VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Daytona Beach woman will spend the next 35 years in state prison after being found guilty of fatally stabbing a man and setting his home on fire in 2023, court records show.
Nichole Maks, 37, was arrested in August 2023, about a month after the man was found stabbed in a house on fire along Clark Street, according to Daytona Beach police. The man — identified as Michael Cerasoli — suffered multiple stab wounds and was later pronounced dead, police said.
Maks’ DNA was found on a knife near Cerasoli’s bloodied body, according to police. After investigators contacted the landlord of the home, detectives were told that Maks lived with Cerasoli; she was found several hours later wearing no shoes and bleeding profusely from certain points of her body, according to an arrest affidavit.
While being questioned, Maks reportedly denied knowing the victim and requested an attorney upon becoming agitated, police said, adding she would often change her story or deny answering. When she was told that her DNA would be seized by detectives, Maks allegedly asked for a drink, was given a diet Mountain Dew and soon poured the soda all over her body and hair before kicking and pulling at officers who were trying to put her into a patrol car, the affidavit states.
Maks pleaded no contest to charges of second-degree murder, arson of a dwelling, tampering with physical evidence and resisting an officer with violence, records show. She has since been found guilty and was sentenced on Thursday, according to the Volusia County Clerk of Court.