Steve Lieberman and James O'Rourke

NEW CITY – A 25-year-old woman was arraigned on murder and conspiracy charges Monday night in connection with the January stabbing death of 80-year-old Peggy Nadell, who police say was killed by conspirators plotting to gain access to her more than $4 million estate.

Andrea Benson of Washington, D.C., is accused of beating and stabbing Nadell, the mother-in-law of Diana Nadell of Florida, who is expected to be brought back to Rockland for prosecution in the case on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Diana Nadell's husband, James, was to have received half his mother's estate at the time of her death. He has not been charged in the case.

Benson, who was charged with second-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy, is the third woman arraigned in the case. She was held without bail at the county jail pending a court appearance at 2 p.m. Friday. She was represented by court-appointed attorney Jim Crean, who declined to comment to reporters.

Two other women are charged with second-degree conspiracy to commit murder and are being held in the Rockland County jail.

Benson and Diana Nadell are accused of killing the older woman on Jan. 25 after calling her at 1:17 a.m. to open the front door of her Andover Road house, Clarkstown police said in a criminal complaint. Benson and Diana Nadell had driven from Washington, D.C., to Valley Cottage on Jan. 24, police said.

Diana Nadell, 50, is accused of paying her cousin Otis Grant to help coordinate the plot. She flew down to Grant's home in Jamaica and spoke to him on the telephone in December, police said.

Clarkstown police said Grant then involved Eltia Grant, who recruited Benson, a cousin, and Tanisha Joyner, 26, of Washington D.C.

Police cite hundreds of telephone calls and texts between Eltia Grant, Diana Nadell and the two other women.

Grant and Joyner both have been brought to Rockland, where each is charged with second-degree conspiracy to commit murder, a crime that carries a prison term of 8 1/3 to 25 years. The murder charge carries a prison sentence of 15-to-25-years to life.

Both Eltia Grant, 24, of California, and Joyner are being held on $500,000 bail. Both have waived their right to a felony hearing as a Rockland grand jury hears evidence in the case.

Peggy Nadell, a Democratic Party stalwart and political activist, was found on the morning of Jan. 25 with a knife in her chest by her daughter, Susanne Nadell-Scaccio of Airmont. Nadell-Scaccio attended the court session with friends on Monday night.

Peggy Nadell had worked as a human resources executive at Xerox before retirement. Her husband, Robert, worked in sales in the home furnishings business and left an estate of $715,000 following his death in November 2003, according to his will.

The family also reached a wrongful death settlement with the pharmaceutical company Merck and Co. for $178,039. Robert Nadell had taken the drug Vioxx, which contributed to his myocardial infarction death.

The estimated value of Peggy Nadell's Andover Road home of 50 years is $448,000. The estate also included property, stocks and bonds, and miscellaneous notes and cash. Peggy Nadell controlled the estate until her daughter became co-trustee in February 2004. According to the father's will, Nadell-Scaccio was to have become sole trustee of the estate upon her mother's death.