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Apr 17, 2021 · Mark Winger goes to trial for 1995 murders: Part 9. The prosecution argued that Winger had lured Roger Harrington to their home and shot him, then killed his wife with a hammer.
- 8 min
- Donnah and Mark Winger Fall in Love
- August 29, 1995: The Day of The Murders
- January 1996: Rebecca Simic Becomes Bailey's Nanny and Then Something More
- February 1999: Deann Schultz Comes Forward to Police
- December 1999: Mark Winger Seen as A Suspect in Wife's Murder
- Aug. 23, 2001: A Grand Jury Indicts Mark Winger
- May 20, 2002: Mark Winger's Trial Begins
- June 5, 2002: Jury Returns Verdict on Winger Case
- A Lifetime of Consequences Following Mark Winger's Murders
"He was smart, Jewish. He was attractive and he was fun," Donnah Winger's sister, Jenny Levin, told "20/20." "[Donnah] just felt like she had found her person." Donnah was the eldest of three sisters in what they described as an incredibly close-knit family. The Dreschers grew to love Winger too. "We always joked about that when one sister marries,...
People were just returning home from work the day Mark Winger called 911 to report that he'd shot a man who "was killing" his wife. When former Springfield police Det. Charlie Cox arrived at the Winger's home, he remembered they could see the victims from the front door. "Donnah was clinging to life," former Sangamon County assistant state attorney...
Rebecca Simic was a young and beautiful nanny with a "heart of gold" who wanted to help the family, Hansen said. "I didn't want to like Rebecca, but it was hard to not like her," Levin said. "Seeing her with Bailey, there was really nothing bad we could say about her." Simic told "20/20" she was "blown away" by what the infant had been through in s...
Three-and-a-half years after the murders of Donnah Winger and Roger Harrington, Schultz came forward to police about the affair she'd had with Winger before his wife's death. "Mark was having a romantic relationship with DeAnn -- one of our sisters, as we considered her -- and that was something that we never, ever suspected," Levin said. Schultz t...
In December 1999, more than four years after the murders, the Springfield State Journal Register ran an article based on allegations in the civil lawsuit that Winger had arranged the murder himself and killed both his wife and Harrington. The allegations were based on a blood spatter expert hired by BART Transportation in the case. "Everything came...
A grand jury quickly returned an indictment against Winger for the murders of Harrington and Donnah Winger. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he was taken into custody while at work. "I had made plans to go to McDonald's Playland," Simic said. "We were there and I got a phone call. And it was Mark's secretary, and she told me that Mark had ju...
"The first time I saw Rebecca was at the trial. I wanted to love Rebecca. She adored Bailey," Hansen said. "But, I also wanted to hate Rebecca, because Rebecca took my sister's husband, married him, adopted her child, and then had three more children that my sister wasn't able to do." Levin also said she felt their bond with Simic "was no longer th...
After a trial that lasted three weeks, the jury found Winger guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. Simic said she believed he would have been going home with them. After hearing the verdict, she said the words "guilty" rang through her head and that she wanted "the earth to open up and swallow me." Sara Jane Drescher said her daughters, Donn...
Bailey Simic says she missed having her father around while growing up. "It was really hard being in school seeing all the other kids have their dads and that relationship," she said. "And now, suddenly, I couldn't just go to my dad's room or have him pick us up from school or anything like that." Ben Simic was only a year old when his dad went to ...
- 11 min
- Allie Yang,Denise Martinez-Ramundo,Jayson Haedrich,Laura Dimon
Apr 16, 2021 · Watch the full story on "20/20" TONIGHT at 9 p.m. ET on ABC. Winger told police that he’d discovered Harrington attacking his wife with a hammer and that he fatally shot him. Police accepted Winger’s horrifying story of a home invasion by an unhinged man and quickly closed the case.
- 3 min
- Mike Repplier
Sep 6, 2009 · Mark Winger was convicted of soliciting murder and sentenced to another 35 years. With Winger locked up for good, Sara Jane and Ira Drescher are dedicated to keeping Donnah's memory alive.
In 2006, Winger was indicted for asking a fellow prison inmate to arrange two murders. One of his intended murder victims was Donnah's best friend, DeAnn Schultz, with whom he had an affair for a month before the murders, who later testified against him during his trial.
The prosecution argued that Mark Winger had lured Roger Harrington to their home and shot him, then killed his wife with a hammer. Winger’s defense argued Harrington was a mentally ill killer. This clip is a preview of 20/20 "The Perfect Lie." Stream full episodes anytime on Hulu: https://abcn.ws/3DlnzKm.
People also ask
Why did Sara Jane and Ira Drescher come to Mark Winger's trial?
Was Mark Winger sentenced to life in prison?
Did Mark Winger kill Donnah?
Was Mark Winger betrayed?
Did Mark Winger kill Rebecca Simic & Roger Harrington?
Who killed Donnah Winger & Jeffrey Gelman & DeAnn Schultz?
Apr 15, 2021 · The murder-for-hire plot was foiled. Winger was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison for the plot, on top of the life sentence for the Donnah Winger and Harrington's murders.
