Across three states in less than four months, women followed every step the system tells them to follow — reporting abuse, requesting restraining orders, leaving detailed voicemails and text records — and the system failed to act in time to save any of them.
St. Francis, Wisconsin — Kiana Pliska, 32. In February 2025, Pliska told police her ex-boyfriend had choked and pinned her down; officers arrested him, but he was released. An earlier restraining order request was dismissed in April when she didn't appear in court. Days before her death, she said he kicked her apartment door off its hinges. On July 17, 2026, she filed for a new restraining order. That same day, she was shot and killed at her apartment complex. A judge signed the protective order the following morning.
Franklin Township, New Jersey — Lauren Semanchik, 33. A veterinarian, Semanchik had dated New Jersey State Police Sgt. Ricardo Santos on and off before the relationship ended in September 2024, after which she says he stalked her and planted recording devices in her home. On May 20, 2025, she left a detailed voicemail with Franklin Township police asking about filing a report or restraining order, telling them, "He's also a state trooper, so I'm especially uncomfortable." Nobody called her back. She separately raised her concerns with a different state trooper who worked alongside Santos. On August 1, 2025, Santos followed her home and shot and killed her and her new boyfriend, volunteer firefighter Tyler Webb, before killing himself. Neighbors called 911 reporting gunshots and screaming that night; a Franklin Township patrol car drove past the house without going in. The bodies weren't discovered until the next day, by Semanchik's own father and sister. The families' attorneys have accused police of a "blue wall of silence" — protecting one of their own even in death.
Kenosha, Wisconsin — Makayla Plaza. Plaza filed for divorce, and the very next day filed for a restraining order reporting abuse from her husband. A judge denied it, ruling she hadn't met the "burden of proof" required to show she was in danger. She was stabbed to death shortly after. City officials publicly called the outcome a systemic failure, questioning why the burden falls on victims to prove they're in danger rather than on the system to protect them by default.
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| Generated by ChatGPT |
Commentary: Three different women, three different states, three completely different bureaucratic failure points — a court that granted the order a day too late, a department that never called back because the abuser wore the same badge, and a judge who decided her fear wasn't "proven" enough — and the common thread running through every one of them is that the system had exactly what it needed to act, and simply didn't.
Sources:
- https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/kiana-pliska-restraining-order-death (Pliska)
- https://abc7ny.com/post/franklin-township-murder-suicide-families-victims-file-lawsuit-police-department-nj/17607573/ (Semanchik)
- Local Kenosha coverage of the Plaza case, alderwoman statement on system failure
AI disclosure: ⚠️ This content was researched and written with AI assistance and may be fully AI-generated. All facts are sourced from the linked articles and corroborating sources.
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