Court Records: Mazzaglia Told Police Marriott Died During Choking Sex Act

The man charged with murdering a University of New Hampshire student said he killed her during a consensual sex act where he purposely strangled her, according to now unsealed court documents.

Seth Mazzaglia, 30, of Dover told State Police Sgt. Joseph Ebert of the Major Crime Unit on Oct. 12, 2012 that he used a rope to strangle Westborough resident Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, 21, during a bondage sadomasochism act.

Mazzaglia was indicted on four counts for causing the death of Marriott in his apartment on the night of Oct. 9, 2012. The grand jury handed up the indictments against Mazzaglia on April 18.

During his interview with Ebert, Mazzaglia also said that he, his girlfriend Kathryn McDonough and Marriott were playing strip poker at his apartment at Sawyer Mills in Dover when the three of them began discussing the sex act, referred to as "BDSM."

Mazzaglia said the three agreed to engage in autoerotic asphyxiation where he tightened a rope around Marriott's neck while having sex with her. He said that at some point McDonough joined them and applied pressure to the rope around Marriott's neck as well. It was than that Marriott experienced what Mazzaglia described as a seizure.

Mazzaglia said he did not call any medical personnel for help and only reached out to a friend named Roberta. At some point, he put a plastic grocery bag around Marriott's head.

According to court documents, Mazzaglia told Ebert that he threw Marriott's body into the Piscataqua River from Four Tree Island in Portsmouth, where investigators focused a great deal of their search for Marriott's body last fall.

Mazzaglia told investigators that he and McDonough used Marriott's car to transport her body to Portsmouth on back roads between Dover and Portsmouth to avoid detection. He showed investigators a foot path near the Peirce Island Wastewater Treatment Plant to an area he said is known as "the grotto."

He said he then "flipped Elizabeth's body over the fence and it landed on the ground on the other side," according to court documents. He said he then threw Marriott's body off of a small cliff into the water and heard a splash.

Mazzaglia told investigators that Marriott was wearing thong underwear and a chain necklace with either a heart or cross on it. He also said he threw Marriott's cell phone into the water.

At the Portsmouth Police Department, where the interview continued, Mazzaglia told investigators that he and McDonough then drove to the Residence Inn at Pease International Tradeport and threw out the tarp they used to transport Marriott's body and some trash bags he had used to try to cover Marriott's body in a dumpster behind the hotel.

He said he and McDonough then traveled to the Mast Road parking lot at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, where they left Marriott's car. They then threw away Marriott's clothes, pocketbook and other items into dumpsters behind the UNH horse barn and then threw more of Marriott's belongings into dumpsters located between Village Pizza and Libby's in downtown Durham.

After they returned to Mazzaglia's apartment, the couple then threw away the clothes they had been wearing and Mazzaglia's boots and put them in a white trash bag and threw them away in the dumpster behind the Sawyer Mills apartment complex.

On April 10, a Rockingham County grand jury indicted McDonough on three felony counts of witness tampering, hindering apprehension or prosecution and conspiracy to commit hindering apprehension or prosecution related to Marriott's murder.

Police also interviewed Paul Hickok and Roberta Gerkin of Rochester, who told police they saw Marriott's body inside of Mazzaglia's apartment following her death after Mazzaglia called them. Hickok said Marriott's face was blue and she had a mark around her throat.