SOUTH BEND - A South Bend woman was treated for multiple stab wounds Sunday after an altercation over an ex-boyfriend, police said. A suspect has been arrested.

County police were contacted Sunday evening by St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in regard to a woman at the hospital - 19-year-old Annette Miller - seeking treatment for multiple stab wounds, according to a news release.

A friend had driven Miller to the hospital from a home in the 50000 block of Sean Court in South Bend, where she had been stabbed outside the home during an altercation with an 18-year-old woman over an ex-boyfriend, county police spokesman Sgt. Bill Redman said.

According to Redman, Miller had her friend drive her to the home about 5:30 p.m. after learning her ex-boyfriend was there. The suspect met her in the front yard, he said, but then went back into the house to change out of swimsuit bottoms and a tank top.

Before returning, he said, the suspect, fearing for her safety, grabbed a knife from inside the home.

What happened next is unclear, Redman said. Although the suspect admitted to grabbing the knife and then fighting with Miller, she never acknowledged stabbing her, he said. And both women blamed the other for instigating the fight.

Miller’s friend told police she never left her vehicle and didn’t witness the altercation.

Miller suffered multiple stab wounds and lacerations to her arm, stomach, chest, shoulders and back - all non-life-threatening - and the other woman had redness on the side of her face and neck, Redman said.

The suspect was arrested on a preliminary charge of aggravated battery and on an outstanding warrant out of Elkhart County.

Staff writer Erin Blasko: eblasko@sbtinfo.com