Man, 79, stabbed wife and stepson to death at NW Miami-Dade apartment, deputies say

A 79-year-old man is facing murder charges after his wife and stepson were found stabbed to death in their northwest Miami-Dade apartment, authorities said.

Jose Vidal was arrested Friday on two counts of second-degree murder with a weapon, Miami-Dade jail records showed.

According to an arrest report, Vidal showed up at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines on Friday after he rode his bicycle there from his apartment in the 17500 block of Northwest 67th Place, a ride of over six miles.

While he was there, Vidal gave differing accounts to people about what happened to him but claimed that on April 19 he went to his apartment and found the door open, the report said.

Vidal said he entered and was confronted by two males who engaged him in a fight and rendered him unconscious.

He said he was unconscious until the next day, when he discovered he’d been stabbed and he found his wife and stepson dead inside the apartment, the report said.

Vidal said he called 911 but chose not to wait for emergency crews to arrive and decided to ride his bicycle to the hospital, the report said.

Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies responded and found the two victims dead inside the apartment with apparent stab wounds.

Vidal was transferred to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood where he was found to have a superficial cut to his abdomen and no head injury, the report said.

Investigators later discovered Vidal and the stepson had been involved in a dispute about Vidal stealing a large amount of money and that on April 18, the stepson told family members that Vidal was getting kicked out of the apartment, the report said.

A search of the apartment revealed dried bloody shoe prints next to the victims’ bodies and throughout the apartment, and the shoe prints matched sandals found in the kitchen that had been cleaned but still had traces of blood, and that Vidal had been seen wearing in surveillance video, the report said.

Surveillance also showed Vidal making several trips to a dumpster near the apartment with full trash bags on April 18, but the video showed no people similar to the description of the males who Vidal said attacked him, the report said.

Other surveillance video showed Vidal stopping at a gas station to buy lottery tickets on his bicycle ride to the hospital on April 20, the report said.

Vidal spoke with detectives on Friday and admitted to getting into a fight with his stepson about stealing money and confirmed he was being kicked out of the apartment, the report said.

Vidal was booked into jail and appeared before a judge over the weekend, who ordered him held without bond.