Keeseville woman pleads guilty to top-level murder charge

PLATTSBURGH | A Keeseville woman has admitted her role in the violent July murder of a Lyon Mountain mother in a shocking local case that prosecutors, lawmakers and police said shines a light on the failures of New York's bail reform. After previously rejecting plea deals in the murder of Crisie Luebbers, Nicole Cayea was set to go on trial before Judge William Favreau Monday, April 4. As jury selection was set to get underway, Cayea, 43, pleaded guilty to several high-level charges including first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree conspiracy, third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Clinton County District Attorney Andrew J. Wylie announced the guilty plea Monday afternoon, calling the case 'the poster-child case of how New York's bail reform went wrong.' Prior to New York State's bail reform, which eliminated bail to be set on non-violent felony offenses, Cayea would have been in jail for the sale and possession of drugs. "Crisie Luebbers would still be alive if Cayea was held on bail for those drug offenses," Clinton County District Attorney's Office said in announcing the final guilty plea in the case. Both Cayea and Craig Foster, who dealt the final killing blows, were arrested in significant drug cases shortly before Luebbers' murder but were released as they hatched a plan to confront the local mother with suspicions she was a police informant. Foster, Cayea and co-conspirator Nicole Harrigan lured Luebbers to a Schuyler Falls home, where the trio launched a violent attack that tragically ended the local woman's life. The case rocked not only the close-knit community and the many lives affected by the loss, but the controversial bail reforms that allowed Foster's release from police custody just hours before in a high-level drug bust. Both Foster and Harrigan previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the murder and were set to testify against Cayea this week. Cayea's combined sentence for the murder will now put her behind bars for 25 years to life. After previously pleading guilty in the drug cases, Cayea is set to receive a 10-year determinate sentence on those charges, meaning she will serve a total aggregate sentence of 35 years to life as a second felony offender. Additional conditions of a fine up to $100,000 plus court surcharges and fees can also be imposed when Cayea returns to court for sentencing June 9. In the months leading up to the murder, both Cayea and Foster were arrested several times for local drug sales and distribution and were released each time. On March 2, 2021, Cayea was arrested for selling the highly addictive and deadly drug Fentanyl. She and Foster were then arrested for possessing 300 wax envelopes of heroin with the intent to sell. Released on those charges, Foster was arrested roughly two months later for possessing cocaine and Fentanyl with the intent to sell. He was released again. On June 30, just hours before the deadly encounter at a Blake Road residence, Foster was busted with more than four ounces of cocaine. Despite the charge being a Class A2 felony, he was arraigned in Plattsburgh Town Court and released under the new bail reform guidelines. "Prior to January 2020, both Cayea and Foster would have had bail set on them. They would likely have been remanded without bail," local prosecutors said April 4. Instead, those state reform revisions paved the way for murder just hours later. Luebbers, 46, was a well-loved local mother of three who doted on her young grandchildren. Her Celebration of Life united not only her loved ones and friends as they grieved the irreplaceable loss but the community as a whole as many reeled in the shocking and deadly consequence of criminal reforms. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Vivian Joo and District Attorney Andrew Wylie.

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Keeseville woman pleads guilty to top-level murder charge

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