Charges: Wisconsin man shot, killed wife over alleged affair
POLK COUNTY, Wis. — A 41-year-old Wisconsin man faces charges after his wife was found dead in a basement on Monday.
According to the criminal complaint, 34-year-old Margaret Ler'che's father called Polk County Dispatch around 8:45 p.m., asking for a welfare check for his daughter. He had been with her earlier in the afternoon, helping her pack up her belongings at her Osceola home.
The father said that Margaret Ler'che and her two children had been living with him in Iowa for the last three months. His daughter and son-in-law were having marital issues, and she was supposed to have arrived in Iowa that evening with her children, he told the dispatcher.
Roughly 10 minutes later, St. Paul dispatch called Polk County, saying that Jared Ler'che, Margaret's husband, had contacted a crisis line. He said he was driving around with his two children and having thoughts of suicide, the criminal complaint states.
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A Polk County officer spoke with Jared Ler'che, who said he didn't know where Margaret Ler'che was. He said the officer could look at her social media messages "and figure out which one of her boyfriends she might have ran off with," documents say.
The officer then walked around the Ler'eche's home – which was surrounded by security cameras — and looked through a window into the basement, where they saw a blanket on the floor.
Officers entered the home later in the evening to find Margaret Ler'che dead in the basement, under the blanket. There was a .22 rife on the ground next to her, and she had been shot in the back of the head, according to the documents. There was also a charging cord wrapped around her neck, and she appeared to have been dragged.
Separately, officers met with Jared Ler'che at a Kwik Trip in Osceola. He drove up in a Ford F-150 with his two children in the back seat. During his conversation with officers, he said he believed his wife was having an affair with several men, and was associated with human trafficking of children. He did not provide any details about Margaret Ler'che's location, according to the charges.
At one point, Jared Ler'che reached for something near his feet —a sawed-off shotgun — but an officer was able to arrest him. The officer noticed blood on his clothes, charges state.
He was charged on Wednesday with one count of first-degree intentional homicide.
Domestic Violence Resources: For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.
