Human Remains found in Piscatagua River might link to murder victim missing for 14 years
Officials at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME announced on Wednesday, 20 May 2026 that divers conducting routine barge inspections near Drydock 3 on the Kittery Foreside area of the shipyard discovered human remains in the waters of the river.
Maine State Police and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) are investigating, and the remains have been recovered and taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in an attempt to confirm the person's identity and cause of death.
There is speculation the remains may be those of Elizabeth 'Lizzi' Marriott, a 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student who was murdered on the evening of 9 October 2012 by Seth Mazzaglia who with his teenage girlfriend Kat McDonough dumped Lizzi's body into the river from Pierce Island on the Portsmouth, NH side of the river.
While Mazzaglia was convicted of first-degree murder of Marriott and is serving a life sentence without possibility of parole, based in-part on testimony from McDonough who received a peal deal from prosecutors to testify against her older boyfriend and was released from prison in 2016, Marriott's remains were never located.
B98.5 Radio News Story: Human Remains Discovered At Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery
Elizabeth Marriott's Charley Project: Elizabeth J. Marriott – The Charley Project
CBS News / 48 Hours coverage of the murder and trial: Dangerous Games: The Death of Lizzi Marriott - CBS News