Suspect accused of strangling UNH student

DOVER, N.H. (WHDH) -- A New Hampshire man was held without bail in the murder of a college student from Massachusetts on Monday.

The body of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott has still not been found. The 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student disappeared last week. Prosecutors said it could take several more days to find her body.

Seth Mazzaglia, a 29-year-old martial arts instructor and aspiring actor from Dover, N.H., was arraigned by video feed Monday. Mazzaglia didn’t enter a plea on the second-degree murder charge in connection with Marriott’s death. He is accused of suffocating or strangling Marriott.

Marriott, a sophomore at UNH from Westboro, Mass., disappeared after class on Oct. 9 after telling her aunt and uncle, who she was living with in Chester, N.H., she was going to visit friends in Dover. She was never heard from after that.

Prosecutors said Mazzaglia, who lived in Dover, murdered Marriott sometime Tuesday night.

“On Oct. 9 of this year you recklessly caused the death of Elizabeth Marriott…The circumstances manifested in restrain and difference to the value of human life by strangling her and/or suffocating her,” said Judge Stephen Morrison of Dover, N.H. district court.

Mazzaglia is involved in community theater, recently rehearsing for an upcoming performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The manager of the supermarket the suspect shopped at said her employees felt uncomfortable when he came in.

“He would always try to hit on the younger girls. Me, myself being a manager, I used to have complaints about him coming in,” said Crystal Shilders, the store manager.

The search for Marriott’s body continues in the waters off Portsmouth, N.H. Prosecutors will only say credible information has led them there.

“We have not discussed an end date. We have discussed continuing this until we find her,” said Jane Young, N.H. asst. attorney general.

All the court documents except for the criminal complaint were sealed by the judge. The investigation is being led by the Dover, N.H. police department, because that’s where the murder took place. A motive has not been released.

Mazzaglia was held without bail on Monday. He is expected to return to court on Oct. 29.