Daughter-in-law due in Rockland County court in Peggy Nadell murder

VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y. (WABC) -- A Florida woman accused of beating, choking and stabbing her mother-in-law and hiring another woman to help her is due in court in Rockland County Wednesday.

Diana Nadell is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the death of 80-year-old Peggy Nadell, a well-known community activist who was stabbed to death inside her Valley Cottage home in January.

Prosecutors have charged Diana Nadell and three other women in the case, accusing them of hatching the plot to get their hands on Peggy Nadell's $4 million estate.

Police have said the daughter-in-law wanted her "marital inheritance."

First-degree murder is sometimes used in murder-for-hire cases. It carries a maximum sentence of life without parole.

The alleged accomplice, Andrea Benson of Washington, D.C., was also indicted on first- and second-degree murder.

The two other women accused of lesser crimes have pleaded guilty.