The victim’s final word lead police to a suspect, nearly a year after a west-side stabbing turned deadly, SAPD says.
SAN ANTONIO — Nearly a year after a brutal stabbing on the city’s west side, San Antonio police say the man responsible for the attack that later turned deadly, is now behind bars.
According to an arrest warrant, officers were called just before 10 p.m. on January 12, 2025, to a reported cutting in the 1900 block of Montezuma Street. When officers arrived, they found 38-year-old Christopher Renteria suffering from multiple stab wounds to his chest and body.
As paramedics rushed Renteria into an ambulance, an SAPD officer asked who attacked him. Despite the severity of his injuries, Renteria managed to say one word – “Robert,” according to police documents.
Moments later, he lost consciousness and never regained it.
Police say Renteria went into cardiac arrest and suffered severe brain injury. Four months after the attack, he died from his injuries. At that point, the case was officially upgraded to murder.
Court documents reveal witnesses told detectives the stabbing stemmed from an argument between Renteria and the suspect, later identified as 34-year-old Robert Aparicio.
Investigators say the dispute involved hair clippers and escalated when Renteria broke the window of Aparicio’s red pickup truck.
According to the warrant, Aparicio then grabbed a knife and chased Renteria down Montezuma Street. Surveillance video captured the final moments of the attack, showing Renteria falling to the ground and attempting to shield himself as Aparicio continued stabbing him. A witness can be heard on the video yelling for Aparicio to stop, but police say the attack continued.
The same surveillance footage also recorded a witness calling out the license plate of the red pickup truck Aparicio used to flee the scene, according to an arrest warrant.
In April, Crime Stoppers released photos of the suspect in hopes of tracking him down. But, investigators say the break they needed finally came last month when officers spotted the same red truck parked at an apartment complex.
Police say Aparicio was seen loading tree limbs into the truck. Employees at the complex told detectives they had recently hired him through a Craigslist ad for yard work and provided investigators with his phone number.
That tip led police directly to Aparicio, who was arrested and is now charged with murder in connection to Renteria’s death.
He was booked in the Bexar County Jail, his bond set at $350,000.