State charges dropped in killing linked to wealthy du Pont family

Bill Gang

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 11:20 a.m.

State murder charges were dropped today against two Las Vegans in a murder-for-hire plot that is connected to the wealthy du Pont family.

The pair still face federal charges.

Patricia Margello, the 45-year-old girlfriend of a du Pont heir, was beaten and strangled on Aug. 2 and her body was stuffed into an air conditioning vent at downtown motel that shows adult videos and rents rooms in three-hour blocks.

Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo today dismissed murder charges against Diana Hironaga, 40, and Richard Murillo, 37, at the request of county prosecutors because the pair has been indicted on connected charges by a federal grand jury.

The two defendants and Christopher Moseley, 58, are facing charges of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce and using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of a contract murder.

Moseley, a former gardener at the du Pont family estate in Delaware, is the husband of Lisa Dean Moseley, a direct descendant of the founder of the DuPont Co. The family's wealth is estimated at more than $10 billion.

Deputy Special Clark County Public Defender Kristina Wildeveld, who represented Murillo, said state charges probably would be reinstated if the federal case does not result in a conviction.

Margello was the girlfriend of Dean MacGuigan, Christopher Moseley's stepson who had come to Las Vegas apparently to get a divorce from his estranged wife. Metro Police said MacGuigan provided key information about who his girlfriend was with before she disappeared.

Moseley is alleged to have called Hironaga in July and asked her to kill Margello, according to a complaint filed in a Delaware federal court. The interstate call put the case into federal jurisdiction.

Hironaga, Murillo and Joseph Balignasa are charged with luring Margello to the motel where she was beaten and strangled, stuffed into a plastic bag and hidden in the air conditioning vent. Her body wasn't found for more than two days.

Balignasa was not named in the federal indictment, but still faces state charges. A preliminary hearing for him is set for December.