Winger - Convicted wife-murderer now charged with solicitation of murder
Indigo Ace
New case against Winger
Allegedly tried to have two more murdered
By SARAH ANTONACCI
STAFF WRITER
Published Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Mark Winger, convicted in June 2002 of murdering his wife and a
shuttle-van driver in an intricate plot, has been charged with trying
to arrange the murders of two other people - including a key
prosecution witness in his original trial.
Winger, 43, was charged Feb. 21 in Livingston County with two counts
of solicitation of murder. He is being held in a segregation unit at
the Pontiac Correctional Center.
Winger allegedly asked another Pontiac inmate, Terry Hubbell, to
arrange for a third person to murder DeAnn Anderson, a former
girlfriend of Winger's who testified against him, and Jeffrey Gelman,
a real estate developer in Chicago and Florida and apparently an old
friend of Winger's.
Winger's plan apparently was to have the third person kidnap Gelman
for a large ransom and kill him. The ransom money was to be used to
pay the killer for the deaths of both Gelman and Anderson.
Carey Luckman, an assistant Livingston County state's attorney, said
Monday he was not allowed to discuss the particulars of the case.
"We filed two counts of information. Each count is a charge of
solicitation of murder in the first degree that occurred in the first
half of 2005," he said.
A pretrial hearing is set for May. The case could go to trial this
summer, Luckman said.
Hubbell, 44, is serving a life term for the 1983 murder of 14-year-old
Angel Greenwood in Olney. Hubbell beat the girl after she refused to
perform a sex act and then ran her over with his truck.
Winger is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole
for murdering in August 1995 of his wife, Donnah, and airport shuttle
service driver Roger Harrington. The new criminal allegations carry
potential penalties of 15 to 60 years in prison.
The notoriety of the original Winger case has spawned several national
television shows, most notably a "48 Hours" episode on CBS.
Donnah Winger, 31, and Harrington, 27, were killed in the Wingers'
home on Aug. 29, 1995.
Initially, police believed that Harrington, who had a history of
mental problems and had given Donnah Winger a harrowing ride home from
the St. Louis airport several days before her death, came to the house
to confront them about complaining to his boss about his behavior.
Police thought Harrington had used a hammer to beat Donnah and that
Mark Winger had run up from the basement, grabbed a gun and shot
Harrington.
Three years later, however, DeAnn Anderson, then DeAnn Schultz, one of
Donnah's best friends, told authorities she had been having an affair
with Mark at the time of the murders and that she believed, based on
comments he'd made to her, that Mark was the killer.
Police revisited the case and discovered a long-ignored crime-scene
photo of the two bodies that seemed to conflict with Mark Winger's
account of what had happened. Authorities also hired a blood-spatter
expert and came to the conclusion that Winger had murdered both his
wife and Harrington.
Anderson testified at the trial that Mark Winger had told her a few
weeks before the killings that "it would be easier if Donnah just
died."
"He said he'd been thinking about it for a while," she testified. "He
said, 'All you have to do is come in and find the body.'"
At his sentencing, Winger said: "An unexpected turn of events ended up
with DeAnn and I involved in an affair. I was weak, my judgment was
clouded by the affects of alcohol, and I was wrong. I never loved
(Anderson), I never promised to live with her, and I never said I
loved her."
He said his new wife, Rebecca, whom he initially had hired as a nanny
and then married, had led him to Jesus Christ, "where I found my
answer and I found hope."
He claimed Anderson had tried to rekindle the affair. When he refused,
Winger said, Anderson told him she was going to "make me pay."
http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/79863.asp
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