Reprinted from Newsday March 11, 2005

"Nina Strazzulla had a task in front of her after she stabbed a man to death in her house, a Suffolk prosecutor said yesterday.

She wanted to make it look like he fell and bumped his head, so she had some cleaning to do, Assistant District Attorney John Mongeluzzi said yesterday at Strazzulla's arraignment on a charge of second-degree murder.

Police said Strazzulla, 36, of Bohemia, stabbed Michael Senia, 37, of Bohemia in the back with a kitchen knife because he refused to leave her home early Wednesday, police said. First District Court Judge Paul Hensley ordered her held without bail yesterday.

Mongeluzzi said Strazzulla tried to clean up the scene and hid the rags before calling police to say Senia had fallen, bumped his head and lost consciousness while in her home at 1697 Feuereisen Ave. Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commander of the Suffolk homicide squad, said Strazzulla and Senia had a months-long sexual relationship, and that she invited Senia over while her fiance, a long-haul truck driver, was away.

Fitzpatrick said Strazzulla stabbed Senia between his shoulder blades as he lay shirtless on his stomach when he refused her requests for him to leave the house.

"He decides he doesn't want to leave, and that angers her," Fitzpatrick said, adding that Strazzulla confessed to the crime after an interrogation.

She called officers after 4 a.m., police said.

"She spent time washing up" the scene, Mongeluzzi said in court.

The felony complaint filed against Strazzulla said that after speaking with detectives, she admitted, "I stabbed him in the back with the steak knife."

But Strazzulla's attorney, David Besso of Bay Shore, said he doubts the prosecution's version of the incident, saying that the disparity in Strazzulla and Senia's physical sizes suggests she acted in self-defense.

"She's tiny, and the deceased is a pretty big guy," Besso said. "I'm sure there's got to be some self-defense possibilities there. She had no violent tendencies, so I find it hard to believe she would all of a sudden snap."

Besso said the relationship between Senia and Strazzulla was unclear to him, since he has not had an opportunity to speak with his client at length.

She is due back in court on Monday. Relatives of Senia and Strazzulla could not be reached for comment."

<small>[ March 14, 2005, 10:49 PM: Message edited by: LINY ]</small>