A Texas man, suspected in a 2021 cold case, was arrested last week for the deadly stabbing of a victim in Austin before being released on bond four days after he was booked into jail.
Mithovar Christopher Antoine Jr., now 22, is accused of fatally stabbing Nikolas Martinez, 23, near the victim’s apartment complex in South Austin in July 2021, according to Fox 7.
Martinez was playing video games with his nephew on the day of the incident when he took a break to take laundry out of his apartment complex’s communal facility before he was stabbed.
He then called 911 to report that he had been stabbed and drove himself to a nearby gas station for help, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Martinez’s parents said two years ago they were upset with the lack of information disclosed about who killed their son.
“We know nothing’s going to bring [him] back,” Martinez’s father, Martin Martinez, told Fox 7. “Nothing’s gonna make it better, but just not knowing is just killing us.”
“We think it was something random that just happened, and we don’t know why,” Martinez’s mother, Wendy Martinez, told the outlet. “So if anybody saw anything, just come forward.”
This June, Austin Police received an anonymous tip saying they had witnessed Antoine Jr. stabbing Martinez near a South Austin apartment complex, according to an arrest warrant, Fox 7 reported.
Police executed another search warrant and discovered the suspect had been searching for news articles related to stabbings in Austin just days after Martinez’s death.
Law enforcement found Antoine Jr. in Temple last week, and he was arrested and booked into the Bell County Jail. A judge set his bond at $150,000, and he was bonded out of jail four days later.
Bell County officials told Fox 7 the suspect was released without being extradited to Travis County.
Antoine Jr. was arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle and burglary of a habitation in the two years before Martinez’s death, court documents show, according to Fox 7. He bonded out of jail two months before Martinez’s murder.
Since he was out on probation, Bell County could revoke probation and seek additional warrants for his arrest, which would land him back in jail.
A grand jury in Travis County will still need to indict Antoine Jr. for Martinez’s murder.
