Former Du Pont relative testifies

Rebecca Baumann found herself in U.S. District Court Tuesday testifying for the prosecution in what has become known as the Du Pont murder case.

Authorities believe Baumann's former brother-in-law, Christopher Moseley, hired Diana Hironaga and two other people to kill his stepson's girlfriend, Patricia Margello.

Margello, 45, was dating Dean MacGuigan, son of Lisa Dean Moseley, a direct descendant of the founder of the Du Pont chemical corporation. Christopher and Lisa Dean Moseley disapproved of Margello because she was a drug addicted, part-time prostitute, authorities have said.

Margello's body was found Aug. 6, 1998, stuffed inside an air conditioning vent in Room 6 of the Del Mar motel on Las Vegas Boulevard South. She was wrapped in bed linens and trash bags and bound with a coaxial cable and jumper cables.

Moseley, 59, and Hironaga, 40, have pleaded guilty in connection with the case, and Tuesday was the second day in the trial of Ricardo Murillo. A fourth co-defendant, Joseph Balignasa, is scheduled to go to trial in January.

Hironaga and Moseley, who both face life sentences, agreed to testify against Murillo as part of their plea bargain.

Baumann told jurors that in early July 1998 Moseley paid her $35,000 to accompany MacGuigan to Las Vegas, help him get a job and assist him in obtaining a divorce from his wife, Linda.

MacGuigan, she said, needed to be watched because of his drug usage.

Within hours of arriving in Las Vegas, Baumann said, MacGuigan checked out of the hotel they were staying in, and she couldn't find him. When she telephoned Moseley about MacGuigan's disappearance, he flew in to Las Vegas from Delaware.

The next day, Baumann said, she saw Moseley and a woman she came to know as "Diane" (Hironaga) sitting and drinking in the hotel bar. Over the next few days, she said, she often saw Moseley and the woman together, playing video poker and drinking.

Clearly uncomfortable during her testimony, Baumann haltingly explained that although she and Moseley went to dinner a few times, she did not socialize with Hironaga because, she said, Hironaga looked and acted liked a prostitute.

At the end of the week, Baumann said, she and Moseley made plans to fly back to Delaware together, but Moseley didn't show up for the flight. Baumann said Moseley telephoned her and asked her to come back to the hotel.

When she knocked on Moseley's hotel room door, she testified, Hironaga opened the door.

Moseley was sitting on a sofa beside a man with curly hair whom she assumed was Hironaga's pimp, Baumann said.

"Christopher was so drunk he couldn't even speak," Baumann said.

Baumann said she was worried Hironaga and the man would hurt Moseley, especially because he was so drunk.

When asked if she could identify the man in the motel room that night, Baumann pointed at Murillo and said it could "possibly" be him. She could not, however, remember which man she picked out when shown the photo lineup police showed her in October 1998.

Baumann said she flew home a couple of days later. Moseley flew home a day after her and then called to ask her to repay him $15,000 of the $35,000 he had given her, she testified.

According to Moseley's and Hironaga's plea agreement, Moseley paid Hironaga and Murillo $15,000 to kill Margello. Part of the reason Hironaga and Murillo were charged in federal court is because they flew to Philadelphia from Las Vegas to get paid. They also are accused of discussing the murder via fax and telephone.

A trio of forensic experts also testified Tuesday. FBI Forensic examiners Julie Kidd and Karen Korsberg told jurors that the blood and hair found on Margello's fingernails probably belonged to Margello and did not belong to Murillo.

The pair also testified under cross-examination that they were not given samples of MacGuigan's hair or blood to compare.

Joe Geller, a latent print examiner with Metro Police, testified that prints found in the motel room where Margello was murdered did not match those of Murillo, Hironaga or Margello. He said he was not given examples of MacGuigan's prints to compare.

The trial was expected to continue this morning before U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush.

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