Jury selection has started in the murder trial of the New Hampshire man prosecutors say raped and killed a 19-year-old coed in 2012.
The process started Wednesday with about 140 people called in the trial of 31-year-old Seth Mazzaglia. Prosecutors say he strangled or suffocated University of New Hampshire sophomore Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott in October 2012, after Mazzaglia’s girlfriend lured her to their Dover apartment.
Prosecutors say the pair then dumped the Westborough, Massachusetts, teen’s body into the Piscataqua River off Portsmouth’s Peirce Island. It has not been found.
Mazzaglia has pleaded not guilty. He told investigators Marriott died accidentally during consensual rough sex.
His former girlfriend, 20-year-old Kathryn McDonough of Portsmouth, is expected to be the key witness against him.
The trial is scheduled for May 27.