Final defendant in murder of Marine wife is sentenced to two life terms

The last of three defendants convicted in the 2012 kidnapping and murder of Brittany Killgore was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life terms with no chance of parole.

Jessica Lynn Lopez, 28, was found guilty in November — along with Louis Ray Perez and Dorothy Grace Marie Maraglino — of killing Killgore, who had filed for divorce from her Marine husband.

Perez and Maraglino also were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Prosecutors contended during a six-week trial in Vista Superior Court that the three — who practiced a lifestyle of bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism — had turned their fantasies into reality by conspiring to abduct Killgore.

Her nude body was found dumped in a rural Riverside County area. Killgore, 22, had not willingly participated in their practices, prosecutors said, but had been tricked into going to Maraglino’s home.

All three were convicted of murder, kidnapping and torture. The jury also convicted Maraglino and Perez of conspiracy. During the trial, several witnesses said that Lopez was Maraglino’s slave.

In a letter read in the courtroom during Lopez’s sentencing, Killgore’s mother, Michelle Wrest, wrote: “I hope that each day in prison is miserable until you draw your last breath... May God grant you forgiveness, because I cannot.”

Killgore, who met the defendants through a friend, was reported missing in April 2012 after she was set to go out with Perez. The Camp Pendleton Marine staff sergeant had asked her to go with him on a dinner cruise.

Killgore knew that Perez was in a relationship with the then-pregnant Maraglino and declined the invitation. But she was persuaded to go after Perez said he could have his fellow Marines at her apartment to help her move the next day.

And before she would agreed to the outing, Killgore asked Maraglino if she was OK with it. Maraglino said she was.

That night, shortly after leaving with Perez, a friend received text messages from Killgore’s phone. One read: “Help.”

Four days later, Lopez was found in a Point Loma hotel room, with an apparent suicide note and injuries indicating a suicide attempt. Later that day, Killgore’s body was found near Lake Skinner in southwest Riverside County.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.