The discovery in July 2021 became the turning point in the murder case against Matthew Lewinski.
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A family member’s search for a Christmas decoration inside a Clinton Township condo led to the discovery of human remains and, years later, a first-degree murder conviction against Matthew Lewinski.
The jury verdict against Lewinski, 42, closed a major part of a case built from a hidden basement, a hospital interview, family testimony and competing claims about a former couple’s final argument. Prosecutors said Lewinski killed Courtney “Jerri” Winters in December 2020, moved her body downstairs and concealed the death for seven months. He was found guilty of first-degree murder, mutilation of a body and concealing a body. His sentencing is set for July 14, when he faces life in prison.
Debra Federico, Lewinski’s sister, became one of the key witnesses because she was among the people who entered the condo before police were called. Federico testified that she had not spoken with her brother since 2019 but kept track of the Crosswinds Condominiums unit because it belonged to their father. She said Lewinski would not let her inside when she tried to enter earlier. That changed in July 2021, when Lewinski was not at the condo. He had been hospitalized after being found wandering outside on the condominium property in his underwear. The condo association then contacted Federico because the lights were on and no one appeared to be home.
Federico and family members used the moment to go inside. Their stated purpose was ordinary: They were looking for a ceramic Christmas decoration. What they found was not ordinary. Human remains were in the basement, and the family called police. Investigators later said the remains belonged to a woman and were in an advanced state of decomposition. The body was nude and lying on its stomach, and some skin appeared to have been removed. The discovery transformed the condo from a private family concern into a crime scene that would anchor a murder case for nearly five years.
Detectives later described evidence inside the basement that prosecutors used to show concealment and mutilation. A detective testified that there was blood in the basement, along with bottles of bleach, a knife and rubber gloves. Earlier public statements from prosecutors said Winters’ remains had been kept there through the winter and spring of 2021. Neighbors had noticed a strong odor for weeks or months, though they did not know Winters was inside. One neighbor later described covering a face while moving between a car and home because the smell was so strong. At the time, some people thought an animal had died nearby.
Police soon connected the remains to Winters and the condo to Lewinski. Prosecutors said Winters had gone to the unit in December 2020, about a month after she and Lewinski broke up. She had once shared the condo with him. During the visit, prosecutors said, Winters told Lewinski she had an abortion. She sat in an armchair while he made tea in the kitchen. The conversation became an argument, and the argument became physical. Testimony said Winters bit Lewinski. Prosecutors said Lewinski then strangled her until she went limp, ending her life inside the living room before moving her body to the basement.
The hospital interview that followed the discovery became another important step. Lewinski admitted to police that he killed Winters, according to testimony, and said she had “egged” him on. At a 2022 preliminary hearing, Clinton Township District Court Judge Sebastian Lucido said police may have needed to read Lewinski his Miranda rights before questioning him in the hospital. The judge still found enough evidence to send the case to Macomb County Circuit Court. The ruling meant the prosecution could move forward even if questions about the hospital statement had to be handled later by the trial judge.
At trial, the defense tried to shift the focus away from the basement discovery and toward the relationship between Lewinski and Winters. Lewinski’s lawyers argued that he had been a victim of intimate partner violence and had been threatened by Winters. They said he snapped after she told him about the abortion. Jurors heard about Winters’ prior arrests and difficult family relationships, evidence the defense offered to support its picture of the relationship. The defense did not persuade jurors that the killing should be viewed as something less than first-degree murder.
Prosecutors answered by telling jurors that the evidence showed control, not panic. They noted that Lewinski also had a troubled relationship with his own family and that Federico had to get inside the condo only when he was hospitalized. Witnesses for the prosecution described Lewinski as the person with control in the relationship. Prosecutors also argued that strangulation itself showed intent because it required sustained pressure. “This is conscious,” a prosecutor said, describing the act as minutes of effort rather than an instant reaction. That argument gave jurors a way to separate a heated argument from a deliberate killing.
The legal path was slow. Lewinski was first charged in 2021 with murder, mutilation of a body and concealing a death. He remained held without bond after the early court proceedings. In 2022, he was ordered to stand trial after testimony described the December killing, the July discovery and the hospital statement. The jury’s 2026 verdict arrived more than five years after Winters was killed and almost five years after her remains were found. The delay meant jurors had to consider evidence from a long-ago scene, earlier testimony and statements made before the case reached trial.
The case left several details unresolved in public reporting. Prosecutors did not give a public explanation for why skin had been removed from Winters’ body. The public record also did not show that anyone discovered Winters’ remains before Federico and her relatives entered the unit. What the trial established for the jury was the sequence prosecutors alleged: Winters visited, the former couple argued, Lewinski strangled her, her body was moved to the basement and the death was concealed until family members found the remains in July 2021.
Lewinski’s convictions now move the case toward punishment rather than proof. At sentencing, the judge will impose the required penalty for first-degree murder and address the mutilation and concealment convictions. The hearing may also include statements about Winters and the effect of her death on the people who knew her. For Federico, the family’s entry into the condo began as a search for a decoration connected to a past holiday. For prosecutors, it became the moment that exposed a killing hidden in the basement for months.
The verdict stands as the court’s finding that Winters was intentionally killed and that her body was later mutilated and concealed. Lewinski remains convicted and is awaiting his July 14 sentencing in Macomb County.
Author note: Last updated June 20, 2026.