Key West The Newspaper

This story was first published on March 28, 2017…

At 4:20 p.m. today, 26 year old Heather Evans was charged with second degree murder and commission of a first degree felony offense with a weapon.

Evans is accused of stabbing her fiancé, 33 year old Clifford Cease, at their home on Key Deer Boulevard, Big Pine Key on Sunday night. Cease died of his injuries on Monday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.

Sunday night was Cease’s birthday and the family, including Cease’s parents, planned to have a birthday celebration. According to reports, Heather went shopping for items for the party. When she returned, Cease and his mother were angry with her for taking so long and an argument ensued. Heather and the mother fought and the mother was injured. She later received stitches at Fishermen’s Hospital for a head injury.

After the parents left the residence and went home, an altercation between Evans and Cease resulted in Cease being stabbed in the side. Evans claims Cease was choking her so she stabbed him. Evans called 911 afterward to report the incident.

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. He was airlifted to Miami for his injuries.

Evans was arrested and initially charged with battery, aggravated battery and tampering with evidence.

According to responding deputies, Evans told them several different versions of what happened. Deputies recovered the knife Evans allegedly used to stab Cease. Deputies said Evans had cleaned it and thrown it outside the house, into the woods and admitted to throwing it there because she didn’t want to get in trouble.

Monroe County spokesperson, Becky Herrin reports that at the time of the stabbing there were four children inside the residence, all under the age of nine. “The children did not witness the incident,” Herrin stated in a press release.

Bond on the second degree murder warrant was set at $1,000,000. The lead detective on the case is Major Crimes Detective Matthew Pitcher.

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Note: Please remember that the suspect[s] mentioned in this crime report is innocent until proven guilty