18-year-old on first day in group home stabs 81-year-old 113 times, FL cops say

Hours after an 18-year-old moved into a group home, he stabbed his 81-year-old roommate over 100 times, killing him, Florida authorities said.

Moses Ojeda had just been released from a two-week mental health hospitalization stay under the Baker Act, his sixth time being detained under the law in 2025, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said May 19.

The Baker Act permits the involuntary hospitalization and mental health treatment of individuals deemed to be a threat to themselves or others in Florida.

Ojeda’s mom found out about the independent living style group home in Bartow and told the management company to hide the knives from her son before he arrived May 17, according to the sheriff.

The 18-year-old moved in that evening, but five hours later at around 11:45 p.m., he found the knives, deputies said. He went into the bedroom of sleeping 81-year-old Patrick Benway and started stabbing him, according to the sheriff’s office.

Benway woke up and tried to fend off the attack, and Ojeda told investigators Benway asked why he was stabbing him, according to Judd.

Ojeda is accused of stabbing Benway 113 times.

When asked why he stabbed the man so many times, Ojeda said the knife wasn’t sharp, according to the sheriff.

“Ojeda told detectives that he did not have any problems with the victim and described him as a good person,” deputies wrote in a news release.

Ojeda told deputies he washed the knife and put it back in the butcher block, took off his bloody items and closed Benway’s door to make it look like he was just sleeping, then he went to sleep himself, according to the sheriff.

The other housemates knew Benway didn’t normally eat breakfast, but they realized something was off around lunchtime the next day when he hadn’t come out of his room, Judd said.

They found him dead about 12 hours after the attack, and Ojeda was identified as the person responsible, according to the sheriff.

Ojeda was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.

Bartow is a 50-mile drive east from Tampa.