Episode 179: The Murder of Lizzi Marriott
19-year-old Lizzi Marriott had just started her sophomore year at University of New Hampshire in their marine biology program. Lizzi had always loved the ocean and volunteering at the New England Aquarium before she went to UNH. Her mom Melissa Marriott said that "Lizzi was vivacious ... She loved her friends, she loved the little critters around her. You know, you'd see her and she'd have a tortoise in her hand or a little turtle, and, you know, be putting it back on the brook side of our road."
Lizzi was living with her aunt and uncle, Becki and Tony Hanna, as her parents lived several hours from campus in Massachusetts, and Lizzi immediately felt at home with them. On Tuesday, October 9th, 2012, Lizzi told her aunt and uncle that she was going to a friend’s house and would be back by 12:00 or 12:30 p.m. When she didn’t return home at this time or the next morning, Becki and Tony were concerned but not overly worried as they thought Lizzi must have slept in at her friend’s house or gone to class. Worry turned to panic when Thursday morning came and went and Lizzi still wasn’t heard from by her aunt and uncle or her parents. Lizzi’s parents began frantically making calls to authorities, friends, family and anyone who may have heard from her.
Police were able to piece together that Lizzi was supposed to be at her friend Kat McDonough’s apartment in nearby Dover, New Hampshire the night she disappeared. Lizzi worked at Target in Greenland, New Hampshire and had met Kat as they worked together. Another friend from work, Nate McNeal, said that “Lizzi was ... always happy and she always found the best in everyone.” When he learned that she was missing, he talked to Kat, as he had been friends with her for many years. Kat initially denied knowing anything, but Nate was suspicious.
Investigators looked into Kat as her story wasn’t adding up. She was living with her boyfriend, Seth Mazzaglia, who she had met the previous summer through the local theater scene. Seth was much older than her at the age of 29, and when Kat turned 18 she moved in with him. Those that knew her were very concerned, especially as her personality seemed to change when her relationship with Seth got more serious. When she moved in with Seth, she cut off all contact with her family, which is a huge red flag of a controlling and abusive relationship. A brief search into Seth revealed that he was heavily involved with sex and bondage websites, and his posts on these sites were dark, violent, and about wanting complete control over someone else. Kat was also on these sites, and it was clear that the two were seeking a third person for an intimate relationship.
While police talked to Kat and released her after she stopped cooperating, Seth spoke with police for over 11 hours. He told them that Kat brought Lizzi to their apartment, and during sex, something went wrong and Lizzi died. He then admitted to disposing of her body off of Peirce Island in Portsmouth, where the Piscataqua River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Police started the search of the water and surrounding areas immediately but were unable to find anything. Police were able to find men's underwear, a pair of black gloves and Lizzi's sweatshirt in the dumpster behind Seth’s apartment building.
Four days after she disappeared, on October 13th, 2012, Lizzi’s death was confirmed. Seth was arrested and charged with the murder of Lizzi Marriott. He was arraigned 48 hours later. The same day he was arrested, a candlelight vigil was held for Lizzi at the University of New Hampshire.
After his arrest, Kat initially tried to take the blame for Lizzi’s death, telling police she was attempting bondage that went wrong and resulted in suffocation. Police, Nate and Lizzi’s family all expressed disbelief in this story, and Lizzi’s family was frustrated with a lack of an arrest of Kat McDonough for her involvement in Lizzi’s murder. She was finally arrested on Christmas Eve, however without the discovery of Lizzi’s body her arrest became complicated. It was eventually agreed that Kat would take a plea deal in exchange for her testimony against Seth Mazzaglia.
On May 27th, 2014, Seth Mazzaglia’s trial started. The jurors were brought to Peirce Island where Lizzi’s body was brought to be dumped in the water.
Lizzi’s dad also emotionally told a reporter “When you have a kid, you spend a lot of time ... thinking, you know, 'what can I do for them.' And when that child is murdered, the number of things you can do really evaporates. And supporting her in the trial was one of the last things I'll be able to do for her.”
Prosecutor Peter Hinckley read text messages sent between Kat and Seth out loud to the court, and these messages stated “You choose a friend, any of yours will do ... and you offer her to me that I may do anything I wish with her, while you watch." This is when Kat intentionally sought out Lizzi and invited her over to their apartment under the guise of hanging out as friends. Texts showed that Lizzi arrived at the apartment at 8:51 p.m., and the three watched a movie and started playing a game of strip poker. Kat was completely naked by the end of the game and Lizzi was in her underwear. Kat told the court “Seth suggested that ... I should kiss Lizzi, and she said that she wasn't comfortable with that and that she was in a committed relationship. He asked her if he could have sex with me ... in the room. She said, 'No.' She wasn't OK with it." Kat said she could tell that Seth was getting angry, stating “He didn't like to be told ‘no.’ Seth was sitting ... on the futon ... behind us ... and that's when he did it. He moved up behind her and he pulled the rope over her neck and strangled her. She let out a quick noise and then she sorta stopped moving."
Kat called a friend of her’s and Seth’s for help, and this friend and her boyfriend came to the apartment and saw Lizzi’s body. They then left without calling an ambulance or police. Kat and Seth then put Lizzi’s body in a suitcase, took back roads to avoid tolls, and pushed the suitcase down a cliff into the water at Peirce Island.
On June 27th, 2014, Seth Mazzaglia was found guilty of first-degree murder by strangulation, guilty of first-degree rape and murder, and guilty on two counts of conspiracy. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Bob made his first public statement after the verdict was announced, stating emotionally “We are very grateful that the jury returned a verdict of guilty for first-degree murder. The truth of what happened to Lizzi is horrendous. And every time it has been told it has reinforced the despair that we feel.”
Lizzi’s body has never been found. Her parents created a memorial for her and set up a bench in a beautiful sunny spot next to a lake in the woods. They have also set up a scholarship in her memory called the “Lizzi Marriott Intrepid Ocean Explorer Fund,” which assists young people “looking to embrace an education and a life working in marine sciences.” Bob stated “I believe that the fund is the closest we can get to giving her a legacy.”
Image sources:
fosters.com - “Murder victim Lizzi Marriott’s sexual privacy case hits Supreme Court”
cbsnews.com - “"Lizzi Marriott case timeline”