Mary Kate Golding death investigated as possible murder-suicide in Queens
Police say set decorator Mary Kate Golding died after a stabbing at home; her husband was later found dead in Astoria Park.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
The Mary Kate Golding death is being investigated as a possible murder-suicide after the 34-year-old New York City set decorator was found fatally stabbed at her Queens home, police said.
Golding, whose credits included The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Goosebumps and Netflix’s 2025 docuseries Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, died Tuesday, July 21, at her residence in Astoria, Queens.
Police said Golding was pronounced dead shortly after midnight. She had suffered a fatal stab wound to the back.
Her husband, Joseph Azzaretto, 33, was found dead hours later in nearby Astoria Park. Law enforcement sources told The New York Post and other outlets that Azzaretto was found unresponsive and appeared to have died by hanging.
The couple’s 11-month-old son was found unharmed at the home, according to the report.
What happened to Mary Kate Golding?
Police are treating the case as a possible murder-suicide, with Golding found dead inside the couple’s Astoria home and Azzaretto discovered in the park shortly after 6:30 a.m. the same day.
No additional official details about the investigation were reported, and police have not released a motive.
Who was Mary Kate Golding?
Golding worked behind the camera in film and television art departments, helping build the visual worlds that viewers see on screen. According to her Facebook page, she graduated from New York University in 2015 after previously attending high school in Pennsylvania.
Her television and film career began in 2017 with art department production assistant work on the film The Big Sick and the ABC series Time After Time. In 2018, she worked as an art department coordinator on Netflix’s sketch comedy series The Who Was? Show.
That same year, Golding was a set decorator coordinator on Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the period comedy-drama known for its elaborate midcentury New York look.
In the years that followed, she held similar set decoration roles on a string of TV projects, including Hawkeye, Marry Me, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Goosebumps.
Golding was credited as set decorator on three episodes of Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer. According to her IMDb page, she also worked as an assistant set decorator on Sean Durkin’s upcoming feature Deep Cuts, starring Drew Starkey.
Her death brings a grim end to a career spent in the detailed, often invisible craft of set decoration: the furniture, props and room-by-room choices that help make a screen story feel lived in.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.