LEWISTON — John Beeler lay in a hospital bed Wednesday with tubes inserted in various parts of his upper body. A 12-inch incision snaked up his belly and there were bandages over his five stab wounds. He had not eaten in two days and was expected to remain confined to the hospital at least until the end of the week.

With all that going on, what bothered the 27-year-old Lewiston man the most was a write-up about him in the local paper.

“It said I was in the middle of a love triangle,” Beeler said. “There is no love triangle.”

Late Monday night, Beeler was stabbed in an apartment at 92 Pine St. It was a fight between two men and a woman was at the center, but still. Beeler says the term “love triangle” does not apply.

“She’s a really good friend of mine,” Beeler said. “I try to help her and her family out whenever I can.”

That’s where the trouble began.

Beeler said he got a call Monday night from a friend who was having problems with her daughter. Beeler went over and tried to sort things out. He tried to call the girl’s father. The problem went unresolved and trouble was brewing.

Later, Beeler got another call from his friend. This time, she told him that her ex-boyfriend was bothering her in an apartment at 92 Pine St. Again, Beeler went over to do what he could to help, meaning to confront the ex-boyfriend and make him leave.

“I don’t want to make it sound like I had no part in this,” he said. “I did get cocky. I expected we’d have a few words, maybe throw a few punches at the worst. It didn’t play out like that.”

During the confrontation, Beeler said, he saw the man pull a knife from either a pocket or the belt of his pants.

“It was a 10-inch steak knife. He stabbed me a couple times. I backed up and tripped over a futon mattress.”

Beeler was stuck between a table and the woman he had come to rescue. For a while, he said, the other man just walked around the room.

“Then he came back and jabbed at me a couple more times,” Beeler said. “I don’t remember which stab wounds came first or any of that. It all seemed very quick to me.”

Beeler was stabbed twice in the shoulder, on his right side just above the hip, on the left side below the armpit and once in the center of his gut.

Police were called, an ambulance was sent and Beeler ended up at Central Maine Medical Center.

Surgeons opened him up to check for damaged organs, Beeler said. While they were in there, they took out his appendix because of damage unrelated to the stabbing. Beeler was hoping to be home by the weekend.

“He’s a tough cookie,” said his brother David.

No arrest has been made in the knifing. Police are still interviewing witnesses as their investigation continues.

Beeler said he understood that police have to be careful as they put together a case. He would like to see the man who stabbed him charged. But foremost, he wanted to clarify that no romantic entanglement was at the center of the dispute.

“Love triangle,” he said. “That’s just wrong.”

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