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Bad Romance: Web of Lies
Tue, 08 Apr 2025 07:00:00 -0000
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A husband is praised for killing his wife's alleged murderer until three photos help unmask a killer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What led to the adoption of Mark and Donna's child?
Mark and Donna were sort of put on this pedestal as this beautiful young couple who had struggled to have kids, and now they finally were able to adopt this three-month-old baby.
Here comes our special delivery. Oh, look. Oh, sweet.
Of course, these home movies are bittersweet. They have no way of knowing that within just a few months, their beautiful new family unit will cease to exist. Donna Brown grows up in a family of sisters in Florida.
Donna was the oldest of the three girls. She was outgoing, she loved life. Donna always said what was in her heart and in her mind.
Mark's brother set Donna and Mark up on a blind date, and things moved pretty quickly. He was smart, Jewish, he was attractive, and he was fun. She just felt like she had found her person. We always joked about that when one sister marries, that husband marries three sisters. When Don and Mark got married, he received a job offer that brought him to Springfield, Illinois.
Mark and Donna had a very nice married life. He was a nuclear engineer.
Donna Winger was a technician at Memorial Medical Center.
The only thing was she would have liked to have had a child. Donna called up and she was hysterical. She had just found out that she could not get pregnant. And so when this didn't happen, it took a toll. There was a lot of tension in their home. Mark was unhappy for the fact that I know he wanted to have a big family.
The way Bailey came into Donna's life is a really special story. Donna is working the operating room when one of the doctors comes in and says there's a young teen mother who wants to put her baby up for adoption.
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Chapter 2: What happened during Donna's terrifying ride home?
They were just a model American couple. Donna told me that Mark had a conference. I said to her, why don't you come to Florida? It would be so wonderful. Donna was excited to show off her baby. And as all of her trips, it was always very sad to see her go. Say hi, Daddy. Say we miss you.
I dropped her off at the airport, and she left. We had hired a driver to pick her up this way. She could just take care of the baby.
It was about a two-hour drive, and so this gentleman started opening up to Donna about issues he was having. He had a voice in his head named Dom. Recently, Dom was telling him to hurt people. And then he started flirting with her, saying that he liked older women and he liked to have sex parties. And he invited Donna to join him.
Donna describes a terrifying ride where the driver, a man named Roger Harrington, drove erratically at 75 miles an hour talking about demons with Donna and baby Bailey in the backseat.
She calls me. She tells me this whole story. And I said to her, you had a really crazy driver. But you're home. You're safe. You're going to be OK. She said, I really am really scared.
After the harrowing ride, Donna had been the victim of some strange phone calls. They had believed that the driver had been stalking her and was a danger.
So Mark started calling the limousine company and filing a complaint. Roger got suspended from his job because of the complaint. Mark suggests Donna write down the full account of her ride with Roger to get the facts down. Less than a week later, 911 operators receive a terrifying call. Emergency, emergency.
This man, he beat my wife. I shot him. Please help me. He was killing my wife.
The Stanley Cup playoffs. Man, your nerves might be shot. And you might be screaming your lungs out. And you might be clinging to hope. And it might be tarps off time. And the guy next to you might be your new best friend. And you might be dreaming about the Cup. And you might be completely lost for words, but that's what it's all about. That's hockey.
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Chapter 3: What was the outcome of the 911 call from Mark Winger?
When they arrived, they found a very grisly scene. Donna was clinging to life. She had been hit no less than seven times in the head with a hammer.
The second victim was an unknown white male lying on the floor.
He still had signs of life and a pulse with two gunshot wounds to the head.
In his wallet, he had a driver's license, which identified him as Roger Arrington. I proceeded back to the master bedroom to talk with the husband, Mark Winger. He kept asking, who's that man that was in my house? And even though I knew who it was, I did not want to let him know at that point. We got him calmed down. Then we started getting into what had occurred.
He was working out downstairs on his treadmill when he had heard a thump upstairs.
When he got to the master bedroom, he'd seen his three-month-old child laying on the bed, which he said Donna would have never done.
He then said he heard noises, which made him believe that Donna was in distress.
So at that point, he got his semi-automatic weapon out of the nightstand.
And as he walked down the hallway, he observed a man beating her with a hammer.
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Chapter 4: How did Mark's relationship with Rebecca develop?
It was a big responsibility, but I was ready for her. Bailey made me a mom, and sometimes a child has to appear for the mom to be created.
There she is. Most beautiful girl in the world. There she is. Someone's here, Bailey. Someone's here. Oh, hey. You're there for lunch.
When you live with someone and you're taking care of a child together, it's very easy to kind of play house. You're already put in those roles.
Mark called up one day and he said to me, I just want to tell you some good news. The nanny was pregnant. And I thought, oh my God, what is happening here?
When I first met Mark, Bailey Elizabeth,
Happy Father's Day, dear Daddy.
He was just a provider and a protector and just a stand-up guy.
You are hungry!
There was nights where we would sit up talking and having wine.
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Chapter 5: What new evidence reopened the case against Mark?
This is my just the sweetest little niece.
Deanne Schultz also stated that prior to the murders, Mark made a number of incriminating statements.
She tells them that he said things like, it would be easier for us to be together if Donna just died. All you'd have to do is come in and find the body.
Deanne stated that she declined to participate in that. After Mark learned about the trip that Donna took with Roger Harrington, he told Deanne, I've got to get that driver in my house.
Deanne said the day of the murder, he called and said, will you love me no matter what? To which he replied, yes, I would. Mark and Deanne continued their affair for about six months after the murder. And of course, at which point he had already hired Rebecca as the nanny. Deanne struggled to make sense of the information that only she knew. It weighed on her and left her in a fragile state.
Deanne Schultz, after the murders, her life went on a downward spiral to the point to where she had engaged in multiple suicide attempts. She never came forward until that chance encounter at that local hospital.
That was a catalyst that caused her for the first time to reach out to someone other than her physician to discuss the case. Now the police were able to look at that case through an entirely different perspective. Through the eyes of a man who was unhappy in his marriage, now we have a motive. The first step when you reopen a closed case is to go back and look at what you already have.
There are several pieces of evidence that they're looking at that just don't sit well with the detectives as they're reexamining everything. Things they'd noticed at the scene now take on a new meaning. For example, Roger brought his cigarettes and his coffee mug into the house. Who would do that if they were planning on killing someone?
There was no signs of forced entry. Not only that, but Roger Harrington left what was clearly could be used as weapons inside the vehicle. There was a tire iron. They also found a knife inside of his vehicle.
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