A woman from Florida who tried to hide a fatal stabbing by pouring Mountain Dew over herself has been sentenced to 35 years behind bars.
Nichole Maks, 37, put her 79-year-old roommate Michael Cerasoli deadly in their Daytona Beach house on 12 July 2023.
Maks then set fire to the second floor of the house and fled, with first responds racing to the stage after a passer -by was spotted smoke from the house.
The body of Cerasoli was found on the second floor with blunt strength trauma injuries at the head and stuck wounds on his chest. He was declared dead on the spot.
Maks was a short time later at a crossroads, armed with a knife and hammer – of which the police say she immediately fell when officers approached.
Maks then did not wear shoes and the police saw blood on her leg and saw that she was bleeding out of her toe.
Part of the Maks shirt also seemed to have been cut or torn off, the researchers who were later determined also had blood on it.
On Thursday, Maks was sentenced to 35 years in a state correction facility for killing Cerasoli, according to Law & Crime.
Nichole Maks, 37, put her 79-year-old roommate Michael Cerasoli on July 12, 2023 deadly in their Daytona Beach house
The body of Cerasoli was found on the second floor with blunt strength trauma injuries at the head and stuck wounds on his chest. He was declared dead on the spot
When the police interviewed Maks, they claimed that she changed her story about where she lived – saying that she had been homeless for about four years.
Allegedly, she also told the police that she was admitted to the hospital earlier in the day after she had had a panic attack in a gym where she ran on a treadmill.
Maks denied Cerasoli that day, but the police say she changed her story later to say that she actually saw him.
She eventually refused to answer more questions and asked for a lawyer.
Officers then informed her that they would take DNA samples, at what point she asked for a soft drink.
Friendly agents then handed her a can of Diet Mountain Dew.
But officers soon noticed that she took her time with the drink that they tried to catch her.
At that time, Maks gave the drink over her head and her in what the police called an attempt to disrupt the collection of evidence.
However, her efforts failed, because researchers could determine that both her and the blood of Cerasoli corresponded to the knife found next to his body.
Nichole Maks can be seen here speaks with her lawyer on Wednesday December 13, 2023
Maks gave the drink over her head and her in what the police called an attempt to disrupt the collection of evidence
In the aftermath, a lawyer tried to represent Maks, claimed that she was unsuitable for standing- but professionals in mental health care found it competent to stand trial last December.
By November, Maks reached a pleid agreement in which she did not argue for a reduced indictment due to second -degree murder in contrast to a murder of a first degree that entails a compulsory life imprisonment.
She also did not argue for arson for arson of a home – a crime in the first degree, and evidence that the arrest with violence, both third -degree crimes.
The 35 years in prison is the least amount of prison time she could receive, according to her pleid agreement.
Public defender Jessica Lindsey Roberts told the court that Maks had been the victim of sexual abuse and sex trade throughout her life, according to the Daytona Beach News journal.
Her representative said that many people had betrayed her, and then her own mind betrayed her who led to the murder.
Circuit Judge Leah Case called the abuse when she condemned her and added: “We can't lose sight of her killing someone.”
She was diagnosed and both a schizoaffective disorder bipolar type and post -traumatic stress disorder.
