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Least Competent Criminal

By News of the Weird

Published Oct. 20, 2026

• Sure, Mountain Dew has been compared to battery acid, but one suspect thought a can of the stuff could save her from being fingered as a killer.

Fox35-TV reported that Nichole Maks, 35, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of her 79-year-old roommate, Michael Cerasoli.

Cerasoli was discovered beaten and stabbed in the home they shared in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Officers tracked down Maks around 3:30 the next morning at a Krystal's restaurant, where she had blood on the side of her leg and part of her shirt had been torn or cut away.

As they approached, she dropped a knife and hammer she'd been carrying; she told officers she often carried such items.

Police said that as they questioned her about her roommate, she became "agitated" and asked for a drink; they gave her a can of Diet Mountain Dew, which she poured over her body and hair, hoping to eliminate any evidence on her person.

Unsurprisingly, that stunt didn't work, and her DNA was found on the knife used to kill Cerasoli.

She currently resides at the Volusia County Jail.

Least Competent Criminal

By News of the Weird

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