More details emerge from Wednesday stabbing

More details are emerging in the Wednesday stabbing of a 25-year-old man through documents filed charging his alleged attacker.

A court document charging 50-year-old Kalispell resident William Irvin Smith Jr. with felony assault with a weapon states that Smith had met victim Saylen Nielsen at the home of a female friend earlier in the evening. Nielsen and the woman reportedly had been arguing, according to statements attributed to Smith.

The men left her home in Nielsen’s vehicle and went to Cattlemen’s to drink. Both men told police they got into an argument and then a fight in Nielsen’s vehicle after leaving the bar. The court document states the men’s stories diverged from there.

Smith reportedly told police that Nielsen fled his vehicle without incident sometime during the fight.

Nielsen, however, allegedly told police the two had been arguing at the woman’s house earlier. He said when he pulled over on Farm to Market Road after leaving the bar and getting into a fight, Smith pulled out a knife and started stabbing him.

After Nielsen fled the vehicle and knocked on the door of a Barron Way residence, police responded and found him on the back patio of the home with a single stab wound in his neck and three stab wounds in his abdomen. He was then transported to the hospital.

Smith was apprehended approximately a half hour later during a traffic stop on U.S. 93 North by a Montana Highway Patrol trooper who believed Smith was driving drunk. Smith was reportedly driving Nielsen’s vehicle at the time.

According to the court document, blood and other evidence seen in and near the vehicle indicated Smith had been involved in the stabbing. A knife reportedly was found in Smith’s pocket, and after Nielsen signed a waiver for his vehicle to be searched, a fixed-blade serrated knife was found in the hatchback area.

If convicted, Smith faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 3.