Woman Charged With Murder After Father’s Heart Placed on Abdomen

​VALPARAISO, Ind. — An Indiana community remains in a state of shock following the gruesome details emerging from a welfare check that exposed a parricide scene.

​Authorities have formally charged 32-year-old Serena Desiree Dolnics with murder after investigators discovered her 69-year-old father, Gregory Dolnics, brutally slain inside their northwestern Indiana residence.

​According to probable cause affidavits filed by the Porter County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to the home located in the 50 block of South 450 East just outside Valparaiso around 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 26. Family members had contacted emergency services after growing increasingly alarmed by unreturned phone calls and erratic statements made by the suspect when asked about her father’s whereabouts.

​While a relative was actively relaying information to a 911 dispatcher, a witness—identified in reports as Serena Dolnics’ boyfriend—arrived at the property and alerted authorities that the home was locked, blood was visible, and the suspect was completely covered in gore.

​Deputies forced entry into the residence, where they encountered a scene of staggering violence. Gregory Dolnics was found dead on the living room floor near blood-spattered furniture. An autopsy later confirmed he succumbed to multiple sharp-force injuries, sustaining deep slash wounds to his head, face, neck, and hands. In a macabre escalation, the victim’s heart had been surgically carved out and placed directly upon his stomach.

​Officers conducting a protective sweep located Serena Dolnics locked inside a bedroom. She was taken into custody wearing a blood-soaked tank top, with visible blood smeared across her legs and bare feet. Three blood-stained knives were recovered from the interior of the home.

​During subsequent questioning, the suspect exhibited a detached demeanor, claiming to detectives that she and her father “got along really well” and spent the day watching television. When questioned about lacerations discovered across her own hands and palms—injuries medical professionals noted were characteristic of a hand slipping forward onto a knife blade during a stabbing motion—she blamed minor gardening mishaps involving a weedwhacker.

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​Dolnics appeared via video link for her initial court appearance wearing a suicide prevention vest, entering a plea of not guilty to the murder charge. When pressed by the bench regarding legal representation, she responded that she would “figure it out.”

​The presiding judge ordered her held without bond pending a status hearing scheduled for today to evaluate her legal counsel arrangements. Court archives indicate the defendant carries a prior criminal history that includes convictions for substance abuse and driving under the influence.