Police discovered the bodies of Jeffrey Manke, 57, and his daughters, 16-year-old Jaelyn and 11-year-old Lenora, in their Winneconne, Wisconsin home last Friday. The discovery was made during a welfare check conducted by officers. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office has not commented on whether the deaths are being investigated as a double murder-suicide.
The discovery occurred just hours after Manke and his estranged wife, Lindsey Lewandowski, 38, had a divorce hearing. Court records indicate their marriage was considered "irretrievably broken," and a custody dispute had been ongoing for nearly a year. A court had granted joint legal custody of the children to both parents, with both Manke and Lewandowski deemed fit to share custody.
However, Lewandowski alleged in a social media post that her daughters had expressed feeling unsafe in their father's care. She stated that she had "fought so hard to try to keep them safe" and felt the authorities and a family counselor had not adequately addressed her concerns. She further claimed that child protective services reports were filed and authorities were contacted before she was "forced to send" her daughters to their father's care.
Court documents also indicate that Manke had access to firearms and was prohibited from consuming drugs or alcohol when the children were in his care. The Winnebago Circuit Court and the Winnebago County Department of Human Services could not be immediately reached for comment.