Mark Winger
Encyclopedia
Mark Winger, a former Springfield, Illinois
nuclear power-plant technician, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his wife, Donnah Winger, and Roger Harrington (born 1967), in 1995.
Winger married the former Donna Drescher (born Donnah Brown in 1963) in 1988. Winger was an nuclear plant engineer, his bride Donnah an operating room technician.
He is a first cousin of actor Debra Winger.
Police initially suspected that Harrington, who did have a history of mental problems, had given Donnah Winger a harrowing ride home from the St. Louis airport, and scared her and their child, a 3-month old that the Wingers had adopted just a month and a half earlier, to the point where she told her husband about the incident, which was several days before her death, and that Harrington, who had been involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife some years ago, had broken into the house and beat her to death with a hammer. The Wingers' initially had contacted the taxi shuttle service where Harrington was employed, and complained about the ride from the airport.
Springfield Police Det. Doug Williamson, the interviewing detective in Wingers initial questioning was never persuaded of Winger's innocence. However, because he was only a rookie, his opinion was not given large consideration. His partner, Det. Charlie Cox was initially convinced by Winger's report but said that he "became suspicious" when Winger kept showing up at the police station. It reportedly had begun a few months after the murders occurred when Winger came by to ask for his gun back. The two detectives then began to have serious thoughts that Winger had possibly committed the murders.
Detective Cox recalls:
“I released the gun back to Mark and we sat and talked for about a half hour,” Cox says. "He was wanting to know how the case was going. As far as I was concerned, he should have just accepted it was closed.”
Although Winger would deny it, Cox also remembered him dropping by a second time, to say he was getting remarried to his daughter’s new nanny, whom he had hired just five months after Donnah died.
“He kept coming in. I kept feeling like he was trying to find out if we were checking into anything,” says Cox. “I went back to Doug and said, ‘Something’s wrong here. Big time."
Winger had reportedly told the Springfield Police detectives that he ran up from the basement, grabbed a gun and shot Harrington in defense, after he saw him over his dead wife, who was lying on the living room floor. But police later developed evidence that Harrington was set up as part of Winger's plan to murder his wife, based on the positioning of the bodies the police discovered at the crime scene; they didn't add up to WInger's account of a supposed struggle with Harrington, as well as the evidence discoveries in Harrington's car which pointed to a possible appointment for 4:30 PM that afternoon with WInger and his wife.
It also introduced the murder weapon, a gun detectives had believed that Winger had used to shoot and kill Harrington, and the hammer that Winger had alleged that Harrington had used to bludgeon Donnah, but which the police had believed that Winger, instead of Harrington, had used to kill his wife. The testimony from acquaintances of the Wingers', in particular, one DeAnn Schultz, one of Donnah's best friends, who would reveal that she had been having an affair with Mark at the time of the murders. She said that Winger had made what she thought were incriminating comments to her, and that Winger wanted out of his marriage so badly that he even tried to solicit her in on the murder plot beforehand. Schultz had also claimed he made incriminating comments to her such as "it would be better if she died."
The plot originally involved having Hubbell, who was at the time serving natural life for the 1983 murder of a 14-year-old girl, Angel Greenwood, in the nearby town of Olney
, arrange for the hitmen to kidnap Gelman, who had allegedly offended Winger when he wouldn't post his US$1,000,000 bail in the Sangamon County case, then obtain a large ransom in exchange for not harming his family. As time progressed, however, the ransom plot was changed to murder Gelman, and Schultz, who wound up testifying against him in the murder for hire trial. The ransom money was to supposedly be used to pay the killer for the deaths of both Gelman and DeAnn Schultz.
The fallout of the plot resulted in a conviction in June 2007 for solicitation to commit murder, as he was found guilty by jury in the Livingston County, Illinois
trial, and a 35-year sentence on top of the life without parole sentence he received in the Sangamon County murders.
episode "Open and Shut" is based on the Winger case, but with the sexes of the victims reversed: the wife kills the husband and frames his psychopathic driver. In December 2008, CBS News's
48 Hours
program ran an update on the story of the Winger murder case, which was also later aired on the cable WE tv
Channel's 48 Hours On We program.
Springfield, Illinois
Springfield is the third and current capital of the US state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County with a population of 117,400 , making it the sixth most populated city in the state and the second most populated Illinois city outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area...
nuclear power-plant technician, was convicted in 2002 of murdering his wife, Donnah Winger, and Roger Harrington (born 1967), in 1995.
Winger married the former Donna Drescher (born Donnah Brown in 1963) in 1988. Winger was an nuclear plant engineer, his bride Donnah an operating room technician.
He is a first cousin of actor Debra Winger.
Synopsis of murders
Winger's wife Donnah had taken a 90-minute ride home from St. Louis International airport after a trip from Florida to visit her mother and stepfather with shuttle van driver Roger Harrington on the early afternoon of August 23, 1995. The allegedly psychotic driver had given her a "hard time" all during the ride, annoying her by talking about getting high and having orgies in his home. Some days later, Winger called 911 and reported having shot Harrington to death, not knowing who he was, upon catching him bludgeoning Donnah to death with a hammer. The case was declared closed at first, but on closer examination it was discovered that the husband appeared as the only possible culprit and that he had killed Harrington before he murdered his wife, after luring him into the house.Police initially suspected that Harrington, who did have a history of mental problems, had given Donnah Winger a harrowing ride home from the St. Louis airport, and scared her and their child, a 3-month old that the Wingers had adopted just a month and a half earlier, to the point where she told her husband about the incident, which was several days before her death, and that Harrington, who had been involved in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife some years ago, had broken into the house and beat her to death with a hammer. The Wingers' initially had contacted the taxi shuttle service where Harrington was employed, and complained about the ride from the airport.
Springfield Police Det. Doug Williamson, the interviewing detective in Wingers initial questioning was never persuaded of Winger's innocence. However, because he was only a rookie, his opinion was not given large consideration. His partner, Det. Charlie Cox was initially convinced by Winger's report but said that he "became suspicious" when Winger kept showing up at the police station. It reportedly had begun a few months after the murders occurred when Winger came by to ask for his gun back. The two detectives then began to have serious thoughts that Winger had possibly committed the murders.
Detective Cox recalls:
“I released the gun back to Mark and we sat and talked for about a half hour,” Cox says. "He was wanting to know how the case was going. As far as I was concerned, he should have just accepted it was closed.”
Although Winger would deny it, Cox also remembered him dropping by a second time, to say he was getting remarried to his daughter’s new nanny, whom he had hired just five months after Donnah died.
“He kept coming in. I kept feeling like he was trying to find out if we were checking into anything,” says Cox. “I went back to Doug and said, ‘Something’s wrong here. Big time."
Winger had reportedly told the Springfield Police detectives that he ran up from the basement, grabbed a gun and shot Harrington in defense, after he saw him over his dead wife, who was lying on the living room floor. But police later developed evidence that Harrington was set up as part of Winger's plan to murder his wife, based on the positioning of the bodies the police discovered at the crime scene; they didn't add up to WInger's account of a supposed struggle with Harrington, as well as the evidence discoveries in Harrington's car which pointed to a possible appointment for 4:30 PM that afternoon with WInger and his wife.
Donna Winger/Roger Harrington Murder Trial
Up until the time that he was finally arraigned in 2001, life had gone on with Winger; by this time he had remarried, marrying Rebecca Handity, the family nanny he had hired after the death of Donna, and a "Trophy Shiksa", or a non-Jew; both Winger and his late wife Donnah families were of a Jewish background. The new couple added three more children, two which were adopted, to the new family, which included the child Winger had adopted with first wife Donnah.Evidence and testimonies
At the start of the trial, all of the forensic evidence, including DNA samples, and the video interviews by Winger with the detectives assigned to the case was introduced; it also introduced a post-it reminder note in Harrigton's car of the planned meeting between the cab driver Harrington and the Wingers, and dispatch documents for the airport shuttle service for whom Harrington worked for and also recorded conversations between Winger and the driver of the possible meeting later that afternoon on the day of the murders, as well as, probably most damning for Winger, three polaroid photo shots of the victims at the crime scene which disproved Winger's testimony of shooting Harrington as he knelt over Donnah's unconscious body. Testimony from paramedics also contradicted Winger's statement that he had held his wife while waiting for the paramedics. The paramedics testified that they had found Donnah face down.It also introduced the murder weapon, a gun detectives had believed that Winger had used to shoot and kill Harrington, and the hammer that Winger had alleged that Harrington had used to bludgeon Donnah, but which the police had believed that Winger, instead of Harrington, had used to kill his wife. The testimony from acquaintances of the Wingers', in particular, one DeAnn Schultz, one of Donnah's best friends, who would reveal that she had been having an affair with Mark at the time of the murders. She said that Winger had made what she thought were incriminating comments to her, and that Winger wanted out of his marriage so badly that he even tried to solicit her in on the murder plot beforehand. Schultz had also claimed he made incriminating comments to her such as "it would be better if she died."
Verdict
On May 29. 2002, after three weeks of testimony and 13 hours of deliberation, a jury found Winger guilty of first-degree murder in the beating death of his wife Donnah, and the fatal shooting of Harrington. Winger was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders. It had taken 6 and a half years for the case to finally make it to trial.Solicitation for murder trial (2007)
In 2006, Winger, then 48, was indicted for attempting to hire a fellow prisoner to commit another murder for him. Winger allegedly tried solicit a Pontiac prison inmate, Terry Hubbell, then 44, to arrange the murders of Schultz, who was his girlfriend and mistress at the time of his wife's and Harrington's death, and a childhood friend, Jeffrey Gelman, a wealthy real estate developer living in Florida at the time, and whom Winger also allegedly felt had slighted him.The plot originally involved having Hubbell, who was at the time serving natural life for the 1983 murder of a 14-year-old girl, Angel Greenwood, in the nearby town of Olney
Olney, Illinois
Olney is a city in Richland County, Illinois, United States. The population was 8,631 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Richland County.-History:...
, arrange for the hitmen to kidnap Gelman, who had allegedly offended Winger when he wouldn't post his US$1,000,000 bail in the Sangamon County case, then obtain a large ransom in exchange for not harming his family. As time progressed, however, the ransom plot was changed to murder Gelman, and Schultz, who wound up testifying against him in the murder for hire trial. The ransom money was to supposedly be used to pay the killer for the deaths of both Gelman and DeAnn Schultz.
The fallout of the plot resulted in a conviction in June 2007 for solicitation to commit murder, as he was found guilty by jury in the Livingston County, Illinois
Livingston County, Illinois
Livingston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 38,950, which is a decrease of 1.8% from 39,678 in 2000. Its county seat is Pontiac....
trial, and a 35-year sentence on top of the life without parole sentence he received in the Sangamon County murders.
In the media
The CSI: NYCSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
episode "Open and Shut" is based on the Winger case, but with the sexes of the victims reversed: the wife kills the husband and frames his psychopathic driver. In December 2008, CBS News's
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
48 Hours
48 Hours
48 Hours may refer to:* 48 Hours , a documentary and news television program* 48 Hrs., a 1982 comedy and action film, starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy* Another 48 Hrs., the sequel to the 1982 comedy/action film...
program ran an update on the story of the Winger murder case, which was also later aired on the cable WE tv
WE TV
We TV is the third TV channel from Malayalam Communications Ltd, in Kerala and based at Trivandrum. The other two channels of this company are Kairali TV and People TV. WE TV is mainly aimed at the youth and was officially launched on April 14, 2007. Mr...
Channel's 48 Hours On We program.