Mark Winger

In late 1987 or early 1988, Winger was set up on a blind date with operating room technician Donnah Ellen Brown, a coworker of his brother. Winger proposed marriage after the two had dated for approximately six months, and Brown accepted.[2] The couple were married on March 4, 1989, at Temple Solel in Hollywood, Florida, and, after a short time in Florida, they settled in Springfield, Illinois.[1][3] Winger and his wife adopted a baby daughter on June 1, 1995.[4]

On August 23, 1995, Donnah Winger was driven from St. Louis International Airport to her home in Springfield by shuttle driver Roger Harrington. The Wingers later complained to Harrington's employer, saying that Harrington gave Donnah a "hard time" during the ride by talking about getting high and having orgies. Six days later, Mark Winger called 911, saying that he had shot Harrington to death after Harrington attacked Donnah with a hammer in their home. The police initially believed that Harrington had broken into the Wingers' home and attacked Donnah in retaliation for their complaint to Harrington's employer. However, investigators later became suspicious of Winger because he continued to ask about the case even after it had been initially closed.[5] "He kept coming in. I kept feeling like he was trying to find out if we were checking into anything," said a detective. Winger's remarriage to his young daughter's new nanny, Rebecca Simic, hired five months after Donnah died, increased suspicion. Winger eventually had three children with his new wife.[4]

Four years after Donnah's death, her best friend, DeAnn Shultz, came forward and told police that she and Winger had been involved in an affair at the time of Donnah's death. Winger had ended the affair soon after Donnah's death, and Shultz suspected that he had killed Donnah. On reexamination of the evidence, police concluded that the positions of Donnah's and Harrington's bodies were inconsistent with Winger's account of a struggle with Harrington. They also found evidence in Harrington's car that Mark Winger had invited Harrington to the Winger home. The new theory was that Donnah's upsetting ride with Harrington inspired Winger to plan to kill her with the hammer and then to shoot Harrington, using the fabricated story of an attack by Harrington as a cover. He was charged with murder in 2001.

Evidence introduced at trial included recorded conversations between Winger and Harrington arranging a meeting on the day of the murders. Testimony from paramedics that they found Donnah face down contradicted Winger's statement that he had held his wife before they arrived. Shultz also testified that Winger had tried to involve her in his plot and told her it would be better if Donnah died. In May 2002, a jury convicted Winger of the first-degree murders of Donnah and Harrington, and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.[6][7]