Deputies said the dispute began as an argument over payment for earlier work.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A 56-year-old man was arrested after Orange County deputies said he stabbed another man in the neck with a box cutter during an argument over money on March 2 in the 4300 block of West Jackson Street.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Sean Abner was charged with attempted second-degree murder after deputies said the confrontation with Eddie Crayton turned violent. The case matters now because the allegation involves a neck wound, a felony charge and witness accounts that investigators said supported the victim’s account. Crayton was treated at a hospital, and Abner was later booked into the Orange County Jail.
A deputy responded to the West Jackson Street address after a report of an aggravated battery, according to the affidavit. Investigators said Crayton told the deputy he had been working when Abner got out of a vehicle and began arguing with him about payment for a previous job. Crayton said the dispute escalated when Abner knocked him to the ground. He then told deputies Abner stabbed him on the left side of his neck with a box cutter. The affidavit lays out that sequence as the central account behind the arrest.
Deputies said two witnesses at the scene told investigators they saw Crayton and Abner arguing. Their statements, as summarized in the affidavit, backed up at least part of the confrontation described by the victim. The public account released Monday did not say whether the witnesses saw the stabbing itself, how long the argument lasted or whether anyone tried to stop it before deputies arrived. It also did not describe the extent of Crayton’s injuries beyond saying he was treated at a hospital. Authorities did not publicly list a defense statement from Abner in the material described in the report.
The records described in the report frame the case as a dispute tied to money allegedly owed for earlier work. That detail gives investigators a possible motive, though court records and a fuller account of the work arrangement were not included in the public summary. The address given by deputies is in Orange County west of downtown Orlando, and the incident was handled as a serious violent felony rather than a minor assault. The charging decision, as outlined in the affidavit, suggests investigators believed the alleged actions and the location of the wound justified a higher-level offense.
For now, the case appears to be in its early court stage. Abner has been arrested and booked into jail, but the public summary did not include details about a first appearance, bond ruling, plea or a scheduled hearing date. It also did not say whether prosecutors planned to file additional documents or whether investigators were still collecting surveillance video, medical records or more witness statements. Those steps are common next milestones as a felony case moves from arrest paperwork into formal prosecution.
The brief account released by authorities leaves the clearest picture at street level: a workday argument, a sudden fight and a wound serious enough to send one man to the hospital and another to jail. Deputies did not describe the mood at the scene, but the witness statements suggest others were nearby when the confrontation unfolded. In the end, the public record released so far centers on Crayton’s statement that the dispute turned physical and the deputies’ decision to treat the case as an attempted killing rather than a lesser battery offense.
The case stood Monday with Abner in the Orange County Jail and the attempted second-degree murder charge listed in the arrest paperwork. The next major milestone will likely come when court records show his first scheduled hearing or any updated filing from prosecutors.
Author note: Last updated March 9, 2026.