DuPont descendant denies involvement in murder

Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999 | 10:09 a.m.

A direct descendant of the DuPont Co. founder has testified that he was not involved in the murder of his girlfriend in August 1998.

"Absolutely not," Dean MacGuigan told jurors in a federal court trial. "I loved her dearly. She was a soul mate. Even though we had a tumultuous relationship, she was an absolute delight, and I loved her dearly."

MacGuigan gave his testimony Wednesday at the murder trial of Ricardo Murillo, 38, of Las Vegas.

Prosecutors claim Murillo received $10,000 from MacGuigan's stepfather, Christopher Moseley, to kill Patricia Margello. The 45-year-old woman died from asphyxia before her body was hidden in an air-conditioning duct in a Las Vegas motel room.

During an interview Wednesday after his testimony, MacGuigan told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he has not spoken with his stepfather since the man's arrest in September 1998.

"It's horribly stupid what he did, and I just don't want to get caught up in hating him," MacGuigan said.

Moseley has admitted his role in the contract killing and has agreed to testify against Murillo. Another defendant, Diana Hironaga, also has admitted her involvement and has agreed to testify.

MacGuigan, 42, and his multimillionaire mother, Lisa Dean Moseley, live in Wilmington, Del., but he said the two have an estranged relationship.

"We don't really talk at all," he said.

MacGuigan complained that news accounts about the slaying have placed too much emphasis on the lifestyle he shared with Margello and not enough attention on "this wonderful little girl that was brutally murdered."

He disputed reports indicating the couple had what he called a "disgusting, street-level, depraved existence."

"People like to take people from a good family and disparage them," MacGuigan said.

Authorities have described him and Margello as drug addicts who lived at the poverty level together in Philadelphia.

"Yes, drugs were done," MacGuigan said, adding, "We had a wonderful life."

The man was unemployed in July 1998 when he came to Las Vegas to establish residency and get a divorce from his wife, Linda. He said he now has a job as a waiter but has not succeeded in obtaining the divorce.

During his testimony, MacGuigan said he brought Margello to Las Vegas to be with him during the summer of 1998. He said the two hated being apart. MacGuigan described Margello as a "very exciting and unpredictable person" who suffered from manic depression.

The witness said Moseley came to Las Vegas to visit him and met Hironaga, whom he hired as MacGuigan's assistant. MacGuigan said Hironaga's job involved forwarding money to him from his stepfather.

The witness later recalled an incident in which Moseley confronted Margello in his room at the Las Vegas Hilton and offered her money to move back to Philadelphia.

"She became irate that he was interfering with our relationship," MacGuigan said.

At one point Moseley told her, "I'll take you out, so you better watch your step," MacGuigan recalled.

"She became incensed," the witness said.

MacGuigan said he met Murillo about three days before Margello's death. He was having dinner with Hironaga and Moseley, the witness recalled.

"I was introduced to him as someone else who was going to be taking care of me," MacGuigan said.

He identified Murillo in court and said he had not seen the man since that night.

The witness said he last saw Margello around midnight on Aug. 1, 1998. Hironaga had negotiated a deal in which the two women would escort two high rollers for a few hours in exchange for $2,000, he said.

"We had no money at the time," MacGuigan told the jury.

He said his stepfather had set up an account that allowed him to live and eat at the Las Vegas Hilton.

The witness said he received a call from Margello early the morning of Aug. 2, 1998.

"She expressed fear that something was wrong," he said.

He said she told him she was with Hironaga and "Rico," whom he believed to be Murillo, but she did not tell him where she was. He said he then asked her if she could leave and catch a cab to the Hilton, and she told him she thought she could.

Margello never arrived. On Aug. 5, 1998, MacGuigan said, he learned a body had been found at the Del Mar Resort Motel. The witness said he decided to report Margello's disappearance to police that day, and he soon learned she was the person killed at