MAN IN HOSPITAL AFTER STABBING

DEXTER -- A Dexter man is recovering after being stabbed four times at a party early Thursday morning.

Jamie L. West's alleged assailant is in the Dexter City Jail awaiting the filing of formal charges, according to Stoddard County Deputy Hank Trout. The suspect's name is being withheld pending the filing of formal charges.

The 27-year-old victim was one of five family and friends attending a party at the Scott Sielert residence on County Road 413, northwest of Dexter, Trout said.

West was stabbed on the front porch of the residence, Trout said. Two others, including the alleged suspect, were on the porch at that time.

"According to the hospital, he was stabbed three times in the back and once in the chest," Trout said. A knife was recovered at the scene.

According to Trout, "they took him to the hospital (at Dexter). Everyone at the scene loaded him in a truck and took him to the hospital." West was transferred to St. Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau where he is in serious, but stable condition.

Staff members at Dexter Memorial Hospital contacted police and reported the stabbing.

Deputies have interviewed the witnesses and suspect, Trout said.

The motive for the altercation is unknown so far, and the suspect is "denying it," Trout said.

Meanwhile, relatives of West were arrested by the Dexter Police Department after an incident on the parking lot of Dexter Memorial Hospital.