MOULTRIE – A Colquitt County couple’s Friday night squabble led to one being stabbed and both being jailed after police sorted out what initially was reported as a home break-in attempt.

At about 11:34 p.m. Friday a deputy was dispatched to 6953 Highway 133 in response to a 911 call in which the caller reported that someone attempted to enter her residence. The caller said the suspect left in a white truck headed toward Berlin, according to the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office.

A short time later the deputy stopped a white Ford F-150 driven by Aurelio Villalon in the 300 block of Southerland Avenue in Berlin. When he approached the pickup truck the deputy saw that Villalon had apparent stab wounds to his left arm and called for an ambulance.

Back at the 6953 Highway 133 residence that Villalon shares with Adela Meza, Meza told police that after arguing outside for an hour or more they went inside where he grabbed her by the throat, restricting her breathing.

During the confrontation, Meza reported, she grabbed a knife from the counter and stabbed Villalon two or three times.

Meza had a small scratch on her upper neck/chin area, police said. Villalon had been stabbed some five times, with some of the wounds apparently coming while he defended himself.

“He had defensive wounds that would be consistent with his story,” sheriff’s Sgt. Austin Cannon said. “(That) they were arguing, he pushed her, and she grabbed a knife and stabbed him.”

Meza and Villalon had returned from a restaurant where they had drinks prior to the argument at their residence, Cannon said.

Meza, 50, was charged with aggravated assault (family violence) and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.

Villalon, 37, was treated at Colquitt Regional Medical Center and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Police charged him with simple battery (family violence).

Prior to the arrival of police, Cannon said, Meza cleaned up signs of the stabbing and the weapon.

While Villalon was driving after he had been drinking, at the time that occurred he was escaping a situation in which he was being assaulted, Cannon said, so no charges were filed for that action.