Daniel Trent: Florida Man Kills Best Friend For Taking The Last Beer
Daniel Trent wanted the last can of beer from a 18-pack of Natural Ice, but instead his friend Mark Durham grabbed the can — then paid dearly for it.
Police in Florida say the two men got into an argument over the last beer, one that ended with Trent stabbing Durham to death and then killing his friend’s beagle.
The 38-year-old Trent was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree murder after killing his friend for taking the last beer. Police said the two had just polished off a 24 pack of Natural Ice when they moved on to another 18 pack. After the two drank the first 17 beers, Mark Durham took the last one for himself.
“He didn’t want to share it. He wanted it for himself,” Daniel Trent said during a jailhouse interview with the Ocala Star-Banner.
This provoked an argument between the drunken men, and Durham eventually pulled out a small knife and cut Trent on his index finger. Trent then grabbed the knife and stabbed his friend in the stomach and chest.
But the incident took an even more bizarre twist. As Durham was dying from his stab wounds, he reportedly asked Trent to stab his pet beagle. The dog was also killed.
A representative from Universal Life Care Advocate Center, an agency that helps disabled adults land jobs, noticed blood and the dead dog while paying a visit to Trent, prompting the agent to call police.
Police interviewed Daniel Trent, who claimed he was justified in stabbing his friend and asked to be taken to The Centers, a mental health facility.
Trent is still maintaining his innocence.
“I felt this was self defense because he attacked me,” Trent told the Star-Banner.
Neighbors said Daniel Trent was seen as odd, and had a reputation as a hard drinker.
“He just acted really strange, was overly friendly and drank a lot,” next door neighbor Geralyn Anderson told WCJB-TV.
Strangely enough, this isn’t the first time one friend has killed another for the crime of taking the last beer. In Australia, a man was charged with beating his friend and then setting the man on fire after he finished beers he had been asked not to drink.
The Florida man who killed his friend for taking the last beer ironically brought their friendship full circle. Daniel Trent and Mark Durham had first met a few months before at a store, where they were both purchasing beer.