AUSTIN, Texas — A suspect in a 2021 deadly South Austin stabbing is back in jail just over a week after he bonded out from a previous arrest.
A U.S. Marshals-led task force captured 22-year-old Mithovar Christopher Antoine Jr. in Temple on Thursday, Sept. 12, after Austin police issued a warrant for his arrest. He bonded out of the Bell County Jail four days letter, with a bond set at $150,000 and no conditions.
On Sept. 18, a new arrest warrant was issued for the enhanced charge of capital murder, and it was recommended Antoine receive no bond. On Sept. 24, the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force located Antoine in Temple and arrested him again.
Antoine is accused of stabbing 23-year-old Nikolas Martinez back in July 2021. Martinez called police and drove to a convenience store on Mariposa Drive near Interstate 35. However, when they arrived, they located Martinez on the ground in front of the store. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Austin Police Department said homicide detectives obtained a statement from Antoine, saying that he stabbed the victim because he wanted to steal his vehicle.
A month after Martinez's death, family members offered an $8,000 reward to help arrest the person responsible for his death. The task force said Antoine was known to reside in Temple, and investigators were able to capture him.
Martinez's death was Austin's 48th homicide of 2021.
Antoine is currently in the Travis County Jail.