An Illinois man accused of gunning down his wife not long after he was released from prison—where he served time for murdering two pregnant women—turned himself in over the weekend after evading authorities for months.
Joseph Wingard, 49, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deadly shooting of his wife, Loné P. Williams, 60, according to police in the village of South Holland, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Wingard shot Williams multiple times in June before fleeing the scene, according to the South Holland Police Department (SHPD). He had been on the run since, before turning himself in around 8 p.m. Saturday, South Holland communications manager Julia Huisman told Newsweek in an email on Tuesday.
"We are hopeful that this development will help bring some healing to the Williams family and all involved," Huisman said.
It was unclear at the time of publication whether Wingard had retained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Williams' family said in an August press conference that her "body was discovered in a pool of blood by her son who became worried after not hearing from his mother."
While Wingard was missing, Williams' family pleaded with the public for information on his whereabouts, even offering a $5,000 reward, according to The Chicago Tribune's coverage of the press conference.
Her loved ones said they got "bad vibes" from Wingard, who they feared was taking advantage of Williams' financial status.
Williams was fatally shot around five months after Wingard was released from prison in January.
Wingard served decades for the 1991 murders of 22-year-old April Fields, 22, and Shedrene D. Handy, 20, The Chicago Tribune reported. Wingard, who was 17 at the time, reportedly killed Fields, his girlfriend's best friend, because she was meddling in their relationship, according to the outlet. Wingard lured Fields, who was seven months pregnant, out of her apartment under the facade that his girlfriend wanted to talk to her and he shot her in the back of the head after she walked out the door. Handy, who was two months pregnant, happened to be in the apartment at the time of Fields' death, so he shot Handy through the eye, prosecutors said.
Wingard was convicted in 1994 of the murders of Fields and Handy, and the intentional death of Fields' baby. He was not given a life sentence due to being a minor at the time of the slayings.
Newsweek on Monday night reached out via email to the office of the Cook County state's attorney for comment and an update on Wingard's looming court proceedings.
Update 11/28/2023, 11:20 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Huisman.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Maura Zurick is the Newsweek Weekend Night Editor based in Cleveland, Ohio. Her focus is reporting on U.S. national news ... Read more
