The Missing
Elizabeth J. Marriott
Dover, New Hampshire
🌊🦋 Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott: A Bright Young Life Stolen, A Family Still Waiting to Say Goodbye 🦋🌊
Imagine being a parent who knows your daughter is supposed to come home that night. You expect to hear her voice again, see her smile, and ask about her day. You have no reason to believe that an ordinary evening will become the beginning of a nightmare that never truly ends.
Now imagine that your daughter never comes home. Imagine learning that she was murdered, that someone was convicted of taking her life, yet her body was never found. No final goodbye. No graveside to visit. No place where you can lay flowers and feel close to the child you lost.
For Bob and Melissa Marriott, this is the heartbreaking reality of losing their beloved daughter, Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott.
Lizzi was just 19 years old when she disappeared on October 9, 2012, in New Hampshire. More than a decade later, her family continues to live with a pain that no verdict can fully heal.
💙 A YOUNG WOMAN WITH A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE
Before her name became associated with a heartbreaking murder case, Lizzi was a young woman with dreams, a big heart, and a deep love for the natural world.
Born on June 10, 1993, Lizzi grew up in Westborough, Massachusetts. She graduated from Westborough High School in 2011, where she was active in chorus and was named prom queen.
Her friends described her as fun-loving, quirky, goofy, kind, and full of life. She had a bright personality and a smile that people remembered long after they had seen her.
But one of Lizzi’s greatest passions was the ocean.
She was studying marine biology at the University of New Hampshire, determined to build a future protecting marine life and the environment. Before beginning university, she volunteered at the New England Aquarium in Boston, where she had spent four years helping visitors learn about the ocean and its inhabitants.
She especially loved the touch tanks.
Lizzi was the kind of person who cared deeply about living things. Her mother remembered how she would pick up turtles and other small animals she found near the road and return them to safety.
In a college essay, Lizzi expressed her determination to become a prominent figure in protecting the oceans.
Think about that dream for a moment. A young woman who wanted to make the world better, who cared about creatures that could not protect themselves, and who was working toward a future she was excited to build.
She had so much left to experience.
She had a family who loved her, friends who treasured her, and a girlfriend, Brittany Atwood, with whom she shared a meaningful relationship.
Lizzi was not simply a name in a missing-person database. She was a daughter, a partner, a friend, a student, and a young woman whose future should never have been taken from her.
🏡 THE NIGHT LIZZI NEVER CAME HOME
In the fall of 2012, Lizzi was living with her aunt and uncle, Tony and Becky Hanna, in Chester, New Hampshire, while attending the University of New Hampshire and working to support herself.
Her aunt and uncle remembered how quickly she became part of their household.
Becky recalled how Lizzi would call out, “I’m home!” when she arrived, making their house feel like her home, too.
On October 9, 2012, Lizzi attended an evening chemistry class. That night, she told people she planned to visit a friend in Dover before returning home. She reportedly left a note for her aunt and uncle saying she expected to be back around midnight.
She never returned.
Lizzi was last known to be in the Durham and Dover area that evening. She had arranged to visit Kathryn “Kat” McDonough, a friend she had met while working at Target. McDonough shared an apartment in Dover with her boyfriend, Seth Mazzaglia.
Lizzi believed she was going to spend time with a friend.
She had no reason to expect that she would never return to the people waiting for her.
The following morning, Lizzi failed to show up for her shift at Target. Messages went unanswered. Her girlfriend, Brittany, grew concerned and contacted Lizzi’s parents.
Soon, her family realized that something was terribly wrong.
Lizzi was responsible and stayed in touch with the people she loved. Her disappearance was completely out of character.
Her family reported her missing, and the search began.
💔 WHEN A SEARCH BECAME A SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH
Lizzi’s parents traveled to New Hampshire, desperate for information about their daughter. Friends, family members, local police, and federal authorities became involved in the search.
Her tan 2001 Mazda Tribute was eventually found in a parking lot on the University of New Hampshire campus in Durham.
But Lizzi was nowhere to be found.
Investigators examined text messages, phone records, and the accounts of people who had seen her or spoken with her that night. Her last known communications helped direct attention toward the apartment she had planned to visit.
The investigation soon took a devastating turn.
On October 13, 2012, Seth Mazzaglia was arrested in connection with Lizzi’s murder. He eventually admitted that Lizzi had died in the apartment, although he initially offered a different explanation for her death.
Investigators believed she had been killed and that her body had been disposed of in the Piscataqua River near Peirce Island in Portsmouth.
The search for Lizzi changed.
It was no longer only a search for a missing college student. It became a search for the remains of a young woman whose family desperately needed to bring her home.
Authorities used sonar and underwater equipment to search the river. The waters were difficult to navigate, with strong tides and currents.
But Lizzi was not found.
Imagine being her parents during those days. Every new development brought the possibility of an answer, but every unanswered question brought more pain.
They wanted their daughter back. They wanted to know what happened. They wanted to hold her again, even if only to say goodbye.
Instead, they were forced to confront the unbearable possibility that the river had carried their daughter away.
⚖️ BETRAYAL, TESTIMONY, AND THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE
As the investigation continued, the accounts given by Mazzaglia and McDonough came under intense scrutiny.
McDonough initially told investigators that Lizzi had never arrived at the apartment. Investigators later determined that this account was false.
In December 2012, McDonough was arrested in connection with hindering the investigation. She eventually pleaded guilty to charges including hindering prosecution, conspiracy, and witness tampering, and agreed to testify against Mazzaglia.
Her testimony became a central part of the prosecution’s case.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Mazzaglia had sexually assaulted and intentionally strangled Lizzi after she rejected his advances. The defense disputed the prosecution’s account and attempted to place responsibility on McDonough.
Witnesses described what they had encountered at the apartment after Lizzi’s death. Their testimony helped jurors piece together the events that followed her final visit.
The evidence revealed a deeply disturbing betrayal of a young woman who had gone to spend time with people she believed she could trust.
On June 27, 2014, Seth Mazzaglia was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and conspiracy-related offenses.
On August 14, 2014, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He later received an additional sentence after attempting to escape from custody while awaiting trial.
A jury had heard the evidence. A conviction had been secured. The person responsible for Lizzi’s murder had been held accountable in court.
But for her family, the outcome could never undo what had happened.
A conviction could not bring Lizzi back. It could not restore the future she had been building. And it could not provide the one thing her parents still desperately wanted: their daughter’s remains.
🌊 THE HEARTBREAK OF NEVER BEING ABLE TO SAY GOODBYE
This is one of the most devastating parts of Lizzi’s story.
Her body has never been recovered.
Investigators believe her remains were dumped into the Piscataqua River and may have been carried out to sea. Despite searches and the passage of years, her family has never been able to bring her home for a proper burial.
For many families who lose someone, grief includes a place to visit. A cemetery. A headstone. A place to leave flowers, speak a few words, or sit quietly with memories.
For Lizzi’s parents, that simple comfort has been taken away.
Her father, Bob Marriott, has spoken about the pain of never being able to say goodbye to his daughter in the way a parent should.
Imagine standing beside the water, knowing that somewhere beyond it lies the possibility of what remains of your child, yet having no way to reach her.
Imagine wanting to tell her one more time that you love her, that you miss her, and that she will never be forgotten.
Imagine carrying that longing through every birthday, every holiday, and every milestone she will never get to celebrate.
Lizzi’s family received a measure of justice through the criminal conviction. But the absence of her body means their grief remains intertwined with an unfinished search.
They cannot bring her home.
They cannot lay her to rest.
They cannot say goodbye in the way they deserve.
And no parent should ever have to endure that uncertainty.
🦋 A LEGACY THAT CONTINUES TO LIVE
Despite the unimaginable loss, Lizzi’s family has worked to ensure that her life is remembered for more than the circumstances of her death.
They established the Lizzi Marriott Intrepid Explorer Fund, a scholarship fund that helps young adults pursue education and careers in marine sciences.
It is a tribute to the future Lizzi dreamed of building.
Every student who receives support through the fund represents a small continuation of the passion she carried for the ocean and its inhabitants.
Every opportunity it creates helps keep her dream alive.
Her life was cut short, but her love for marine science did not disappear with her.
There is something deeply meaningful about a young woman who wanted to protect the natural world leaving behind a legacy that helps others do the same.
Lizzi wanted to make a difference.
Through her family’s efforts, she continues to do so.
🕯️ PLEASE REMEMBER ELIZABETH “LIZZI” MARRIOTT
Lizzi was 19 years old.
She loved the ocean. She cared about animals. She made people laugh. She worked hard, studied, volunteered, and dreamed about the future.
She was loved by her parents, cherished by her family, and remembered by friends who saw her as a ray of sunshine.
Her story should never begin and end with the tragedy that took her life.
It should also be about the young woman who wanted to protect marine life, the student who was working toward her goals, and the daughter whose parents still carry her memory every day.
Her killer was convicted, but the search for her remains has never brought the closure her family deserves.
If you have information that could help authorities locate Lizzi’s remains, please consider coming forward.
Anyone with information can contact the Chester Police Department at 603-887-2080 or the New Hampshire State Police Missing Persons Unit at 603-MCU-TIPS.
Even after all these years, information could make a difference.
💙 Lizzi Marriott deserved to grow older. She deserved to graduate, build her career, explore the ocean, and continue making memories with the people she loved.
She deserved a future.
Her parents deserved to watch her dreams unfold.
And her family deserves the chance to bring her home.
Somewhere beyond the river’s currents, a family’s unanswered question remains.
Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott, you are remembered for your kindness, your laughter, your love of the ocean, and the life you should have had.
May your story continue to be told. May your legacy continue to protect the world you loved. And may the day finally come when your family can bring you home and say goodbye.
Never forgotten.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/lizzi-marriott-case-timeline
https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/missing-person-namus-mp53898
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