Background: The neighborhood in Champlin, Minn., where Travis Lester stabbed his parents in September 2025 (Google Maps). Inset: Travis Lester (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office).
A Minnesota man will spend more than a decade in prison after stabbing both of his parents.
Travis Lester, 40, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder in April, months after he attacked both of his parents at their home with a knife from their kitchen. On May 8, Lester was sentenced to 11 years in prison with credit for 245 days served. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, the attack happened on the evening of Sept. 5, 2025. Police responded to a 911 call that came in around 6 p.m. that day from a home in Champlin, Minnesota.
Dispatchers told officers from the Champlin Police Department that all they could hear was someone "fumbling" with the phone before hearing someone yell "No." After that call, a neighbor called 911 reporting that they found a woman at the house "covered in blood."
When police arrived at the home, they found Lester's father first, moaning on a privacy deck and gripping a railing with blood-covered hands. He told the police that his son stabbed him and his wife, but he did not know where his son was, nor did he know where his wife was. Lester's father, who had multiple stab wounds and was "going into shock," told the police that his son attacked them both while he was in a "drug-induced rage."
According to the complaint, Lester's father had stab wounds to his neck, chest, abdomen, and hand.
Lester's mother was eventually found at the neighbor's house with stab wounds to her neck, chest, abdomen, and arms. Both parents were transported to the hospital in critical condition. Despite the severity of their wounds, they both survived the attack.
Police learned that Lester was likely driving a silver Buick Lucerne. After police located the car, they initiated a traffic stop and saw a kitchen knife inside the car that matched a set found at the victims' home. Police also found a jar in the car's cup holder that contained what appeared to be methamphetamine.
Lester confessed to stabbing his parents and told police that he had been thinking about doing it "for a day or two" before he carried out the attack. He also added that he "didn't want to" stab his parents.
Lester was charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder. He entered a guilty plea on April 10.