78-year-old was stabbed, beaten to death in home
Daniel Deese, 16, entered a guilty plea for manslaughter on Monday in the November killing of 78-year-old Mary Nancy Arico, of Norco.
Deese was originally charged with first-degree murder, but accepted a plea deal that amended the charge to manslaughter.
According to court documents, Deese attacked Arico with several kitchen knives on Nov. 8, 2010 and then hit Arico in the head with a microwave when she did not die after the stab wounds. Arico’s death went undiscovered for weeks because she rarely socialized with neighbors. Through an autopsy, it was determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head along with multiple stab wounds.
The St. Charles Parish district attorney’s office recommended that Deese get the maximum sentence, which is 40 years, unsuspended, with the Department of Corrections. Deese’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14.
Also in connection with the Arico murder, Daniel’s sister, Pauline Deese, pled guilty to accessory after the fact to manslaughter. The district attorney’s office is recommending that she be sentenced to a five-year suspended sentence, with credit for time served and three years of active probation.
Police say that Pauline, 18, knew about the murder and lied to detectives when questioned. Court documents say she also helped burn her brother’s clothing in an attempt to conceal the crime and burned knives that may have been used in the homicide.
Pauline was originally charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and obstruction of justice. As part of her plea, the district attorney’s office will dismiss the obstruction of justice charge, as well as refuse a drug possession charge resulting from her arrest in July.
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