DAYTON, Ohio – A suspect in the 2023 death of a man who was found in a crashed car in Orlando has been arrested in Ohio, records show.
Herlin Petion, 25, was booked on Feb. 3 at the Montgomery County Jail. He faces a charge of second-degree murder with a weapon in the death of Terrace Dolan, 57, whom Orlando police found in a crashed Subaru the morning of July 8, 2023, at Palmer Street and S. Summerlin Avenue.
Dolan was still alive when first responders got to him, but he died after being taken to the hospital, according to the affidavit for Petion’s arrest warrant.
Police announced Dolan’s death was suspicious and pointed to “injuries not consistent with the crash” in their direction to put homicide detectives on the case, according to the affidavit. Dolan suffered multiple stab wounds across his torso, legs, and head, with police noting what appeared to be defensive wounds from a blade on his arms and hands, the affidavit states. Investigators said that they intentionally kept the cause and manner of Dolan’s death from the public at that time.
Retracing locations where Dolan’s phone had been the day of the crash, police said he appeared on video at a bank along E. Pine Street withdrawing money while another man sat in his passenger’s seat. Investigators noted they were both seen laughing before the car was driven away shortly before 7:30 a.m.
The crash occurred within minutes, around 7:37 a.m., police said. In a nearby parking lot along Palmer Street, investigators found a blood trail that moved through a park and across a bridge, according to the affidavit. It was believed that the suspect injured himself at one point during the incident, the affidavit states.
A plastic knife sheath found in the front passenger seat of the Subaru returned insufficient DNA to identify a profile, yet police released an image from the bank video showing the suspect — later identified as Petion — in Dolan’s passenger seat.
Petion was first selected as a possible match in January 2025 through facial-recognition tech, leading investigators to a YouTube channel named HERLINPETION on which a song called “101 FREESTYLE” allegedly contained lyrics stating “he (Petion) killed someone in a park in Orlando,” according to the affidavit.
Petion was then linked to an address in Montgomery County, Ohio, where he was found and detained on Jan. 15 by the local sheriff’s office, the affidavit states. Questioned by authorities, Petion allegedly said that he couldn’t remember much of what happened July 8, 2023, even after being shown the photo from the ATM and stating, “that’s me in that picture, for sure.”
Further, after Petion’s phone was seized via warrant, investigators found that he had searched “Orlando Stabbing” on Nov. 29, 2023, and applied for a California driver’s license the same day. Police noted the search was significant due to how the cause and manner of Dolan’s death had not yet been made public.
Petion was arrested on Feb. 3 by U.S. Marshals in Dayton, Ohio, police said.
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