Jaelyn and Lenora Manke’s family has emphasized their lives and interests as the investigation establishes how the sisters died.
WINNECONNE, Wis. — Before their names became attached to a homicide investigation, Jaelyn and Lenora Manke were sisters who danced, made art, cared for animals, practiced sports and, according to their family, moved through much of life side by side.
Nearly seven weeks after the girls were found dead with their father in a Winneconne home, the Winnebago County Medical Examiner’s Office supplied the official conclusion their family and community had awaited. Jaelyn, 16, and Lenora, 11, died by homicide, while their father, 57-year-old Jeffrey Manke, died by suicide. The medical examiner said scene evidence was consistent with a double murder-suicide. The finding establishes how the deaths are classified but leaves unresolved questions about why the killings happened and whether warning signs described afterward could have led to a different outcome.
Family remembrances present a fuller picture of the two girls than the circumstances of their deaths. Jaelyn was described in her obituary and a memorial website as a pointe dancer who enjoyed reading, skateboarding, martial arts and animals. Lenora was remembered for gymnastics, aerial arts, making jewelry and building Lego creations. Their relatives described the sisters as inseparable best friends with distinct personalities but a shared attachment to family, faith and creative pursuits. Both were students from the Oshkosh area, and dance became one of several communities that mourned them.
Carmen Leal, a family friend, offered another glimpse of Jaelyn when she spoke with NBC26 after the deaths. Leal had hired the teenager to help tend a garden after seeking assistance with work that had become physically difficult for her. That ordinary connection became one of the personal memories shared publicly as neighbors and friends tried to describe who the sisters were. Family members later announced memorial events and a website dedicated to Jaelyn and Lenora. The site says a scholarship is being developed in their names for a student at the dance school they attended.
The public memorials unfolded while investigators were still withholding the causes of death. Police had been called to a residence in the 500 block of Division Street at approximately 6:58 p.m. on July 31 for a medical incident and welfare check. Responding officers and deputies discovered all three family members dead inside. Winneconne police asked the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office to take over the investigation because of the circumstances. Authorities initially said the case appeared isolated and there was no continuing threat to the community, but they did not immediately say whether anyone had been killed.
The September medical examiner reports ended that uncertainty. They concluded that the sisters’ fatal injuries were caused by gunfire and classified both deaths as homicide. Manke’s death was determined to be suicide. Toxicology testing documented alcohol in his system. The findings said the physical evidence was consistent with Manke killing his daughters and then himself. Investigators have not released an official motive. That distinction matters because several developments in the family’s divorce have been cited as possible context, but they do not independently prove what Manke was thinking or why he acted.
The killings occurred on the same day his divorce from the girls’ mother, Lindsey Lewandowski, became final. Court records showed the marriage was declared irretrievably broken at a July 31 hearing. The Oshkosh Northwestern later reported that Manke was denied maintenance and ordered to pay $771 per month in child support. Lewandowski told the newspaper she believed finances were central to what happened and said Manke appeared unhappy about the child-support order. Her statement offers one family member’s explanation; the medical examiner and law enforcement have not announced the financial ruling as an established motive.
The longer divorce record showed conflict that went well beyond money. Published accounts of the court file described disputes over custody, placement, counseling, education and Manke’s ability to work because of reported health problems. At various points, the parents shared legal custody and a placement schedule. Records cited by news organizations also referred to tension between Manke and the older child. Lewandowski sought greater decision-making authority at one stage, while Manke objected. A partial settlement late in the case continued joint legal custody and addressed the children’s counseling, among other issues.
After the deaths, Lewandowski said publicly that both daughters had repeatedly expressed feeling unsafe with their father. She said police had been called, child-protection reports had been made and counseling professionals had been involved. She wrote that she believed the systems around the family had failed the girls. Her accusations generated questions about whether previous contacts with authorities should have led to stronger action, but a complete record of those contacts has not been released. There has been no publicly disclosed institutional review assigning responsibility to a counselor, police agency, child-welfare office or court official.
Firearms also appeared in the pre-death court record. NBC26 reported that a restraining-order proceeding earlier in 2026 noted Manke’s access to guns. The station later reviewed a divorce document listing 14 firearms belonging to him. Four days before the deaths, a witness was requested to appear in the divorce case regarding his firearm collection and health. The later medical examiner report confirmed that a firearm was used in the killings. The presence of the earlier gun records is relevant to the chronology, but available reporting does not show that a court had found Manke was preparing to harm his daughters.
Lewandowski has also provided details about the sisters’ final afternoon. She told the Oshkosh Northwestern that Jaelyn drove herself and Lenora to Manke’s Winneconne residence at about 5 p.m., after the divorce hearing. She said concern was later expressed about his mood. Less than two hours after the girls arrived, officers were dispatched to the home. The public record does not provide a minute-by-minute reconstruction of that period, and the medical examiner listed the precise time of death as unknown. The reports therefore establish the outcome without answering every question about the sequence immediately before it.
Winneconne Police Chief Ben Sauriol described the deaths as a shock to a small community. His comments reflected the wider effect of the case, but much of the mourning was centered in Oshkosh and in the activities where the girls had built friendships. Their obituary named classmates, teachers, coaches, coworkers and friends among the people touched by their lives. A public candlelight vigil and celebration of life were held in August. The family encouraged people attending memorial events to remember the girls through details associated with their personalities rather than focusing only on the violence.
The scholarship planned in the sisters’ names gives that effort a continuing form. Instead of tying their public memory solely to court documents and forensic findings, the family memorial project emphasizes activities that were part of the girls’ daily lives. Dance was among the interests the sisters shared, and the proposed scholarship would connect their names to another young dancer. It is one example of how families and communities often create a parallel record of victims’ lives while an official investigation focuses on evidence, chronology and cause of death.
The medical examiner’s ruling now gives the case an official legal and forensic description, but it cannot provide the kind of public accounting a criminal trial sometimes produces. Manke is dead, so there will be no prosecution in which a motive is alleged, evidence is challenged and witnesses testify about events before the killings. The Sheriff’s Office led the investigation after the deaths were discovered, while the publicly released medical findings classify Jaelyn and Lenora as homicide victims and their father’s death as suicide.
For their family, the effort to shape what comes next has included preserving the sisters’ names outside that investigative record. The memorial site established for Jaelyn and Lenora highlights their interests, photographs and shared bond, and it describes plans for the dance scholarship bearing their names. The official investigation explains the manner of their deaths. Their relatives’ memorials seek to preserve a different record: what the two girls did, whom they loved and how they were known before July 31.
Author note: Last updated September 20, 2026.