Invitation To A Murder

A Husband Becomes a Hero for Trying to Stop his Wife's Murder - but Then the Twisted Plot Unravels

(CBS)  This story was originally broadcast on Dec. 13, 2008.

Mark and Donnah Winger seemed to have it all - successful careers, a new adopted child, and a nice home in Springfield, Ill. But their seemingly peaceful and happy family life was shattered in August 1995 when Mark says he came upon a man beating his wife with a hammer. Mark shot the man, and investigators soon determined that he had acted in self-defense.

As correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports, while the case seemed open and shut, after several years, it turned out to be anything but.

Almost everyone who knew Mark and Donnah Winger thought they were perfect together. They were both respected and successful members of their community.

Mark was a nuclear engineer for the state of Illinois, and Donnah an operating room technician. Both sets of in-laws were delighted when the couple married in 1989.

The Wingers were eager to start a family, but there was a problem: they learned Donnah could not bear children. So when Donnah and Mark adopted a baby girl in June 1995, they were elated.

Mark and Donnah doted on their daughter, and they showed her off to everyone, especially Donnah's best friend DeAnn Schultz. "Donnah was really special, very friendly, really exuberant, full of life," she remembers.

But just three months later the good times ended abruptly. It all began when Donnah returned from a visit to her mother Sara Jane and stepfather Ira in Florida.

Donnah and her baby arrived at the St. Louis airport and got into a shuttle van for the hour and a half ride back home to Springfield.

It was an unusual drive, with an unusual driver - a man named Roger Harrington, who had been working for the van company for six months. "The guy scared her. She said that he was very frightening," Mark recalls. "He said things about killing people, setting car bombs, mutilating people."

Harrington was also speeding. "He was telling Donnah that sometimes when he drives this God like character would come to him and pull him out of his body and he would be flying above the trees," Mark says.

She and the baby made it home, but Donnah was very rattled. Mark complained to Harrington' boss. "I blew up at him and told him about his van driver speeding with my wife and my baby, the inappropriate things he was saying," he remembers.

Then, less than a week after Donnah's wild ride, Winger says, he was on his treadmill in the basement when he heard a thump.

The baby, he says, was alone in the master bedroom, and there were strange sounds coming from the dining room. "Instantly, I knew that that wasn't right at all," Mark remembers. "I just grabbed my gun and started going down the hall."

Winger says when he came down the hallway, he saw one of the most horrifying things any husband could see: his wife was on the floor in the dining room, and there was a stranger over her bludgeoning her with a hammer.

And that's when Winger says he shot the man in the head. When police got to Wingers' house, the victims were in terrible shape but alive.

As paramedics went to work, Officer Dave Barringer got his Polaroid camera. "I thought that if we're gonna have pictures with - showing where the bodies were located, I'm gonna have to take these pictures now because they're gonna be gone within a matter of a few minutes," he remembers.

Within minutes, both Donnah and the man were rushed to the hospital, and Mark began telling police what happened that day.

Homicide Detective Charlie Cox knew that there was little hope that either Donnah or the man lying near her on the floor would survive their wounds.

Cox grabbed the man's ID from his wallet and then got right to work, questioning Mark Winger in the bedroom. "I was in shock. I was in shock the whole time they were questioning me. I did my best," Mark remembers.

"And he's more or less rocking back and forth as he's talking to us. And you could tell he’s nervous and upset. So I'm trying to be as delicate as I can with my questions," Cox recalls.

Winger told the detectives the hammer was his, left out by Donnah as a reminder to hang a hat rack. And he had a question of his own: "He said, 'Who is that guy out there?' And he says, 'Is his name Roger?' At that point, I felt compelled to let him know the truth and I said, 'Yes, that's Roger Harrington,'" Cox says.

Harrington - the very same van driver who drove Donnah home from the airport six days earlier. Winger told Cox about that harrowing ride. He also told Cox about two anonymous phone calls that Winger believed were from Harrington.

[anne11925]

What a story! Congratulations to all concerned who brought this psychopath to justice!

Why didn''t he get the death penalty? It''s too bad they don''t execute him with a hammer - he should know how it horrible that kind of death is.

[roscoezzz]

Is this a rerun? I''ve never seen it and was glued to my TV set when it aired.
This guy had the most supportive parent In-laws. I was surprised Winger''s real parents were only interviewed once.
Thank God the Police weren''t idiots this time around. However it took them long enough. Winger wanted to get away with murder and he almost did. He would have if the male victim didn''t right down that appointment on the piece of paper.
I agree. Lock Winger up and throw away the key.....

[smurfcrusher]

Women love jerks. How sad.

[deesown1]

they did make in into a Law & Order episode. It is just such a bizarre story, this stuff really happens? Wow

[carolcape]

This story was like something out of a novel. Who would ever believe that this was cooked up by this just ordinary looking man, they guy next door so to be. He was not a Tom Cruise or a knockout, what is with these men. He was just lucky to have a beautiful wife who loved him and an adoring child. Yet, he went after her best friend. Why do these people do not just get a divorce. It is not about that, I think that there is a violent nature there always, just waiting to come out. This murder he concocted was unreal. I was not clear on all the evidence of the harrassment from Mr. Harrington, was it true or not???I am still not clear on that. Was it ever proven that he did scare his wife with comments when he drover her from the airport. This was very gruesome. And the fact that he was going to try and kill the woman that had the affair from behind prison walls, good thing he got caught. He is right where he should be, behind bars for the rest of his life. So glad the police were able to conclude this matter that he almost got away with.

[be_real]

Good Story! have they made a movie yet?

[renra78]

Mark Winger is guilty as sin!! Another husband who wanted the wife out of the way so he could have freedom of flings. The sad part is that he brought in a totally innocent man and killed him just to make it look like the man tried to kill his wife. I hope Winger rots in hell and is tormented by the devil!!

[mzrizz]

The murderer pulls an O.J. and the police force still doesn''t get it. Thank God for one heroic investigator. I am baffled at how many criminals "tell" somebody about the plan.

DeAnn the girlfriend should have been guilty of being an accessory. She knew about it and knew the wrong man was implicated! LOOK WHAT SHE PUT THE HARRINGTON FAMILY THROUGH !!! SHAME ON HER!