3.9 • 792 Ratings
🗓️ 30 August 2017
⏱️ 27 minutes
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Two-and-a-half-year-old Michelle Manders disappears from her Watertown home in the middle of the night in October 1981. About three weeks later, her body is found in the Rock River, which winds through town.
Hers was the fifth in a series of strange disappearances and deaths in Jefferson County over a seven-year period. At first, police suspect she was abducted. But after her body is found, officials deem it an accidental drowning.
The district attorney at the time doubts that conclusion, and a review by the Journal Sentinel reveals shortcomings in the investigation.
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0:00.0 | Back in 1981, Michelle Manders was two and a half years old, and she lived with her family in a duplex and Watertown. |
0:10.0 | And in October of that year, she mysteriously disappeared from her bedroom in the middle of the night. |
0:18.0 | So far, police say, two and a half year old Michelle Manders disappeared from her home here |
0:23.1 | sometime Tuesday night. |
0:25.0 | Her mother discovered Michelle was gone the next morning and called the police. |
0:28.9 | It's not known yet if the girl left home on her own or she was abducted. |
0:33.4 | Police do know Michelle probably left through the back door of her house. Other searches are being conducted around the railroad tracks near Michelle's home. |
0:41.3 | Michelle's parents are appealing for help. |
0:43.3 | We have a lot of people here that are really concerned and |
0:47.3 | and we just would like anybody that knows anything to come forward. |
0:53.3 | Jan Manders is Michelle's mother. She was 26 years old when Michelle was would like anybody that knows anything to come forward. |
0:56.1 | Jan Manders is Michelle's mother. |
0:59.0 | She was 26 years old when Michelle disappeared. |
1:04.1 | Jan lives in Arizona now, and I went there earlier this year to talk with her. |
1:08.3 | You may hear her dogs in the background throughout my conversation with her. |
1:11.4 | Jan also uses an oxygen machine, |
1:13.3 | and you may be able to hear that as well. |
1:15.9 | Jan had a really hard time sleeping in the weeks that Michelle was missing. |
1:19.9 | And during this time, |
1:21.5 | I could hear Michelle calling out to me, |
1:24.5 | my name, crying for her mommy. |
1:28.2 | Jan said that she knew Michelle wanted her to find her. |
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