A Michigan man has been convicted of murder more than five years after prosecutors say he strangled his ex-girlfriend in an armchair, moved her body to the basement and left her remains hidden inside the condo they once shared.
Matthew Lewinski, 42, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder in the death of Courtney “Jerri” Winters, according to local reports.
The killing happened in December 2020 at a condo in Clinton Township, Michigan, where Lewinski and Winters had previously lived together. Prosecutors said the former couple had been broken up for about a month when Winters unexpectedly showed up at the condo and told him she had gotten an abortion.
According to prosecutors, Winters sat in an armchair while Lewinski made tea for her in the kitchen. The visit then turned into an argument.
That argument escalated into violence.
Authorities said Winters bit Lewinski during the altercation. Lewinski then strangled her until she went limp.
For months, no one knew what had happened inside that condo.
Then, in July 2021, Lewinski’s sister, Debra Federico, received a call from the condo association. The lights were on inside the unit, but no one appeared to be home. At the time, Lewinski was hospitalized after being found wandering around the Crosswinds Condominium property in his underwear, according to testimony from a preliminary hearing.
Federico testified that she had not spoken to her brother since 2019, but she kept tabs on the condo because it belonged to their father. She said Lewinski would not let her inside when she previously tried to enter.
On July 27, 2021, Federico and other family members went into the condo while Lewinski was in the hospital. They were reportedly looking for a ceramic Christmas decoration.
Instead, they made a horrifying discovery.
Human remains were found in the basement.
The family called police, who confirmed that the decomposing remains of a woman were inside the condo. The body was nude, lying on its stomach, and investigators said some of the skin appeared to have been removed.
A detective testified that police also found blood in the basement, along with bottles of bleach, a knife and rubber gloves.
After police interviewed Lewinski at the hospital, he confessed to killing Winters, according to reports. He allegedly told investigators that Winters had “egged” him on.
Lewinski’s defense team argued at trial that he had been the victim of intimate partner violence. They claimed Winters had regularly threatened him and that Lewinski “snapped” after learning she had terminated her pregnancy.
The defense also brought up Winters’ history of arrests and her troubled relationship with her family.
Prosecutors pushed back hard against that narrative. They argued that Lewinski also had a troubled family history and pointed out that his own sister had to sneak into the condo while he was hospitalized.
While the defense portrayed Winters as the aggressor, prosecutors presented witnesses who claimed Lewinski was the one in control.
They also argued that the way Winters was killed showed premeditation.
“This is conscious… five minutes of conscious thought to squeeze the life out of someone,” prosecutors told the court. “It wasn’t a ‘pull-out-a-gun and shooting’ in two seconds.”
The jury convicted Lewinski of first-degree murder, mutilation of a body and concealing a body.
He now faces life in prison.
Lewinski is scheduled to be sentenced on July 14.
A win win for the general public!!.