Elizabeth Marriott Case: $35,000 bail for woman accused of lying to cops in N.H. student death

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Missing

Kathryn McDonough

/ AP Photo/New Hampshire State Police

(CBS/AP) DERRY, N.H. - A New Hampshire woman lied to investigators about her whereabouts and involvement in the disappearance and death of the college student her boyfriend is accused of killing, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Pictures: University of N.H. student Elizabeth Marriott missing

Kathryn McDonough is charged with conspiracy and hindering the apprehension or prosecution of those responsible for the death of 19-year-old Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott in October. McDonough, also 19, appeared in Derry District Court via a video link from jail, where she has been since her arrest Christmas Eve.

Judge John Coughlin set bail at $35,000 and set a condition of McDonough's release that she live with her parents in Portsmouth.

Marriott, a University of New Hampshire sophomore from Westborough, Mass., who was living with relatives in Chester, vanished on Oct. 9 after telling family members she was going to visit friends in Dover and would return home before midnight. Her cellphone was last used just after 10 p.m. that night. Her body has yet to be found.

Four days after Marriott was last heard from, 30-year-old Seth Mazzaglia of Dover was charged with second-degree murder in her death. Prosecutors say he either strangled or suffocated Marriott.

Assistant Attorney General Peter Hinckley said Wednesday in court that Marriott's body still has not been found "in no small part because of Ms. McDonough's participation in the alleged conspiracy."

Hinckley said McDonough made "an intentional attempt to disrupt the criminal process."

Court documents allege that McDonough and Mazzaglia conspired to give investigators a false alibi about their whereabouts the night of Oct. 9 and told them they had no interaction with Marriott that night.

The arrest warrant affidavits for both McDonough and Mazzaglia remained sealed and Hinckley would not elaborate Wednesday on the alibi they provided or other details of the investigation into Marriott's death.

Prosecutors won't say what evidence they have to support their convictions that Marriott is dead and that Mazzaglia killed her.

Hinckley said McDonough was Mazzaglia's girlfriend at the time of Marriott's disappearance.

McDonough's lawyer, Ryan Russman, who sat alongside his client during the arraignment, said she is "obviously concerned. Who wouldn't be?"

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