A Florida woman suspected of murder poured Mountain Dew all over herself in an attempt to get rid of potential forensic evidence, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported in early August.
Daytona Beach authorities reported that Nichole A. Maks was arrested on Aug. 5 and charged with the first-degree murder of Michael Cerasoli and with violently resisting arrest, according to the News-Journal. Firefighters answered the call at Clark Street, where they found Cerasoli facedown in a room stained with blood, having suffered multiple stab wounds to the chest and blunt force trauma on the back of the head. (RELATED: Babysitter Charged With Murder After Victim Dies 37 Years Later)
Cesaroli’s landlord reported that Mask and Cerasoli lived together at the house, as the outlet reported.
Florida woman stabs roommate to death, pours Mountain Dew on herself to remove DNA: affidavit https://t.co/GwjMfihyaj pic.twitter.com/ahCcB9u6sE
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) August 14, 2023
After two hours of searching, local authorities located Maks with her leg covered in blood while wielding a hammer and a knife in the nearby community of Holly Hill, the News-Journal reported.
Maks denied knowing Cesaroli and claimed of living in the streets for the past four years. When detectives pressured her, the woman revealed she knew the man and was living with him, according to the News-Journal. She added that she was at his home earlier that day but only to “feed the spiders,” according to a probable cause affidavit police shared with Fox News.
In the middle of the interrogation, Maks requested a can of diet Mountain Dew, and while she was “procrastinating” with it, detectives attempted to take the drink out of her hands. Officers reported that 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,” the affidavit reads, per Fox.
While unorthodox, Maks’ strategy does have some scientific basis. A recent North Carolina State University study found that sucralose, a common sweetener in most soda beverages, can damage DNA and destroy genetic material.
In this case, though, a single Mountain Dew wasn’t enough. Officers found that the blood on Cesaroli’s body matched samples taken from the suspect’s clothing, and authorities also found her DNA on the knife’s handle, per Fox and the News-Journal.
Maks is being held in Volusia County Jail without bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Sep. 5.