Margaret “Maggie” Ler’che, a 34-year-old White/Caucasian woman, died on January 22, 2024, during a violent incident at the rural Osceola-area home she shared with her husband in the Town of Farmington, Polk County, Wisconsin. In the months before her death, Margaret and the couple’s two children had been staying with her father in Iowa while she and her husband, Jared Ler’che, experienced marital problems.
On the afternoon of January 22, her father helped her pack belongings at the Wisconsin residence as she prepared to leave. She was expected to return to Iowa that evening, but when he could no longer reach her and she failed to arrive, he called Polk County authorities at about 8:45 p.m. and requested a welfare check.
Within minutes of that call, the situation took another turn. St. Paul authorities notified Polk County that Jared Ler’che had contacted a Minnesota crisis line while driving with the couple’s two children and had reported thoughts of suicide. Deputies contacted him by telephone several times. According to the criminal complaint, he initially refused to disclose his location and claimed he did not know where Margaret was. He accused her of having affairs and suggested that police examine her social-media messages to determine which boyfriend she might have left with. Investigators later said he also made allegations linking her to child trafficking, but the reporting on the case did not identify evidence substantiating those claims. His telephone was at one point tracked to the Cannon Falls, Minnesota, area before he eventually agreed to meet law enforcement at a Kwik Trip in Osceola.
Meanwhile, deputies continued checking the Ler’che residence. The home was surrounded by security cameras, and an officer looking through a basement window noticed what appeared to be a form beneath a blanket. When deputies entered the residence, they encountered blood leading toward the basement and discovered Margaret beneath the blanket. The criminal complaint described a particularly violent scene: she had suffered serious injuries to her head and face, a cord was wrapped tightly around her neck, and investigators found evidence indicating that she had been beaten and dragged before being shot in the back of the head. Later reporting based on the court documents identified a. 22-caliber rifle lying near her body. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office initially described the death as suspicious but soon formally ruled the case a homicide, while the Wisconsin Department of Justice Mobile Crime Lab assisted with processing the residence.
At the Kwik Trip, Jared arrived in a pickup truck with the couple’s two children in the back seat. Investigators said he continued talking about alleged affairs and gave vague answers about Margaret’s whereabouts while resisting requests that he return to the residence with officers. According to the criminal complaint, investigators noticed blood on his clothing. As the encounter escalated, Jared repeatedly reached toward the floor area of the truck, at one point locking the vehicle while appearing panicked. Officers ultimately got him out and placed him in handcuffs, then discovered a sawed-off shotgun near where he had been reaching. The children were recovered unharmed. Clothing and footwear bearing what investigators described as blood spatter were seized, and Jared Ler’che was arrested in connection with Margaret’s death.
Prosecutors charged Jared Ler’che with first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic-abuse component, and he was initially held on $500,000 cash bond. The criminal case continued for more than two years. By the summer of 2024, the proceedings had included a competency hearing; he was subsequently bound over for trial after the preliminary hearing was waived. At an August 16, 2024 arraignment, he entered not-guilty pleas and a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, commonly described in reporting on the case as an insanity plea.
The case ultimately did not proceed to a homicide trial. On July 28, 2026, Jared Ler’che changed course and pleaded no contest to first-degree intentional homicide. A no-contest plea does not constitute a formal admission that the defendant committed the crime, but it permits the court to enter a conviction and impose punishment. The plea therefore resolved the question of criminal liability without requiring prosecutors to present the case to a jury. As of August 19, 2026, sentencing had not yet taken place. Jared Ler’che is scheduled to be sentenced on October 22, 2026, and prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence of 25 years.
