by Patrick H. Moore
Brittany Killgore’s dismembered, lifeless body was discovered on April 17, 2012 in an area near Lake Skinner, north of San Diego. Three self-styled San Diego area S&M practitioners — Louis Perez, a 46 year-old former marine, and his two females acolytes, 37 year-old Dorothy Maraglino and 25 year-old Jessica Lopez — are accused of having murdered her. The three were bound over to stand trial on March 18, 2013 after six days of lurid testimony at the Vista San Diego Superior Courthouse. The evidence presented by the prosecution included the following: Brittany Killgore’s blood was discovered in Perez’s car the day after she disappeared. Cell phone towers traced Jessica Lopez’ phone to the area where Killgore’s nude, strangled body was found, four days after her disappearance. At the house where the prosecution claims the crime occurred, law enforcement seized various S & M implements including nylon rope, duct tape, a rope and pulley system, a red dog collar with a heart pendant and blood stains, and a stun baton, as well as other items (a skill saw and a Black & Decker saber saw) that would seem more appropriate in a woodworking shop.
The presiding judge, the Honorable K. Michael Kirkman, ruled that there was sufficient evidence for the suspects to stand trial on charges of murder, kidnapping, torture, attempted sexual battery and conspiracy. If Perez, Maraglino and Lopez are convicted of the first three, they will almost certainly receive the death penalty.
In the days leading up to her death, Ms. Killgore was preparing to move back to her home state of Missouri. She was last seen alive on April 13th, three days after she’d filed for divorce from her estranged husband, Cory Killgore, a U.S. Marine stationed in Afghanistan. She is reported to have been wearing a borrowed purple evening gown. According to a friend, Elizabeth Hernandez, she and Ms. Killgore had met the three defendants in 2011 after Hernandez answered an ad for fertility monitors on a website catering to military families. Ms. Hernandez further stated that she and Ms. Killgore used to socialize with the trio, but had never participated in their “alternative lifestyle.” At the preliminary hearing, the prosecutors stated that Killgore initially met the three suspects at a house in Fallbrook, north of San Diego, when she went there to purchase an unidentified online item. According to an article in the Daily Mail, in an affidavit filed in 2012, a detective speculated that the trio may have targeted Killgore for “unusual sexual fetishes.”
On the day of her death, Killgore, in need of help moving out of her apartment, sent Perez a text message asking if he knew anyone who might assist her with the move. Perez is believed to have texted back, “Party with me tonight & you’ll have five guys there in the morning.” Who knows why Ms. Killgore agreed to “party with Perez” on that tragic night. We may never understand her lapse in judgment. Perhaps it was just a simple mistake, that ended in horror.
We have gained some interesting information from the preliminary hearing about how the Perez group (too small to be termed a cult) operated, as well as the actions of the group’s two women, Dorothy Maraglino and Jessica Lopez, during the period following Ms. Killgore’s death. Before we get into that, though, let’s consider an article published in Psychology Today in 1995. The article, which was a collaborative effort by the magazine’s staff, gives us a fairly standard rundown on the S & M scene. It describes some of the ritualized practices S & M practitioners typically engage in. It explains a common trend wherein powerful individuals, longing for a release from their dominant, successful lives, play the “submissive role” in S & M games. Presumably, less successful folks prefer to play the dominant partner in these power exchanges. The article states:
Across the country, from sophisticated cities to subdued suburbs, men and women are acting out fantasies of sexual domination and submission. With their own partners or specially hired ones, they’re turning to rituals of sadomasochism. To borrow their own favorite term, they’ve happily become “sex slaves” to their submissive desires.
These are people–a minority of both sexes–who desire to be tied up, handcuffed, gagged, or bound in uncomfortable positions; adults who desire to be whipped or tormented with droplets of hot wax on bare skin. Some write longingly of receiving “an old-fashioned, bare-bottom, over-the-knee spanking.” Others desire to be embarrassed, verbally insulted, given commands, made to walk on all fours like a dog, or displayed naked in front of others who are fully clothed.
“The mainstream mild submissive will have one or two favorites,” psychologist Roy E Baumeister, Ph.D., reports. For many people, submission goes no further than wanting to make love blindfolded once in a while.
Dr. Baumeister goes on to state that “submissives” are drawn largely from the privileged classes and are above average in education and income. The doctor states further:
“Society’s real victims do not seek out masochistic sex. Rather it is often the rich, powerful, and successful, the people with the heaviest burdens of selfhood, who need the escape of masochism.”
Of course S & M roles and practices are not set in cultural stone. Psychology Today is dealing with general trends, not ironclad rules. One of those trends, as the authors indicate, is S & M’s growing presence in mainstream American culture. Consider, for example, the tremendous popularity of novels such as Shades of Grey. Many of us no longer have any legitimate reason to judge or stigmatize those who indulge in these activities. And most S & M practitioners would argue that what they are doing is not “sick” or “depraved” at all. In fact, they will claim that these activities are an effective way of managing and controlling perverse impulses. Most S & M devotees are certainly not interested in killing. They are no more inclined to murder anyone than the folks at your average church picnic. Here they are, being welcomed into the mainstream, and now this trio from San Diego comes along to rain on everyone’s parade, allegedly murdering an innocent young woman in the process. Surely, they are a disgrace to the entire S & M community. And of course, if guilty, they are much worse than that.
Thanks to the Daily Mail, we do have some hearsay evidence about Perez and his relationship with Dorothy Maraglino. Based on the testimony of an unidentified woman (UM) at the preliminary hearing (she also lived at the crime house), Dorothy Maraglino — known as “Dee” to friends and fellow sadomasochists — owned the San Diego/Fallbrook house “and was responsible for most of the decision making, even though Louis Perez was her ‘sex master’.” The UM went on to state, “I believe that Dee did most of the controlling in the house.” The UM added that the trio had a “contract” that laid out the rules of their relationship.
Now, one can’t help but wonder why the UM remains “unidentified” if she testified at the prelim. The first thing you do when testifying in court is state and spell your true name under the penalty of perjury. In any event, the UM later contradicted herself stating that Dee Maraglino ran the house when Perez — who was only there sporadically — was elsewhere. The UM stated: “It’s her house so she would make the rules in his absence.” Therefore, if Dee only made the rules in Perez’ absence, then he apparently ran the show when he was there. Evidently a hierarchy of power had been established that remains somewhat unclear.
If this seems a bit murky, then the statements that the prosecutors claim were made by Maraglino and Lopez after the murder only serve to further muddy the waters. These statements, which were presented by the D.A.’s office at the prelim, are considered evidence and will surely be reintroduced at trial.
According to the Daily Mail, the prosecution introduced a letter allegedly written by Jessica Lopez in which she claimed that she killed Killgore out of fear that Killgore would “steal Perez,” whom she described as her “master.” At the prelim, Lopez’ attorney, Sloan Ostbye said Lopez was the “perfect slave” in the sex-death triangle, the true “submissive,” and it was that fear which led her to make the confession which Ostbye claims was false. The letter also stated that Lopez tried to dismember Killgore’s body with power tools before dumping it off near the lake. Furthermore, Lopez contends that Perez and Maraglino weren’t involved in the killing at all. Attorney Ostbye countered with: “It’s not a confession letter, it’s an exoneration letter … to help mistress and master.” So according to Lopez’ counsel, she was the least powerful of the three individuals and thus had to submit to the will of both Maraglino and Perez. Lopez certainly does not fit the profile of the submissive laid out in the Psychology Today article. Based on the available evidence, Lopez does not appear to be a member of the “privileged classes,” or a high-powered executive seeking balance in her life. And needless to say, murdering someone in a fit of jealousy is not part of the standard submissive’s role in S & M game-playing.
As if this wasn’t enough, at the prelim the lead detective read a statement recovered from a CD, and attributed to Dee Maraglino, which identifies her as a participant in a beating and asphyxiation. Maraglino’s statement reads in part: “We had 
the best of intentions and any injury or loss of life should be considered an accident.” So Maraglino, bless her heart, seems to be saying that it was all an accident. Although the local Southern California media appear loathe to provide much coverage of this bizarre case (possibly because Perez was a marine and SoCal is marine country), a brief article in the L.A. Times dated March 28th states that according to evidence submitted by the prosecutors, Maraglino refers to herself as a “dominatrix.” This, however, seems to contradict the Daily Mail, which specifically states that Perez was Maraglino’s “sex master.” I’m frankly confused. I thought a “dominatrix” was a “sex master.” Evidently at the Fallbrook house a “dominatrix” can be mastered by a second more powerful “sex master.” This is worse than the Game of Thrones. In any case, one gets the sense that these three were terribly out of control, with no clearly defined roles, no idea what was appropriate, and no sense of when it was time to stop their dangerous games. Based on the evidence presented at the prelim, I would be surprised if the jury does not ultimately convict all three of the participants. Sadly, none of this will bring Brittany Killgore back to life.
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for November 14th.