Clarkstown Police released a public statement alerting the public that the daughter of slain 81-year-old Valley Cottage resident Peggy Nadell has refused to answer further questions in the case. Daughter Susanne Scaccio-Nadell and her husband Robert Scaccio have hired attorneys and ceased cooperating in the case, police have told the media.
Sources close to the case had informed media of speculation regarding Nadell’s daughter on Friday. By Saturday morning the police released a statement confirming the information.
The police have frozen Peggy Nadell’s funds while they investigate the murder. Police said earlier in the week that they suspect the woman was murdered by someone she knew, as there were no signs of forced entry into the residence.
According to sources, police suspicion of the daughter was also piqued when she began to drink and behave strangely in her mother’s home shortly after the murder.
Nadell’s body had been found by her daughter last Saturday morning. She reportedly pulled the knife from her mother’s body and called 911, stating she had found her mother “fallen” on a knife.
Charges have yet to be filed in the case and these are merely preliminary reports.
Cops Say Daughter is non-Cooperative in Nadell Murder Case added by dskriloff on
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In an effort to honor our precious Bill of RIghts (“innocent until proven guilty”), let’s take a breath and think logically about this, fellow Rocklanders. I’m sure if the daughter has “ceased” cooperating, it means that she has already answered quite a few questions. In fact, the article says she refused to answer “further” questions. Who knows how long they’ve already questioned her? I certainly don’t. If there are no real suspects, I guess, in an effort to solve the crime, the police have to keep questioning the only person they can tie to the scene, even if it’s the person unlucky enough to have found the body. In looking back at other articles, her attorney said the daughter was getting a bad feeling about the questioning, and that’s why she lawyered up. I would lawyer up too at that point. So would you. Any person with half a brain would lawyer up if you got a bad feeling re the way police questioning was going. We all know that unfortunately there are a lot of innocent people in jail. I’m sure the police are trying hard and doing a very professional job, but they are also under a lot pressure to arrest someone because it’s such a high profile case. We (the public) have no idea what chain of events led the daughter to stop talking. We are only hearing one side of the story. It might be a good idea for the daughter’s attorney to make a public statement. Also, the article reports that sources said the daughter began to drink (what exactly does this mean…took a shot of something to calm her nerves?) and behave “strangely” (crying hysterically? wandering around in a daze?) Again, all things I might have done if I found my mother dead in this gruesome fashion. It just bothers me that people are “hanging” someone without this person being proved guilty. Don’t we have something better to do with our time? Can’t we get our “entertainment” elsewhere? Imagine if she were innocent. She hasn’t even had time to grieve for her mother (with whom, by latest accounts, she was close). I’m sure she’s also had to spend a lot of money on a lawyer. Imagaine if you loved your mother, found her horribly murdered and then became the prime suspect? What a nightmare! Please, Rockland Times. Write objectively and concisely without slanting the story to titilate the public’s more gruesome interests. Your readership will respect you for it.
We included the final sentence for the purpose of reminding people this is merely an update to a news story and not a criminal charge. The police released this information to pressure the daughter. However, their apparent suspicion does not equate to guilt and we trust our readers not to be the judge, jury and executioner.
Looks like the police are waiting for her to turn herself in. This one is a no brainer. The police have all but told us they know who the killer is. The strange behavior afterwards is a tip off. I would be CATATONIC if I found my mother stabbed to death. If what is reported is true, drinking almost seems celebratory. I would have to be medicated and admitted to the hospital for being under emotional duress. Let’s get real here.
Those of us who knew and loved Peggy demand justice for her. This loving, peaceful woman should have had the expectation of safety in her own home. Interestingly, Peggy’s finances have been frozen–this is the first mention of money, the oldest motive in the book.
I’ve known this family since I was young and I seriously doubt the daughter had anything to do with it. The fact the neighbors were alarmed by the daughter’s screams is a clue that she was innocent since a guilty person would be too tied up in calculating how to get away with it to react. I’m also surprised by the willingness of some people to convict the daughter with zero evidence. It scares me and makes me fearful of ever ending up in front of a jury of these people. That is mobbism that I thought this region was smarter than.
For those who ask why an innocent person would need a lawyer I advise them to check out the US media record of the last decade and how many innocent people the Innocence Project has freed from the American jail system. The police have the forensic ability to narrow down the time of death to less than a half hour. I’d also imagine there are phone records and other critical evidence like additional fingerprints and the type of knife etc. At some point the public will have a right to know what they have as will the daughter and her lawyer.
The freezing of assets is a significant move because it suggests nothing other than suspicion of the relatives in a murder for gain. You’re into a touchy legal area because unless the police have evidence to justify this they technically don’t have any right to do so. If I were the public I’d be more worried about the police burning precious investigation time on a framed suspect because they didn’t have any clues.
The removal of the knife is the perfectly understandable reaction of a daughter finding her mother stabbed. As is the suggestion such an unlikely victim, in such a safe neighborhood, might have fallen on the knife. These are panic/denial reactions and perfectly normal and meaningless. Truth is we have too little information to make any meaningful judgments.