Slain brothers, wife in Lafayette County were retired dairy, hog farmers
No motive or connection found with Waukesha man held in case
Darlington - A quiet town that residents describe as a close-knit family struggled Monday to grasp how a triple homicide that took two brothers and a wife could have happened - and why.
The victims - Gary, Chloe and Dean Thoreson - were well-liked along the half-dozen roads that make up Wiota, a town of less than a thousand people just east of Darlington in Lafayette County.
"For something like this to happen in our community is unheard of," said Steve Brenum, a former town board supervisor who has lived in Wiota all his life. "It feels like they've taken something from us that you'll never get back. It turns your stomach."
Gary Thoreson, 70, his wife Chloe Thoreson, 66, and his brother Dean, 76, were identified Monday by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department as the three victims found slain Sunday morning at their home. A relative discovered the bodies.
Dean lived nearby, at the home where he, Gary and their oldest brother Everett grew up, neighbors said. Everett still lives just minutes away.
Autopsies were being conducted Monday in Madison, authorities said.
Waukesha man arrested
Jaren M. Kuester, 31, of Waukesha was being held in the Lafayette County Jail in connection with the triple homicide, Lafayette County Sheriff Scott E. Pedley said Monday.
Waukesha police found Kuester - described as a person of interest in the case - at a Waukesha apartment complex Sunday afternoon and turned him over to Lafayette County authorities at 2 a.m. Monday.
Lafayette County authorities said Kuester did not know the victims.
The Lafayette County district attorney's office was not commenting on the case Monday, citing the ongoing investigation.
In Waukesha, police did not release any more information on the case Monday, and nonresidents were not being allowed to enter the apartment building where Kuester was found.
'Just asking why'
A clergy member at Everett Thoreson's residence Monday said the Thoreson family would not have any comment.
But stories and rumors of what happened spread through the town and into neighboring communities.
"Everyone is in shock and just asking why," said a neighbor, Dean Jorgenson, who has known the brothers all of his life.
"Everyone's going to be paranoid for a while," said Sherrell Jean Ruegsegger, a neighbor to the Thoresons who also runs a diner in nearby South Wayne. "A lot of people don't even lock their doors."
Dean Thoreson and his wife were frequent customers at the diner, and once, Dean forgot to leave a tip. He came back a few days later unprompted with a few bucks, apologizing, Ruegsegger said.
In Wiota, everyone looks after one another, residents said. Like the Thoreson brothers, many were born and raised on the farms there. It's a place where people wave to cars passing on the highways, and neighbors ask each other for groceries they're missing before driving miles to the store.
"This is a tragedy for such a small town because everybody is so close-knit," Ruegsegger said.
The Thoreson family used to operate a dairy farm before switching to selling breeding hogs and then retiring, said neighbor Dale Schliem, who attended high school with Dean.
In retirement, the family was enjoying life, Schliem said.
"They were as common as the day is long," he said.
Brenum said Dean Thoreson was a former County Board member and took the lead in rebuilding Wiota Lutheran after it burned years ago.
"They were very, very thoughtful and very well-respected," he said.
Carol Korn of Shullsburg is a member of the Lafayette County Board.
"We live in small communities and we all know each other, so this is impacting so many people because we're all neighbors and friends," she said. "We do many things together, and it's just very hard. I don't even know what to say except the family has my deepest sympathy. It's just such a terrible, terrible time."
Victim's truck stolen
On Sunday, after the bodies were found, authorities discovered that a blue pickup truck owned by one of the victims was missing and issued an alert. They also said the killer was on the run.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, Waukesha police found the 1998 Ford F-130 truck parked at an apartment complex. They then took the suspect into custody.
Suspect was wandering
Kuester had been reported missing in Green County, which borders Lafayette County to the east, and authorities had been searching for him.
He had last been seen around 3:30 p.m. Friday. The Green County sheriff's office got a call around 2:30 p.m. Saturday that Kuester's vehicle was found abandoned on Highway M.
Green County Sheriff Jeff Skatrud said Monday that a property owner in the area saw the vehicle driven onto his farmland about 6 p.m. Friday. When the property owner noticed the vehicle was still there Saturday afternoon, he called sheriff's deputies.
Deputies found personal items in the vehicle and tried to track the owner. Police dogs tracked a path near an area of Ridge Road and Smock Valley Road, about 1 ½ miles from the abandoned vehicle. Some of the man's clothing was discovered on the path.
Authorities then issued an alert for Kuester, who was believed to be partially naked and perhaps disoriented because of an altered mental state, authorities said.
"Through communications with acquaintances of this individual in the Waukesha and Milwaukee area, they expressed some concerns on his behalf," Skatrud said.
Asked if drug paraphernalia were found in the vehicle, the sheriff said: "There was some of that, too, but I don't believe that was the cause of concern."
Kuester was convicted of misdemeanor battery, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon in Waukesha County in 2001 and 2002 as well as minor traffic offenses in 2007 and 2009.
Attempts to reach Kuester's family Monday were not successful. Kuester is from Waukesha and enjoys wrestling and mixed martial arts, posting about both on his Facebook page.
Ben Cesarz, who helped coach wrestling at Waukesha North High School from 2000-2010, remembers the family from having coached Kuester's younger brothers.
"I didn't know him personally as well as his younger brothers. They were all very good wrestlers and athletes," he said Monday.
He said the brothers were close and would support one another during wrestling matches.
"They'd come and hang around practice and help out every once in a while," Cesarz said.
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