A Wisconsin community is reeling after a father and his two young daughters were found dead inside the family’s home just hours after a divorce hearing between the children’s parents.
Police discovered the bodies during a welfare check at a home in Winneconne on Friday, July 31.
The victims were identified as 57-year-old Jeffrey Manke and his daughters, 16-year-old Jaelyn Manke and 11-year-old Lenora Manke.
Authorities said officers had been called to the Division Street residence for a reported medical incident and welfare concern.
The deaths came only hours after Manke and the girls’ mother, 38-year-old Lindsey Lewandowski, appeared in court for a divorce hearing.
Court records described the marriage as “irretrievably broken with no chance for reconciliation.” The former couple had reportedly been involved in a custody dispute for nearly a year.
Officials have not publicly confirmed how the three died or whether the case is being investigated as a double murder-suicide.
The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment when asked about that possibility.
Court documents showed that a restraining order filed against Manke earlier in the year noted that he had access to firearms.
He was also reportedly prohibited from using drugs or alcohol while the children were in his care.
Lewandowski had sought sole custody of Jaelyn and Lenora, but the court ultimately awarded the parents joint legal custody.
Both parents were described in court documents as “fit and proper persons” to share legal custody of the children.
After the deaths, Lewandowski said her daughters had repeatedly expressed that they did not feel safe while staying with their father.
“I’m so sad,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Everyone they talked to knew they were not safe in his care. And I fought so hard to try to keep them safe.”
Lewandowski, who uses the name Lindsey Dash on Facebook, claimed that counselors, child welfare officials and authorities had been contacted before the tragedy.
“The family counselor dismissed them and refused to continue working with them,” she wrote. “CPS reports were filed and authorities were contacted before I was forced to send them when they felt unsafe.”
The grieving mother said she believed her warnings and her daughters’ fears had been ignored.
“Nobody wanted to listen,” she wrote. “If someone listened to their cries for help for the last two years, they would still be here.”
“The system failed my babies.”
The Winnebago Circuit Court and the Winnebago County Department of Human Services had not publicly responded to those accusations.
The investigation into the deaths remains ongoing, and authorities have not released additional details about what happened inside the home.
Sue everyone involved at the CPS and the Judge who allowed the POS father to have joint custody. Put the entire staff at COS under a microscope.