Two charged in teen’s 2020 death
By Robert Cloud
The Waupaca woman charged with homicide for her alleged involvement in killing her son is scheduled for a week-long trial in early February 2023.
Tiffany Powell, 36, has been in custody on a $500,000 cash bond since Oct. 21, 2020.
She faces felony charges of first-degree intentional homicide as party to a crime, first-degree reckless endangerment with a weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Powell’s son, Ryelee Manete-Powell, was 18 when William Zelenski allegedly shot and killed him.
Zelenski, 46, is also in custody facing a single charge of first-degree homicide. No trial date has been set in his case yet.
On Monday, Oct. 19, Zelenski called 911 multiple times between 6:30 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. to report a burglary at his home the previous week.
He told dispatch that someone stole two handguns, alcohol, a lizard valued at $17,000, a baby python valued at $7,000, a 2-foot crocodile valued at $2,000 and a boa constrictor.
At 10:25 p.m. on Oct. 19, Zelenski called 911 again and said he confronted Manete-Powell about the burglary. He said the teen attacked him and that he shot Manete-Powell.
Witness reports
According to the criminal complaint, Powell, who was with Zelenski at the time of the shooting, said Zelenski learned that her son and a friend had taken his reptiles to the friend’s home.
Zelenski was driving there to confront Manete-Powell.
They found him near the corner of Van and Shearer streets in Waupaca.
A nearby home had a security doorbell system that recorded much of the altercation.
The video shows Zelenski and Manete-Powell circling each other in a fighting stance, the complaint says.
Zelenski was reportedly holding a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, which he handed to Powell.
The video then shows Powell allegedly pointing the gun at her son.
Powell then handed the shotgun back to Zelenski.
The victim “was heard yelling at Zelenski to put the gun down and fight like a man,” the complaint says.
The video shows Zelenski and Manete-Powell circling each other in a fighting stance.
.
Zelenski was reportedly holding a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun, which he handed to Powell.
The video then shows Powell allegedly pointing the gun at her son.
Powell then hands the shotgun back to Zelenski.
Manete-Powell “was heard yelling at Zelenski to put the gun down and fight like a man,” the complaint says.
A witness who lives nearby told police she heard a gunshot, looked out the window and saw Zelenski and Powell sitting in a car.
She said she saw “a lump of something directly behind his vehicle” and thought they hit a pedestrian.
The witness ran outside and recognized the person lying on the ground as Powell’s son.
Manete-Powell’s accomplice in the break-in was Ashton Tody, 19. He was convicted of felony theft on Aug. 17 and is scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 23, 2023.