Police stumped by bizarre deaths of 5-year-old girl and her mother after surprising autopsy results

Investigators in Indiana have not been able to determine how a mother and young daughter found dead in their home earlier this week were killed.

As the Courier and Press reports, police in Evansville found the bodies 49-year-old Kimbra Shanafelt and 5-year-old Dahni Shanafelt in their Evansville home on Wednesday night. According to the report, Kimbra was found in the garage with what police initially said was “obvious trauma,” and Dahni was in an upstairs bedroom. A concerned relative had contacted police earlier that evening asking for medical assistance to the home.

But Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding has since told the news outlet that Kimbra’s autopsy did not find any evidence of trauma, despite the observations of first responders.

Investigators are not yet able to determine the cause or manner of the deaths.

“Right now, we just don’t know what happened,” Wedding reportedly said. “We don’t have strong evidence that somebody from the outside came in and did harm to them, but we haven’t ruled that out.”

The medical examinner told the Courier and Press that toxicology tests are still pending, and results are expected in about three weeks.

A Facebook profile appearing to belong to Kimbra Shanafelt includes numerous photos of her smiling daughter, and a male who appears to be the girl’s elder sibling. Her most recent post, on April 12, is a selfie in which she wears a medical mask like those being worn to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

A man who identified himself as a relative of Kimbra and Dahni posted comments on his Facebook page appearing to reference the mother and daughter’s death.

“So many questions and no answers to be found,” read one post.

CrimeOnline will provide further updates when more information is available.

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