CONCORD, N.H. — A woman who admitted she lured a University of New Hampshire student to her apartment as a sex offering for her domineering boyfriend and then helped dispose of the woman’s body after he killed and raped her could be paroled following a hearing.
Kathryn McDonough, now 21, was sentenced in July 2013 to 1 1/2 to three years in prison for lying to police after Seth Mazzaglia strangled and raped 19-year-old Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott, of Westborough, Massachusetts, at the couple’s Dover apartment in October 2012.
McDonough told jurors that Mazzaglia, 32, was angry at her when she left him home for two nearly weeks without a sex partner and demanded that she bring him another woman to join in their sexual escapades, which included bondage and discipline. When Marriott twice rejected his sexual advances, Mazzaglia strangled her and raped her lifeless body. The couple dumped her body off Portsmouth’s Peirce Island. It has not been recovered.
McDonough for months told investigators that Marriott died during consensual rough sex between the two women that involved restraints. She admitted she helped dispose of Marriott’s body then testified against Mazzaglia this summer as part of her deal for a lighter sentence.
Members of Marriott’s family are expected to attend Thursday’s parole hearing. Corrections officials say if parole is granted, McDonough would be released Jan. 13.
Mazzaglia was convicted of murder and is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole.
Members of Marriott’s family spoke scathingly of McDonough when she was sentenced, calling her a cold, calculating woman who betrayed her friend’s trust. But 13 months later, after Mazzaglia was sentenced in August, Marriott’s father said he had conflicted feelings about her.
“I have a lot of reason to very much dislike her and her involvement in what happened to my daughter,” Bob Marriott said. “I also have a lot of sympathy for the situation she was in and what she was put through by that person we just sent to jail.”
Bob Marriott said during McDonough’s sentencing that he and his family grudgingly accepted the plea deal with McDonough to further Mazzaglia’s prosecution.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less