Du Pont in-law to plead guilty in murder plot

Kim Smith

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 | 11:31 a.m.

A Du Pont family in-law is scheduled to plead guilty today in connection with the murder of his stepson's girlfriend.

A plea agreement hearing in Christopher Moseley's case is scheduled for 4 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Philip Pro.

Moseley, 58, was one of four people indicted on murder-for-hire charges in connection with the Aug. 2, 1998, death of Patricia Margello, 45.

Margello was dating Dean MacGuigan, who was Moseley's stepson and the son of Lisa Dean Moseley, a direct descendent of the founder of the DuPont Co., the court documents say.

MacGuigan had come to Nevada to establish residency in order to get a divorce and then possibly marry Margello, court records say.

However, Margello's body was found stuffed inside the air-conditioning vent of a seedy downtown motel that specializes in porno television and three-hour rentals. She had been strangled before being tied up with coaxial cable and pantyhose, wrapped in a sheet with a pillow over her face and crammed into plastic bags. Inside her mouth and around her head was a Calvin Klein belt.

Detectives were able to pinpoint when Margello died and who rented the room that particular day by talking to motel employees who remembered when the coaxial cable and bed linens disappeared.

At first the woman who rented the room, Diana Hironaga, 40, gave authorities several conflicting stories. In one story, Hironaga said she heard a struggle inside the motel room, but she didn't think anything of it because she believed Margello was a dominatrix, according to court records.

Ultimately, however, Hironaga confessed to her part in the murder. She also implicated a former boyfriend, Ricardo Murillo, 37, Joseph Balignasa and Moseley, the court records say.

Hironaga, who faces mandatory life in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10.

Although the U.S. Attorney's Office could have sought death for the three federal defendants, it opted not to. Balignasa faces state murder charges.

If Moseley goes through with a plea agreement, he will avoid an Oct. 18 trial before Pro. Murillo is still scheduled to go to trial that day.

According to Hironaga's plea agreement, Moseley told her, Murillo and Balignasa in July 1998 to kill his stepson and Margello if they didn't get off drugs within six weeks. About two weeks later, however, Moseley offered them money to go ahead and kill Margello.

Hironaga confessed to luring Margello into meeting Balignasa and Murillo by saying they would be escorting two "high-rollers" around Las Vegas for money. The four of them checked into the Del Mar Motel. Margello was killed the next morning, the records say.

Court documents say Hironaga told detectives she notified Moseley that they had executed "Step Five" in their plan by telephone and fax machine on the morning of Aug. 2.

Hironaga said she and Murillo flew to Philadelphia Aug. 4 and were met at the airport by a limousine driver sent by Moseley. The driver, she said, gave her $15,000 and she gave $10,000 of it to Murillo.

Because of the long-distance discussions and the trip to Philadelphia, Hironaga, Murillo and Moseley were charged by indictment with conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce and use interstate commerce facilities with the intent to commit murder-for-hire. There were no interstate-related charges in relation to Balignasa.

Balignasa's trial in state District Court came to an abrupt end in May because of juror misconduct. His new trial is set for Jan. 10.

MacGuigan testified at Balignasa's trial that his stepfather and mother disapproved of Margello because she used drugs as he did. He also said she was his "soul mate."