Hey everyone, and welcome back to Big Mad True Crime, where we get Big Mad over True Crime.

I'm your host, Heather Ashley, and today's case is out of Springfield, Illinois.

Small talk sucks, so let's dive in.

Thank you. Donna Brown radiated warmth, the kind that made people feel lucky just to be around her.

Her father once described her as 100% sunshine as pretty inside as she was on the outside, a better friend to you than you could be to her.

When Donna was 26 years old, she married Mark Winger, a Virginia Military Institute or VMI grad, who had served in

Korea and stayed active in the Army Ready Reserve. Everything about Mark just seemed right.

Donna's sister Jenny told 2020, he was smart, he was attractive, and he was fun. Donna just

felt like she had found her person. Her mom said they looked like a model

couple. They were affectionate, supportive, and happy. After a wedding, Mark was offered a job as a

nuclear engineer for the state of Illinois, so the couple packed up and moved to Springfield,

which is around an hour and a half outside of St. Louis.

Donna took up a job as an operating room technician for a plastic surgeon, and the couple

purchased a red brick house on Westview Drive, a quiet, modest street that was lined with

different kind of ranch-style homes. It wasn't long before they'd settled into their home

and their new jobs, made friends, and found their rhythm. The only thing missing was a baby,

which was something that too desperately wanted. Donna and Mark tried to get pregnant, but it just

never seemed to work out. They went to the doctor and quickly learned that

Donna was unable to have children and that absolutely devastated her. But in May of 1995,

things started to look up. A doctor at the hospital where Donna worked told her that a teenager

was looking to place her

newborn baby up for adoption. Donna knew she had to meet this baby, so she went to the room and found

...