LAKE BUTLER, Fla. -- Two drivers -- both state corrections employees -- were killed in a head-on collision that authorities believe may be connected to the stabbing of another corrections officer in a domestic violence incident.

Union County deputies were investigating the stabbing in a home on Southwest Seventh Street at about 10 a.m. Friday when they learned that a pickup truck thought to have left the stabbing scene had crashed into a Department of Corrections van on county Road 231 about three miles from the home just south of Lake Butler.

Both the driver of the pickup, 42-year-old Donald Bazzell, and the driver of the DOC van, 32-year-old Adam Sanderson, died in the collision. Fred Jackson, 41, was a passenger in the DOC van. He was airlifted to Shands Medical Center in Gainesville with serious injuries.

The stabbing victim, 26-year-old Rebecca Ocker, was stabbed in the head, face and arms.

"My ex-boyfriend just stabbed the hell out of me. He stabbed me in my head, in my neck, in my chest and … he was stabbing me with something," Ocker told the 911 operator. "You have to hurry, I'm bleeding all over the place."

In call she also told the emergency operator that her boyfriend had beaten her with a baseball bat.

Ocker was transported to Shands in Gainesville with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. She was reported to be in stable condition Friday night.

Deputies described Bazzell as the boyfriend of the woman stabbed. Ocker's 4-year-old son was in the home when she was stabbed and was not hurt.

Sheriff Jerry Whitehead told Channel 4 that the four people involved in both incidents were all employees of the Department of Corrections.

Sheriff's deputies were investigating the stabbing, and the Florida Highway Patrol was investigating the traffic crash site. C.R. 321 was completely blocked until early afternoon while the wreck was investigated and cleared.

"For some reason the driver of the pickup truck crossed the center line and struck the van head-on. Both drivers died at the scene," said FHP Lt. Bill Leeper.

The sheriff said he suspects the crash was not an accident. He said a preliminary investigation showed Bazell was traveling 88 mph when he struck the DOC van head-on. There was no indication that Bazzell tried to brake before striking the van.

"Certainly he was distraught, upset, emotional -- some of those things you have when there's a domestic situation with a weapon involved. Was he fleeing and accidentally or intentionally … I just don't know," Whitehead said.

Investigators said the prison van was on its way back to the state reception and medical center. According to the sheriff, Sanderson and Jackson had just completed a training exercise.

"They had a mock escape this morning, and the individuals had been called back to the prison. They were proceeding down the road going back and this happened," Whitehead said.

"This is a tragic day for the department," said DOC spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger in a statement. "We are in the process of absorbing the shock and are praying for the victims' families."

Union County, where the stabbing and the crash took place, is the smallest county in the state, and prisons are vitally important to the tight-knit, rural community.

There are seven major correctional institutions in the area, making the prison system the largest employer in Union County.

Bazzell and Ocker both worked at Florida State Prison in neighboring Bradford County.

The officers in the DOC van work at the Reception And Medical Center in Union County.