Evidence points to Murillo in murder-for-hire plot, prosecutor says

Angie Wagner

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

Missing jumper cables, an airline ticket and a drug store video surveillance tape all point to Ricardo Murillo as the man who helped murder the girlfriend of a du Pont heir, a prosecutor argued.

Jurors deliberated Murillo's fate two hours Wednesday afternoon after Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Ko wrapped up the government's case against him. Jurors will continue deliberations this morning.

After an alleged accomplice lured Patricia Margello to a seedy Las Vegas motel on Aug. 2, 1998, Murillo and another man strangled the woman with a belt, then went to a nearby Walgreen's to buy trash bags and tape, Ko said.

When the two returned, they wrapped Margello's body in the trash bags and used tape and battery jumper cables to secure the plastic, Ko said. The men then stuffed the body into an air conditioning duct in the hotel room.

Ko said that story, told by the woman who lured Margello to the room - Diana Hironaga - is corroborated by a Walgreen's surveillance tape that shows two men about the same height of Murillo and the other man walking down the aisle that has trash bags. A store receipt shows that shortly after the murder, trash bags and tape were purchased.

Ko contends that it had to be Murillo, 38, in the store. He also argued that the jumper cables tied around the victim's body were from Murillo's car. Ko said it was strange that Murillo's car would have every tool needed to fix a vehicle except jumper cables.

Defense attorney Arthur Allen countered that many people don't have jumper cables in their cars.

Prosecutors said Murillo got involved in the murder-for-hire scheme after Hironaga contacted him and asked for his help. Hironaga, 41, had met up with Christopher Moseley, who is married to an heir of the du Pont fortune. Moseley of Centerville, Del., wasn't fond of his stepson's relationship with a former prostitute, Margello, and didn't want the woman inheriting any of the money.

Prosecutors believe Moseley so disliked the relationship between Margello and his stepson, Dean MacGuigan, the great-great grandson of a DuPont Chemical Co. founder, that he created "Operation Dean" to get rid of Margello. The plan quickly escalated from persuasion to murder.

Hironaga, a former porn actress, met Moseley playing video poker at a Vegas motel and was asked to head up Operation Dean in July 1998, she said. She was paid an initial $5,000 to end the affair, she said.

Hironaga has already pleaded guilty to taking part in the contract killing and agreed to testify for the government. She testified that after persuasion didn't work, Moseley told her to go ahead with the plan to kill Margello.

Her plan, she said, was to lure the girlfriend to the Del Mar Motel in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 2 with the story they would be paid $2,000 to escort two high-rolling gamblers.

Murillo and another man, Joseph Balignasa, were waiting in the room, she said. It was there that Hironaga claims the men killed the girlfriend.

Hironaga and Murillo then flew to Philadelphia, where the stepfather's limousine driver delivered $5,000 to her, $10,000 to Murillo.

Allen argued Wednesday that the testimony of Hironaga and Moseley was not truthful, and they can't be trusted.

"It doesn't matter whether Ricky (Murillo) was in the room that night," Allen said, adding that Murillo may have associated with Margello, but didn't kill anyone.

Allen said Hironaga "wouldn't know the truth if it bit her in the ankle."

Hironaga, Murillo and Moseley, the stepfather, were indicted in September 1998 in the girlfriend's death.

Hironaga and Moseley pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and are testifying for the government. She is to be sentenced in December, Moseley in February.

Balignasa went on trial earlier this year, but a mistrial was declared when jurors consulted a dictionary and a telephone book to try and resolve issues in the case. A second trial has been scheduled for January.

Murillo faces a charge of conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit murder-for-hire. He faces life in prison.