Wearing a blue suicide prevention vest, Serena Dolnics pleaded not guilty to a murder charge Thursday morning that accuses her of fatally stabbing her father and cutting out his heart on July 26.
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Dolnics, 32, of Wheatfield, made her initial appearance via a video feed from the Porter County Jail before Senior Judge David C. Matsey, who was substituting for Circuit Court Judge Rebecca Buitendorp.
She is being held without bond.
Deputy Porter County Prosecutor Mary Ryan read the charge against Dolnics that accuses her of fatally stabbing her father, Gregory Dolnics, at his home on County Road 450 in Morgan Township.
If convicted, Serena Dolnics could face a sentence of 45 to 65 years.
Serena Dolnics quietly offered short answers to questions posed by Judge Matsey.
“I’ll figure it out,” she said when asked if she intended to hire her own attorney.
When asked how soon she would hire an attorney, Serena Dolnics replied: “Probably as soon as possible.”
Porter County Sheriff’s detectives were initially dispatched just before 8 p.m. Sunday on a well-being check at Gregory Dolnics’ residence on County Road 450 E. in Morgan Township.
Her boyfriend told detectives that he came to the Dolnics’ residence and saw Serena inside “covered in blood” and that he thinks she stabbed her father, the probable cause statement says.
In addition, the boyfriend believed that Serena was in danger of killing herself.
The body of Gregory Dolnics was found dead on the floor. A later autopsy revealed that he had suffered multiple lacerations on his hands and face, stab wounds on the back of his neck, and multiple stab and slash wound along with his heart cut out of his chest.
Porter County’s Emergency Response Team located Serena Dolnics in a bedroom with blood on her bare feet. Her tank top shirt was blood stained and her bare legs also had blood on them. There was no one else in the house.
After being taken to a local hospital for treatment, she told police that she injured her hands using a weed whacker or small saw in the garden.
However, a search of the property found no garden, bloody shears or saw, court records show.
Serena Dolnics told police that she didn’t observe her father injured that day. She remembered that police came to the house and that she texted her boyfriend “not to come over.”
Her next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Aug. 11.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.