Accused Killer Battling For Custody Of Her Baby Daughter

A woman accused of murder is now battling for custody of her baby who was born behind bars.

Dorothy Maraglino, 38, was pregnant when she was arrested in the April 2012 killing death of Brittany Kilgore, whose nude body was found near Lake Skinner in April 2012. 

Now Maraglino wants control over who her 15-month-old baby should live with.

The high-profile crime made national news when 22-year-old Kilgore was reported missing from her Fallbrook home days before her body was found east of Temecula. Kilgore had just filed for divorce from her Marine husband—who was deployed to Afghanistan at the time—and was preparing to move back to Pennsylvania.

According to prosecutors, Kilgore met then-Fallbrook resident Maraglino, Louis Ray Perez, 47, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 26. The prosecutors allege Kilgore was forced to take part in a bondage and sadomasochistic sex ring that included the three, and was strangled with some sort of ligature before her body was dumped in Southwest Riverside County.

Perez, also a Marine, allegedly took Kilgore to Maraglino’s home in Fallbrook, where authorities said they found ropes, whips, a Taser, a nightstick, spiked gloves and a “sex dungeon.”

According to the U-T report, Perez is the father of Maraglino's daughter.

All three suspects have been charged with murder, conspiracy, kidnapping, torture and attempted sexual battery in the case.

As Maraglino continues to fight the charges, she wants to see her baby taken from Becky Zagha, 38, the U-T reported. Maraglino allowed authorities to place the baby with Zagha, who has now left Southern California, according to the U-T story.

Maraglino lost a court attempt to have the child removed from Zagha, and is now representing herself in an appeal, the U-T reported. 

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