Wisconsin couple killed with machete trying to stop child sexual assault: Police

KENOSHA, Wis. (WITI) -- Charges were filed on Friday, Jan. 8, against Jesus Medrano III, accused of killing his father and stepmother with a machete as they tried to stop a sexual assault on Wednesday, Jan. 6.

Kenosha Police said they were called to a home near 46th and Sheridan around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday "to investigate a possible sex crime." Officers discovered evidence of a struggle, and two adults were found dead in the home.

Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley told told law enforcement Medrano brought a machete "to prevent anyone from stopping his assault." The stabbing victims were cut with the machete while attempting to stop the assault, Graveley said, bleeding to death while barricaded in a bedroom.

Medrano then took off on foot, but he was intercepted by police nearby "with the machete still in his hand," Graveley said, "covered in blood." He was taken into custody after Graveley said he tried to get police to shoot him.

Medrano, 24, is charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide; attempted first-degree sexual assault; physical abuse of a child, intentionally cause bodily harm. He was held on $2.5 million cash bond on Thursday. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 15.

Kenosha News reports Medrano is alleged to have stabbed and hacked to death his father and his stepmother after they tried to stop him from sexually assaulting a child who lived in the home. According to the criminal complaint, Medrano lived in the home with his father and stepmother, along with a blended family that included a 15-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl and Medrano's own 6-year-old daughter.

The complaint states that Medrano confessed to police that he had been having sexual thoughts about one of his young relatives, and went into her bedroom that night planning to sexually assault her, bringing a sock to gag her and a machete he planned to use in case his father tried to stop him, Kenosha News reports. The children tried to call 911 but were not able to, so the three older children climbed out a window and went to a neighbor's for help. That neighbor called 911.

"The evidence in this case is extremely strong. There is not only a confession, but multiple eye witnesses, including the traumatized children who see many of the acts that take place, and the surviving intended sexual assault victim who is going to bear these scars, obviously, for a lifetime,” said Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Graveley.