A Chicago man who served 30 years for the cold-blooded murder of two pregnant women has been charged with murdering his wife just weeks after he was freed.
Crimes of Joseph Wingard
Joseph Wingard, 49, avoided a life sentence because he was just 17 when he gunned down April Fields, 22, and Shedrene D. Handy, 20, in 1991.
He went on the run in June this year after the body of his wife Loné P Williams, 60, was found by her son in a pool of blood at the couple’s home in South Holland.
Williams’ family paid an emotional tribute to their mother in August and community groups put up a $5,000 for his recapture.
Now he has been charged with first-degree murder after he was arrested by police at the weekend after five months on the run.
‘It breaks my heart because she cared a lot about your family and you do that to my mom,’ said daughter Lone M Williams at a press conference in August.
Details of the gun incident
Fields was seven months pregnant, and Handy two months pregnant, when Wingard gunned them down on Super Bowl night in June 1991.
He was going out with Fields’ best friend at the time and was angry at what he saw as her interference in their relationship.
After an argument with his girlfriend he went to the Calumet City apartment where Fields lived and told her that his girlfriend wanted to speak to her outside.
As she began walking down the stairs he shot her in the back of the head with a handgun leaving her fatally wounded.
He then walked back up to Fields` apartment, where he saw Handy talking on the telephone with his girlfriend.
‘I could tell she was afraid, so I knew she knew I shot her,’ he told police later. ‘So I had to shoot her.’
He blasted Handy in the eye, then took $180 from Fields`car outside before returning to the apartment for a third time and shooting Handy again.
He was charged with two counts of murder, two additional counts of intentional homicide of unborn children and robbery before being sentenced in 1994.
