Federal agents with the U.S. Marshal’s Office located and apprehended Benjamin Fabian Pita in Tucson on Thursday, Dec. 14, according to a press release issued late Monday, Dec. 18.
Pita was arrested and booked on a federal parole violation warrant. Pita will remain in the Marshal’s custody until the federal case is adjudicated.
Once his federal case is adjudicated federal agencies will be in contact with the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office Warrant Division regarding Pita’s extradition to Yavapai County to face felony charges related to the stabbing.
On Dec. 8, Pita was a passenger in a vehicle traveling in the area of Thousand Trails and State Route 260 when he allegedly stabbed the driver numerous times in the face, neck arm and chest.
The victim survived the attack and a second passenger drove the car to a nearby gas station where they were met by emergency crews. The victim was then airlifted to Flagstaff Medical Center. The victim has since been released from the hospital.
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Pita remained at large until the 14th when he was arrested.
Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rocks News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been featured in Editor & Publisher magazine. He lectures on journalism and First Amendment law and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. Retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills, former director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs referred to him as "Mr. Slam Poet." In January 2025, the International Astronomical Union formally named asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) in his honor at the behest of Lowell Observatory, citing him as "an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."
