In Minnesota, Travis William Lester’s guilty plea avoided a trial in the knife attack that critically injured his parents.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — A Hennepin County attempted murder case against Travis William Lester ended with an 11-year prison sentence after court records tied him to the stabbing of both parents at a Champlin home.
Lester, 40, pleaded guilty April 10 to two counts of attempted second-degree murder. A judge sentenced him May 8 to 135 months and 15 days in prison, with credit for 245 days already served. The plea resolved a case built on 911 calls, victim statements, injuries, knife evidence, a vehicle stop and Lester’s own statement to police.
The criminal case began on Sept. 5, 2025, when Champlin police were called to the 7100 block of 120th Avenue North for a report of violence inside a home. The first 911 call did not give dispatchers a full account. They heard fumbling and then someone yell, “No.” A neighbor soon called 911 and reported finding a woman covered in blood. Those calls placed officers at a home where the victims were alive but gravely wounded, and where the person later charged was already gone.
Police found Lester’s father first. He was on a privacy deck, moaning and gripping a railing with blood-covered hands. He told officers that his son had stabbed him and his wife, and that the attack happened during what he called a “drug-induced rage.” The father had wounds to his neck, chest, abdomen and hand. He was going into shock when police arrived. Lester’s mother was found at a neighboring home. She had wounds to her neck, chest, abdomen and arms. Both were taken to a hospital in critical condition and received emergency treatment.
The complaint gave prosecutors the first formal outline of the case. It described the victims’ wounds, the father’s statement and the effort to locate Lester after he left the home. Police found a bloody knife under a kitchen table and later reported blood throughout the inside and outside of the house. The location of the knife became important because officers also saw a second kitchen knife inside Lester’s vehicle after he was stopped. Police said the knife in the car appeared to match a set from the victims’ home.
Authorities charged Lester with two counts of attempted second-degree murder with intent, not premeditated. Under that charge, prosecutors did not have to prove that the stabbing was planned long in advance as first-degree murder would require in a death case. They alleged that Lester intentionally tried to kill both parents and that the attempt was not legally premeditated. The two counts reflected two victims. Both parents survived, but police and medical reports described their injuries as life-threatening and severe.
Lester was arrested after police traced his vehicle away from the Champlin neighborhood. The silver Buick Lucerne connected to him was spotted after the attack and later stopped in Lino Lakes. Officers reported seeing a large butcher-style kitchen knife in the vehicle. They also found a clear jar in the center console or cup holder area that appeared to contain methamphetamine. The arrest happened a few hours after officers first arrived at the 120th Avenue North home. He was booked into the Hennepin County Jail early Sept. 6.
The case file also included Lester’s statement after he was advised of his rights. Police said he admitted stabbing his parents. According to charging documents, he said he had been thinking about doing it for “a day or two” but “didn’t want to.” That wording gave the case its sharpest contrast: an admission that the idea had existed before the attack, paired with a claim that he did not want to act on it. Public reports do not say what led to that statement or whether Lester gave a fuller explanation for why the attack happened.
Before the plea, Lester challenged the case from jail in a handwritten motion. He asked that the charges be dismissed and focused on the $1 million bail set while the case was pending. He argued that his rights were violated because he was being held before he had been found guilty. In the motion, he wrote that the case was a “perfect display of cruel and unusual punishment” and described excessive bail as “an abomination of the law.” The filing became part of the procedural history but did not end the prosecution.
The guilty plea on April 10 changed the path of the case. It removed the need for prosecutors to call the parents, police officers, medical workers or other witnesses at trial. It also meant a jury would not decide whether the knife evidence, vehicle stop, victim statements and Lester’s admission proved the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. By pleading guilty, Lester accepted criminal responsibility for both attempted murder counts. The public reports do not include a detailed plea transcript, but the court record shows the plea was accepted before sentencing. At sentencing, the court imposed 135 months and 15 days, which is slightly more than 11 years. The court also applied 245 days of jail credit for time Lester had already spent in custody after his arrest. Local reports said he would serve the sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. The prison term closed the district court case at the trial level, though later records could still show prison status, supervised release information or any postconviction filings.
The sentence followed a chain of facts that remained consistent across reports. A call came from the home around 6 p.m. Sept. 5. Officers found one victim on a deck and another at a neighbor’s house. Both had multiple stab wounds and survived after critical injuries. Police found a bloody knife at the home. Lester was found in a vehicle several hours later. Officers reported another kitchen knife and suspected methamphetamine in the car. He admitted the stabbing and later pleaded guilty.
The court record does not fill in every personal detail. It does not name the parents in the public news reports, describe their relationship with Lester before that night or explain why the violence erupted. It does not say whether either parent spoke at sentencing. It does show the official result: two attempted murder convictions and a state prison sentence measured in years, not months.
The next records likely to show movement would be state prison records, any appeal filing or later supervision entries after he serves the custody portion of his sentence. Lester’s case now stands as a resolved Hennepin County felony prosecution.
Author note: Last updated June 15, 2026.