2 Tampa men accused of fatally stabbing man on USF campus, fleeing in his truck

Two men fatally stabbed a 61-year-old man in a University of South Florida parking lot Saturday after he gave them a ride, according to campus police.

David Tyler Bartles, 21, and Thomas Allen Phanphilathip, 36, both of Tampa, stole Winton C. Cutchins’ truck after the killing and fled to Ocala, where they were arrested, the department said in a news release Tuesday.

Police found Cutchins’ body in parking lot 3C near the Fine Arts Building in Tampa.

Bartles and Phanphilathip showed up at Cutchins’ house early Saturday morning asking for a ride to a campus bus depot, according to the release.

Cutchins drove them to a USF parking lot, where the two men stabbed him with a knife and pulled him from his Chevrolet pickup truck, police said.

Ocala police officers arrested Bartles and Phanphilathip, who had fled in Cutchins’ truck, after they were reported as “looking suspicious at a local gas station,” according to the release.

Bartles and Phanphilathip are being held in the Marion County Jail awaiting extradition back to Hillsborough County, police said. Both face charges of first-degree murder and theft of a motor vehicle by force.

“None of the parties involved are affiliated with USF, and based on the targeted intent of this crime, the safety of the USF community was not at risk,” the release said.