CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - Jury selection is progressing in the murder trial of a New Hampshire man prosecutors say raped and killed a 19-year-old college student his former girlfriend had lured to their apartment.
Court officials say seven jurors have been chosen so far in the first-degree murder trial of 31-year-old Seth Mazzaglia of Dover. Authorities say he strangled University of New Hampshire sophomore Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott Oct. 9, 2012 at the Dover apartment he shared with his then girlfriend, Kathryn McDonough.
Prospective jurors were warned at the start of jury selection in Strafford County Superior Court last week that they are likely to hear graphic testimony about sex acts, including sadomasochism and bondage and discipline.
Prosecutors say Mazzaglia and McDonough used Marriott’s car to transport and dump her body into the Piscataqua River off Portsmouth’s Peirce Island. It has not been found.
Mazzaglia has entered not guilty pleas. He told investigators Marriott died accidentally during consensual rough sex.
McDonough, 20, is expected to be the key witness against him. She is serving a 1-1/2 to 3-year prison sentence for hindering the prosecution, witness tampering and conspiracy.
Marriott had transferred to UNH and had only been on campus five weeks when the killing occurred. She met McDonough at a nearby department store where they both worked.
Mazzaglia was arrested Oct. 13, 2012 - four days after Marriott was last seen alive.
If the full panel of 12 jurors and four alternates are chosen by the end of the day Thursday, Superior Court Judge Steven Houran said they likely will be sworn in Friday morning and tour the exterior of the Dover apartment building where prosecutors say Marriott was killed.
Opening statements are scheduled for May 27.
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