A Michigan man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole this week after being convicted of strangling his girlfriend and concealing her body in his home for seven months, according to police.
Matthew Lewinski, 42, was sentenced Tuesday by a Macomb County judge following his conviction last month in the December 2020 killing of 52-year-old Courtney “Jerri” Winters, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.
A jury found Lewinski guilty of first-degree premeditated murder, disinterment and mutilation of a dead body, and concealing the death of an individual, according to court records cited by Clinton Township man gets life sentence for murdering girlfriend, hiding body for 7 months.
According to police, Winters went to Lewinski’s home in December 2020, where the two got into an argument after she told him she had undergone an abortion. Prosecutors said the confrontation turned physical, and Lewinski strangled her. According to prosecutors, Lewinski initially placed Winters’ body in a bathtub before later moving it to the basement.
Authorities say Lewinski lived with her remains for months, periodically removing portions of her body in an attempt to conceal and dispose of them, according to prosecutors.
The case went undiscovered for more than seven months. According to police, neighbors found Lewinski wandering around his condominium complex in his underwear, mumbling incoherently, before he was hospitalized in July 2021. While he was receiving medical care, his sister went to his home and discovered Winters’ remains, according to authorities.
According to investigators, Lewinski confessed to the killing during a police interview while he was in his hospital bed. That confession later became the subject of a lengthy legal battle, as defense attorneys argued the statement should be suppressed because investigators had not read Lewinski his Miranda rights.
According to court records, a trial court judge initially threw out the confession. Still, the Michigan Court of Appeals later reversed that ruling, allowing prosecutors to use it as evidence at trial.
The case did not go to trial until May 2026, more than five years after the killing, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office. Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Rachel Rancilio handed down the life sentence Tuesday, according to prosecutors, and also imposed 23 months to 10 years for disinterment and mutilation of a dead body and 365 days for concealing the death of an individual.
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said in a statement that the sentence closes a difficult chapter for Winters’ family. “This sentence represents the final chapter in a long and difficult pursuit of justice for Jerri Winters and her loved ones,” Lucido said, according to the prosecutor’s office. “While no outcome can erase the pain of losing a loved one, we hope this resolution provides the victim’s family with a sense of closure and peace as they continue to move forward.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Carmen DeFranco handled the case on behalf of the state.
