THE LAST 3 MESSAGES: Final Conversation Emerges Before Paul Coates And His 2 Daughters Were Found Dead New details surrounding the final messages sent before Paul Coates and his 2 daughters were discovered dead are adding another heartbreaking layer to the case. Their mother says she did everything she could to protect the girls before the tragedy unfolded. Full story in the comments👇
**Dad and Two Daughters Found Dead Hours After Divorce Hearing in Wisconsin; Mother Says She ‘Fought So Hard to Try to Keep Them Safe’**
In the small village of Winneconne, Wisconsin, a welfare check on Friday, July 31, 2026, led authorities to a devastating discovery inside a home on Division Street. Jeffrey Manke, 57, and his two daughters—Jaelyn Manke, 16, and Lenora Manke, 11—were found dead. The grim scene was uncovered just hours after Manke and the girls’ mother, Lindsey Lewandowski, 38, had appeared in court for a divorce hearing.
Court records obtained by The New York Post show that the marriage between Manke and Lewandowski was declared “irretrievably broken with no chance for reconciliation.” The couple had been engaged in a nearly year-long custody battle. Despite Lewandowski’s efforts to obtain sole custody, the court granted the parents joint legal custody. Both Manke and Lewandowski were deemed “fit and proper persons to be given joint legal custody” of the children, according to the documents.
A restraining order filed earlier in the year against Manke noted that he had access to guns. Court records also prohibited him from consuming drugs or alcohol when the children were in his care. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment when asked whether the three deaths were being investigated as a double murder-suicide. Officials have released limited information beyond confirming the identities of those found and the circumstances of the welfare check that led officers to the home.
In a Facebook post written under the name Lindsey Dash, Lewandowski expressed profound grief and frustration with the systems that had overseen the family’s custody arrangements. “I’m so sad. Everyone they talked to knew they were not safe in his care. And I fought so hard to try to keep them safe,” she wrote. She alleged that a family counselor had dismissed the girls’ concerns and refused to continue working with them, stating that the counselor “knew they didn’t want to be there.” Lewandowski further claimed that Child Protective Services reports had been filed and that authorities had been contacted, yet she was still “forced to send [her daughters] when they felt unsafe.”
“Nobody wanted to listen,” Lewandowski continued. “If someone listened to their cries for help for the last 2 years, they would still be here.” She concluded that “the system failed my babies.” The Winnebago Circuit Court and the Winnebago County Department of Human Services could not immediately be reached for comment in response to the mother’s public statements.
The timing of the deaths—occurring so soon after a formal court proceeding—has drawn particular attention. Divorce and custody cases frequently involve heightened emotional tension, competing claims about parental fitness, and difficult decisions about children’s living arrangements. In this instance, the court had already determined that joint legal custody was appropriate and that both parents met the legal standard of fitness. Lewandowski’s public remarks, however, assert that her daughters had repeatedly expressed feeling unsafe in their father’s care and that those expressions were not adequately heeded by counselors, child-protection authorities, or the court system.
Winneconne is a village in Winnebago County along the Wolf River, known for its quiet residential character and proximity to larger communities such as Oshkosh. The discovery of three family members dead inside a private home has shocked local residents and prompted broader discussion about how custody disputes are managed when children report fear or discomfort. Welfare checks are a common tool used by law enforcement when family members or others raise concerns about someone’s well-being. In this case, the check resulted in the discovery of the three bodies and the opening of an investigation whose full scope and conclusions have not yet been publicly detailed.
Court documents describe a marriage that had reached an irreversible breakdown. The nearly year-long custody litigation that followed appears to have involved competing narratives about the children’s best interests. Lewandowski sought sole custody, citing her belief that the girls were not safe with their father. The court, after reviewing the available evidence and testimony, concluded that joint legal custody was appropriate and that both parents were fit. A restraining order addressing access to firearms and restrictions on substance use while the children were present indicates that some level of concern about risk factors had been formally recognized and addressed through court orders.
Lewandowski’s Facebook post frames the outcome as a systemic failure. She asserts that the girls’ statements of feeling unsafe were known to multiple parties—including a family counselor and child-protection officials—yet the children were still required to spend time in their father’s care. Her claim that “everyone they talked to knew they were not safe” places responsibility on a network of professionals and institutions that, in her view, did not act with sufficient urgency or seriousness. Whether those assertions will be examined further in any official review remains unknown, as neither the court nor the county human-services department has issued public responses.
The deaths of Jaelyn and Lenora Manke, ages 16 and 11, represent the loss of two young lives in the midst of a family transition that courts routinely handle. Adolescence and the pre-teen years are periods when children’s voices about their living situations can carry significant weight in custody determinations, yet the legal standard remains the best interests of the child as evaluated by the court. Lewandowski’s post suggests that her daughters’ expressed fears were not given the weight she believed they deserved. The court’s finding of joint fitness indicates that, on the record before it, both parents met the threshold required under Wisconsin law.
Investigators have not released information about the cause or manner of the three deaths. The Sheriff’s Office’s decision not to confirm or deny a murder-suicide theory leaves open multiple possibilities while the investigation continues. In the absence of official statements, public discussion has centered on the mother’s account of a prolonged struggle to protect her children and on the proximity of the court hearing to the discovery of the bodies.
Family members and community members in Winneconne and surrounding areas are left to grieve three people whose lives ended abruptly. For Lewandowski, the loss is compounded by the belief that her efforts and her daughters’ own expressions of fear were insufficient to prevent the outcome. Her statement that “the system failed my babies” encapsulates a perspective shared by some parents who feel that family courts and child-protection agencies do not always respond adequately to warnings raised during high-conflict custody cases.
High-conflict divorces frequently involve allegations of unfitness, substance use, emotional harm, or safety concerns. Courts are required to weigh competing claims, often with the assistance of counselors, guardians ad litem, and child-protection investigators. In this case, the formal record shows a determination of joint fitness and joint legal custody, alongside specific restrictions related to firearms and substance use. Lewandowski’s public account asserts that those formal determinations did not match the lived experience of her daughters, who she says felt unsafe and whose concerns were dismissed by at least one professional involved in the case.
The welfare check that led to the discovery was initiated as a response to concern for the family’s well-being. Such checks are a standard law-enforcement tool and do not themselves indicate the nature of any underlying emergency. Once officers entered the home and found the three individuals deceased, the matter became a death investigation. Details about the condition of the scene, any notes or communications left behind, or forensic findings have not been released publicly.
As the investigation proceeds, questions about the sequence of events on July 31, the content of the divorce hearing earlier that day, and any recent interactions between the parents or between the father and daughters remain unanswered in the public record. Lewandowski’s Facebook post has become the most detailed personal statement available, framing the tragedy as the culmination of two years in which her daughters’ cries for help went unheeded.
The loss of Jeffrey Manke and his two daughters has left a void in a small Wisconsin community and has prompted reflection on the challenges inherent in adjudicating custody when parents present sharply divergent accounts of safety and fitness. Courts must balance the rights of both parents with the need to protect children. When children themselves express fear, those expressions become part of the evidentiary picture, yet they are evaluated alongside other testimony, professional assessments, and legal standards. In this instance, the court’s conclusion favored joint custody. The mother’s subsequent public statements assert that conclusion was tragically mistaken.
No further official updates from the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office, the circuit court, or the Department of Human Services were immediately available following the initial reports. The investigation into the deaths continues. For Lindsey Lewandowski, the focus remains on the belief that her daughters’ safety concerns were known and insufficiently acted upon. “If someone listened to their cries for help for the last 2 years, they would still be here,” she wrote. That statement now stands as a public indictment of the processes that governed the final months of her daughters’ lives.
The three deaths, occurring so soon after a formal court appearance, underscore the intense pressures that can accompany the dissolution of a marriage and the restructuring of parental responsibilities. Whether the investigation ultimately classifies the deaths in a particular way, the human reality remains: a father and two young sisters are gone, and a mother is left asserting that she fought to protect them and that the system charged with safeguarding children failed to do so. The full circumstances surrounding the events of July 31, 2026, in Winneconne await further official disclosure.
