VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Volusia County Sheriff’s Office detectives say they used a wide range of investigative tools and tactics to track down the suspects in a stabbing that sent two men to the hospital with serious injuries.
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Deputies were called to Dizzy D’s bar on Deltona Blvd. just after 2 a.m. on March 6 for reports of a fight in the parking lot. They arrived to find two men who had been stabbed.
Both men were treated on scene before they were taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital for emergency treatment.
CASE UPDATE: Two suspects involved in a March 6 stabbing at Dizzy D’s in Deltona have been arrested after a thorough...
Posted by Volusia Sheriff's Office on Friday, March 25, 2022
Before going to the hospital, one of the victims explained to deputies that he’d been in the bar looking for his phone, which he thought had been picked up or stolen by someone else there.
The victim said he was questioning people in the bar when he got into an argument with the two suspects, later identified as 26-year-old Antonio Santiago Jr. and 46-year-old Ernesto Rivera.
According to the sheriff’s office, the victim said they moved the argument outside the bar where it escalated into a fight in which he and a friend were stabbed.
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Both Santiago and Rivera left the scene in a car before deputies arrived, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Over a matter of weeks, police used witness statements, surveillance video, property records and social media information to identify Santiago Jr. as the main aggressor in the fight and the person responsible for stabbing both victims, and Rivera as the person who left the scene with him.
Deputies noted that surveillance video from the bar shows Santiago repeatedly stabbing the victims during the fight either from behind or while their attention was diverted.
Santiago was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. He’s being held in he Volusia County jail on a total of $200,000 bond.
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Rivera, who deputies say was involved in the fight but didn’t use a weapon, was arrested Wednesday on charges of tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact. He’s since been released on $10,000 bond.
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