Man Pleads Guilty for Nearly Fatal Knife Attack

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Stewartville man has pleaded guilty to a first degree assault charge for a knife attack on his roommate that nearly killed the victim.

26-year-old Joseph Dahl had also been charged with 1st and 2nd degree attempted murder. He was accused of stabbing his 62-year-old roommate several times in late December 2014.

One of the wounds was to the right groin area where the femoral artery was cut. When deputies entered the apartment where the attack took place, they found the victim soaked in blood and tied a tourniquet to his right leg to stop the bleeding until paramedics arrived. The deputies were later told had the victim not received immediate medical attention, he would have died. Besides the serious leg injury, he had also been stabbed in the chest several times and both lungs collapsed.

The apartment was trashed and Dahl was found bleeding from some minor self-inflicted knife wounds. He later told investigators he had taken methamphetamine before the attack. Dahl also indicated he had been dating his roommate’s daughter and he and the victim got into an argument over the relationship.