Matthew Lewinski faces life in prison after jurors rejected his defense in the death of Courtney “Jerri” Winters.

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A Michigan man was convicted of first-degree murder after prosecutors said he strangled his ex-girlfriend inside a condo, moved her body to the basement and lived there for seven months before relatives found her remains.

Matthew Lewinski, 42, was found guilty in Macomb County in the death of Courtney “Jerri” Winters, who was killed in December 2020 after visiting the Clinton Township condo the former couple once shared. The verdict ended a trial centered on what happened during the visit, what investigators found months later and whether the killing showed intent. Lewinski also was convicted of mutilation of a body and concealing a body. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced July 14.

The case began with a visit shortly before Christmas 2020, according to prosecutors. Winters had been broken up with Lewinski for about a month when she went to the condo at Crosswinds Condominiums. Prosecutors said she told him she had an abortion. Winters sat in an armchair while Lewinski made tea in the kitchen, and the two began arguing. The argument turned physical, with testimony saying Winters bit Lewinski before he strangled her until she went limp. A prosecutor later told jurors that strangulation was not a split-second act. “This is conscious,” the prosecutor said in court, describing it as several minutes of pressure and thought.

The death stayed hidden until late July 2021, when events outside the condo brought relatives inside. Lewinski’s sister, Debra Federico, testified at a preliminary hearing that she had not spoken with her brother since 2019 but watched the condo because it belonged to their father. She said Lewinski had not allowed her to enter when she tried before. On July 27, 2021, while Lewinski was hospitalized after being found wandering around the condominium grounds in his underwear, the condo association contacted Federico because lights were on and no one was home. Federico and family members entered while looking for a ceramic Christmas decoration. Instead, they found human remains in the basement.

Police later confirmed the remains were those of a woman. Investigators said the body was decomposing, nude and lying face down, and that some skin appeared to have been removed. A detective testified that blood was found in the basement, along with bottles of bleach, a knife and rubber gloves. Earlier reports said neighbors had noticed an odor for weeks or months, though they did not know its source. One neighbor said people thought something dead might be nearby, but the remains were not found until the family entered the condo. The discovery turned a welfare concern and a property check into a homicide investigation.

After police interviewed Lewinski at the hospital, he admitted killing Winters, according to testimony and trial reporting. Investigators said he told them Winters had “egged” him on. That statement became part of a case that moved through district court, where a judge found enough probable cause to send Lewinski to trial in Macomb County Circuit Court. At the 2022 bind-over hearing, the judge questioned whether police should have read Lewinski his Miranda rights before questioning him in the hospital. The judge still ruled the case could proceed, leaving the issue of whether any statements could be used to the circuit court judge.

At trial, Lewinski’s defense team argued that Winters had been the aggressor in a troubled relationship. Defense lawyers said Lewinski had been a victim of intimate partner violence, that Winters threatened him and that he snapped after learning about the abortion. They also presented Winters’ prior arrests and difficult family relationships to jurors. Prosecutors countered that Lewinski’s own family relationships were strained and that the evidence showed he was the person in control. They pointed to Federico’s testimony that she had to enter the condo only when Lewinski was not there, and they called witnesses who described Lewinski as controlling in the relationship.

The prosecution’s theory rested on the time and force needed to strangle someone, the movement and concealment of the body, and the condition of the basement months later. Prosecutors said the killing was intentional, not a sudden accident, and that the later handling of Winters’ remains showed consciousness of guilt. The defense tried to frame the death as the result of a volatile confrontation between two people with a difficult history. Jurors ultimately accepted the prosecution’s view and convicted Lewinski of first-degree murder, the most serious charge he faced. The additional convictions for mutilation and concealment covered what prosecutors said happened after Winters died.

The condo itself became central to the case because it linked the relationship, the killing and the discovery. Winters and Lewinski had once shared the unit, but by December 2020 they were no longer together. After her death, prosecutors said Lewinski moved her body to the basement and remained in the condo through winter, spring and into summer. Federico’s testimony gave jurors a second timeline, one focused on the family’s distance from Lewinski, the association’s call and the unexpected search for a Christmas item. Those details showed how the remains stayed hidden until a mix of hospitalization, property concerns and family access brought police to the scene.

The case also turned on what remained unknown. Prosecutors did not publicly explain why portions of skin had been removed from Winters’ body. Reports from the original charges said the details were disturbing, and an assistant prosecutor described the case as gruesome. Investigators documented items found in the basement, but the public record did not show a clear motive for the mutilation charge beyond the condition of the remains and the evidence recovered nearby. What jurors did hear was that Winters was killed months before she was found, and that Lewinski remained tied to the place where her body was hidden.

Lewinski now awaits sentencing in Macomb County. A first-degree murder conviction in Michigan carries life in prison without parole. The July 14 hearing is expected to formally set his punishment on the murder conviction and address the remaining counts. Winters’ relatives and prosecutors will have another chance to speak in court if the judge allows statements. Lewinski’s lawyers may also make arguments before sentence is imposed, though the murder conviction leaves little room for a lesser prison term on the main count.

The Macomb County verdict leaves the case in its final court phase more than five years after Winters was killed and nearly five years after her remains were discovered. Lewinski remains convicted of first-degree murder, mutilation of a body and concealing a body, with sentencing scheduled for July 14.

Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.