Mark Winger

Case record: Mark Winger

Background

Mark Winger was born November 26, 1962 and worked as a former Springfield, Illinois nuclear power-plant technician. He was convicted in 2002 of murdering his wife, Donnah Winger, and Roger Harrington in 1995.

Mark Winger married Donnah Drescher (born Donnah Brown in 1963) in 1988. Donnah Winger worked as an operating room technician. Winger was a first cousin of actor Debra Winger.

Winger adopted a baby girl, Bailey, in June 1995. After Donnah’s death, Winger remarried to Rebecca Handity, the family nanny he had hired after Donnah died.

Winger and Rebecca Handity added three more children to their home, two of whom were adopted, and their family included the child Winger had adopted with his first wife, Donnah.

Winger and Donnah’s families were of Jewish background. In the narrative, the new couple was described as having a “Trophy Shiksa,” a reference to a non-Jew.

The offence

Donnah Winger took a 90-minute ride home from St. Louis International airport after a trip from Florida to visit her mother and stepfather. The trip was on the early afternoon of August 23, 1995 and was arranged through shuttle van driver Roger Harrington.

During the ride, Harrington gave Donnah a “hard time” by talking about getting high and having orgies in his home.

Several days later, Winger called 911 and reported having shot Harrington to death after he found Harrington bludgeoning Donnah Winger to death with a hammer.

At the time of investigation, police initially suspected Harrington, who had a history of mental problems, had frightened Donnah and their child before her death. The couple’s adopted child was described as a 3-month-old that the Wingers had adopted just a month and a half earlier. Police initially suggested that Donnah had told her husband about the incident days before her death.

The case later proceeded on the theory that Winger killed Harrington before he murdered Donnah, after luring Harrington into the house.

Investigation

Police initially declared the case closed after reviewing early information.

Police later questioned the initial acceptance of Winger’s account. Detective Doug Williamson said Roger Harrington was allowed into the house and that there was no forced entry, adding “Somebody let him in.” Williamson also said it did not make sense that Donnah left her baby alone on her bed and opened the door to Harrington, a man she supposedly feared.

Williamson described Harrington’s car as parked right in front of the Winger home with a piece of paper on the front seat bearing Mark Winger’s name, address, and “4:30 p.m.” Williamson said Winger told detectives he did not know Roger Harrington, had never met him, and did not indicate an appointment, while Williamson stated he had already seen the note indicating an appointment.

Detective Charlie Cox said Winger kept showing up at the police station, and Cox said he “became suspicious” that Winger might have committed the murders. Cox said it began when Winger came by to ask for his gun back, and Cox described releasing the gun back to Mark and sitting and talking for about a half hour. Cox said Winger wanted to know how the case was going and, in Cox’s view, should have accepted that it was closed.

Cox said Winger dropped by again and said he was getting remarried to his daughter’s new nanny, whom Cox described as having been hired just five months after Donnah died. Cox said he kept coming in and Cox felt Winger was trying to find out whether detectives were checking into anything. Cox said he went back to Doug and said, “Something’s wrong here. Big time."

Police later developed evidence intended to contradict Winger’s version of a struggle.

Williamson said dispatch documents and conversations recorded by the airport shuttle service, along with other evidence, suggested a planned meeting later that afternoon on the day of the murders between Harrington and the Wingers.

Police also considered evidence in Harrington’s car pointing to a possible appointment for 4:30 PM that afternoon with Winger and his wife.

Arrest

In 2001, Winger was arrested and put in jail awaiting trial.

Trial

Evidence and testimony

At the start of the trial, all of the forensic evidence, including DNA samples, and the video interviews by Winger with detectives assigned to the case were introduced. The trial introduced a post-it reminder note in Harrington’s car about the planned meeting between Harrington and the Wingers, and dispatch documents for the airport shuttle service that recorded conversations between Winger and the driver about the possible meeting later that afternoon on the day of the murders.

Three polaroid photos taken at the crime scene were introduced. In the narrative, these photos were described as disproving Winger’s testimony of a struggle between him and Harrington.

The murder weapon, a gun detectives had believed Winger used to shoot and kill Harrington, was introduced. The hammer was also introduced. Winger had alleged Harrington used the hammer to bludgeon Donnah, but police believed Winger, rather than Harrington, used the hammer to kill Donnah.

Acquaintances of the Wingers testified, including DeAnn Schultz, who was described as one of Donnah’s best friends. Schultz testified that she had been having an affair with Mark at the time of the murders. The narrative stated Schultz said Winger made incriminating comments and wanted out of his marriage so badly that he tried to solicit her in on the murder plot beforehand.

Schultz claimed Winger made incriminating comments including: “it would be better if she died.”

Jury verdict and deliberation

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 Winger, and the fatal shooting of Roger Harrington.

Sentencing

Winger was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murders. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole on August 9, 2002.

The narrative stated that Mark Winger did not take the stand at his trial.

Appeals

The narrative stated that an Illinois court rejected Winger’s appeal of his murder conviction.

Outcome

When Winger was convicted, the narrative stated that another man, Roger Harrington, was exonerated.

Solicitation for murder trial (2007)

In 2006, Winger, described as then 48, was indicted for attempting to hire a fellow prisoner to commit another murder for him.

The narrative stated Winger allegedly tried to solicit a Pontiac prison inmate, Terry Hubbell, then 44, to arrange the murders of Schultz, who was described as Winger’s girlfriend and mistress at the time of his wife’s and Harrington’s death, and a childhood friend, Jeffrey Gelman, described as a wealthy real estate developer living in Florida at the time. Winger allegedly felt Gelman had slighted him.

The narrative stated Hubbell 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.

The plot described in the narrative originally involved having Hubbell arrange for the kidnapping of Gelman, to obtain a large ransom in exchange for not harming his family. The narrative stated that as time progressed, the ransom plot changed to murder Gelman and Schultz, and that Schultz testified against him in the murder-for-hire trial. The narrative stated the ransom money was supposed to be used to pay the killer for the deaths of both Gelman and DeAnn Schultz.

The narrative stated the plot resulted in a conviction in June 2007 for solicitation to commit murder. It also stated that Winger received a 35-year sentence on top of the life without parole sentence he received in the Sangamon County murders.

Other details

People named in the narrative

The narrative included additional people:

• Sarah Jane Drescher, described as Donnah’s mother.
• Ira Drescher, described as Donnah’s stepfather.
• Barbara Howell, described as Harrington’s sister.
• Helen, described as Harrington’s mother.
• Detective Dave Barringer, described as taking Polaroid pictures at the scene.
• Detective Doug Williamson, described as the interviewing detective in Winger’s initial questioning.
• Detective Charlie Cox, Winger’s partner and a detective involved in the case.
• Ray Duffy, described as owner of the airport van company.
• Karen, described as a juror.
• Sally Winger, described as Winger’s mother.
• John Schmidt, described as leading the prosecution team.
• Rebecca Handity, Winger’s second wife.
• Terry Hubbell.
• Jeffrey Gelman.
• Angel Greenwood.
• Bailey, Winger and Donnah’s adopted daughter.
• Debra Winger, described as actor and Winger’s first cousin.

Verbatim quotations

Detective Charlie Cox said:

• “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.”
• “He kept coming in. I kept feeling like he was trying to find out if we were checking into anything,”
• “I went back to Doug and said, ‘Something's wrong here. Big time.'”

Williamson said:

• “Roger Harrington was allowed into the house. There was no forced entry. Somebody let him in.”
• “Why would Donnah leave her baby alone on her bed and open the door to Harrington, a man she supposedly feared?”
• “[Mark] says he doesn't know Roger Harrington, has never met him, and does not indicate an appointment, when I have already seen the note which indicates an appointment,” says Williamson.

Schultz said:

• “it would be better if she died.”

Media references included in the narrative

The narrative stated that the CSI: NY episode “Open and Shut” is based on the Winger case, with the sexes of the victims reversed, described as “the wife kills the husband and frames his psychopathic driver.”

The narrative stated that CBS News’s 48 Hours ran an update in December 2008 and later aired on the cable WE tv Channel’s 48 Hours On We program.