He enrolled in the Virginia Military Institute, receiving a bachelor's degree in physics in 1985, after which he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army.
[1] Following two years of service, one overseas in South Korea and one back in the U.S. in Georgia, Winger was hired by a laboratory instrument manufacturing firm in Riviera Beach, Florida.
[2] In late 1987 or early 1988, Winger was set up on a blind date with operating room technician Donnah Ellen Brown, a coworker of his brother.
[4] On August 23, 1995, Donnah Winger was driven from St. Louis International Airport to her home in Springfield by shuttle driver Roger Harrington.
Winger's remarriage to his young daughter's new nanny, Rebecca Simic, hired five months after Donnah died, increased suspicion.
Evidence introduced at trial included recorded conversations between Winger and Harrington arranging a meeting on the day of the murders.
The second intended victim was Jeffrey Gelman, a childhood friend, whom Winger resented for refusing to post his $1 million bail.