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Arlington police arrested a man Tuesday who is accused of fatally stabbing another man last month at a gas station.
Ricky Joe Ensley, 55, was booked into the Tarrant County jail on a murder charge. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
Shortly after 1 a.m. July 6, officers were called to the RaceTrac in the 3300 block of East Division Street, near Great Southwest Parkway, where a man had walked in with multiple stab wounds.
The man, 59-year-old Roberto Lopez, was taken to a hospital and died several hours later.
During their investigation, detectives spoke to a witness who knows Ensley and was visited by him on the night of the stabbing, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit.
The witness told police that Ensley said he “stabbed someone at the RaceTrac,” the affidavit says.
When detectives interviewed Ensley, he initially said he didn’t know about the stabbing. But he changed his story after police showed him surveillance video footage of him at a motel near the gas station, according to the affidavit.
Ensley told detectives he went to the motel to buy crack cocaine and later walked to gas station to wait for a ride, the affidavit says. He said he did not know Lopez but got into his car “to listen to music with him” before getting out and walking away, the affidavit says.
Ensley denied injuring Lopez, according to the affidavit.
Police said Ensley matched a witness’s description of a man who was near Lopez’s car around the time that the victim, who was “covered in blood,” approached the store.
Ensley remained in custody Thursday. He also was being held on a theft charge, and his total bail was $151,500.