Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

Daughter-in-law of Valley Cottage resident Peggy Nadell has been charged in January death

Nadell%2C 80%2C killed by knife wound to chest%2C officials said

Nadell found dead in her Andover Road home in January

Peggy Nadell's daughter-in-law orchestrated a plot to murder her in hopes of collecting portions of $4 million marital inheritance from the 80-year-old Valley Cottage woman's estate, according to criminal complaints filed by the Clarkstown police.

Diana Nadell, 50, who is charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, is accused of paying a relative to help her kill Peggy Nadell, the complaint states.

Diana Nadell used a pre-paid "TracFone" cell phone she had brought from Florida to lure her mother-in-law to the front door of 644 Andover Road at 1:17 a.m. Jan. 25, the complaint states. She and her relative Andrea Benson, 25, of Washington, D.C. had traveled to Rockland County from Maryland, where Diana Nadell planned to attend a wedding as an alibi established by another co-conspirator.

When Peggy Nadell let the two women into the house, they beat the older woman and stabbed her multiple times, according to the complaints signed by Clarkstown Detective Stephen Cole-Hatchard.

Diana Nadell, a mother of two who is married to Nadell's son James, was arrested at her Florida home on Tuesday.

Benson was also charged with second-degree murder and second-degree conspiracy to commit murder following a Clarkstown police investigation involving federal agencies and other police departments.

Tanisha Joyner, 26, also of Washington, D.C., and Elita Grant, 24, of Long Beach, California, were charged with second-degree conspiracy to commit murder.

Grant and Benson helped plot the killing with her three named co-defendants and unnamed "residents of the country of Jamaica" weeks earlier, exchanging "hundreds of electronic communications" with them about the plan.

Grant is the one who allegedly helped arrange a false alibi through Joyner, according to police complaints.

Joyner is accused by police of allowing Diana Nadell to leave her cell phone at Joyner's home, and using that phone to make calls while Nadell was in New York to make it appear like Nadell was still in Washington, D.C. Diana Nadell then provided Joyner's name as an alibi, claiming she was with her at the time of the murder, police said.

Benson expected to be paid for her services, police charge. Joyner also allegedly demanded payment for maintaining Diana Nadell's story.

All four women will be brought to Rockland to face the felony charges once they are extradited.

Authorities had earlier declined to disclose how the four women knew one another.

No one answered the phone Wednesday at Diana Nadell's home in Cutler Bay, Florida, where she and her husband have lived since 1998.

Peggy Nadell, a well-known political activist, was found dead inside her Andover Road house by her daughter Suzanne Nadell-Scaccio of Airmont. Nadell-Scaccio, who had gone to the house after her mother had failed to return phone calls the night before, told police she pulled the knife out of her mother's chest.

Clarkstown Police Chief Michael Sullivan would not rule out more arrests in comments on Wednesday.

Sullivan and Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe declined to discuss whether the arrests clear Nadell-Scaccio, who hired a lawyer after being questioned by police.

"We're not going to predict where this investigation is going," Sullivan said during a news conference Wednesday at Clarkstown Police Headquarters in New City. "We're still actively investigating the case and reviewing all facts."

Diana Nadell was being held without bail in the Miami-Dade County jail on a fugitive from justice warrant charging her with murder. The other suspects were arrested by police departments in Washington, D.C., and California.

Stephen Kosinski, Peggy Nadell's longtime neighbor, said Wednesday he was "very surprised that a relative" was accused in the killing, but glad police had made arrests.

"Her murder was really a shock," he said. "She was a sweet woman and very active and good for the neighborhood."

Nadell-Scaccio co-owned the house with her mother, and is an executor of her father's will, which doesn't include James and Diana Nadell.

New City attorney John Edwards, who represents Nadell-Scaccio, declined comment on Tuesday's arrests. Edwards had been critical of the police interrogation of his client in the hours and weeks after the homicide. He has said she cooperated with detectives.

Emily Feiner, a family friend who attended Nyack schools with Nadell's children and also knew her from Democratic Party politics, said the incident "is a tragedy for everyone involved."

"I knew them as a loving family and my heart breaks for them," Feiner said.

Timeline

Jan. 25: Peggy Nadell is found beaten and stabbed to death inside her home at 644 Andover Road, Valley Cottage.

Jan. 28: Clarkstown police tell Nadell's neighbors they believe she knew her killer and a stranger had not been roaming the area.

Jan. 29: More than 100 mourners attend a funeral service for Nadell at Hellman's Memorial Chapel in Spring Valley.

Feb. 10: Clarkstown Justice Howard Gerber is accused of tipping off Peggy Nadell's daughter, Suzanne Nadell-Scaccio, that town police had a search warrant seeking evidence related to her slaying. Gerber denies the charges, but police send a complaint to a state judicial watchdog group.

May 21: Clarkstown police and the Rockland district attorney announce arrest of Nadel's daughter-in-law and three other women in the murder of the 80-year-old political activist. Prosecutors wait for the women to be extradited to Rockland.

Staff writer Jane Lerner contributed to this report.