The 1995 murder case is now discussed on Dateline, Roger Harrington and Donnah Winger were brutally murdered by Mark Winger in his own home in August 1995.
Mark Winger was charged with murder seven years after they died in 1995. Roger Harrington and Donnah Winger were a victim of an orchestrated murder by him.
Rebecca Simic is known as Mark’s second wife, she and their four children open out about their perfect father and husband in a two-hour “20/20” program on ABC.
Or so they believed until he was found guilty of murdering his first wife, Donnah.
Roger Harrington And Donnah Winger Murder Case Reviewed
Mark Winger is known to be the killer of Roger Harrington and Donnah Winger is in August 1995.
ABC started that people were just getting home from work when Mark called 911 to report that he’d shot a guy who “was murdering” his wife on August 29.
Former Springfield police officer Det. Charlie Cox reported seeing the victims from the front door when he arrived at the Winger’s house.
Donnah, according to former Sangamon County deputy state attorney Steve Weinhoeft, is “clinging to life.” “She’d been whacked seven times in the head with a hammer.”
The second victim, a Caucasian man, suffered two gunshot wounds to the head but still had a beat when police arrived, according to Weinhoeft.
Cox found the man’s wallet, and he was immediately identified as Roger Harrington.
According to the previous story of Mark, he shot Harrington after discovering him beating his wife with a hammer.
He remembered Harrington as a driver who had just driven Donnah home from the airport and whose manner had made her fear for her safety.
Mr. Winger claimed that he was on the treadmill in the basement when he heard a noise upstairs. According to Cox, Winger began his investigation by heading to the house’s master bedroom, where he spotted Bailey on the bed.
He proceeded to the dining room and grabbed his handgun from the nightstand after hearing more sounds.
Winger told police that he witnessed Harrington throwing a hammer at his wife as he walked down the corridor, according to Graham. Furthermore, Winger stated he shot Harrington once, then shot him twice as he began to sit up.
Winger’s terrifying narrative of a house invasion by an insane guy was accepted by police, and the case was promptly closed.
Murderer Mark Winger Case Actual Story As reported By ABC
The actual story of Donnah Winger’s murder by her husband, Mark Winger was completely opposite to what was described by him in 1995.
The re-investigation into Donnah’s death began in 1999, more than three years after her death. It was when DeAnn Schultz, her best friend, came out and admitted to having an affair with Winger prior to Donnah’s death.
Winger had stated things like, “It would be easier for us to be together if Donnah just died,” Schultz told officials at the time. “All you’d have to do is come in and find the body,” says the narrator. At the time, Schultz stated she believed the claims were “wild stuff”.
Shortly after the death of the baby girl’s mom, Rebecca Simic said she “wanted to protect” Donnah Winger’s daughter from “the chaos that had gone on around her.”
Then when they re-investigated they found no signs of forced entry into the house. And they were confused as to why he left a tire iron and a knife, potential murder weapons inside Harrington’s car and used Winger’s hammer lying in a Kitchen, instead.
Harrington’s car was also positioned in the opposite direction, indicating that he did not try to disguise his presence at the Winger’s house.
Detectives also recovered Polaroid images taken by one of the cops who arrived first on the site that day in 1995. The three images showed the corpses’ postures before they were transported to the hospital.
“Mark said that Harrington was crouching close to Donnah’s head and striking her with a hammer,” Weinhoeft added. “He said that he shot him and that the man slumped backward, his feet still close to Donnah’s head.”
“But, in truth, the Polaroids reveal the polar opposite.” According to Cox, the images show Harrington and Donnah Winger laying in the same way.
“This suggests that the murder had not occurred in the manner claimed by Mark Winger,” Weinhoeft added.
The note was discovered inside Harrington’s car, which contained Mark Winger’s name, address, and time of arrival. Following that, it was clear that he was not an invader, but rather that Mark persuaded him into that property.
“Mark regarded this as a once-in-a-lifetime chance and murdered both of them,” Weinhoeft stated.
He was finally apprehended and charged with the murders of Donnah Winger and Roger Harrington in August 2001. A jury convicted him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder after a public and traumatic three-week trial.
Where Is Mark Winger Now?
Mark Winger is currently in prison serving a life sentence after he was charged with murders. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murders of his wife and Harrington on August 1, 2002. Winger maintains his innocence to this day.
“It wasn’t simply him who was condemned to life in prison,” his wife Rebecca Simic explained. “We were sentenced to a father’s life in jail.”
Simic moved out of Springfield with her children, and the house she’d purchased with Mark Winger was foreclosed on. Simic, a stay-at-home parent for seven years, declared bankruptcy.
“I have nothing to provide my children. Everything had been taken from him. I just have love “She stated. They changed their family’s surname from Winger to Simic.
Mark was charged in 2005 with murder-for-hire after allegedly attempting to assassinate DeAnn Schultz and a childhood acquaintance who refused to pay his bail.
He was tried and convicted again, this time for murder solicitation. He was sentenced to 35 further years in jail.
Where Is Mark Winger Now? Roger Harrington And Donnah Winger Murder Case Reviewed
