Inset, left to right: Marisa J. Rodriguez and Michael Maisner (WJET/WFXP). Background: The location where Maisner’s remains were found (WJET/WFXP).
A 37-year-old woman in Pennsylvania may spend the remainder of her days behind bars after she admitted to shooting and killing a 66-year-old man, then using a chainsaw she purchased with his money to “cut him up” and burn his remains in his backyard firepit.
Erie County Judge Daniel J. Brabender Jr. on Monday ordered Marisa Jean Rodriguez to serve 40 to 80 years in a state correctional facility for the 2023 slaying of Michael Maisner.
Brabender handed down the sentence after Rodriguez in August pleaded guilty but mentally ill to a spate of felonies, including third-degree murder and abuse of a corpse.
Rodriguez had initially been facing a charge of first-degree murder, but the charge was downgraded after she reached a deal with prosecutors in the Erie County District Attorney’s Office, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. She also pleaded guilty to charges of criminal mischief, possession of an instrument of a crime, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, theft, tampering with evidence and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Prior to handing down the sentence, which was the maximum allowed under the law, the judge spoke to the harrowing nature of the case.
“This is probably the worst series of facts I’ve probably ever heard in a courtroom,” Brabender said, according to a report from the Erie Times-News.
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As Law&Crime previously reported, the violence came to light on April 12, 2023, after Maisner’s family members, concerned they hadn’t heard from him in about two weeks, went to his home in the 7000 block of Crestview Drive in Summit Township. There was no sign of Maisner, but the family found Rodriguez in the attic, where she had reportedly lived for several months before the murder.
The next day, authorities went to Maisner’s home for a welfare check.
In Maisner’s home, investigators found a section of carpet and padding missing, possible human tissue, blood splatter, cleaning items and bleach-stained clothing, Erie-based ABC and Fox affiliate WJET/WFXP reported, citing the criminal complaint. Police also reportedly found bizarre writings on the walls of the home.
In a firepit, investigators found an eyeglass frame piece, a picture frame, carpet foam, carpet, charred human remains and burned bone fragments, later identified through DNA as Maisner’s, Erie News Now reported.
After Rodriguez killed Maisner, she drove the victim’s Cadillac STX about 40 miles to his house in New York, where police arrested Rodriguez the next day on car theft charges. She was extradited to Pennsylvania to face murder charges. During questioning, she reportedly admitted living in Maisner’s attic for up to three months and made comments about him being dead, though she claimed not to know how he died.
The victim’s nephew, Adam Maisner, told Erie News Now that Maisner allowed Rodriguez to stay with him to help around the house.
“He was just a laid-back guy,” Adam Maisner said. “He was waiting to get his hips replaced, and all he was thinking about was golfing and riding his motorcycle after that. That’s all he wanted to do.”
Authorities said they linked the suspect to the killing through her online searches that included the phrases “Mike Maisner,” “how to shoot someone,” “how long does it take to burn a dead body,” “burn a body,” “if you shoot someone in the head they die instantly,” and “cutting a dead body with a chain saw,” WJET/WFXP reported.
In her online account, authorities allegedly found video of the suspect getting the PIN for Maisner’s debit card, a photo of a .357 revolver, and photos and videos of a dead Maisner in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to the back of the head and torso, the station reported.
Authorities said that the videos show the suspect wearing the black and brown shoes found in Maisner’s car in New York, according to the complaint. She allegedly spent nearly $600 of his money at a Walmart on April 3, 2023, Erie News Now reported — including the purchase of a chainsaw.
During a preliminary hearing in August 2023, Rodriguez reportedly interrupted testimony, saying, “Well, I’m guilty” and later saying, “Then I cut him up,” the Times-News reported.
Rodriguez was initially found incompetent to stand trial in January. Citing court documents, a psychiatrist who diagnosed Rodriguez with schizophrenia during an exam in lockup reportedly said that Rodriguez had made comments about the Bible and “how cats were her best friends.”
The newspaper also reported that she wrote rambling handwritten letters to her lawyer in pencil while in custody at the Erie County Prison.
“I don’t know why I acted the way I did with the body,” she says in one letter. “TRAMITIZED. Still am.”
