Parents of triple homicide suspect say they warned authorities

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The parents of a man suspected of killing three retired farmers in southwestern Wisconsin say they warned authorities just before the killings that their son was delusional and potentially dangerous. Jaren Kuester, 31, of Waukesha, remains jailed in Lafayette County on tentative charges of first-degree intentional homicide.

His parents, Kathleen and Jim Kuester, told the Wisconsin State Journal for a story published Sunday that the killings discovered April 28 never would have happened if Waukesha County mental health professionals had hospitalized their son, as they had requested.

"Our son is going to spend the rest of his life behind bars because they wouldn't help him even though we repeatedly asked," Kathleen Kuester said.

Peter Schuler, the head of Waukesha County's mental health system, said he stands by an April 25 assessment by one of his most experienced crisis managers, Robert Walker, that Kuester didn't meet the criteria under state law that would have allowed the county to hold him.

"We felt we responded in the ways we could," Schuler said.

Dean Thoreson, 76; Gary Thoreson, 70; and Chloe Thoreson, 66; were found dead in the South Wayne home where Gary and Chloe Thoreson lived. The men were brothers, and Chloe and Gary were married.

Police said Kuester abandoned his Jeep on a rural road on April 26 and removed all or most of his clothes as he walked through five or six miles of swampland, brush and thick woods before he reached the Thoresons' home. Kuester didn't know the victims, police said.

Jim Kuester said investigators told him they believe Kuester was in an "altered mental state" during the killings.

He said that in addition to the county worker, employees at the Waukesha Police Department and Waukesha County Jail, where his son was detained briefly after an April 26 incident at an animal shelter, also declined requests to admit his son to a mental hospital.

"He was definitely delusional," Jim Kuester said.

Kathleen Kuester said her son was diagnosed with depression at age 16. Court records show a history of violence as a teenager that was linked to mental illness. She declined to describe her son's current diagnoses but she said he has received disability payments because of his illness. He also has been hospitalized at least twice because of his illness, his father said.

The mother said her son's state grew darker over the past few weeks, and worsened after his puppy was killed by a car a couple of weeks ago.

"He loved that dog, and his mental health just spiraled out of control from there," Kathleen Kuester said. "He would come to his brother's place that is across the hall from my apartment and spend hours talking about the demons all around him. He said they were following him everywhere."

The Kuesters became alarmed and sought help. Jim Kuester said he asked Walker to admit his son to a mental hospital when he and Jaren met with Walker on April 25.

"I said to him that he is a danger to himself, and Jaren right away responded that that wasn't the fact, and then he got up and walked out," Jim said.

Walker said he wouldn't admit him unless he agreed to it, the elder Kuester said.

Walker was just following state law, which forbids involuntary commitment or emergency detention of individuals unless it can be shown they are a danger to themselves or others, Schuler said.

"From what I know, that assessment would not have seen those criteria met at that time," Schuler said.

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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal