In a horrifying act, 18-year-old Moses Ojeda stabbed his elderly roommate Patrick Benway 113 times at an assisted living facility in Bartow, Florida.
Authorities say the young man committed the brutal murder after hearing voices in his head urging him to kill.
Ojeda had moved into the group home, managed by ET Home Care, just one day earlier on May 17.
Highlights
- 18-year-old Moses Ojeda stabbed his 81-year-old roommate 113 times at a Florida assisted living facility.
- Ojeda claimed he heard voices ordering him to kill, despite considering his victim a 'good person,' and said he has no remorse.
- Ojeda had six involuntary psychological exams this year and has been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses.
Moses Ojeda admitted to killing Patrick Benway, his 81-year-old roommate at an assisted living facility
Image credits: Polk County Sheriff's Office
The next morning, on May 18, he entered Benway’s room and attacked him while he lay in bed.
Benway, 81, did not resist. He asked his attacker, “Why would you want to do this to me?” before dying from his injuries.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd confirmed that Ojeda admitted to everything in his interview with investigators.
“He stabbed the victim 113 times, and when we asked him during the interview, he confessed why he stabbed him 113 times,” Sheriff Judd said in a press conference.
“He said, ‘The knife wasn’t very sharp… voices in my head told me to kill him.’”
Ojeda further claimed that he considered Benway to be “a good person,” but justified the killing by saying he believed the man was “already dying.”
“Moses said that the person he stabbed and killed was a good person,” Judd said. “But he was just told that he heard sounds, voices in his head to kill the victim, and that’s what he did.”
Ojeda told the authorities he has no regrets.
Image credits: Polk County Sheriff's Office
After the stabbing, Ojeda cleaned the bloodstained knife and returned it to the kitchen.
He then took off his bloody clothes and placed them into his laundry basket.
He was arrested that same day and charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
“It’s a no-brainer that the defense is going to be that of insanity, but I’m telling you, he had clear criminal intent,” Judd said during a press conference.
“He acted with malice, with forethought, and then he went through the effort to hide the weapon.”
Prior to the murder, Ojeda had been committed for involuntary psychological examination six times this year under Florida’s Baker Act, the law that allows for the involuntary examination and treatment of individuals with mental illness.
Sheriff Judd said that Ojeda was diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar behavior, paranoid schizophrenia, autism, anxiety and sudden outbursts of rage.
He was released into independent living and placed in a group home and shared a room with Benway.
Ojeda’s mother told investigators that she felt unsafe around him and had arranged for him to live in the group home. He had no prior record.
She also warned staff at the facility to secure all sharp objects.
Judd confirmed that the staff did hide the knives, “But Moses found them within five hours of arriving at the facility, stabbed and killed our victim.”
Police said Ojeda acted with malice and forethought, despite a history of mental illness
The facility has not made a public statement but is cooperating with the ongoing investigation, according to FOX35.
It remains unclear how Ojeda accessed the weapon or if any staff were present during the incident.
Benway was remembered with fond memories by Adrena Thornton, the landlord of the group home.
“He was very happy with where he was at,” Thornton told Bay News 9. “My mama had just talked to him the day before and he was just, he was just real happy.”
Thornton, who has been providing care for mentally and physically disabled people since 2015, said she had never had any issues like this at her assisted living group homes.
“It’s like the devil showed up at the door and rocked everybody’s world and took an innocent man’s life,” she said.
Ojeda’s outburst, coupled with his mental health history, raises concerns about the systems meant to protect individuals like him and those around them.
Just this month, another such gruesome incident took place when a Nebraska man, struggling with mental health disorders, killed himself and his family of four in a murder-suicide.
That case, too, revealed a pattern of poorly managed mental health issues that had impacted the family’s lives.
“This was a senseless and tragic act of violence,” Judd said.
“Our detectives, forensic investigators, and Bartow Police Department officers worked diligently to take Ojeda into custody and gather evidence to hold him accountable.”
Ojeda remains in Polk County Jail without bond.