Authorities say they have solved the gruesome fatal stabbing of a woman 12 years ago with the arrest of the victim's daughter.
Lashawn Lewis of Buffalo pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges she stabbed Lateyfa Lewis, 50, more than 40 times inside her home in August 2005.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn says the now 40-year-old daughter was indicted on a murder charge after prosecutors and Buffalo Police cold case officers reviewed the evidence in the case. It was the daughter who reported finding her mother's body.
Flynn says the stabbing followed an argument.
Lewis was already in custody on an unrelated drug charge at the time of the indictment. She was assigned a lawyer, who had yet to review the case and declined to comment on her behalf.
In a separate case, a Cheektowaga woman pleaded guilty in Erie County Court Wednesday to first-degree manslaughter in connection with a fatal shooting on New Year's Day.
Nadiyah Whitaker, 32, admitted to shooting Shanna Mason, 30, of Sloan at around 10 a.m. on January 1 at 250 Gold Street in Buffalo. Whitaker's attorney, Thomas Eoannou, had said Whitaker and Mason were involved in a love triangle and that the shooting occurred the day after a marriage license was issued.
Whitaker faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when she is sentenced on December 11.
