A Florida woman who tried to cover up a fatal stabbing by pouring Diet Mountain Dew all over herself has reached a plea deal in the case.
Nichole Maks, 37, fatally stabbed her 79-year-old roommate Michael Cerasoli inside their Daytona Beach home on July 12, 2023, before setting fire to the second floor of the house and fleeing the scene.
Police said they were alerted to the home by a concerned citizen, and when they arrived, they found smoke coming from a second-floor window, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
First responders then found Cerasoli’s body on the second floor with blunt force trauma injuries to the head and stab wounds to his chest, and pronounced him dead at the scene.
Police also found a bloodied knife near his body, and a landlord later told officers Maks was living with Cerasoli.
Investigators also claimed in a probable cause affidavit that two cellphones were found in Cerasoli’s room – one his and the other Maks’, who was not home at the time, WCHS reports.
She was located a short time later at an intersection, armed with a knife and hammer – which police say she promptly dropped as officers approached.
Maks was not wearing any shoes at the time, and police noticed blood on her leg and saw that she was bleeding from her toe.
Nichole Maks, 37, fatally stabbed her 79-year-old roommate Michael Cerasoli inside their Daytona Beach home on July 12, 2023
She then set fire to the second floor of the home before she fled the scene
Part of Maks’ shirt also appeared to have been cut or torn off, which investigators later determined also had blood on it.
When police then questioned Maks, they claimed she changed her story about where she was living – saying she had been homeless for about four years.
She also reportedly told cops she was hospitalized earlier in the day after she had a panic attack at a gym where she was running on a treadmill.
Maks denied seeing Cerasoli that day, but police say she later changed her story to say she did, in fact, see him.
She eventually refused to answer any more questions and asked for an attorney.
Officers then informed her that they were going to take DNA samples, at which point she requested a soda.
Kind cops then handed her a can of Diet Mountain Dew.
But officers soon noticed she was taking her time with the drink, which they tried to grab from her.
At that point, Maks poured the drink over her head and hair in what police called an attempt to interfere with the collection of evidence.
Police have said that she requested a soda after officers told her they were going to take DNA samples, which she then poured all over herself
Her efforts, though, failed as investigators were able to determine that both her and Cerasoli’s blood matched that on the knife found next to his body.
In the aftermath, an attorney representing Maks tried to claim she was unfit to stand trial – but mental health professionals found her competent to stand trial last December.
By November, Maks reached a plea agreement in which she pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of second-degree murder, which is punishable by up to a life in prison sentence, as opposed to a first-degree murder charge, which carries a mandatory life sentence, the News-Journal reports.
She also pleaded no contest to arson of a dwelling – a first degree felony, and evidence tampering and resisting arrest with violence, both third-degree felonies.
Maks will now serve the next 34 to 75 years behind bars, with Circuit Court Judge Leah Case scheduled to make a sentencing determination on February 27.
