the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth, according to his arrest warrant. She has not been found.

Bachman said Mazzaglia used code names based on chess games they played to pass the time behind bars. Bachman was called "Castle." He said Mazzaglia referred to himself as Bishop, and McDonough as his Queen.

He also testified that he contacted McDonough, at Mazzaglia's behest, and that they met in Newington and she gave him Mazzaglia's debit card.

Bachman will continue on the stand when the trial resumes June 3 in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, N.H.

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