An 18-year-old man in Florida has been arrested for allegedly killing his 81-year-old roommate, stabbing him more than 100 times over the weekend and claiming to authorities that the elderly man was “already dying.”
Moses Ojeda was arrested on Sunday and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of tampering with evidence in the death of Patrick Benway, who reportedly suffered 113 stab wounds.
“This was an unnecessary and tragic act of violence. “Our detectives, forensic investigators, and Bartow Police Department officers worked tirelessly to apprehend Ojeda and collect evidence to hold him accountable,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement.
According to a sheriff’s office press release, Benway and Ojeda shared a “group home” on Blue Bird Avenue with three other roommates. The home was managed by “ET Home Care, LLC,” and Ojeda had only moved there one day before the stabbing after being released from a local hospital.
When detectives on the scene interviewed Ojeda, he allegedly told them he “did not have any problems with the victim and described him as a good person,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Ojeda told police that he entered Benway’s bedroom, where he was lying in bed, and stabbed him several times. The victim did not resist physically, but did ask, according to Ojeda, “Why would you want to do this to me?” before succumbing to his injuries, police said.
“Ojeda stated he has no regrets and wanted to kill him because he was ‘already dying,'” according to the police statement.
Ojeda told deputies that after fatally stabbing Benway, he cleaned the murder weapon before returning it to the kitchen. He then allegedly removed his “blood-stained clothing” and placed them in his laundry basket.
“Moses stated that he went to the victim’s bathroom, washed the knife, cleaned it up, and washed the blood off himself. During a Monday news conference, Judd stated that he then replaced the knife in the butcher block, where it had been previously hidden.
According to detectives, all of the physical evidence gathered at the scene supported Ojeda’s story.
Judd speculated that Ojeda’s criminal defense attorney would argue that he was not in his right mind at the time of the murder, but that the defendant’s actions demonstrated that he knew what he was doing when he allegedly murdered Benway.
“It’s obvious that the defense will be insanity, but let me tell you, he had clear criminal intent. He acted with malice and forethought, and then he made an effort to conceal the weapon,” the sheriff stated.
Adrena Thornton, the home’s landlord, broke down in tears while speaking with Spectrum News about Benway.
“It’s like the devil showed up at the door and rocked everybody’s world and took an innocent man’s life,” she told me. “He was very pleased with where he was. My mother had just talked to him the day before, and he was just so happy.”