A timeline of events
Here is a timeline of the weekend Dean, Gary and Chloe Thoreson were murdered, according to the criminal complaint filed by Lafayette County District Attorney Kate Findley. Some times are approximate.
Friday, April 26
10:06 a.m. - Jaren M. Kuester is bailed out of the Waukesha jail by his employer.
3:30 p.m. - His father gives him a ride to pick up his Mercury Mountaineer SUV. Kuester later said he "just started driving."
6 p.m. - Merlyn L. Gordee, a resident near Browntown, sees a Mercury Mountaineer come down his driveway. Since he shares a common driveway with his neighbor, he figures it's just someone visiting the neighbor. Kuester abandons the SUV just off the driveway here, along a treeline.
7:53 p.m. - The sun sets. Kuester arrives on foot around this time to the property of Gary and Chloe at 9092 Philippine Road. He stays at first in the barn. Then, getting cold and seeing nobody is home, he breaks into the house, gets food and clothes and sleeps on a bedroom floor.
Saturday, April 27
2 p.m. - Rose Thoreson, wife of Dean, last sees her husband at about this time.
Sometime Saturday, Kuester hears a man come up the stairs in the home, and when he gets to the top of the stairs, Kuester hits him with a fireplace poker and kills him. Kuester later partially covers the body with a blanket and drives the man's blue pickup truck into the garage and closes the door.
2:38 p.m. - Gordee reports the abandoned Mercury Mountaineer to Green County authorities. A jail ID tag belonging to Kuester is found nearby.
6 p.m. - Dean doesn't come home for dinner. Rose gets concerned and tries to call him. She then calls family, friends and the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department to report him missing.
11 p.m. - Dean is still missing. Gary and Chloe, who have just returned from their vacation and are at the nearby home of Everett Thoreson, brother of Gary and Dean, tell a family member they're going home and getting their ATVs to see if they can locate Dean.
Kuester hears a man and woman enter the house. The woman walks up the stairs first, and he hears her say she sees blood. Kuester kills both with a fireplace poker and then stabs the woman. He takes the man's wallet, drives the couple's vehicle into the garage and closes the door.
At some point later, Kuester decides to leave the home, taking with him money, blankets, clothes and "a metal bar for a weapon."
11:39 p.m. - A public alert goes out from Green County Emergency Management reporting Kuester as missing. The alert says Kuester "may have an altered mental state" and instructs anyone who sees him not to make contact but to note his location and call the sheriff's department or 911 "at the earliest convenience."
Sunday, April 28
9:54 a.m. - Everett discovers Dean's body and calls 911. Less than 10 minutes later, the Lafayette County chief deputy arrives on scene and finds the bodies of Gary and Chloe.
2:30 p.m. - Kuester arrives at his father's home in Waukesha "in a confused state" and driving a blue pickup truck registered to the Thoreson brothers. He tells his father he "hurt three people." Kuester is arrested soon after and later brought to Lafayette County.
4:01 p.m. - Green County Emergency Management sends out a public alert that Kuester has been located.
The complaint was filed nine days after Gary Thoreson, 70, his wife Chloe, 66, and his brother Dean, 76, were found murdered in Gary and Chloe Thoreson's home at 9092 Philippine Road in Wiota Township. All three were apparently strangers to Kuester, who grew up in Waukesha and whose last known address is in Milwaukee.
The complaint reveals that Dean Thoreson went missing the afternoon of April 27 and was killed sometime later that day. His brother and sister-in-law were killed late April 27 when they entered the home after returning from an out-of-state trip. Dean lived nearby Chloe and Gary, and regularly checked on their home while they were away on vacation. Their bodies were found by a relative and law enforcement officers the morning of April 28.
Dr. Robert Corliss, a forensic pathologist, determined the brothers died of multiple blunt-force injuries to the neck and head and Chloe Thoreson died of multiple blunt-force trauma to the head and multiple stab wounds.
Kuester, 31, is charged with three Class A felony counts of first-degree intentional homicide, a Class F felony count of burglary and a Class H felony count of stealing a truck belonging to the murder victims.
He makes his initial appearance in court at 1 p.m. Friday, May 10, before Judge William Johnston. Kuester has been in custody since April 28 and jailed in Darlington since April 29. He is being held on a $3 million cash bail.
Suspect 'just started driving'
The five-page criminal complaint describes a bloody weekend at the hands of a delusional and mentally unstable suspect who drove aimlessly for more than 100 miles to this area after getting released on bail from the Waukesha jail Friday, April 26.
Kuester told lead investigator Joe Thompson, deputy sergeant at the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department, that his life was "crashing and burning" around him. After he got out of the Waukesha jail, he "just started driving."
Kuester abandoned his green and tan Mercury Mountaineer SUV a few hours later off a residential driveway near Browntown in Jordan Township, near the Green/Lafayette county line.
"He then ran through the woods," according to Thompson. Along the way Kuester discarded his shoes, jail ID tag, socks, underwear, wristwatch and other clothing because "he believed he was being followed." His father, James Kuester, later told investigators his son is being treated for mental heath issues.
Around sunset Friday, less than two hours after he abandoned his SUV, Kuester reportedly arrived at Gary and Chloe Thoreson's property and went into the barn. When he got cold, he broke into the house through a window, got clothes and food and slept on the floor of a bedroom, according to the criminal complaint. He told investigators he didn't think anyone was home because he didn't see cars or people.
Kuester told Thompson he killed the three people because he didn't want them to leave the house to get help, according to the complaint.
Kuester's father told authorities his son arrived at his Waukesha home the afternoon of April 28 "in a confused state" and saying "he had hurt three people." Kuester was arrested soon after and later brought to Lafayette County.