A homeless man has been arrested for attempted murder and aggravated battery on a man he used to live with.
A CCSO spokeswoman told WOKV News around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday that 24-year-old Caleb W. Ertley was taken into custody in a wooded area behind a home on Mint Circle in Middleburg.
That came over six hours after first responders found Ronald Putnam - a 69-year-old Vietnam War veteran - with multiple stab wounds at his home on Bluegrass Avenue in Middleburg. That's less than half a mile away from where Ertley was found.
Robbery and homicide detectives say it appears that Putnam was stabbed during a physical fight with the suspect. He was taken to the hospital with life threatening injuries, and is considered critical but stable as of Tuesday evening.
Richard Spain - a neighbor - says he tried to help Putnam out after he left the home covered in blood.
"He said he was attacked by someone with a machete," the neighbor stated.
CCSO spokeswoman Mary Justino says this isn't connected to the search for Ozell McNabb Jr., the suspect wanted for killing an 18-year-old man in Middleburg over the weekend.
Deputies say Ertley usually stays somewhere in the woods around Johns Cemetery Road and Foxtail Avenue in Middleburg and that he was caught after deputies found bike tracks leading from Putnam's home to a tent in the woods that Ertley was apparently using. A machete was also found nearby and seized as evidence by CCSO.
Ertley's arrest report doesn't give much insight in to what motivated the stabbing itself, but it does confirm that Ertley at one point lived with his father and Putnam. The arrest report says Ertley's father was arrested after an altercation at the home, and then Putnam asked Ertley to move out while accusing him of stealing his tools. Ertley has been living in a tent behind the home since that time.
It also shows that Ertley is a convicted felon who's been convicted twice for driving with a suspended license, one time each in Duval and Clay counties.
Another CCSO report shows Ertley's dad - 53-year-old Jeffrey L. Ertley - was arrested on July 2nd for trying to choke his son and using some sort of light to hit his son in the head during an argument at the home, causing a bloody cut at the very top of his head.
Jeffrey Ertley was allegedly intoxicated at the time and the report doesn't make it clear if Putnam was involved in anyway.
Ertley is expected in court Wednesday morning.