Former male dancer charged with murder

Wantage-Paul A. Foglia, a former male dancer, was arrested last Wednesday night by N.J. State Police and charged with the Sept. 24 bludgeoning death of economics professor Elizabeth J. Lott. According to the Sussex County Prosecutor's office, Foglia, 43, the father of Lott's two granddaughters, left his job as a bartender at the Fone Booth on Route 23 in Franklin, claiming to be ill, drove to Lott's Wantage home, and beat her to death with a wooden tray table. He then drove back to the Fone Booth and was fired from the job he had recently begun for leaving work. At a court hearing last Thursday, prosecutors said that blood evidence had been found on Foglia's clothing and on the alleged murder weapon. He was represented by Kevin McLaughlin, a public defender, who entered a plea of not guilty for his client, who remained silent through the proceeding. In addition to murder, Foglia has been charged with felony murder, burglary and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes. Investigators said that Foglia, whose address was given as 7 Fourth Street in a Wayne trailer park, had a relationship with Lott's daughter, Virginia Liotta, which resulted in two children. Prosecutors said that Lott had forbidden Liotta to see Foglia. They also said that Lott was prepared to give her daughter land on which to build a house, but only if she quit seeing the accused. Lott has one other child, Dr. Joseph Liotta. Published reports said that the 67-year-old Lott had told fellow workers at Pace University in New York that she felt threatened by Foglia, who prosecutors said has a criminal record that began with a 1980 assault conviction in Georgia. He had apparently once worked as a male dancer, but prosecutors said he was not steadily employed. Prosecutors said Foglia lived with his mother in the Wayne trailer park. Sussex County Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti set bail at $500,000 cash and remanded him to the Keogh-Dwyer Correctional Facility.