Mark Winger — Imitation Hero
Donnah Brown Winger, DOB 11/10/1963, was born to Sara Jane Drescher and Cash Brown in Hollywood, Florida. Mark Winger, DOB 11/26/1962, was born to Jerrod and Sallie Winger in Elyria, Ohio. Mark and Donnah wed in 1988 and settled down in their home at 2305 Westview Dr., Springfield, Illinois.
Photo: MARK WINGER
Mark, a nuclear engineer, and Donnah, an operating room technician, appeared to have it all. Looking in, they were a happy couple and were commended members of the community. Friends labeled them as the “perfect” couple. The Wingers wanted to begin a family. Issues arose and it was discovered that Donnah could not bear a child. As a Result, in June 1995 they adopted their daughter, Bailey Elizabeth Winger. Life was becoming complete for the couple.
Donnah’s frequented visits over the years with her family, still residing in Florida. August 1995, Donnah visited Florida with Bailey for a week. With her plane landing at St.Louis Lambert International Airport, on August 23rd,1995, Donnah had arranged for a shuttle home. Bailey and she would spend the hour and a half ride home with her driver, Roger Harrington. This ride became unsettling for Mrs.Winger.
Upon arriving home, Donnah sat down to document her uncomfortable trip home from the airport. During the drive, Roger disclosed that he often speaks to a God-like spirit named Dahm while he drives. Harrington drove at erratic speeds and spoke of experiencing out-of-body moments and visions of homicides. In an interview, Mark stated, “He said things about killing people, setting car bombs, and mutilating people.”
Uneasy with the situation, Mark filed a complaint with the shuttle van company. He was irate over the situation. Ultimately, the manager placed Roger Harrington on a suspension.
August 29th, 1995, Mark was exercising on the treadmill in his basement, when he heard the noise. A loud, crashing thump. Thoughts frantically running through his mind, did Donnah fall or drop the baby? Mark rushed upstairs and ran to the master bedroom, checking on Bailey. Verifying she is safe, Mark heard additional, fear-filled sounds. Grabbing his pistol, he ran down the hallway and encountered a horrific act in progress. Donnah was laying on the floor, motionless. A man was standing over her, yielding a claw hammer. The man used the hammer and thrashed it over Donnah’s head, over and over. Mark aimed at the man and squeezed the trigger, the bullet ripping through the intruder. Still mobile, the intruder stood up and faced Mr.Winger. At this time, Mark aimed and shot the man in the forehead. Dropping him to the ground immediately.
Mark Winger, staring at his wife’s motionless body, hurriedly called 911. After placing the call, rushing to Donnah’s aid, he heard the man making slight moans. Enraged at his wife’s brutal attacker, Mark grabbed the hammer and slammed it into the intruder’s chest multiple times to “shut him up.”
As police and paramedics arrived, both Donnah and the intruder were motionless and clinging to life. Responding officer, Dave Barringer, quickly processed the initial scene and information available at hand while paramedics precede to tend to the two victims. Officer Barringer, knowing that the two would be taken by ambulance, quickly located his Polaroid camera to secure body-location photographs. In a matter of minutes, Donnah and the intruder were headed to the hospital via ambulance.
The scene being secured by Springfield Police Department, Mark began to disclose his statement of the occurrence. Arriving on scene was Homicide Detective Charlie Cox. Cox knew from the looks of the victims that survival was virtually non-existent. Mark was moved to the master bedroom for his interview with police. Detective Cox, in possession of the intruder’s wallet, removed his identification card and proceeded towards the master bedroom.
Mark was visibly shaken. When questioned on the hammer, he stated it was his. Donnah had left the hammer out as a reminder for her husband to hang a hat rack. Mark asked Cox, “Is the intruder’s name Roger?”
The accused intruder Mark shot has been identified as shuttle-driver Roger Harrington. The same Roger Harrington that provided Donnah with the uneasy ride home from St.Louis, MO.
Questions began to unfold about the relationship between the parties. Mr.Winger disclosed to police the recent events and alleged harassment from Harrington towards Donnah. Arriving on scene, Cox partner, Detective Doug Williamson, began to console and calm Mark, who was sure he was going to be charged for shooting the intruder.
This was far from the truth. Detectives explained their process to Mark. He was cleared from the incident and seen as a victim, not a criminal. Mark Winger came to the rescue of his wife while she was being brutally attacked. At the hospital, both Donnah and Roger succumbed to their injuries.
Roger Harrington would be listed as the guilty party for Donnah Winger’s murder and Mark Winger’s actions to eliminate Roger Harrington were listed as a justified homicide due to self defense. Roger’s actions were validated by his history of psychiatric treatment and a note found in his truck stating, “Mark Winger, 2305 Westview Drive, Springfield, 4:30.” Bringing pre-meditation to the table after his suspension due to Mark’s complaint.
Donnah Winger’s parents were devastated by the news of the incident. Sara, Donnah’s mother, and Ira, step-father, hurried to the side of their grieving son-in-law. The family was in a horror story. The community throughout Springfield came to the aid of the father suffering from the tragic murder of his wife, Bailey’s mother.
Harrington’s family were not buying the story. Knowing her brother better than any, Barbara Howell stated to detectives that Roger was not physically capable of the act. She pleaded. She begged. Only to receive rude and estranged remarks back from detectives. At one point, Cox told Barbara, “Ma’am, anytime you want to know how your kid brother walked in that home, snapped, and killed that woman, come by my office and I’ll show you step-by-step.”
However, Barbara Howell wasn’t alone in her doubts. Although Detective Cox was certain of Mark’s statement of events, Detective Williamson had his own reasonable doubt. One thing repeated bothered Doug, the note found in Harrington’s vehicle. The note showing a pre-planned appointment at the home. Roger showing up to the home without a weapon. Something didn’t add up to Williamson.
Being turned down by the Chief of Police, the investigation was closed with the evidence and statement of Mark Winger at hand. Case closed.
Mark winger would soon hire a nanny to aid in caring for Bailey. They soon fell in love, and Mark wed the nanny, Rebecca. Rebecca eventually adopted Bailey and the new Winger’s had two additional children. Mark Winger’s life was finding normality again.
Until almost four years later when a witness abruptly came forward. The former Donnah Winger’s best friend, DeAnn Schultz. A secret that she has harbored inside for over three years was destroying her. She had to let it out to the police. DeAnn and Mark were having an affair at the time of Donnah’s death. During her statement to detectives, DeAnn stated that, “Mark wanted out of his marriage so badly, he had talked about killing Donnah.” At one point, Winger suggested that Schultz aided in a murder plot against Donnah.
Alongside this new information, Detective Cox was beginning to feel suspicion towards Mark. Months after the deaths, Mr.Winger arrived at the police station to take his pistol back into possession. This, in itself, being a harmless act, it was the statement made by Mark to Cox that aired a red flag. Mark asked the detective, “How is the case going?” Detective Cox found this strange because as far as he was concerned, it should have just been accepted as closed from an intrusive murder followed by a justified homicide. Mark will later deny in court, but Cox stated that he stopped by the station at a later date with the same conversational occurrence.
With Schultz’s statement and the odd behavior of Mark at the station, Detective Williamson was granted his wish. The investigation was formally re-opened.
Dusting off the old case files, Cox and Williamson got to work. Suddenly, in front of their faces were the three photographs that Officer Barrington took immediately at the scene, clearly showing the body-placement after the incident. Cox would later state the photographs weren’t examined prior due to his lack of knowledge of their existence. Seconds into the examination of Polaroids, Mark Winger’s story didn’t ring true. Williamson called it, “a smoking gun.” Roger Harrington’s body was laying 180 degrees opposite of what Mark described in the initial statement.
It had now become clear to the investigators that they had failed the justice system years earlier. All hands were now on deck and the truth was starting to make sense.
August 23rd, 1995, Donnah Winger had an unsettling ride home with Roger Harrington. This was Mark’s time to act. He began planning his homicidal plot. He would frame Roger.
The note in Harrington’s vehicle gave the detectives proof of the pre-meditated meeting. At the trial, Ray Duffey, owner of the shuttle-van company, said that Mark Winger just wanted to meet with Harrington to discuss the behavior and not seek professional repercussions. The 4;30 meeting. Further, the question was raised, if Harrington was intending on murdering another, why did he not come to the residence with his own weapon? Instead, he seemingly used the Winger’s hammer.
The state used Tom Bevel as their blood-spatter analysis specialist. Bevel concluded with the bloodstains at the scene, it appeared Roger was laying face down as he was initially shot in the rear-top of the head. The next bloodpool was consistent with Harrington being flipped over onto his back before the final gunshot to his forehead. Bevel next noted that Donnah’s clothing did not show any signs of blood-spatter consistent with Roger Harrington being shot as he stood atop of her. The professional identified spots of Donnah’s blood on Mark’s clothing, consistent with Mark yielding the hammer. Roger Harrington’s clothing did not show a trace of Donnah’s blood.
Terry Labor, the defense’s forensic science expert, testified the spatter was consistent with Harrington yielding the hammer. The DNA testing of the blood caused his statement to lack integrity.
DeAnn Schultz testified. The affair was detailed and she also brought forth that Mark Winger, on August 28th, 1995, stated, “he needed to get the shuttle-bus driver in his house.” The day of the incident, Winger asked Shultz, “if she would love him no matter what.”
The defendant, Mark Winger, did not testify at his trial. The trial consisted of two weeks of testimony. Harrington’s family were praying that his name would be cleared. Roger was buried as a murderer.
After 13 hours of deliberation, the juror’s returned with an answer. Mark Winger was found guilty of murdering Donnah Winger and Roger Harrington. August 2002, Winger was sentenced to his natural life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mark Winger has never told his side of the story different from his first statement.
Photo: Donnah Winger (Left),
Roger Harrington (Right)
Winger was not done. Three years into his life sentence, an inmate at Pontiac Correctional Facility in Pontiac, Illinois came forward with Mark’s new plot. Mark Winger was planning the murders-for-hire of DeAnn Schultz and his former father-in-law, Ira Dresher. This plot was so intricate and diabolical that it took the inmate nineteen pages to write and countless hours of secretly taping conversations to outline the entirety.
Mark Winger, currently serving a life sentence, was indicted on two counts of soliciting murder for hire. June 2007, Winger took trial for the charges. A jury in Pontiac, Illinois found him guilty after only three hours of deliberation, including their lunch break. An additional 35 year sentence was added to Mark’s life sentence.
Ira Desher, present at the murder for hire trial, looked Mark Winger in the eyes and said,
“Mark, your miserable life is over.”
For more information on the murders of Donnah Winger and Roger Harrington, please visit the following:
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/invitation-to-a-murder-05-09-2009/
- https://murderpedia.org/male.W/w/winger-mark.htm
- People V. Winger 2016 Ill. App. 4th 131113 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016)
