by Zara Mustapha

The ex-girlfriend of a man accused of raping and strangling a student says she didn’t call for help because she was afraid he would kill her. 

Kathryn McDonough said she was scared that she would be harmed if she said something after witnessing her ex-boyfriend Seth Mazzaglia allegedly suffocate 19-year-old Elizabeth ‘Lizzi’ Marriot. 

The 20-year-old who is a key witness against her ex-boyfriend has already been sentenced to 3 years in prison after pleading guilty in a plea agreement to charges including witness tampering and hindering the investigation.

Daily Mail reports:

Yesterday, Strafford County Superior Court in Dover, New Hampshire, heard that McDonough witnessed Mazzaglia strangle Miss Marriot but didn’t get help or call the authorities because she was scared she would come to harm.

According the Union Leader, she said that there were so many weapons in the apartment she shared with her ex-partner, she knew he knew how to fight.

But public defender Joachim Barth, who is representing Mazzaglia, told the court: ‘Your instincts for survival did not prompt you to scream out the open window as you stood in front of it … Your instincts for survival did not prompt you to try to get the attention of neighbors directly across the river.’

The court was also shown a video of McDonough during a visit to Mr Barth’s office in the days after Mazzaglia was arrested, while the pair were seeking legal representation.

Defense attorney, Mr Bartha, holding up a picture of the alleged crime scene, questioned McDonough at the trial yesterday

It shows McDonough describing the sexual activities that took place on the night of Miss Marriot’s death, and she demonstrated how she touched her.

However, during the trial, she has denied having any sexual involvement with Miss Marriot on the night she died saying she lied to Mr Barth to protect Mazzaglia.

Mr Barth then attempted to clarify if Miss Marriot lied in the video and to investigators but was now telling the truth.

She replied saying: ‘It’s just me trying to tell the truth as best I can.’

Earlier in the trial, McDonough denied she was controlled by multiple personalities after Mr Barth said she had a real problem and had five voices in her head.

He told the court McDonough was secretly recorded telling a friend that the night Miss Marriott died one of the personas took control and McDonough blacked out.

 

Seth Mazzaglia, who has been charged and is on trial for the first degree murder of Miss Marriot

                                      

Elizabeth ‘Lizzi’ Marriot was allegedly raped and strangled in October 2012. It is thought her body was dumped in the river but it has never been recovered 

But on cross-examination, she disputed that her reference was to the night Marriott died.

She said that she told Roberta Gerkin that the persona was taking over during that conversation and blocking her memory.

She has also said that she had lured Miss Marriott, her co-worker, to the apartment with the promise of watching a movie or playing a video game.

In reality, McDonough testified, she was offering Miss Marriott as a sex partner for Mazzaglia, who was angry that McDonough had left him alone for 12 days.

 

Searches of the Piscataqua River have taken place to try and locate Miss Marriot’s body but nothing has ever been found

Miss Marriott had transferred to the University of New Hampshire only weeks earlier to major in marine biology.

She had been in a committed relationship with Brittany Atwood, who lived in Massachusetts.

On the night she died, Miss Marriot text messaged Miss Atwood minutes before 9pm to let her know she was going over to ‘Kat’s’ to watch a movie.

Atwood testified she was happy for her because she was finally making new friends.

The text message was Marriott’s last communication.

Her body has never been found and prosecutors believe Mazzaglia and McDonough dumped it in a river.