New Orleans Sportscaster Charged in Wife's Death
Domestic Abuse Charged
Although the full sequence of events can only be speculated at this point, it appears clear that, by late May 2006, Liz Marinello had uncovered some unpleasant, previously untold details about her husband's personal life. Despite having been separated from his second wife, Andrea, for about 20 years, Marinello had not been legally divorced from her. Reports that surfaced in the media seemed to indicate that Marinello had little incentive to divorce Andrea. Their relationship after the separation was reportedly amicable, and Marinello was close to the son they had together, Kevin, with whom he spent much of his time. The three of them often shared the holidays together, according to stories that appeared in the Times-Picayune.
According to Bertha Norman and Claudia LaBue, Liz Marinello's younger sister, Marinello only filed for divorce from Andrea eight days before his marriage to Liz, and the divorce wasn't finalized until October 26, 2004, two days after Liz and Marinello were wed. More startling revelations were yet to come for the new Mrs. Marinello.
In January 2006, Andrea Marinello sued her former husband for allegedly forging her name on $126,000 in loans secured with her own certificates of deposit. The suit, which is still pending in Civil District Court, apparently threw a shocker into Liz Marinello, as did a new revelation that she was Marinello's third wife not the second, as she had been led to believe. His first marriage was in 1956 to a woman whose name was not made public in the weeks following Liz Marinello's murder.
Whether or not these issues came to a head on the evening of May 29 is not known, but something obviously caused the couple's already-strained relationship to boil over. The two of them fought, and Marinello, who waited almost two months to file charges, claimed that his wife scratched and punched him, and hit him in other ways. On August 7, Harahan police arrested Liz and charged her with domestic abuse battery.
However, according to Norman, a different story emerged. Norman allegedly saw bruises on her daughter's upper arms, and claims that Marinello had grabbed her there, shoving her into a corner while "ranting and raving." To free herself, Liz had to slap Marinello and "The slap turned into a scratch," Norman told the Times-Picayune.
By that time, apparently, the relationship had deteriorated so badly that the couple were sleeping in separate rooms. Marinello was blaming Liz for his high blood pressure and chest pains. On July 6, Liz Marinello filed for divorce.
Marinello moved out and took up residence in a FEMA trailer at 711 Germain Street in the heavily Katrina-damaged Lakeview section of New Orleans. The trailer was just down the block from the house at 769 Germain that Marinello had bought from his 93 year old mother only a few years earlier. Marinello had shared the house with his mother for several years after his separation from Andrea. On August 29, 2005, the house was rendered unlivable by floodwaters that inundated Lakeview from a gaping breach in the 17th Street Canal floodwall less than two miles away. Like most Lakeview residents, Marinello was reportedly very depressed over the loss of his family's home.
