(Greenfield, Iowa) – A man arrested Sept.25th near Casey in Adair County, has a preliminary hearing set to take place this week. The hearing for 50-year-old Michael Todd Dolezal, of Mason City, will occur 10:30-a.m. Thursday, in Adair County District Court. Dolezal faces a Class B Felony charge of Attempted Murder, and a Class D Felony charge of Possession of a Controlled Substance/3rd of subsequent offense, in connection with a stabbing incident. He remains held in the Adair County Jail on a $300,000 cash-only bond.

As we previously reported, the Adair County Sheriff’s Office received a cellular 9-1-1 call at 11:58-p.m. Sunday, Sept. 24th. The line was open but initially there was no response. A short time later, the dispatcher could hear a female screaming “stop” repeatedly. 911 mapping showed that the call was coming from a location on Interstate 80. A review of the 911 call later revealed a man saying “I’m going to kill you.” Shortly after midnight, a passerby placed a second cellular 911 call. The male caller described some sort of altercation between a male and a female, in or very near the inside of lane of travel. The caller also noted a vehicle in the ditch west of the male and female. The caller placed the incident at approximately the 84mm on I-80, which is east of the Casey interchange.

An Adair County deputy sheriff and an Adair police officer arrived at the 84mm at 12:06 a.m., Sept 25th and located a vehicle in the ditch, but did not initially locate any persons. Later, yelling could be heard east of their location. A man was heard yelling “Get up.”

Michael T. Dolezal booking photo

Law enforcement then located a man – Dolezal – on his knees, holding a woman in his arms, with what appeared to be blood on the ground near the two. Dolezal was handcuffed, and life-saving treatment was immediately administered to the adult female, who was identified as Ashlee Clarke. The woman said Dolezal was her father. She told a paramedic Dolezal stabbed her, and had hit her on the head.

Clarke was stabbed 14 times. She had wounds on her wrists, forearm, upper arm, chest, back and neck. The stab wound to her upper chest penetrated deep enough to allow air into her chest cavity, causing a tension pneumothorax – a severe condition that results when air is trapped in the chest cavity, compromising cardiopulmonary function. Clarke was transported by air ambulance to a Des Moines area hospital.