Maddie Kiefer

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The father of a 15-year-old girl who was found dead in a friend's home said she had abused drugs for two years and was scheduled to enter drug rehabilitation Tuesday, according to a Milwaukee County medical examiner's report released late Monday.

Whitefish Bay police said they have arrested two men and one woman in connection with the death of Madison Kiefer, who "may have consumed unknown quantities of drugs."

What types of drugs may have been involved is not yet known.

Maddie Kiefer's death stunned her North Shore suburb, although friends said they had begun fearing for her since she began her freshman year at Whitefish Bay High School in the fall. Some 300 people turned out at a prayer service for her Monday night.

...Kiefer's father, Michael Kiefer, told a medical examiner's investigator that his daughter had gone on a binge and was stoned Wednesday.

Michael Kiefer told the investigator that his daughter was trying to party before entering treatment, which was to begin Tuesday, according to the report.

Maddie Kiefer sneaked out of her family's home Saturday night, and her family discovered her missing Sunday morning, the report says. Michael Kiefer began calling his daughter's friends and then got a call from one of them, who said Maddie was at her home and "not looking well."

Michael Kiefer told the investigator that when he and his girlfriend arrived at the friend's home, the North Shore Fire Department was trying to revive his daughter.

Michael Kiefer could not be reached for comment but said through Father Jerry Herda that he and Maddie's younger brother and two older sisters are heartbroken.

Herda is pastor of St. Monica Parish in Whitefish Bay, which held an evening prayer service Monday for Kiefer.

Three arrests have been made in connection with Maddie's death.

Two adult males and one adult female are awaiting charges in connection with the case, [a news release from the Whitefish Bay Police Department] said.

Bill Henkle, the principal at Whitefish Bay High School, announced Maddi’s death today to the student body.

Maddi was the sister of Chloe Kiefer, a standout soccer player at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School who attends the University of Louisville on a soccer scholarship. Their mother, Catherine Kiefer, passed away several years ago from cancer. The family was profiled last year in a story in the Journal Sentinel.

It's so tragic that Maddie was set to begin treatment for drug abuse in just days, but she overdosed before that happened. She was scheduled to begin turning her life around today.

The Kiefer family had already suffered such a terrible loss when Catherine Kiefer died. Now with the death of Maddie, their grief must be overwhelming. God be with them. My heart goes out to the Kiefer family and to Maddie's friends.

Sometimes we make horrible choices and we have to live with the consequences. We all have regrets to some extent. We all have to drag around a burden of some sort. But sometimes people make disastrous choices and they don't survive to deal with the consequences. Instead, they leave behind grieving loved ones to cope with the pain of their mistakes and bad decisions. That's heartbreaking.

Addiction and drug abuse touch so many people beyond the individual struggling with the problem or engaging in the behavior. It hurts to be an addict and it hurts to love one. I know. So many are suffering. When the abuse ends in death, it's so unbearably sad.