Khalilah Brister’s mother called 911 about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 7, 2022, to report that Brister might be suicidal. The younger woman had threatened to drive a car into "the lake," according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, who has been retracing her steps.

Her family grew increasingly worried about Khalilah, 25, who had her daughter, 7-year-old Tyrielle Jefferson with her. They made numerous calls to 911, but despite their urgency, law enforcement never returned their calls.

Brister and Tyrielle were found dead Thursday, December 8, 2022, in a vehicle submerged in Milwaukee's Northridge Lake. 

Family members believe the tragedy didn’t have to happen. Their main question: Why didn’t law enforcement respond to them?

Public records show that Brister’s mother called 911 first: "Can you start heading down to the Lincoln Memorial Drive area," a dispatcher told her, according to media reports. "Caller reporting that her daughter is threatening to drive into the lake."

By happenstance, a woman told authorities that she had encountered Brister and little Tyrielle. 

"The little girl was crying, freaking out and said her mom told her to come find somebody to call her grandma because she was going to jump in the water," a dispatcher told authorities.

Deputies went to a nearby beach, but the mother and child were nowhere to be found. Dispatch soon got another lead: "Got a call from a witness stating that her daughter was going through some things, and she was going to try and drive into the lake, but she ended up leaving and is traveling to Brown Deer and Green Bay area.”

Then the trail grew cold. Soon, authorities got wind of an odd discovery. A passerby noticed a vehicle submerged in water sometime about 12:30 p.m.

"We have two individuals that were pulled out of a pond, out of a lake," said County Executive David Crowley. "The fact that somebody died, you always say the ball was dropped because there’s ways we should be preventing any community violence we’re seeing here in Milwaukee."

Now the family is searching for answers as to how one law enforcement jurisdiction didn’t communicate with the other. Soon it was revealed that – shockingly – law enforcement never issued an Amber Alert to other police departments and sheriff’s offices, which is standard protocol when a minor is reported to be in danger.

"Y'all don't even issue out an alert. It's like, dude. It wasn't handled the right way," Tyrielle's uncle Donnell Boose was quoted as saying.

According to the release, which was obtained by WISN, this is the timeline of incidents:

Wednesday, Dec. 7, 4:34 p.m.

• The day before the car was found, the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management received a call regarding a possible suicide threat from a woman threatening to drive her car into the lake with her daughter.

• The sheriff’s office says deputies were dispatched to Bradford Beach, however, before they arrived, the service was canceled because the subjects had left the scene.

• The Milwaukee Office of Emergency Management believed the call had been transferred to the other jurisdiction dispatch center.

• According to the release, one of the deputy sheriffs was near the scene and searched for the vehicle but could not locate them.

Thursday, Dec. 8, 9:40 a.m.

• The mother of the adult subject contacted the Milwaukee Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division saying that she remained concerned and had not spoken with her daughter since approximately 4:30 p.m. the previous day.

Thursday, Dec. 8, 1:09 p.m.

• Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office received a call that the missing vehicle had been located, submerged in Northridge Lake and that two bodies were recovered from the car.

Law enforcement has promised to get to the bottom of the miscommunication, but so far no one has taken blame.

"We could've been involved beforehand so, you know, maybe next time, somebody's family ain't gotta go through this kinda stuff, man, and they can pay attention to when people say they need help," Boose was quoted as saying.

"My thoughts and prayers are with this family, but we should allow this investigation to play out, so we have a better understanding of what exactly happened," said Crowley. 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Milwaukee police at 414-935-7360, or to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS.

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