Episode 50 | Lizzi Marriott: A Life So Bright, Dover, New Hampshire

This is a true crime, local history, and storytelling podcast. I write about crimes, I set the scene, connect story themes, I talk about things that happened here, in Massachusetts and New England. This episode is about sexuality, consent, sexual violence, murder, and defending a loved one’s privacy in death. Listen with care.

Episode 50, Lizzi Marriott: A Life So Bright, Dover, New Hampshire

Lizzi Marriott would have celebrated her 30th birthday on June 10 this year. She will be forever 19. Returned to the earth and sea that she loved so much.

Growing up in Westborough, Massachusetts, she went to Westborough High School, Class of 2011. Lizzi Marriott set her sights on becoming a marine biologist. She had a special love for the ocean and all of its creatures. Her college essay was about her desire to protect marine life, a passion that was sparked during a weeklong marine biology camp in ninth grade. Lizzi was passionate about a future in the field of marine science. Her love flourished as a volunteer at the New England Aquarium in Boston. She was often seen saving wildlife, whether it was a frog or a turtle, something crawling or slippery, she loved everything about it. The University of New Hampshire in Durham was her dream school So it is no surprise that Lizzi was ecstatic when she got into the marine biology program. She began her sophomore year in the fall of 2012.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012, started out pretty ordinarily for Lizzi. She was a few weeks into her first year at UNH, loving her studies in marine science. She was working, making new friends. She told her aunt and uncle she'd be going out after class that night and would be home later. Lizzi went to her chemistry lab until 9:00. At 8:55 pm she sent a text saying she was going to visit a new friend, someone she met at her retail job. She had recently made friends with an 18-year-old who worked at Target, a woman named Kathryn McDonaugh who went by Kat. The two traded text messages and made a plan to meet at her Dover apartment to watch a movie. Lizzi would make the short drive from Durham to Dover, the fastest route would take 13 minutes. Lizzi did not made it back to her aunt and uncle in Chester where she lived. While it did make them nervous, they tried to pass it off as a teenager enjoying a new friendship and staying up too late. They figured she’d just crashed at the friend’s place. But when there was no sign of Lizzi on Thursday, everyone knew something was very wrong.

Remember Lizzi and The Intrepid Explorer Fund RememberLizzi.org

New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence nhcadsv.org

New England Aquarium neaq.org

University of New Hampshire School of Marine Science and Ocean Engineering marine.unh.edu/research-centers/centers