New details in death of Florida man whose accused killer used Mountain Dew get rid of DNA evidence

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - FOX 35 News is learning more about an elderly man’s murder in Daytona Beach. Police say the woman arrested for his killing tried to get rid of DNA evidence by pouring soda all over herself. Nichole Maks pleaded not guilty to the murder originally, but now, her lawyer says she’s not mentally fit to stand trial.

Neighbors are still on edge after the murder. 

Rachel Belerius says she has a four-year-old daughter and doesn’t feel comfortable letting her outside. "We try to just keep the doors locked and stay inside. It’s not a good neighborhood," Belerius said.

Melhem Farhad feels the same about his son. "We stopped going out, really. Locking the doors. We usually sit down here, but now we don’t do that."

Farhad is an Army veteran who served in Desert Storm. Yet even he says he’s scared by the illegal activity and violence in the neighborhood. "It’s scary when you know it happened next door," said Farhad. "Really, we’re not living here anymore, we’re just staying, I guess. And that’s very sad."

RELATED: Florida woman doused herself in Mountain Dew to erase DNA after killing roommate in Daytona Beach: police

He is in the Section 8 Housing program and only lives in that neighborhood because that’s where he was placed. Daytona Beach Police said they found 79-year-old Michael Cerasoli dead upstairs in his home, with blunt force trauma to his head and multiple stab wounds. The upstairs area had been lit on fire.

Once they got that out, crews found a knife and two phones. One of them belonged to Cerasoli’s roommate, Nichole Maks. Police say she was carrying another knife and a hammer when they found her, and that she had blood on her legs and clothes.

After giving police all sorts of different stories about where she was and what she was doing the day of the murder… Police say she tried to pour Diet Mountain Dew on herself to try to wash off any DNA evidence.

It didn’t work – investigators say Maks’ DNA was found on the knife found next to Cerasoli’s body.

"Once you know someone, and then he’s not there, it’s like, wow, you know," said Farhad.

There’s still no answer as to *why* Cerasoli was killed. Both neighbors interviewed for this story individually told FOX 35 Cerasoli was nice, and that he was quiet. Neither of them knew Maks well.

Cerasoli’s landlord didn’t want to interview. Crews have been going by trying to fix the house up. Neighbors say they’ve seen those workers frequently, along with an increased police presence. They hope the cops stick around.