A Batesburg-Leesville man is in jail and accused of stabbing his nephew in the leg, a wound that turned out to be fatal.
Juan Perez-Jeronimo, 42, of Two Notch Road, is charged with murder and possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime.
Perez-Jeronimo also is being detained pending action by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as he is from Guatemala and in the country illegally.
Juan Perez-Geronimo
/Lexington County Sheriff's Dept.
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Lexington County Sheriff’s deputies were notified around 1:49 a.m. Sunday that a man named Diego Alonzo had been stabbed in the thigh. Alonzo, whose age has not been determined, also was from Guatemala and might have been an illegal immigrant.
Alonzo was identified by Lexington County Coroner Harry Harman, who said he died from blood loss around 2:09 a.m.
Deputies found Alonzo lying partially on a bed in the home, where Perez-Jeronimo also lived, along with “several” Spanish-speaking renters.
According to the sheriff’s department, a Spanish-speaking deputy interviewed a witness, who said he watched Perez-Jeronimo stab Alonzo in the thigh with a 6-inch filet knife in the bedroom.
The witness told deputies Perez-Jeronimo ran from the home after the stabbing. He was tracked by a canine unit to woods behind the house. The department said the dog bit Perez-Jeronimo on the leg, then deputies took him into custody.
Investigators believe Perez-Jeronimo and Alonzo were fighting about money. The incident remains under investigation.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement became involved because the Lexington County Detention Center employs three officers trained to enforce immigration law under ICE supervision in a program in place since September 2010.
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