Serena Dolnics told investigators she was hurt doing yard work after police found her father dead and recovered three bloodied knives.
VALPARAISO, Ind. — An explanation about gardening has emerged as one of the most unusual points in the murder case against Serena Dolnics, an Indiana woman whose injured hands drew investigators’ attention after her father was found dead inside their Morgan Township home.
Dolnics, 32, told police her wounds came from using a weed whacker or small saw while working outside, according to reports citing court documents. Investigators wrote that there did not appear to be a garden on the property, while medical personnel and police described the injuries as consistent with a knife slipping through a hand. Three knives with blood on them had also been recovered inside the house. Those circumstances are now part of a larger case in which Dolnics is accused of murdering her father, Gregory Dolnics. She has pleaded not guilty and remains accused, not convicted.
The focus on her hands developed only after a much larger emergency response. Deputies were called to the home shortly before 8 p.m. July 26 because Gregory Dolnics’ relatives had been unable to contact him. Family members told dispatchers that Serena Dolnics lived with her father and had made statements they considered unusual when they tried to speak with him. While the welfare request was being made, another person who knew Serena reportedly contacted relatives with a more alarming claim: that she had been seen covered in blood and that Gregory had been stabbed.
Police arriving at the property saw evidence that caused the call to escalate. Deputies entered the home and found Gregory Dolnics dead. Court records described multiple wounds to his head, face, hands and other areas and a major wound to his chest. Authorities said an organ believed to be his heart had been removed and appeared to have been placed on his abdomen. An autopsy later attributed the death to multiple sharp-force injuries and classified the manner of death as homicide. Some news reports list Gregory as 69, while others identify him as 70.
Those findings established that police were investigating a violent death, but they did not by themselves determine who was responsible. Investigators began documenting the contents of the home. Three knives with blood on them were among the items recovered, according to accounts of the charging papers. Reports also described blood elsewhere in the residence and near the body. The publicly available accounts do not provide complete laboratory results for those items, so claims beyond what investigators documented at the scene remain unconfirmed.
Serena Dolnics was still at the residence as officers worked through the house. Reports citing court records said she was found in a bedroom and did not immediately emerge, prompting a tactical response before she was taken into custody. When police encountered her, they described blood on her clothing, legs and feet. Officers also saw the injuries to her hands, which resulted in her being transported to a hospital before she was taken to jail. The injuries soon became a point of comparison between her explanation and investigators’ interpretation of the physical evidence.
At the hospital and during subsequent questioning, investigators asked how her hands had been hurt. Dolnics attributed the wounds to outdoor work, according to reports of the filings, saying she had been clumsy while using a weed whacker or small saw. Police noted that they did not find what appeared to be a garden at the home. More important to the criminal investigation, the court documents said the hand wounds looked like injuries that could result from a knife sliding through a person’s grip. Investigators also recorded blood on the handles of the knives recovered inside.
That comparison does not amount to a conviction, and the allegations remain subject to forensic review and courtroom testing. A medical observation that an injury is “consistent with” a particular mechanism does not necessarily establish the only way the injury could have occurred. Likewise, the presence of blood on an object does not by itself answer every question about who handled it, when it was used or whose blood was present. Prosecutors may rely on scientific testing, witness testimony and other evidence as the case develops, while the defense can contest those conclusions.
Dolnics also gave investigators an account of her relationship with her father. According to reports citing the interview, she denied killing Gregory and said they got along well apart from occasional disagreements. She also said she had been watching television that day. Authorities have not publicly announced a motive that would explain the killing alleged in the charge. The contrast between those statements and the physical circumstances described by police is likely to remain significant as attorneys examine what statements are admissible and how much weight jurors should give them if the case reaches trial.
The welfare-check communications provide another category of evidence separate from the hand wounds. Relatives said they became worried because Gregory Dolnics could not be reached. They also described Serena Dolnics’ responses when they asked to speak with him. During the call to authorities, a friend or boyfriend reportedly relayed that he had seen Serena covered in blood and made statements about what he believed had happened. Those communications occurred before deputies completed their search of the home, making their timing relevant to the chronology described in charging records.
Prosecutors ultimately filed a murder charge against Dolnics, and Porter County jail records showed her being held without bond. She entered a not-guilty plea during a July 30 court appearance. A not-guilty plea does not require a defendant to provide an alternative explanation for every piece of evidence at that stage. It places the burden on prosecutors to prove the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt and allows the defense to challenge the state’s interpretation of statements, medical findings, physical evidence and witness accounts.
Public reporting has not disclosed a complete forensic inventory or a final account of what investigators believe happened during the hours before the welfare check. No reliable report reviewed here establishes when Gregory Dolnics was last seen alive, how long he had been dead before deputies arrived or what event prosecutors believe triggered the alleged violence. Investigators initially said they were working to determine a motive. Those gaps matter because they separate evidence described in early charging documents from questions that may require additional investigation or courtroom testimony.
The gardening explanation has attracted attention because it gave investigators a specific claim they could compare with what they saw on the property and with the wounds on Dolnics’ hands. Yet the pending case is substantially broader than that single statement. It includes the relatives’ attempt to reach Gregory, information received during the welfare call, the condition in which police found him, the knives recovered from the residence, Dolnics’ condition when officers encountered her and the medical examiner’s homicide determination.
Dolnics has pleaded not guilty to murder and public reports continue to describe her as being held without bond. No final judgment in the case was identified in the sources reviewed for this article, and authorities have not publicly established a motive. The gardening account remains one alleged inconsistency among several pieces of evidence prosecutors may seek to use as the case proceeds.
Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.