Background: Prairie Lakes Hospital in Watertown, South Dakota, the location where the victim was brought (Google Maps). Inset: Melody Harless (Codington County Jail).
A woman is accused of stabbing her fiance nearly to death while they were packing boxes inside of their eastern South Dakota home.
Melody Harless has been charged with attempted murder, the Watertown Police Department announced. Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that she also faces a drug charge and is accused of violating her probation.
On Sunday, shortly after noon, Harless and her fiance were at their home on the 3400 block of 13th Avenue Southwest in the city. They were packing boxes and arguing, according to court documents obtained by Sioux Falls Live, and suddenly, verbal sparring turned physical.
Harless allegedly grabbed an 8- to 10-inch knife from one of the boxes in the kitchen and used it to "poke" her fiance in the chest. He is said to have fallen to the ground, told his romantic partner he was bleeding, and told her he needed to go to a hospital.
Watertown police reported being called at approximately 1:30 p.m. about a vehicle speeding through the city and ignoring traffic signals. Harless is alleged to have been driving, and the victim reported that "everything was closing in" and that he was seeing white light.
Soon after, officers responded to Prairie Lakes Hospital "regarding a 30-year-old male who had been dropped off at the Emergency Room with a stab wound to the chest." He reportedly had a collapsed lung and an "apparent stab wound on the upper left side of his chest."
Police said investigators learned that he had sustained the "serious, life-threatening injuries" while at home with his fiancee. They found Harless about 2 miles away and detained her. She allegedly admitted that she recently used meth, that her fiance was "stabbed by somebody," and that she drove him to the hospital, Sioux Falls Live reported.
Harless was arrested and booked into the Codington County Detention Center. Though she was originally charged with first-degree attempted murder, court records show that charge was downgraded to second-degree attempted murder. She is being held on a $50,000 bond.
The victim's current health status is unclear, but he was reportedly able to speak with investigators while in the hospital.
Watertown is located in eastern South Dakota, around 40 miles west of the state's border with Minnesota.