Twelve years later, an arrest: Man facing murder charge in 2012 Boca fatal stabbing

BOCA RATON — Investigators found Anastasio Caceres dead outside a house in Sandalfoot Cove west of Boca Raton on Aug. 6, 2012. Nearly 12 years to the day from the fatal stabbing, they arrested the man they say killed him.

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies booked Peterson Eliantus into the county jail on Aug. 25 on a charge of second-degree murder. Investigators said the stabbing followed an argument between the men, both 25 years old at the time. One witness reported hearing Caceres saying “Yo bro you really stabbed me bro?” after he fell to the ground.

Eliantus fled the area after the attack "and had not been seen by family, friends, neighbors or deputies familiar with the area," the sheriff's office said in its arrest report, originally filed in October 2012.

Then on Aug. 25, investigators found him on Southeast First Avenue in downtown Fort Lauderdale and took him into custody. The arrest report did not detail how investigators tracked Eliantus to the site, 20 miles south of where Caceres died.

County Judge Ted Booras denied Eliantus bail during a hearing Aug. 26 and appointed a public defender to represent him. As a policy, the county Public Defender's Office does not comment on open cases.

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An argument became a street brawl, and then a fatal stabbing

According to court documents, the argument began when Eliantus drove to the neighborhood, west of Florida's Turnpike and south of Palmetto Park Road, to confront Carceres about a comment someone had made about him.

"I'm only going to go down there to talk to him," Eliantus allegedly said, according to what a confidential witness told detectives.

Witnesses said the argument grew into a fistfight along Southwest 54th Way, where Caceres had been visiting a friend. Caceres at one point lunged toward Eliantus, who brought his right hand up in a stabbing motion, a witness said. Eliantus then drove away from the scene in a friend's silver Lincoln.

A group of friends took Caceres to an unspecified hospital, where he died from stab wounds to his abdomen and chest, according to a 2012 autopsy at the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner's Office .

Cellphone records obtained by the sheriff's office confirmed Eliantus had called Caceres twice that night before the fight broke out.

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Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz . Help support our work. Subscribe today .

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Twelve years later, an arrest: Man facing murder charge in 2012 Boca fatal stabbing