Liz Marinello left her Thursday therapy appointment at about 3:56 p.m. on August 31, 2006. Three minutes earlier, surveillance showed a figure moving toward her car in the Metairie Towers parking lot. At about 3:57, Liz was shot. A witness saw a man leave on a bicycle. Liz died in the early hours of the next morning. [1]
She was pursuing a divorce from Vincent Marinello. Her lawyer had prepared an amended petition questioning the validity of the marriage based on an allegation about a previous divorce. Vince knew the appointment schedule because he had gone with her. Investigators had times from the surveillance recording and a routine he knew well. They needed a way to identify the cyclist. [1]
The man dressed for cooler weather
Witnesses remembered layers of clothing in the August heat and facial hair that looked artificial. Some had seen a cyclist there on earlier days. The trail led to a New Orleans wig shop. Vince had bought a false mustache nine days before the shooting. He acknowledged the purchase and said he discarded it because he disliked it. Jurors had to decide whether the purchase and the sightings belonged to the same story. [1]
An alibi with room inside it
Vince said he had driven from the New Orleans area to friends in Byram, Mississippi. Their account of his arrival around 6 p.m. supplied a genuine destination, but investigators questioned whether the trip excluded his presence at the shooting. Telephone records and travel timing were examined against both stories. The issue was the interval before his arrival, not whether the friends had invented seeing him. [1]
His loaner Ford Taurus also drew scrutiny. Witnesses described difficulty getting a bicycle into a car, and investigators examined scratches on the vehicle. Testing on the driver's door armrest and steering wheel produced presumptive positive results for gunshot residue. “Presumptive” matters: the result was not a unique identification of the murder weapon or proof of when residue arrived. The prosecution presented those observations alongside the disguise purchase, timeline and writings, while the defense challenged the connections. [1]
The list in the trailer
Vince agreed he had written the list. It referred to a gun, clothing, a bicycle and facial hair and included a diagram. An investigator said it contained details police had yet to release. Prosecutors read it as a checklist associated with the shooting. Vince said he had written it afterward to organize information that would clear him. A reference to the sheriff, he said, fit his intention to get in touch. [1]
What the defense said was missing
The defense challenged eyewitness reliability and emphasized items investigators had not recovered, including the weapon and the bicycle allegedly used.
Vince also disputed the claim that the marital conflict supplied a compelling motive. He argued that the divorce was no more contentious than many others.
Those objections required an assessment of the case as a whole. A prosecution can rely on circumstantial evidence, but a defendant is entitled to identify gaps and propose alternative explanations.
The jury convicted Vince of second-degree murder. The court imposed a mandatory life sentence.
In October 2010, the Court of Appeal affirmed. Its review asked whether the evidence, viewed under the governing appellate standard, could support the verdict. It did not conduct a new trial or independently interview the witnesses.
A life sentence and a later death
WVUE reported that Vince died in custody on February 21, 2020. Liz’s Thursday appointment gave investigators a time to work backward from. Her divorce filing tells us something about what she was doing with the rest of her life. She was taking steps to leave the marriage. [1] [2]
Case brief
Metairie / Jefferson Parish, Louisiana · 2006
- Recorded outcome
- Vincent Marinello convicted; appeal affirmed 2010; died in custody 2020
Key moments
People in this case
- Vincent Marinello
Convicted of second-degree murder
Photo at source · WBRZ · published photograph
Look closer · 3 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. These original illustrations explain the record; they are not photographs of the actual evidence.
The bicycle and the disguise
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Witnesses described a cyclist in unusual clothing; the shop purchase supplied a separately checkable detail.
Generic bicycle drawing. Neither the actual bicycle nor an authenticated disguise is pictured.
The disputed checklist
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The list linked details of the crime and disposal to Vince. He claimed it was a later exercise in demonstrating his innocence.
Important conviction evidence, with its meaning disputed. No real handwriting or exhibit text is reproduced.
The alibi’s open interval
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Investigators tested whether the Byram arrival excluded Vince from the earlier shooting.
A time comparison, not GPS tracking or a proven drive route.
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
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Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- State of Louisiana v. Vincent Marinello
- Former broadcaster Vince Marinello passes away in prison — WVUECorrections spokesperson confirms death February 21, 2020.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 615 words