Mazzaglia Found Guilty of Lizzi Marriott Murder

DOVER, N.H. – 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 from Westborough, Mass., 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, second-degree assault, 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 at trial also reviewed Mazzaglia's rough plan for a violent escape from jail, his fascination with role-playing games and personas such as "Doomsday" and "Dark Heart." 

McDonough, 20, is serving one and a half to three years in prison in a plea agreement reached last year with the state. Two similar sentences were suspended pending good behavior as she admitted to conspiracy, hindering prosecution, and witness tampering.

Marriott was a 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 in Portsmouth. 

Her body has never been found.

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