A Hero’s Mask: The Calculated Double Murder of Donnah Winger and Roger Harrington

Note: This article contains spoilers. Listen to the Love Marry Kill episodes on Donnah and Mark Winger for the full story and our in-depth discussion.

On the late afternoon of August 29, 1995, in Springfield, Illinois, a frantic 911 call brought police to the home of Mark Winger, an unassuming nuclear engineer. Inside, officers found a horrific scene: Mark’s 31-year-old wife, Donnah, and 27-year-old shuttle driver Roger Harrington were both lying on the dining room floor with catastrophic head wounds, an infant crying in the next room, and a bloodied hammer resting nearby. Mark recounted that he had rushed up from a basement treadmill workout after hearing thumps, found Harrington violently bludgeoning Donnah with a hammer, and fired his .45-caliber handgun in self-defense to save his wife. Authorities and the local media quickly hailed Mark as a heroic husband who did everything he could to defend his family. Within hours, the shooting was declared a justifiable homicide, and the case was closed.

Behind this polished facade, however, lay a cold and meticulously staged execution. Just days earlier, Donnah had taken an airport shuttle ride driven by Harrington, an eccentric man with a history of mental health struggles. Seizing on Donnah’s discomfort from that drive, Mark orchestrated a fatal trap. Exploiting Harrington’s fear of losing his job, Mark lured him to the home under the guise of smoothing things over, shot Harrington at point-blank range, and then brutally beat Donnah to death with a hammer before calling 911. For nearly four years, Mark maintained his grieving widower persona, quickly marrying Bailey’s 23-year-old nanny, collecting substantial insurance payouts, and aggressively filing civil lawsuits against the shuttle company.

The facade began unraveling when Donnah’s close friend, DeAnn Schultz, came forward to police to confess an intense affair with Mark. She revealed that he had spoken of getting rid of Donnah and had actively enlisted her help in fabricating parts of the intruder narrative. Reopened investigations, spearheaded by detectives who had long harbored suspicions, brought in forensic reconstruction experts who reexamined the original crime scene photos and blood evidence. In May 2002, a jury convicted Mark Winger of first-degree murder for the deaths of both Donnah and Roger Harrington, a verdict reinforced years later when he was convicted of attempting to solicit hitmen from prison.

Case Timeline

The Evidence Locker

• The Bank Deposit Slip Note: Found inside Roger Harrington's vehicle was a note scrawled on a deposit slip from his roommate Susan Collins' checkbook reading: "Mark Winger, 2305 Westview Drive, 4:30". Rather than an erratic stalker breaking in randomly, this established that Roger arrived at the house for a scheduled appointment arranged by Mark to clear the air about his shuttle job.

• The Barringer Polaroids & Body Positioning: Three scene photos taken by Officer David Barringer captured both victims lying on their backs with their feet pointing toward the kitchen. Roger’s feet were less than five feet from the refrigerator and his head was closest to Donnah, completely refuting Mark’s claim that Roger was actively straddling or kneeling over Donnah when shot from the hallway.

• Absence of Blood on Roger Harrington: Roger’s white sneakers, blue socks, hands, and clothing had none of Donnah’s blood or tissue on them—an impossible scenario if he had just struck her violently in the head seven times with a claw hammer.

• Blood Spatter on Mark's Shirt: Forensic analysis by Tom Bevel pinpointed two key stains on Mark’s shirt: Bloodstain #7 (an elongated cast-off stain from an object moving through the air) and Bloodstain #8 (high-energy impact spatter). These patterns demonstrated that Mark was not just passively holding Donnah after the attack, but was standing right over her while blunt-force blows were actively delivered.

• The 911 Audio & Neighbor Gunshot Timeline: During Mark's initial 911 call, Harrington could still be heard moaning in the background while Mark falsely claimed he had to hang up because his baby was crying (no baby was audible on the recording). A neighbor testified to hearing one shot around 4:30 p.m. followed by a second shot several minutes later, supporting the prosecution’s theory that Mark finished off Harrington after hanging up the phone.

Tina & Rich's Takeaways

Tina: "To me, there's something particularly chilling about a man like Mark Winger. He didn't look like someone capable of murder. He looked like a loving husband, a devoted father, and a successful professional. He played the role so convincingly that the people closest to him believed it, too... He was a frighteningly good actor. He really seemed like an authentic, loving family man."

Rich: "That is scary. People like that... it's almost psychopathic or sociopathic behavior when you can just put your mask on for your whole life... The one thing that caught my attention early in the case was when they found the note in Roger's car... It seemed very clear that he was writing down something—he had an appointment that he was going to keep, and his roommate testifying to that same thing. It just, that all made sense to me."

Sources & Further Reading

1. Book: Zimmerman, Gail Abbott. Invitation to a Murder: A 48 Hours Mystery (Pocket Books, 2008) — The definitive deep-dive account detailing the investigative missteps, civil litigation, and criminal trial.

2. Investigation Special: ABC 20/20, The Perfect Lie (featuring interviews with Rebecca Simic, Bailey, and the Dreschers).

3. Documentary: CBS 48 Hours, Mark Winger: Invitation to Murder.

4. Appellate Record: Supreme Court of Illinois, People v. Winger Court Ruling & Appeal Documents.

5. Charity & Memorial: Donnah’s Fund at Women In Distress — Established by Sara Jane and Ira Drescher to assist survivors of domestic violence in Donnah’s memory.

What Do You Think?

1. Why do you think investigators and prosecutors were so quick to take Mark’s word at face value during the initial 1995 investigation? Did his professional stature as a nuclear engineer play a role?

2. If Mark had not filed his civil lawsuit against BART, do you believe DeAnn Schultz would have ever gone to the police on her own?

3. Roger Harrington was carrying a knife in his bag and a blackjack under his seat. Why didn't police question why an alleged home invader would leave his own weapons behind and use a hammer inside the home?

4. What do you make of the jury completely disregarding all expert forensic testimony and relying on the 911 call, Polaroids, and witness statements instead?

Join the Conversation

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