3 convicted in torture slaying of Marine’s wife

SAN DIEGO, Oct 21 — A man and two women who authorities said lived together in a sadomasochistic threesome were convicted on Wednesday of murdering a U.S. Marine's wife who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in California while her husband was deployed in Afghanistan.

The jury deliberated for four days before returning guilty verdicts against the three defendants in the 2012 slaying of Brittany Killgore, 22, whose nude body was found in a ravine north of San Diego four days after she disappeared.

According to the medical examiner's report, Killgore had been strangled and shocked with an electric stun gun.

A break in the case came from the discovery of a confession note by one of the suspects that led police to a "sex dungeon" in the basement of the home the three shared near the Camp Pendleton Marine base.

Louis Ray Perez, 49, Dorothy Maraglino, 40, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 28, were found guilty of murder and a special allegation of kidnapping, making each eligible for a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Although the victim was in the midst of separating from her husband during his deployment, she was not involved with any of her three killers or their lifestyle, investigators said.

Killgore was last seen alive just days after she had filed for divorce, heading out on what was supposed to be a dinner date with Perez, then a Marine sergeant, who had helped her move out of her apartment, police said.

Minutes after Perez picked her up, Killgore texted a friend with a single word: "HELP," authorities said. Her body was found four days later in a remote area of Riverside County.

The same day, Lopez was found in a motel room after a failed suicide attempt, along with a seven-page note saying she had committed the murder, according to investigators. A search of the threesome's home revealed the basement murder scene, along with a supply of whips, restraints and other bondage gear, investigators said.

In closing arguments during the five-week trial, prosecutor Patrick Espinoza told jurors the three had killed Killgore "for their own sadistic pleasure."

Perez and Maraglino asserted their innocence, saying Lopez had committed the killing out of jealousy, as she had said in her note. Lopez's attorney argued she was a slave to Perez and Maraglino and was forced to confess to a crime she did not commit.