Haines City Police Department Press Release
An elderly man who was stabbed Friday afternoon in a parking lot has died from his injuries and the charges against the stabber have been upgraded.
Christopher Lynn King, 32, of Madison, Fla. is now being charged with felony first-degree murder after the death of 79-year-old stabbing victim, Carlos Manuel Goitia, of Haines City, on Sunday. He is also charged with aggravated battery on a victim 65 or over, armed robbery, grand theft auto, carrying a concealed weapon, fleeing to elude, driving without a valid license, resisting arrest with and without violence, wearing a mask in the commission of a felony and battery on a law enforcement officer.
While wearing a ski mask, King stabbed Goitia three times in the stomach at a medical complex parking lot on Patterson Grove Road at about 1:30 p.m. on Friday. King took Goitia’s keys and fled north on U.S. 27 in the victim’s 2003 blue Toyota Matrix.
With collaboration from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the vehicle was located shortly after, and the PIT (pursuit intervention technique) maneuver was utilized to take the vehicle off the roadway on FDC Grove Road. King was quickly apprehended despite his attempt to fight officers and deputies.
Goitia was flown to a local hospital where he underwent multiple surgeries and suffered multiple heart attacks resulting from complications of the stabbing. He was pronounced dead just after 1 p.m. on Sunday. King remains in the Polk County Jail.
“We mourn with the victim’s family for this senseless murder,” Chief Jim Elensky said. “We will work to provide the strongest case possible in collaboration with the State Attorney’s Office to prosecute this killer to the fullest extent of the law.”
