Sioux Falls Police Captain Blane Larson says an early Sunday morning fatal stabbing was connected to drugs.

Larson says six people were having a house party in the 700 Block of South First Avenue when they began using narcotics.

"It was during this period that the suspect began to get more and more animated and worked up. They are all friends so there really doesn't have much of a motive in the stabbing. During this time, the suspect's girlfriend asked the males to help calm down the victim. He was getting really wound up. They asked him to calm down. He then picked up a large fixed-blade combat knife and threatened to stab one of the males. Because they were all acquainted and using together, they thought he was messing around. He then stabbed the victim."

Larson says the wound proved to be fatal for 27-year-old Alexander Peter Rodriguez.

"When officers arrived on scene, they found a male in medical distress. He received a single stab wound to the upper chest region and very near to the heart. There was quite a bit of blood. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital and died shortly thereafter (either during the transport or shortly arriving at the hospital."

Larson says 27-year-old Brady Richard Holter of Sioux Falls is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter.


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