Questions for a diehard dominatrix?

The Philadelphia woman who made headlines after a 2008 gunpoint abduction, murder, and police standoff in West Chester has returned to the news.

Edythe Maa, 29, a former University of Pennsylvania graduate student who moonlighted as a dominatrix under the name "Mistress Jade Vixen", was kidnapped at her Philadelphia apartment in December 2008 by David P. Krieg, 42, who first shot Maa's boyfriend, New York lawyer Anthony Ottaviano.

Police said Krieg released Maa in West Chester and then held authorities at bay for nine hours at the former Simon Pearce restaurant before killing himself.  Maa said that Krieg had been stalking her and that she had considered taking out a restraining order. Philadelphia police said Maa was a victim of an obsessed former client.

At the time, the New York Post published photographs from the Internet showing a latex-clad Maa in separate scenes with Krieg and with Ottaviano. Maa, a Long Island native, dropped out of the doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania's materials science and engineering program, according to university officials.

Last month, Maa was listed as a "close companion" in the obituary for Peter Stelzenmuller, a 49-year-old engineer from Drexel Hill.  The Aug. 25 obituary said Stelzenmuller, who headed Penn Avionics Inc., died Aug. 18 in an accident at this Drexel Hill home, where he was testing scuba equipment he planned to use on vacation in Mexico.

Upper Darby Police Superintendent Mike Chitwood said today that the cause and manner of death are pending toxicology reports, and an investigation is continuing. He said detectives have "a lot of questions" for Maa, who found Stelzenmuller's body in the attic of the Drexel Hill home he shared with Maa. Chitwood said Maa told police that she had been out shopping with a friend from New York and thought her boyfriend had gone to a concert at 5:30 p.m. with his brother. She said she did not know he had not left until 11:20 p.m. when the brother showed up looking for him, prompting her to search the house, Chitwood said.

Chitwood said before police arrived, Maa cut a wetsuit off Stelzenmuller and put a pair of shorts on him. Chitwood said a mask with two tubes attached was near the body as well as containers of whipped cream. "We believe this was some type of auto-erotic ritual," Chitwood said. "We don't know if she was involved or not ... There are a lot of questions, especially when you look at her history." He said that Maa is currently out of town and that detectives hope to interview her again when she returns.