At almost midnight, an 81-year-old man woke up in his bed to find an 18-year-old roommate standing over him with a kitchen knife. He asked a single question: “Why do you want to stab me? ” The answer came back flat and emotionless: “I just do. ”
Patrick James Benway had moved into the group home on Bluebird Avenue in Barto, Florida just one week earlier.
He was a gentle, quiet man who had made a new friend named Janice Pepin, a widow who had arrived only ten days after losing her husband. They had wonderful conversations, and she thanked God she got to know him, even if it was only for one week. They lived in a small single-story home run by a woman named Adrina Thornton, along with two other roommates. One of those roommates was an 18-year-old named Moses O’Hada, who had moved in the day before.
He had just been released from a mental health facility after assaulting his mother, and he had been Baker Acted six different times that year. The Baker Act allows for the involuntary examination of someone who may be a danger to themselves or others due to mental illness. Moses had been held for about two weeks this last time. Then he was turned back over to his mother, who was protective of him and wanted to get him help.
She tried and tried. At around 6:45 on the evening of Saturday, May 17th, 2025, Moses’s mother dropped him off at the group home. She warned the people who ran the facility: “You have to hide the knives. ” They did.
They put them in an undisclosed location. Moses found them anyway. About five hours later, around 11:45 that night, he entered Patrick’s room. Patrick was asleep.
Moses stabbed him 113 times. There were four or five deep wounds and dozens and dozens of others that weren’t as deep. Patrick had defensive wounds on his hands. He had woken up, and he had fought for his life.
When investigators asked Moses why he had stabbed the victim so many times, he said the knife wasn’t very sharp. When they asked why he had stabbed him at all, he said voices in his head told him to kill him. He told them that Patrick was a good guy, a good person. He said, “I just had to do what I had to do.
” There had been no argument between them. None at all. When they asked if he regretted it, he said, “I live my life with no regrets. ”
After the murder, Moses went into Patrick’s bathroom and cleaned the knife.
He washed the blood off himself. Then he put the knife back in the butcher block where it had been kept. He went to his room, took off the hoodie he was wearing, saw it had blood on it, and tossed it in his hamper. He changed his shoes, which were also bloody, and left them in his room.
Then he turned off the light in Patrick’s room and closed the door, the way the victim normally kept it. He slept well that night. The next morning he woke up, ate breakfast, watched a little television, and hung around the house. Patrick didn’t normally eat breakfast, so no one was concerned until lunchtime.
That’s when they found him. He had been dead for about twelve hours by then. Janice later told reporters she hadn’t slept well that night. She kept hearing doors opening and closing, opening and closing.
She stayed in her bedroom with the door locked. “The only thing that scares me is the thought that I was alone with him and there was a dead man, my dear friend, on the floor, blood everywhere. ”
During the night, Moses had apparently wandered around the neighborhood and forgotten the door code to get back in. The owners let him back into the house.
By the next morning, they had already decided they needed to send him back to his mother. They knew he needed far more attention than an independent living facility could provide. They had planned to call her that Sunday to come get him. They didn’t know he had already stabbed one of the residents to death overnight.
When police arrived after a 911 call around 1:00 PM, they initially thought they were responding to an injured person. When they took Patrick’s shirt off to provide immediate care, they saw the stab wounds. The sheriff said it was obvious he had died a violent death, stabbed to death in his own bed. During the confession, Moses told police that Patrick woke up and asked why he wanted to stab him.
Moses said, “I just do. ”
The tip of the knife was broken off. Investigators were still looking for the tip. Moses said that was part of why he had so much trouble stabbing the victim, because the knife wasn’t very sharp.
Moses has been diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, autism, anxiety, and sudden outbursts of rage. Despite all that, he had no criminal history. He had been Baker Acted six times in 2025, and he had committed what appeared to be domestic battery against his mother. She was afraid of him.
When they stayed at motels, she rented him a separate room. She was afraid of him, and she still tried to get him help. Sheriff Grady Judd laid out the facts bluntly. Moses had clear intent.
He had the wherewithal to hide the evidence, to put the knife back, to clean himself up. The sheriff said Moses acted with malice and forethought. He said it was indisputable that Moses had mental health issues, but it was also not disputable that he was culpable and responsible for what he did. He called Moses a ticking time bomb.
He also answered the question that was on everyone’s mind: how did a violent 18-year-old end up in a facility with senior citizens? The mother had been reassured by the placement people that he was fine and doing better. The owner of the home said she was reassured too. Someone didn’t tell someone the truth.
The sheriff said the 81-year-old victim had no business dying that way. No one should have to wake up at almost midnight because some kid found kitchen knives, and then die in their own bed. After the murder, the city’s code compliance discovered that the group home on Bluebird Avenue was operating illegally. It wasn’t licensed by the state to operate at all.
Adrina Thornton, who ran ET Home Care LLC, was renting the property and taking in residents referred by hospitals, state agencies, and private mental health care entities. She was charging them rent. Thornton legally operated a licensed adult care home right across the street. She said she opened the second location out of compassion, and it was the first time she had allowed a young person to stay there.
A decision she now deeply regretted. “I felt guilty for putting Patrick and my other residents in that position, you know, with that boy in the house. ”
She said she knew Moses had mental health issues and was on medication for them, but at the time she didn’t think it was to the extent that it would endanger the other residents. His mother had described him as calm and autistic and had warned them to put away the knives.
The actual owner of the house, a real estate investment company based in Texas, had no idea Thornton was using the home illegally. They were in the process of evicting her. The city’s case remained open and pending until there was evidence the illegal group home was fully closed down. Despite the tragedy, Thornton said she planned to open another independent living home within a year.
She said she had learned the hard way that good intentions aren’t always enough. “As far as getting with code enforcement, I’ll make sure I do that so that I don’t put people in position to be misplaced, displaced again. ”
Moses O’Hada was taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He was held in the Polk County Jail without bond.
As with all cases that have yet to go to trial, he was considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Mental health experts began weighing in on the tragedy. Charles Knif, president of NAMI Florida and a retired law enforcement officer, said what happened in Polk County was a tragedy, most certainly. But he urged people not to see all persons with mental health issues as potentially violent.
The truth is the majority of people suffering from a mental health condition are not violent and are more likely to be victims of violence than to commit it. He said the Baker Act is designed to stabilize a person in crisis, not to treat a mental health condition beyond the first 72 hours. And he pointed to limited funding for mental health and a lack of clinicians to serve those who struggle. Clara Reynolds, president and CEO of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, called it an absolute horrible tragedy.
She said there were many victims. There may have been issues in implementing the discharge plan, issues with medication, or issues with follow-up therapy. She said it doesn’t mean that everyone with a mental health condition will have this outcome. Patrick’s final arrangements were handled by Cremation Services of Polk County.
As of October 2025, even though multiple media outlets had released his name, it was unclear whether Patrick’s relatives even knew what happened to him. His obituary noted that Steele’s Family Funeral Services was actively searching for his family members, asking anyone with information to reach out. Patricia Benway deserved to be put to rest with dignity and to be known as much more than just a violent death. And his family and loved ones deserved to know what happened to him.
Janice Pepin said it best. “I just thank God that I got to know him, even if it was only one week. ”
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