Man held in triple homicide was delusional, parents say

Accused killer's mom and dad speak out

MADISON, Wis. — The parents of a man suspected of killing three retired farmers in southwestern Wisconsin said they warned authorities just before the killings that their son was delusional and potentially dangerous.

Thirty-one-year-old Jaren Kuester, of Waukesha, is jailed in Lafayette County on three tentative charges of first-degree intentional homicide.

His parents, Kathleen and Jim Kuester, told the Wisconsin State Journal the killings never would have happened if Waukesha County mental health professionals had hospitalized Kuester as they requested.

But Peter Schuler, the head of the Waukesha County mental health system, stands by its assessment that Kuester didn’t meet the criteria defined by state law that would have allowed the county to hold him.

Gary Thoreson, his wife, Chloe, and brother, Dean, were found dead in Wiota near South Wayne, Wis., last Sunday.