Winger girlfriend sticks to story
Anne Warfield
http://www.sj-r.com/extras/winger/index.htm
Here's the latest story. From the [Springfield IL] State
Journal-Register--
Winger girlfriend sticks to story
De Ann Schultz cross-examined
By SARAH ANTONACCI and CHRIS DETTRO
STAFF WRITERS
Mark Winger’s ex-girlfriend on Friday stuck by her accusations that
Winger made incriminating statements about the death of his wife both
before and after Aug. 29, 1995, the day Donnah Winger was killed and
Roger Harrington was shot to death.
Defense attorney Thomas Breen of Chicago was relentless in his
questioning of DeAnn Schultz, 39, about why she didn’t warn Donnah
Winger that she might be in danger and then why she waited until 1998
to disclose her suspicions that Mark Winger was a double-murderer.
Schultz, who began an affair with Mark Winger in July 1995 that lasted
until February 1996, called Donnah "one of my best friends."
"Donnah was always full of excitement, fun," Schultz said. "She was
very happy."
Winger, 39, is accused of beating his wife to death with a hammer and
shooting to death Harrington, a mentally unstable shuttle van driver
who he allegedly set up to be blamed for his wife’s murder.
Winger told police that Harrington became obsessed with his wife
during a ride from the St. Louis airport to Springfield.
Breen asked Schultz about the date Donnah told Winger about the
unsettling van ride from St. Louis.
Schultz said on the stand Thursday that Donnah told her husband the
evening of Aug. 24, a day after the ride. She said she did not
remember telling detectives the day after the slayings that Donnah
didn’t tell Winger, who was in Chattanooga, Tenn., about the ride
until Aug. 25 because she didn’t want to disturb him before he took a
work-related test.
Breen also asked Schultz several times if she had told anyone about
Mark Winger’s alleged comments and her suspicions concerning the
deaths of Donnah and Harrington. She replied that the first person she
told was her psychiatrist in 1998.
In the first week or so after Donnah’s murder, Schultz said, she "just
could not believe that Mark would kill Donnah" despite earlier
statements she attributed to him that "it would be easier if Donnah
just died."
She had been in contact with Donnah’s family after the murder and
could have told members of her own family or a psychiatrist who was
treating her at that time, she admitted.
Breen also questioned Schultz, a psychiatric nurse, about her own
mental health history and treatments she has undergone for depression
and severe migraine headaches. Schultz testified Thursday under
questioning by assistant state’s attorney Steve Weinhoeft that her
mental health deteriorated after 1995 to the point that she attempted
suicide several times.
Schultz’s most vehement denials came when Breen questioned her about
an exchange of rings Schultz said occurred between her and Mark in
December 1995.
Schultz said Thursday that she and Winger continued their affair even
after Donnah’s death. They talked about marrying, and Winger gave her
a ring, she said.
"We promised to love one another, and he talked like we’d be together
one day," Schultz said. She said the two exchanged rings. She said
Winger told her he would keep the ring on his key ring and tell people
it was one he had bought for Donnah that she didn’t like.
Schultz said she later learned that Winger kept the ring in a desk
drawer at work.
Breen suggested that she told Winger that she had lost her wedding
band, given to her by her now ex-husband, during one of the couple’s
hotel trysts and that she harped to Mark about getting a new one.
"That is false," Schultz said.
She also denied telling her husband that she couldn’t wear his wedding
band because her fingers were bloated.
Breen concluded his cross-examination by asking Schultz if it took her
from Aug. 29, 1995, to November 1998 (when she told her psychiatrist)
"to take in all these little facts and conclude that Mark killed his
wife, Donnah?"
"I’ve never concluded that, no," she replied.
In Friday afternoon testimony, Amy Jaffe, a good friend of Donnah,
testified that Mark Winger came to her home sometime in the six months
after the deaths to talk to her about what happened. What he told her
was a different version of events from what he’d told others,
according to previous testimony.
Jaffe said Winger told her he was working out in the basement when he
heard a noise, came upstairs and went into the bedroom to get a gun.
He was walking down the hallway toward the dining room when he saw
Harrington come toward him in the hall.
Afraid Harrington was going to attack the Wingers’ daughter, Bailey,
he shot Harrington, Jaffe said Winger told her.
Other witnesses have said Winger reported he was on his way upstairs
and heard crying, leading him toward the bedroom where he saw his
3-month-old daughter on the bed. Thinking that was odd, and because of
the strange van driver his wife had encountered, he grabbed a gun from
a nightstand and started down the hallway. In the dining room, Winger
told police, he saw Harrington beating Donnah with the hammer.
The trial will continue Tuesday.
Sarah Antonacci can be reached at 788-1529 or sarah.a...@sj-r.com
and Chris Dettro at 788-1510 or chris....@sj-r.com.
© Copyright 2002, The State Journal-Register
http://www.sj-r.com/extras/winger/0525a.htm
--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Jane Cactus
"Anne Warfield" <indi...@aolxxx.com> wrote in message
news:3ceff164...@news.earthlink.net...
This is reminiscent of Jeff MacDonald, who related the course of events
differently each time he told it, of the night his family was murdered.
JC