A man residing in a Bartow group home was stabbed over 100 times by his roommate, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday.
The victim was identified as an 81-year-old resident of the independent living group home, which is run by E.T. Home Care. He was one of four residents living there and was last seen alive on Saturday evening.
Judd said the 81-year-old was stabbed 113 times in his sleep by 18-year-old MO. O lived in the home for one day after being released from a mental health facility.
O’s mother told the group home to hide their knives, but Judd said her son found them anyway. After the alleged murder, Ojeda cleaned off the knife and put it back in its hiding place.
“M said that he went to the victim’s bathroom where he washed the knife and cleaned it up, where he washed the blood of himself. he then replaced the knife in the butcher block where it was originally placed out of sight,” said Judd, adding that O put a bloody top in the hamper.
He was also accused of hiding his bloodied clothing.
The victim was found dead at around noon on Sunday. O told detectives he didn’t have any problems with the man and that voices in his head told him to kill his roommate.
The facility was reportedly in the process of releasing O to his mother because he needed more care than they could provide, according to Judd. He was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Sheriff Judd said O had no prior criminal record but a history of mental health issues and bouts of rage.
“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. He acted with malice, with forethought and then he went through the effort to hide the weapon,” said Sheriff Judd.
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Source: wfla
