Husband of du Pont heiress gets 16 years in prison

Robert Macy

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 12:22 p.m.

LAS VEGAS - The husband of a du Pont family heiress will spend at least the next 12 years behind bars for his role in the contract killing of a former prostitute.

Christopher Moseley was sentenced to 16 1/2 years in prison for arranging the murder Patricia Margello, who had become a nemesis of the wealthy family.

"To this day I don't know why I did what I did," Moseley told a federal court judge at his sentencing. "But I do know Patricia Margello is dead and I'm responsible for that."

U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush sentenced Moseley to 200 months in prison, with credit for the 18 months he has been jailed.

Two others who participated in the murder were also sentenced Thursday.

The judge said Moseley, 59, could be eligible for release in 12 years with credit for good behavior. Moseley also must pay a $100,000 fine.

Moseley and three others were charged in the Aug. 2, 1998 death of Margello in a seedy motel near the Las Vegas Strip.

Margello, 45, was described in previous court testimony as a former prostitute from South Philadelphia who had been involved in a drug-riddled relationship with Dean MacGuigan, a great-great grandson of a DuPont Chemical Co. founder.

Moseley, MacGuigan's stepfather, dispatched the heir to Las Vegas in July 1998 in a bid to end the relationship with Margello. When the efforts failed, Moseley ordered the murder of Margello.

"I am a broken man," Moseley told Quackenbush before the sentence was imposed. "I have badly hurt the woman I love with all of my life. I am a shame to my children."

Moseley, the husband of du Pont heiress Lisa Dean Moseley, was arrested at his Centerville, Del., home a month after the murder. He later confessed to recruiting Diana Hironaga - a 41-year-old drug user, former prostitute and porn actress - to watch over MacGuigan, 42, in what was dubbed "Operation Dean." When all else failed, Moseley instructed Hironaga to carry out "step five" of the plan - Margello's death.

Moseley and Hironaga pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, implicating Ricardo Murillo and Joseph Balignasa as the killers.

Moseley and Hironaga testified at Murillo's trial in November, helping to convict him on charges of murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

Balignasa pleaded guilty in December to a charge of second-degree murder.

On Thursday, attorneys for Moseley pleaded with Quackenbush to impose something less than the mandatory life sentence for the crime, describing Moseley as an alcoholic who was drinking half a gallon of vodka daily at the time of the crime.

"But for alcohol, this crime would never had been committed," defense attorney Paul Knight said.

Federal prosecutors had recommended a "downward departure" from the life sentence in return for Moseley's cooperation.

Murillo, 38, appeared separately for his sentencing Thursday, saying he was innocent of the crime and planned to appeal.

"I know what happened to Patricia Margello and it's very, very sad, but I never met her and didn't kill her," Murillo said.

Quackenbush sentenced Murillo to the maximum two life terms.

Hironaga was sentenced to 190 months on Thursday.

Hironaga lured Margello to the Del Mar Motel in the predawn hours of Aug. 2, 1998, on the pretext they would be paid $2,000 to escort two high-rolling gamblers.

According to testimony in the November trial, Murillo and Balignasa, 26, were waiting at the motel. The four took methamphetamines, then Murillo strangled Margello.

After stuffing her body in trash bags and securing the bundle with tape and jumper cables, the corpse was stuffed in an air conditioning duct.

Hironaga and Murillo flew to Philadelphia on Aug. 4, collecting $15,000 payment from a limousine driver sent by Moseley.

Margello's body was found the next day and police were led to Hironaga, who had rented the room in her own name.