‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ Designer Found Stabbed to Death

A talented young set designer whose work helped bring some of TV’s most stylish worlds to life was found stabbed to death inside her Queens home this week, in a horrifying case police are investigating as a possible murder-suicide.

Mary Kate Golding, 34, who worked on productions including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Goosebumps, was discovered dead in the basement of her Astoria home shortly after midnight on Tuesday, July 21, according to the NYPD. Police said she had suffered a fatal stab wound to her back and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hours later, the tragedy took an even darker turn.

At about 6:39 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call about an unconscious person near Astoria Park South and Shore Boulevard. There, police found a man in his 30s unconscious and unresponsive inside the park. He was also pronounced dead at the scene.

A police source identified the man as Golding’s husband, Joseph Azzaretto, and told PEOPLE the deaths were being investigated as a “possible murder-suicide.”

The New York Post reported that Azzaretto, 33, was found hanging from a tree in nearby Astoria Park, roughly six hours after Golding was found dead. The outlet also reported that the couple’s 11-month-old son was left alone inside the home before being rescued by a friend who rushed to the residence after allegedly receiving a chilling call.

According to the Post, law enforcement sources said Azzaretto allegedly called both a relative and one of Golding’s friends after the stabbing. That friend reportedly went to the couple’s home, found Golding, and took the baby out of the residence.

Neighbors described a terrifying scene after the discovery.

One neighbor told the Post that a woman was screaming after finding the body, then walked out with the baby. Others said the couple had only recently moved into the basement apartment from Pennsylvania and that Azzaretto had already drawn attention for disturbing behavior in the neighborhood.

One local worker told the outlet that Azzaretto had left threatening notes over parking issues and had gotten into confrontations in the area. Another neighbor described him as angry and said they tried to avoid him.

The case has shaken not only the Astoria community, but also the entertainment world, where Golding had been building a respected career behind the scenes.

Golding worked in set decoration and design on a string of well-known film and television projects, including The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Big Sick, Marry Me, Meet Cute, Goosebumps, The Flight Attendant, Hawkeye, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, according to reports. Entertainment Weekly reported that her more recent work included the Netflix miniseries Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer.

Golding graduated from New York University in 2015, according to her Facebook profile cited by PEOPLE. Entertainment Weekly reported that she studied production design for film and television, minored in studio art, and was also a member of NYU’s women’s cross country team in 2011.

Her credits reflected the kind of career that many young artists dream of building in New York: moving from one major production to another, helping create the visual worlds audiences see on screen but rarely think about in detail.

Now, her name is at the center of a deeply disturbing investigation.

The Post also reported a dark chapter in Azzaretto’s family history. His younger brother, Nicholas Azzaretto, previously pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after fatally shooting their father during a domestic dispute in Pennsylvania in 2020, according to the outlet.

Police have not publicly announced a final ruling in Golding and Azzaretto’s deaths. The investigation remains ongoing, and officials have described the case as a possible murder-suicide based on preliminary information.

For now, Golding is being remembered as a young creative professional whose life and career were cut short in a brutal act of violence.

She was only 34.