MIAMI – Detectives arrested a 56-year-old convicted felon on Thursday in the murder of the 93-year-old man whose daughter found stabbed to death in Miami’s Silver Bluff Estates neighborhood. Mijares' murder terrorized the quiet area south of Coral Way. Mijares was known there as a friendly neighbor who loved animals — especially dogs and cats.
Silverio Florentiono Fonte and Humberto Mijares were having drinks on Tuesday when the two got into an argument, police said. A confidential informant told detectives Fonte said Mijares grabbed a rifle and ordered him to leave his home, police said. Fonte pushed Mijares, took his rifle, and threw it on the floor before grabbing a knife and stabbing him several times, the informant said, according to police.
Recommended Videos
Mijares' neighbor Teresita Menendez said she found his dog Whisky wandering alone on Tuesday night. She said at first she walked Whisky back to Mijares' home, and she made several failed attempts to reach him. She later wondered if it was likely that the dog had witnessed Mijares' murder.
On Wednesday morning, Mijares' daughter called 911 to report that she had found her father dead and she needed police officers to respond to his home at 2345 SW 22 Terr. Officers found Mijares laying in a pool of blood after he was stabbed several times near the front door of his home, according to Fonte’s arrest form.
Fonte later turned up at Mercy Hospital with blood on his shoes and Mijares' credit card in his pocket, police said. He told detectives he had been at Mijares' home, but he didn’t remember what the initial argument was about, police said.
About two decades ago, Fonte was arrested for murder in Miami-Dade County. He was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison. The Florida Department of Corrections released him on Nov. 18, 2017. His criminal record in Miami-Dade County also includes arrests for cocaine possession and burglary.
Records show Fonte is at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Thursday night, and he is facing a second-degree murder charge. Detectives were asking anyone with information about the murder to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Local 10 News Reporters Layron Livingston and Christian De La Rosa contributed to this report.