Family dispute leads to stabbing

Update, 3/27 - 8:15 p.m.

The victim in this case, 33 year old Clifford Cease, died of his injuries  this evening at 6 p.m.at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. Major Crimes Detective Matthew Pitcher has been assigned as lead detective on the ongoing investigation.

A 26 year old Big Pine Key woman was arrested early today, charged with stabbing her fiancé.

Sheriff’s deputies were first called by the victim’s parents just before 10 p.m. They told Deputy Austin Hopp they were at their son’s house on Key Deer Boulevard when there was an altercation at the house. They said they saw Heather Evans punch their son, Clifford Cease, in the face. When the two parents tried to intervene, Evans attacked them. They left the scene, went home, and called the Sheriff’s Office for assistance. Cease’s mother received multiple stitches for a head wound she sustained during the attack.

As Deputy Hopp was interviewing the parents, Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a call from Evans; she reported she had just stabbed Cease after they got into a fight.

Deputy Hopp responded to the house where the stabbing occurred. He found Evans outside the house. He found Cease inside with a knife wound on his side; he was unresponsive. During an interview, Evans claimed she stabbed Cease as he was holding her down and choking her. Her story about how the incident took place was inconsistent and she changed her story several times. The knife Evans said she used was recovered from outside; she said she threw it there because she didn’t want to get in trouble.

Evans was arrested and charged with battery, aggravated battery and tampering with evidence. Cease was airlifted to the Ryder Trauma Center in Miami for treatment of his injuries.