MIAMI – Ismael Pico's lifeless body was slumped over a small kitchen counter. The right side of his face was pressed on the surface. His arms were hanging down.
The knife that pierced his chest was on the counter. There was blood all over when Miami Fire Rescue responded to apartment 813 at 750 NW 13 Ave., in Miami's Little Havana.
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Deborah Lynn Andrews said that although she had stabbed her boyfriend before -- she didn't kill him. The final stab wound, she said, was self-inflicted.
"Officials on the scene advised that the victim had a kitchen knife in his right hand, which wound up on the kitchen counter," Detective Anthony Reyes said in the arrest form. But only Andrews claims to have seen Pico holding the knife, before she placed it on the counter, Reyes said.
Andrews appeared in front of Miami-Dade County Judge Mindy S. Glazer Friday. She faced one count of second degree murder with a deadly weapon in the Jan. 9, 2009 case.
"According to physical evidence on the scene [and] findings from the medical examiner, the wound to the victim was not self inflicted," Reyes said. "The defendant [Andrews] herself stated that only her and the victim were in the apartment."
Dr. David Fintan Garavan was the Miami-Dade County medical examiner in the case. He ruled it a homicide.
"Years later and thru thorough fine combing investigation, detectives had enough to arrest Andrews," Miami police spokeswoman Kenia Fallat said in a statement Friday afternoon.
Andrews was being held without bond Friday night at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Northwest Miami-Dade.
When Pico, 50, died, Andrew had a criminal record that included alcohol abuse, cocaine possession, aggravated battery and battery, records show. She continued to have brushes with the law up until last year.
Andrews, who was 48 when Pico died and is a 54-year-old redhead now, said she was homeless when police found her and booked her about 5:30 p.m., Thursday.
Reyes reported that she was caught near the Earlington Heights Metrorail station, 2100 NW 41 St., in Miami's Brownsville neighborhood and The Salvation Army, 1907 NW 38 St., in Allapattah.
That year, Reyes, the detective in the cold case, appeared on A&E First 48, a reality TV show that featured investigators at work during the critical two days after a homicide.
Follow Local10.com reporter Andrea Torres on Twitter @MiamiCrime