A blood-smudged Florida woman suspected of murder accrued additional charges after she asked police for a soda, then "poured it all over herself" in an attempt to scrub forensic evidence from her body, Daytona Beach police said.
Nichole A. Maks, 35, was charged with tampering with evidence and resisting arrest with violence and premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 79-year-old Michael Cerasoli on Aug. 5, per a probable cause affidavit shared with Fox News Digital by police.
Firefighters were called to a smoldering home on the 600 block of Clark Street at 1:46 a.m. on July 1. Clothes on the second floor had been set on fire, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital, but said that they had "no [additional] information on the arson investigation."
After quickly extinguishing the flames, first responders found Cerasoli lying facedown in a blood-spattered room. He had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and stab wounds to the torso, police said.
The dead man's landlord told police that Maks was his other tenant – but the woman was nowhere to be found.
Two cellphones were recovered near the 79-year-old's corpse: one belonged to the victim, while the other, which had a bloodied knife balanced on top of it, belonged to Maks.
Less than two hours later, police said they spotted a barefoot Maks with blood on her leg and ripped shirt outside a Krystal restaurant in the nearby community of Holly Hill.
When they approached, police said, she "dropped a knife and a hammer" at their feet
Nichole A. Maks, 35, was charged with tampering with evidence and resisting arrest with violence and premeditated first-degree murder in the death of 79-year-old Michael Cerasoli on Aug. 5, per a probable cause affidavit shared with Fox News Digital by police.
Firefighters were called to a smoldering home on the 600 block of Clark Street at 1:46 a.m. on July 1. Clothes on the second floor had been set on fire, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital, but said that they had "no [additional] information on the arson investigation."
After quickly extinguishing the flames, first responders found Cerasoli lying facedown in a blood-spattered room. He had suffered blunt force trauma to the head and stab wounds to the torso, police said.
The dead man's landlord told police that Maks was his other tenant – but the woman was nowhere to be found.
Two cellphones were recovered near the 79-year-old's corpse: one belonged to the victim, while the other, which had a bloodied knife balanced on top of it, belonged to Maks.
Less than two hours later, police said they spotted a barefoot Maks with blood on her leg and ripped shirt outside a Krystal restaurant in the nearby community of Holly Hill.
When they approached, police said, she "dropped a knife and a hammer" at their feet
