ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A landlord who was upset with tenants who reportedly "devastated her financially" by not paying rent stabbed them both with a knife Monday morning at the home they share near Apopka, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies said they were called to North Lake Pleasant Road at 9:23 a.m. and found a man and woman, who are in a romantic relationship, both suffering from stab wounds to the torso. The 29-year-old man was also stabbed in the neck, according to the report.
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Both victims were taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center for treatment. Once there, the female victim told deputies 58-year-old Paula Benson stabbed her and her boyfriend during an altercation at the home the three share, according to the affidavit.
The woman said she was asleep in the room she and her boyfriend rent when she woke up to the sound of him screaming and saw Benson stabbing him with a knife, the report said.
Deputies said Benson fled the home in a Mazda truck. She was arrested nearby in the area of Semoran Boulevard and Wekiwa Springs Road, officials said.
During an interview with authorities, Benson said the two victims were renting a room from her at the home and have "devastated her financially" by not paying rent and sabotaging her vehicle, which caused her to miss work and lose money, according to the affidavit.
Benson said that three days earlier, one of the victims gave her an HP printer to keep as collateral until rent could be paid. Benson would bring the printer with her to work each day so the victims wouldn't take it because they regularly stole her property and she would have to "steal it back," the report said.
She claimed the victims stole her cellphone and changed passwords to her Google and Facebook accounts before she could get it back, according to authorities.
Information about the exact circumstances surrounding the stabbing was redacted from Benson's arrest report.
Officials from the Orange County Sheriff's Office said they've been called to the home 34 times since last August, mostly for verbal arguments. They were also called out for a burglary, a few more trespassing calls, an aggravated battery and a few calls for assaults, according to sheriff's deputies.
Benson was charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.