Locals nickname Fairbury - Mayberry - but police say what happened in alley off of J Street early Sunday morning - was far from ideal.

"When officers arrived, they noticed a female standing in the street crying. The information we recieved is that one subject had been stabbed," Fairbury Police Department Chief Chad Sprunk said.

And that stabbing, took place with a pocket knife...

"...Once in the neck, twice in the abdomen and there was also a cut above his lip," Sprunk said.

Several people were on their way back to town, from Kansas.

Police say that's when Ryan Byrd and his wife began arguing - she was assaulted by her husband. Then Byrd and another man in the car, began arguing as well.

Authorities say things got heated, Byrd pulled out the knife and stabbed the unidentified man.

"I don't know if he was trying to protect her," Sprunk said.

In a town that boasts a little more than 4,000 people, you'd think the stabbing would shake it to it's very core. But one man told 10/11 he's not shocked at all.

" We have our crime like everybody does, so, it's just more people know about it quicker around here," the man who chose not to be identified told 10/11.

The victim is okay - his identity is being withheld by authorities. Byrd sits in jail with no bond. His first court appearance is Wednesday.