A mother and her daughter have been found drowned in a car in a lake hours after the child’s grandmother called the police to report them missing.

Khalilah Brister, 25, of Milwaukee, in the US state of Wisconsin, and her daughter, Tyrielle Jefferson, 7, were found dead in Northridge Lake on Thursday, 8th December.

Khalilah’s heartbroken mother Jackie Brister told local media that she thinks that the police did not do their job.

Brister said that her daughter took her wallet and keys without her permission on the day of her death, adding that she immediately knew that something was not quite right.

She said that she called the police, adding: “I told them she wasn’t right, you know? That had never happened before. I told them that, and their concern was ‘We’ll find your car’.”

Brister added: “The other grandmother called me and said, ‘Jackie, there’s a lady on my phone. She was down by Bradford Beach. She said Tyrielle came running up to her, said her mother was trying to kill her, and the lady said she went back and talked to my daughter, and my daughter said she was tired. She just wanted to go into the water’.”

She also said: “The police officer said: ‘Ma’am were only dealing with the aspect of your car. That’s something the sheriff’s department has to handle because it happened in the park system.'”

Brister said she does not think the cops took her seriously. She said: “I don’t think the sheriff took it seriously when we called Wednesday night and was (sic) talking about her going into the water. Why wasn’t an Amber Alert issued then?”

She reportedly called the sheriff’s office again on Thursday morning, but again, said there was no follow-up, according to local media.

Brister said: “I didn’t hear nothing else until the detectives came here.”

She said that the police then turned up at the door and could only apologise for her loss, telling her that her daughter and granddaughter were dead. She said: “He said, ‘I’m sorry,’ and when he said, ‘I’m sorry,’ I knew what was coming next. I had to look at the pictures of them in the car.”

Brister is reportedly outraged, saying that the police did not do their job and “dropped the ball”.

She said: “They didn’t do their job…They dropped the ball. I’m very angry because now I don’t have my daughter. I don’t get to see my granddaughter grow up.”

Dispatchers were reportedly given information that a suicidal woman was driving around with her child.

The sheriff’s office said that they were still investigating why a missing person report was never filed, adding that they had originally said deputies to Bradford Beach but the call was cancelled after it was apparently determined that Khalilah had left the scene.

Sheriff Denita Ball said in a statement on Monday, 12th December: “No matter how you look at it, the loss of this mother and daughter is tragic.

“Our heart goes out to the family and loved ones. Further discussions are being had regarding assignments involving multi-jurisdictional calls for service. The Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) are two separate and independent entities that have a longstanding, trusted, and critical working relationship.”

The investigation is ongoing.

A vigil was held at Northridge Lake for Khalilah and Tyrielle by their friends and family on Monday.