By all accounts, Ashlee Steele was her husband’s biggest advocate and love of his life, serving as manager of his effort to raise nearly $75,000 to cover medical expenses associated with his recently diagnosed ALS.

Authorities say her husband, retired Dane County Sheriff’s deputy Andrew P. Steele, shot and killed 39-year-old Ashlee C. Steele and her sister, Kacee M. Tollefsbol, 38, of Lake Elmo, on Friday in the couple’s Fitchburg, Wis., home.

According to a news release by the Dane County Medical Examiner, autopsies confirm both women were victims of homicidal violence. Police have not provided details on how they were killed.

Andrew Steele, 39, was arrested in the double homicide Friday.

Fitchburg Police were called to the couple’s home in the 3000 block of Yarmouth Greenway Drive about 12:15 p.m. Friday. They found one woman dead at the scene. The other later died at the hospital.

Police also found Steele inside the home. He was hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries.

Fitchburg police wouldn’t say what Steele’s injuries were and whether they were self-inflicted, but Lt. Todd Stetzer said Steele’s injuries were consistent with a suicide attempt.

The injuries happened a little after the women were killed, but police are still trying to establish the exact time line. Stetzer did say Steele’s injuries did not stem from him shooting himself.

No charges had been filed against Steele as of Sunday and officials have not discussed any suspected motive for the shootings. More details are expected in a criminal charges, which could come early this week.

Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney said at a news conference Sunday that counseling would be made available to his staff. The investigation is being handled by Fitchburg police, but some deputies responded to the home as well.

The double homicide came as a shock to the staff, Dane County Lt. Kerry Porter told the Journal Sentinel.

“There are many deputies who are struggling with what occurred and trying to bring a resolution in their minds to what could’ve resulted in an end like this, and it’s very difficult to do — to make sense out of nonsense,” Mahoney told the Wisconsin State Journal.

He said the staff is concerned about the Steeles’ two children, who were placed with family members out of state, and Tollefsbol and her husband’s four children.

Mahoney said Ashlee and Kacee’s grandmother died the same day they were killed, so their father is struggling with the loss of his mother and two daughters.

Steele was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, on June 4.

His family had started a fundraiser called “Tough As Steele — Taking Down ALS” on the website Give Forward. The fundraiser website helps raise money for medical and other expenses associated with illness.

The fundraiser for Steele, which appeared to have been removed from Give Forward as of Sunday, described his journey since his diagnosis.

“Earlier this year, Andy noticed a twitching in his arm muscles that wouldn’t stop. Eventually his speech became impaired with slurring and difficulty articulating his words,” the fund-raising website said.

The website said Steele was experiencing never-ending muscle twitching and was having trouble chewing food and speaking. He was unable to work and had retired from the Dane County Sheriff’s Department in May.

The loss of his income had been crushing to the family, according to the website.

As of Saturday, Aug. 23, supporters had raised nearly $23,000 in donations toward the $75,000 goal of the fundraiser. There were 62 days left to raise the full amount. Money was supposed to go to specialized medical equipment and other expenses that the family had to pay for out of pocket. The campaign had received at least 266 donations by the time it was taken down.

“I never would have expected the type of reaching out people have done. People that have donated, people that I don’t even know very well, I haven’t seen or talked to in years,” Steele told a NBC15 in Madison earlier this month. “It’s hard to describe that.”

Ashlee Steele was listed as the team captain and funds manager and also wrote updates on her husband on the fund-raising website. On the site, she was described as “the love of his life.”

The couple had been together for 26 years. The two met when they were 12 in Saginaw, Mich., and later attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison together. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in child and family studies. They married after they graduated in 1998. He began working for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office and she started work for a large financial institution.

The two have a teenage son, Jack, and a daughter, Rachael. Ashlee Steele took time off to be with the kids before she started working as a pre-school teacher at Christ Memorial Lutheran Preschool in Fitchburg in 2008, according to the school’s website.

According to the fund-raising website, Andy and his family spent last weekend crossing an item off Andy’s “bucket list.”

“In high school, Andy and a group of friends would perform as Guns N’ Roses at school talent shows. Their performance was always a big hit with their classmates,” the website said. “When Andy received his diagnosis in June, he knew he wanted to relive those high school days and perform one last time with his buddies.”

So Steele’s friends put together a concert on Aug. 16 in Saginaw, where the band performed in front of more than 300 guests. The event was covered by the Saginaw News.

“The performance was a huge hit and their act was flawless,” Ashlee Steele wrote on the fundraising site.

“Watching Andy on stage with a huge smile on his face brought tears to my eyes… Friends and family came from all over the United States to share this incredible night with us.”

Steele also spent some time after his diagnosis pouring buckets of ice on his friends and family who submitted themselves to the now viral “ice bucket challenge.”

Steele was the cook in the family and they had spent the past couple of months cooking together and getting “lessons” from him to prepare for the future.

“Since the diagnosis, Andy and I joke that I better learn how to cook or we will all starve to death. So the cooking lessons are underway,” Ashlee Steele wrote.

Two months after Steele retired, the couple sat down with the kids to explain that he had stopped working.

“He explained that this disease makes his muscles weak and you need strong muscles to be a deputy. He owned two official badges and handed them each a badge stating, ‘I can’t use these anymore,'” according to a post on July 31. “The kids took the news well and thought it was pretty cool to have their own badges.”