Man sentenced to 99 years in prison for stabbing stranger 18 times at Arlington gas station

A 58-year-old man was sentenced to 99 years in prison for the July 2021 stabbing death of a man at an Arlington gas station.

A jury found Ricky Ensley guilty of murder and handed down his sentence Friday — the day the man he killed would have celebrated his 62nd birthday, Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells noted on X .

“We are grateful for the work of the Arlington Police Department on this case and for continually keeping our community safe,” Sorrells said.

Ensley initially told police he was nowhere near RaceTrac in the 3300 block of E. Division Street when Roberto Lopez was killed. But according to his arrest warrant affidavit, surveillance video shows Ensley walking away from Lopez's vehicle at the same time Lopez is seen getting out of his white Honda, covered in blood.

After learning he had been filmed, Ensley changed his story and said he got into Lopez's car “to listen to music with him,” the affidavit states. Ensley admitted to police that he had never seen Lopez before and did not know her name.

Ensley was arrested on Aug. 3, 2021, and charged with murder in October of that year, according to court records. His first trial ended in dismissal last year.

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