ORLANDO, Fla. – A man was arrested Tuesday after a 71-year-man was fatally stabbed at an Orange County gas station, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies said they arrived at the Amoco gas station on North John Young Parkway, south of West Colonial Drive, around 1:15 p.m. Saturday where they found Charlie Henderson in his wheelchair with a stab wound.
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Henderson was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.
DETECTIVES NEED YOUR HELP: On 4/2/22 at 1:17 p.m., deputies responded to 601 N. John Young Pkwy in reference to a stabbing. When deputies arrived, they located Charlie Henderson in his wheelchair, unresponsive. Anyone with information is urged to call Crimeline at 800-423-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/OoMarohQhz
— Orange County Sheriff's Office (@OrangeCoSheriff) April 4, 2022
Investigators said the man was homeless.
During the investigation, “a reliable confidential source” reached out to deputies to advise them she heard the suspect was a man with “beautiful eyes” and he told her he didn’t mean for the incident to transpire, an affidavit for an arrest warrant shows. The source gave deputies his phone number and they reached out to contact him.
According to the affidavit, detectives learned the suspect went by the alias “Cat Eyes” and other homeless sources told them that he murdered “Pop,” the name the victim went by.
Investigators said they later identified “Cat Eyes” as Lester Starling, 48, and discovered he had been arrested previously for possession of narcotics.
An affidavit shows the manager on duty at the gas station around the time the stabbing occurred recalled Starling slapped the wheelchair-bound Henderson in the face during an argument before the two left toward a Greyhound bus station.
A source also said they received a phone call from Starling after the stabbing, detectives said.
“The phone call between the reliable confidential source and Lester Starling was 34 minutes and 36 seconds long and during that call, he downplayed the stabbing of Charlie Henderson and never denied his involvement, claimed it was an accident, and detailed the lack of witnesses and how it would not be caught on surveillance cameras,” an affidavit shows.
Deputies later arrested Starling on Tuesday in connection with the incident. He is facing a first-degree murder charge and is currently booked into the Orange County jail.