An arrest affidavit says the victim was stabbed in the neck after a confrontation about payment.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County deputies arrested Sean Abner, 56, after investigators said he stabbed another man with a box cutter during a dispute over money tied to a previous job, leaving the victim hospitalized and prompting an attempted second-degree murder charge.
The arrest puts a spotlight on how a short dispute over payment can quickly become a major felony case. According to the affidavit described in the report, the key people in the case are Abner, the accused, and Eddie Crayton, the injured man who told deputies the confrontation turned violent while he was working on March 2. Authorities said witness statements and the reported neck injury formed the basis for the arrest.
The confrontation began, investigators said, when a deputy was called to the 4300 block of West Jackson Street after a report of aggravated battery. Crayton told the responding deputy that Abner got out of a vehicle and started arguing with him about money from earlier work. Crayton said the argument did not stay verbal. According to the affidavit, he told deputies Abner knocked him to the ground and then stabbed him on the left side of the neck. That allegation became the core of the attempted murder case outlined in the arrest paperwork.
The case file described in the report adds support from two witnesses, who deputies said saw the two men arguing at the scene. Their accounts were included as part of the affidavit, though the public summary did not spell out every detail each witness gave investigators. It also did not say whether deputies recovered the box cutter at the scene, whether photographs or video were collected, or how quickly medical crews reached Crayton. What is clear from the released account is that Crayton was taken to a hospital for treatment and survived the injury.
By charging attempted second-degree murder, deputies signaled that investigators viewed the alleged attack as far more serious than a simple fight between two men who knew each other through work. The accusation described in the affidavit connects a financial disagreement to a weapon and an injury to the neck, a part of the body often treated as especially dangerous in assault investigations. Even so, the public summary leaves major facts unresolved, including the amount of money at issue, the exact nature of the earlier job and whether there had been earlier disputes between the men.
Abner was later booked into the Orange County Jail, according to the report. Beyond that, the public account released Monday did not include a hearing calendar, bond information, statements from defense counsel or a response from prosecutors beyond the charge itself. Those missing details are likely to become clearer in court filings as the case moves forward. Investigators may also rely on hospital records, witness interviews and any physical evidence collected at the scene as the prosecution develops.
The story so far is built from a narrow but serious set of facts: a worker’s account, witness observations, a neck wound and an arrest that followed. No broader public safety alert was included in the report, and authorities did not indicate any additional suspects. The known facts instead point to a one-on-one dispute that escalated fast in public view, leaving one man injured and another facing one of the most serious charges available short of a completed homicide case.
As of Monday, the case remained at the arrest stage, with Abner jailed and the attempted second-degree murder allegation standing in the affidavit. The next concrete update will likely come from an initial court appearance or later filings that add detail to what deputies say happened on West Jackson Street.
Author note: Last updated March 9, 2026.