Police: Woman doused herself in Mountain Dew to try to erase DNA after roommate’s murder

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Florida woman suspected in the death of her roommate asked for a Mountain Dew during a police interview and then poured it on herself in an attempt to scrub forensic evidence from her body, Daytona Beach police said.

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The woman, Nichole Maks, 35, was arrested in the death of Michael Cerasoli, 79. Cerasoli was found dead in a smoldering home on July 1, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

According to court documents, a police officer was flagged down because of a fire at a Daytona Beach property. Inside the home, police found Cerasoli dead with multiple stab wounds to his torso and injuries to his head.

Two cell phones were recovered near Cerasoli’s body. One belonged to Cerasoli and the other to Maks.

Maks’ phone had a bloodied knife balanced on top of it, police said.

About two hours later, according to police, a barefoot Maks was spotted outside a Krystal restaurant. She had blood on her leg and was wearing a ripped shirt.

When they approached, police said, she “dropped a knife and a hammer” at their feet.

After first denying she knew Cerasoli, Maks eventually told law enforcement authorities that she did know him, but had not seen him on that day. Eventually, she admitted to police that she and Cerasoli were roommates and she had seen him earlier that day.

She was then taken into custody, according to a probable cause affidavit.

When asked about the items she had dropped when police first confronted her, Maks became “agitated” and demanded a lawyer. Police returned later with a warrant to test the woman’s body for DNA evidence.

Police said Maks then asked for a can of Diet Mountain Dew, and she was given one. She began to “procrastinate” with the drink, detectives said, then they tried to pull the can away from her.

Then, Maks “began to resist and poured the can of soda all over her body and hair... pulling away from officers in attempts to interfere with the possible evidence on [her] body,” according to the affidavit.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that Maks’ DNA was recovered on the handle of a knife found near Cerasoli’s body.

Maks is being held in Volusia County Jail without bond. She is scheduled for a court appearance on Sept. 5.