Inset (left): Jared Ler'che (Polk County Sheriff's Office). Inset (right): Margaret Ler'che (Facebook). Background: The Polk County Courthouse in Balsam Lake, Wis. (Google Maps).
A Wisconsin man who fatally shot his estranged wife then told police she "ran off" with someone else will spend decades behind bars.
Jared Ler'che, 43, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 33 years after he pleaded no contest to first-degree intentional homicide. Ler'che entered his plea in July, more than two years after his estranged wife, 34-year-old Margaret Ler'che, was found dead in the basement of the home they used to share in Osceola, Wisconsin, on Jan. 22, 2024. Margaret Ler'che had returned to the home to collect some of her belongings after the couple separated.
Police said Margaret Ler'che had brought her two children to live at her father's house in Iowa while she and Jared Ler'che were having problems with their marriage. She was due to arrive in Iowa the night she was found dead.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by St. Paul, Minnesota-based CBS affiliate WCCO, dispatchers in St. Paul contacted authorities in Wisconsin's Polk County to inform them that Jared Ler'che had called a crisis line and was having thoughts of suicide while driving around with his two children. Polk County authorities eventually tracked down Jared Ler'che, who said he did not know where his wife was. Police said he had blood on his clothing when they found him.
Jared Ler'che told police to check his wife's social media accounts and "figure out which one of her boyfriends she might have ran off with." Jared Ler'che claimed to police that Margaret Ler'che was having affairs with several men and was purportedly involved with child trafficking. During the interview, police said, Jared Ler'che reached for a sawed-off shotgun. Police arrested him before he could take any action with it.
After police went to the Ler'ches' home, they looked inside a window to the basement and found a form covered by a blanket. Under the blanket was the body of Margaret Ler'che, who had a gunshot wound to the back of her head and a cord wrapped around her neck. Next to her, police found a .22-caliber rifle.