A 54-year-old Florida woman told police she killed an Otsego County couple because they "tortured" her by feeding her "cookies with green mothballs in them."

Linda Sue Anderson, 54, is accused of shooting to death Robert Goerlich, 70, and his wife, Shirley Goerlich, 69, on Thursday night as the couple sat watching television at their winter home in Port Orange, Fla. Anderson was arraigned Friday night on two counts of first-degree murder and remains in jail without bail, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

"It's like a bad dream that you just really don't think happened," said Shirley Goerlich's sister, Beverly Pierce of Unadilla.

The News-Journal reported that when Anderson was arrested Thursday night, she told police: "I hate them; they have been torturing me. They make me cookies with green mothballs in them and I get sick."

She also told detectives she had shot the couple with blanks, the newspaper reported.

"I didn't see any blood or bullet holes in their clothing," she told the officers. "They are over there watching TV, aren't they? I shot them with blanks," the News-Journal reported.

Robert Goerlich had worked in public relations for Link flight simulation before retiring in 1995, while his wife was a historian and writer. They lived in the Town of Unadilla, but spent winters in Florida, Pierce said. They had planned to move back to New York permanently, she added.

The Goerlichs knew Anderson well, said Linda Whiting, 60, during a telephone interview Friday afternoon. Whiting lives with her mother a few houses away from the Goerlichs in Florida.

"They helped her (Anderson) out when she first came in," Whiting said. "They showed her how things worked, when to put the garbage out. If she needed anything, they would help out."

Whiting said Anderson didn't fit into the quiet neighborhood of mostly elderly retirees. She would break glass bottles and curse under her breath for no apparent reason, Whiting said.

The News-Journal reported that the public defender representing Anderson believes she has "mental issues."

Police said Anderson kicked out the window of the squad car after she was in custody.

Whiting said Robert and Shirley Goerlich's kindness toward Anderson was typical of the couple. "They're both the sweetest people," Whiting said. "Shirley usually baked cookies and helped everybody, welcomed people to the neighborhood. She's just that type of person, sort of the unofficial welcome wagon."

After serving as an officer in the Vietnam War, Robert Goerlich, returned to the Southern Tier where he took a job with Link Aviation, said Ted Mulford of Binghamton. Mulford and Goerlich worked together for years.

"He was a professional in the public relations field," Mulford said. "He was a real pro."

Mulford said Robert Goerlich retired in the 1990s. He had just returned from a Florida hospital Thursday after suffering a heart attack, Whiting said.

Shirley Goerlich was "highly regarded as a genealogy expert," Mulford said.

In 1994, Shirley Goerlich won a national award for excellence in writing and publishing from the Connecticut Society of Genealogists for her book Genealogy: A Practical Research Guide, Press & Sun-Bulletin archives show.

The couple had two children: Robert Goerlich Jr., who lives in Cortland, and another son in Virginia, said Frank N. Underwood of Hillcrest, who worked with the senior Robert Goerlich.

"He (Robert Goerlich) was very close to both of them," Underwood said.