Two suspects plead guilty to reduced charges in Peggy Nadell murder case

Tanisha Joyner
Tanisha Joyner
Eltia Grant
Eltia Grant
NEW CITY – Two suspects who stood accused of conspiring to murder Valley Cottage resident Peggy Nadell have pled to lesser charges and appear to be cooperating with authorities.

In an apparent plea deal to avoid charges of second-degree conspiracy to commit murder, Eltia Grant, 24 and Tanisha Joyner, 26 each pled guilty to one count of felony hindering of prosecution for their involvement in an alleged plot to murder Nadell for a piece of her $4 million estate. Their current charges carry a penalty of two and one third to seven years in prison.

Though Grant made her plea on Tuesday, Joyner’s plea was entered before she was returned to Rockland from her residence in Washington D.C. In exchange for reduced charges, the two suspects are believed to cooperating with prosecutors.

Joyner and Grant were arrested for helping to engineer the plot, but are not believed to be directly involved in the killing. Grant allegedly connected co-defendants Diana Nadell and Andrea Benson with Joyner, who planned to provide an alibi by holding Nadell’s cell phone during the commission of the murder.

Meanwhile, Joyner allegedly arranged an alibi for Peggy’s daughter-in-law Diana, who stand accused of murder for forcing her way into Peggy’s Andover Lane home and helping co-defendant Andrea Benson stab Peggy to death on January 25.

Grant has been released on bail pending a September 19 court date. Nadell and Benson are still being held without bail and are expected to face a grand jury Wednesday or Thursday of next week. If convicted, they face 15 to 25 years to life in prison.

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