A Polk County court sentenced Jared Ler'che to life in prison in the Osceola shooting death of Margaret Ler'che.

The term CBS Minnesota reported Wednesday is life, with parole eligibility after 33 years. The term the Osceola Sun said both sides recommended, in its Aug. 9 story, was extended supervision after 25 years of confinement. Those are not the same number, and parole and extended supervision are not the same word. CBS Minnesota does not name the judge. WQOW's July 28 story still had the hearing on Oct. 22.

CBS Minnesota reported Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, that Jared Ler'che was sentenced to life in prison in the killing of his wife, Margaret Ler'che, and that he will be eligible for parole after 33 years. The station reported he had been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and pleaded no contest in July, which it described as a plea that does not admit guilt but accepts the conviction and the penalty. The Osceola Sun reported on Aug. 9 that the plea was entered July 28 in Polk County Circuit Court, that Judge Jeffrey Anderson accepted it and found Ler'che guilty, and that sentencing was set for 1 p.m. on Oct. 21. The Sun reported both sides had jointly recommended that he be eligible for extended supervision after 25 years of confinement. A joint recommendation is what the parties asked the court to impose. The figure CBS Minnesota reported Wednesday, parole after 33 years on a life sentence, is the figure that station says the court used. The Sun's story was written while sentencing was still ahead, so it does not report the term that was imposed. WQOW's July 28 story, published the day of the plea, said he would be sentenced on Oct. 22, 2026. CBS Minnesota says the sentence happened Wednesday, Oct. 21.

CBS Minnesota's account of the death is a gunshot. The station reported officers found Margaret Ler'che in the basement of the Osceola home, under a blanket, with a .22 rifle on the ground next to her, and that she had been shot in the back of the head. It reported her father had asked for a welfare check after spending the afternoon helping her pack at the Osceola home, and that he told officers she and her two children had been living with Jared Ler'che in Iowa for three months and that the couple was having marital issues. The Sun's account of the complaint is a different reason for the check: her father reported she had not arrived at his home in Iowa when she was expected and could not be reached by phone, and that she had planned to move to Iowa with their two children, who had already spent months staying with family there. About 10 minutes after the father's call, CBS Minnesota reported, St. Paul dispatch told Polk County that Jared Ler'che had called a crisis line, said he was driving with the two children, and said he was having thoughts of suicide. The Sun says a Minnesota-based crisis center contacted authorities after that call. The children are not named. The Sun, citing the complaint, reported more injuries than the gunshot: blunt-force trauma and a charging cord wrapped around her neck, blood in the stairwell and basement, and a rifle and .22-caliber casings nearby. CBS Minnesota's Wednesday story does not describe a cord or blunt-force injuries. The complaint details are the Sun's account of the charging document. They are not a new finding at Wednesday's hearing.

The Sun reported the death was in January 2024 and that the charge was first-degree intentional homicide with a domestic-abuse modifier. It reported he had withdrawn a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect before the no-contest plea, and that the case had included competency evaluations. It reported investigators spoke to him through a Ring doorbell, that he refused to come back to the house, and that he was taken into custody after he agreed to meet at a Kwik Trip in Osceola, where the children's safety was confirmed. CBS Minnesota does not report the modifier, the judge's name, or the Kwik Trip meeting. WQOW reported on July 28 that he is 43, and it reported the complaint's gunshot, cord, and blunt-force injuries. It reported the plea and a sentencing date. It did not report a sentence. CBS Minnesota's Wednesday story does not give his age.

A no-contest plea, as CBS Minnesota described it, accepts the conviction and the penalty without an admission. The Sun reported Judge Anderson found him guilty when the plea was accepted in July. Wednesday's life term, as CBS Minnesota reported it, is the sentence. The Sun's 25-year extended-supervision recommendation, in its Aug. 9 story, and WQOW's Oct. 22 date, in its July 28 story, are what those outlets published before the hearing. They are not Wednesday's term. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.