A 25-year-old man is out of jail after a district judge Monday dismissed an attempted homicide case against him in connection with a knife attack in Butler earlier this year.

John Patrick Conley III, who has no known address, was accused of stabbing Jessie Markovitz, 34, of Butler on April 2 at a home in the 200 block of North Elm Street.

Butler police a short time later found Markovitz at a home on nearby East Brady Street, where he had fled after the suspected attack.

He was treated at Butler Memorial Hospital for a stab wound to his upper back and later released.

Conley the following day turned himself in to police, who charged him with stabbing Markovitz with a kitchen knife during an argument at the North Elm Street apartment.

Officers recovered a knife with a 5-inch blade at the apartment.

Conley was arraigned April 3 on charges of attempted homicide and aggravated assault, and placed in the Butler County Prison on $250,000 bail.

But when Markovitz failed to appear Monday at Conley's preliminary hearing, District Judge Pete Shaffer dismissed the case.

“We can't find him,” Butler police Lt. Michael Dalcamo said of the alleged victim, outside the courtroom.

The last police knew, he said, Markovitz was reportedly in drug rehab at an unknown facility. That news came from the Butler County adult probation office.

Because the victim was unavailable while receiving drug addiction treatment, Shaffer on May 19 agreed to delay Conley's previously scheduled preliminary hearing.

But when Markovitz again was a no-show, Shaffer dismissed the case.

Dalcamo noted that prosecutor Mark Lope, a Butler County assistant district attorney, advised police that once they find Markovitz, they can refile charges against Conley.

Michael Jewart, Conley's court-appointed attorney, declined to comment after the proceedings.

Markovitz, meanwhile, is to appear Thursday in Butler County Court to be sentenced on charges in connection with four separate criminal cases.

He previously pleaded guilty in those cases, all in 2013, to three charges of possessing drug paraphernalia and a charge of public drunkenness.