Police tie du Pont family to murder

A man who married into the multimillion du Pont family has been charged with conspiring to kill his stepson's girlfriend whose strangled body was found in a downtown Las Vegas motel room's air conditioning last month.

Christopher L. Moseley, 58, was arrested Thursday at the posh Fieldstone Golf Club in Greenville, Del., by a Metro Police homicide detective and FBI agents. He has been charged with the federal crimes of conspiracy and using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire.

Moseley's wife, Lisa Dean Moselely, is a direct descendent of the founder of founder of the DuPont Co. and owns the 183 acres that include the Fieldstone golf course.

Moseley is the last of four people who police have identified as participants in the murder of 45-year-old Patricia Margello, whose decomposing body was found bagged in plastic and stuffed inside an air conditioning duct at the Del Mar Motel, 1411 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Margello, also known as Patricia Howarth, was the girlfriend of Moseley's stepson, Dean MacGuigan, 41.

"The stepfather did not approve of their relationship," Lt. Wayne Petersen said this morning.

Margello had been in Las Vegas with her boyfriend, the son of a DuPont family heir, when she was killed. Police scanned the motel's registry for clues, but the most telling information came from MacGuigan who was able to tell police who his girlfriend was last seen with before she died.

Moseley, 58, is believed to have arranged for Margello's murder by hiring Las Vegans Diana Hironaga, Ricardo Murillo and Joseph Balignasa. Police working the case have since arrested Hironaga on Aug. 28 and Murillo on Sept. 1, both for murder. Balignasa was arrested on unrelated charges Aug. 6, and has since been rebooked for murder.

Moseley and his wife have been reported to be worth in excess of $20 million, MacGuigan has been identified as one of the family members who played a key role in forming the Fieldstone Golf Club.

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