An Ankeny woman is facing an attempted murder charge after police say she stabbed her boyfriend in the torso while he was sleeping, leaving him with a wound serious enough to require stitches. Officers arrested 49-year-old Melissa Marie Shiffer following the attack, which authorities say she later explained by claiming it stemmed from an argument she believed the couple was having.
According to WHO13, court records show a man arrived at a Des Moines hospital at around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday with a stab wound to his torso. The victim told officers he had been sleeping at an Ankeny residence in the 2100 block of W 1st Street when his girlfriend stabbed him, per the criminal complaint cited in the report.
Wound Described as Large and Bleeding Heavily
Ankeny police officers who responded described the injury as a large, piercing wound that was bleeding heavily and required stitches, according to court records referenced in the station's report. Based on that account, officers arrested Shiffer and charged her with attempted murder, domestic abuse assault with intent to inflict serious injury — first offense, and domestic abuse assault involving the display or use of a weapon — first offense.
Shiffer allegedly admitted to officers that she stabbed the victim because of an argument she believed the two of them were having, the outlet's report states. Court records say she is now being held at the Polk County Jail without bond, and a preliminary hearing in her case is scheduled for November 13.
Another Recent Ankeny Stabbing Case
Shiffer's arrest follows a separate stabbing case in Ankeny involving 45-year-old Dawn Lynn Hatfield of Pleasant Hill, who was charged with attempted murder and willful injury causing serious injury, according to KCCI. In that case, police said officers found Hatfield brandishing a knife and stabbing the victim in the left breast, and court documents say she had called Polk County Dispatch, threatened to kill the victim, and hung up.
The two cases are unrelated, but both underscore the severity with which Ankeny police and prosecutors are treating alleged domestic violence incidents involving knives this year. No additional details on the condition of the victim in the Shiffer case, or on how the charges may ultimately be resolved, have been released.
