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Austin murder suspect released on bail 4 days after being arrested for fatal 2021 stabbing

Posted on by angelo
Austin murder suspect released on bail 4 days after being arrested for fatal 2021 stabbing

AUSTIN, Texas – A suspect in a cold case from 2021 was arrested this week in the stabbing death of a 23-year-old in south Austin.

Just four days after his incarceration, he is now out on bail, and questions are now being asked about why he is doing so.

Nikolas Martinez called 911 in July 2021, claiming he had been stabbed.

He was playing video games with his nephew when he decided to take a break and take the laundry out of the common areas of his apartment complex.

Wounded by a knife in the neck, he went to a nearby gas station to seek help, where he later died.

When FOX 7 Austin spoke with Nikolas Martinez’s parents two years ago, it was the lack of disclosure about who killed Nikolas that made losing their son all the darker.

“We know nothing is going to bring them back,” said Martin Martinez, Nikolas’ father. “Nothing is going to make things better, but just not knowing is killing us.”

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“We think it was an accident that happened and we don’t know why,” said Wendy Martinez, Nikolas’ mother. “So if anyone saw anything, please come forward.”

This call was answered last June.

According to an arrest warrant, an anonymous tip was given to Austin police that they saw Mithovar Christopher Antoine Jr. stab and kill Martinez near his South Austin apartment complex.

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Mithovar Christopher Antoine Jr.

Police said the information provided by the informant matched.

Through an additional search warrant, officers learned that Antoine had Googled news articles related to stabbings in Austin just days after Martinez’s murder.

Law enforcement stopped him in Temple, booked him and booked him into the Bell County Jail on Thursday of last week.

A judge set his bail at $150,000. He was released on bail four days later.

“The bottom line is, he’s innocent until proven guilty, regardless of what the affidavit says. So the defense attorney in me says he’s entitled to his day in court, innocent until proven guilty,” said Gene Anthes, managing partner of GBA. “The former prosecutor in me says, ‘Look, our job here is to protect the public and make sure this guy gets back in court.’”

FOX 7 called the clerk’s offices, prosecutor’s offices and sheriff’s offices in Bell and Travis counties multiple times this week.

Bell County officials said they were unable to locate the suspect’s documents, and later learned he had been released without being extradited.

A source told FOX 7 that agencies should have communicated better and extradited Antoine to Travis County.

“I asked law enforcement to call the district attorney’s office and say, ‘I just arrested Gene Anthes and he is on probation in your county for offenses A, B and C, you need to file a motion to revoke as soon as possible so another warrant can be issued for him,'” Anthes said.

In the two years before Martinez’s murder, court documents show Antoine had been arrested for unauthorized use of a vehicle and burglary of a dwelling.

He was released on bail on the latter charge two months before the murder.

“He still has a lot of issues,” Anthes said. “I’m a little surprised that the Bell County judge or someone in Bell County hasn’t responded to the fact that he’s on probation in Bell County.”

Because he was on parole, Bell County could revoke his probation and seek additional warrants for his arrest, effectively sending him back to prison.

A Travis County grand jury has yet to indict him in Martinez’s murder.