MIAMI, FL - A Miami man who manages a high-end steakhouse is under arrest for stabbing his mother to death inside his luxury high-rise apartment, the Miami Herald reported.
Stefano Cremasco-Cicero, 36, admitted to stabbing his mother to death but told officers it was in self-defense.
Shortly before 5 a.m. on Friday, September 4, police responded to the apartment building located in the ritzy Brickell neighborhood for an “unknown request.” Upon arrival, they found Cremasco-Cicero with blood on his clothing, hands, and shoes, according to an arrest affidavit.
He reportedly told responding officers, “I was defending myself,” and then led them to his 47th-floor apartment.
Inside the apartment, officers found the mother, whose name was not released, lying on her side and covered with stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officers also found several bloodied kitchen knives, a shattered glass, a broken wine bottle, and two white shirts soaked in blood after a search warrant was issued. Cremasco-Cicero's mother was staying with him while visiting from Mexico, his wife, whose name was not released, told police on the phone. She was out of the country visiting France at the time of the killing. She said the suspect was not close to his mother after she divorced his father.
She told police she did not believe her husband was suffering from any type of mental illness but admitted he had been under a lot of stress while opening a new restaurant in Coconut Grove.
Cremasco-Cicero was born in Mexico but is of Argentinian descent. He works as the U.S. operating manager of the 1986 Steak House, a high-end restaurant located in Miami, the Miami Herald reported.
Surveillance footage and key fob records showed Cremasco-Cicero and his mother returning to the high-rise apartment at around 10:30 p.m. on September 3.
At 4:25 a.m. the next morning, the suspect was seen entering an elevator carrying a knife and covered in blood. He was wearing a white T-shirt, khaki pants, and white shoes. Footage showed him dropping the knife after exiting the elevator. He then retrieved the knife, entered another elevator, and returned upstairs.
He was then seen returning to the elevator while wearing a different long-sleeved blue shirt and exiting the building while using his cell phone.
Shortly before 4:40 a.m., he returned to the building lobby and sat down on a couch while wearing the same bloodied white shoes. He then opened a lobby door for a food delivery driver and asked her to call 911, the driver told police. Cremasco-Cicero then called police himself and gave the phone to the delivery driver to speak with dispatch, the Miami Herald reported. While she was speaking to the 911 operator, the driver noticed blood on Cremasco-Cicero, who then refused to take back the phone when she tried to hand it back to him. Cremasco-Cicero was subsequently arrested and charged with second-degree murder with a weapon.
He was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and is being held without bail on an immigration hold. He is in the United States on an investor visa, Miami police said. He appeared before a Miami-Dade County judge on Saturday wearing a green anti-suicide smock.
He is scheduled to return to court on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
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