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 accused his estranged wife of cheating after killing her has pleaded no contest to the crime.
Jared Ler'che, 43, pleaded no contest to first-degree intentional homicide on Tuesday, more than two years after police found his wife, 34-year-old Margaret Ler'che, dead in the basement of the home they once shared in Osceola, Wisconsin. According to a criminal complaint obtained by St. Paul, Minnesota-based CBS affiliate WCCO, Margaret Ler'che's father asked for a welfare check at the home, located about 50 miles from the Twin Cities, after he helped her pack her things and move out of the home on Jan. 22, 2024.
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, 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 police 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. They 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.
Jared Ler'che is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 22.