LE CENTER, Minn. — A Le Center man was sentenced to more than two decades in prison Friday for the January 2021 murder of his father.
A district court judge sentenced 27-year-old Hardy Robert Wills-Traxler to 25 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the death of his father, 64-year-old Bruce Traxler. Wills-Traxler was also accused of setting their house on fire after his father's death, but the arson charges were dismissed as part of Wills-Traxler's plea deal.
According to court documents, authorities responded to the property in Lexington Township near Le Center around 7:20 a.m. on Jan. 24, 2021, after Traxler's brother, Jeffrey, reported a shed located on the property was on fire. He told police he believed his brother, who lives in a portion of the shed, could still be inside.
The criminal complaint goes on to say Jeffrey Traxler told police his brother and nephew, Wills-Traxler, had not been getting along lately, suggesting "Hardy did something."
It wasn't until an hour and a half later, prosecutors say, that emergency crews located human remains inside the shed.
Around that time, court documents say the Mankato police received a call from an employee of a snow plow company reported a man, later identified as Wills-Traxler, stopped him while he was plowing snow and made comments that indicated "he killed his father."
The criminal complaint says just before 1 p.m., a group of snowmobilers reported a man named Hardy Traxler was in possession of a knife and told the group "he killed his father," before leaving the area.
About 10 minutes later, authorities located Wills-Traxler's vehicle and initiated a traffic stop, according to prosecutors. He was then taken into custody and transported to the Le Sueur County Justice Center.
During questioning, investigators say Wills-Traxler told them he had gotten into a fight with his father the night before, claiming his father hit him on the shoulder so he stabbed him "a bunch of different times."
Further, he told investigators he "had to get out of there," "was sorry" and he "just burnt the place."
Court documents say the next day, Bruce Traxler was positively identified by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner, which concluded his death was a homicide caused by multiple stab wounds.
Wills-Traxler will serve his sentence at the St. Cloud prison, with credit for 664 days already served.
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