Convicted child killer from St. Lawrence County released from prison; held civilly

May 10—CANTON — A St. Lawrence County woman who is described by a district attorney who once prosecuted her as a "serial killer" was released from prison Friday, but will remain in civil confinement for now.

Shirley R. Winters, 66, served about 17 years of a 25-year sentence imposed concurrently in 2008 for two first-degree manslaughter convictions, one in St. Lawrence County and a second in Onondaga County, for causing the deaths of at least two children in separate incidents.

She was released from prison Friday under parole supervision, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision website.

Onondaga County District Attorney William J. Fitzpatrick, who handled the prosecution of Winters in that county in 2008, has been contending that she either needs to remain in prison or be civilly confined in a secure psychiatric facility.

"This woman is a serial killer," Fitzpatrick said Friday. "She's going to kill again if given the circumstances."

Fitzpatrick said he learned late Friday from DOCCS's parole division that she will remain confined after being released from Albion Correctional Facility, where she was credited with good behavior that lopped off a third of her sentence.

"Shirley Winters, by the good work done by parole, will be in a secure psychiatric facility for the foreseeable future," he said.

State law allows for the detention of people who, after examination by two psychiatrists, are deemed as dangerous to themselves or others. Fitzpatrick said there is no set time limit in which people can remain civilly confined, so it is unknown how long Winters's detention will last.

Winters pleaded guilty in 2008 in St. Lawrence County Court to a charge that she drowned 23-month-old Ryan D. Rivers of Pierrepont in a bathroom at the child's grandparents' house in November 2006. Winters was a longtime friend of the child's grandparents, Rick and Lena Gollinger, and was staying at their residence at the time.

In Onondaga County Court, she pleaded to the 1980 suffocation death of her 5-month-old son, Ronald Winters III, in Otisco, Onondaga County. The baby's death originally was blamed on sudden infant death syndrome. That case was reopened by Fitzpatrick after he saw a newspaper article about Ryan Rivers's death that mentioned Winters was present at the Gollinger home at the time of his death.

As part of her plea agreement in St. Lawrence County, prosecutors agreed not to prosecute her criminally in the 1979 deaths of two of her other children, Colleen, 3, and John, 20 months, in Jefferson County despite a medical examiner's finding that the children suffered head injuries before a fire swept their residence at Hyde Lake near Theresa.

At her June 2008 sentencing in St. Lawrence County Court, then Judge Jerome J. Richards expressed frustration that he could not impose a sentencing condition that would keep her at least 100 feet from all young kids for the remainder of her life. The judge also expressed concern about the mental status of Winters, who offered no apology or statement prior to sentencing.

"I don't know, Mrs. Winters, what's going on inside your head," Judge Richards said. "But every time something goes on inside your head, little kids end up dying."

Her appeal of the conviction was denied in 2010.

Following the death of Ryan Rivers, for which Winters was initially charged with murder, investigators took a renewed look at the case of the Hyde Lake fire, which had been reopened twice before. Winters, who was 21 at the time, escaped the blaze unscathed, telling police she fell asleep on a sofa while watching television, and was awakened by smoke about 9:30 p.m. She said she attempted to enter the children's room but was forced back by heavy smoke. She ran outdoors to get some air, then made a second rescue try. Again, she said, she was turned back. A neighbor also made an unsuccessful rescue attempt.

Her 2006 arrest in St. Lawrence County also led Fitzpatrick and Onondaga County police to reopen its investigation into the 1980 suffocation death of her son, which ultimately resulted in her being prosecuted by Fitzpatrick for that death.

The Syracuse Herald American in 1990 outlined the cloud that had shrouded Winters's history going back to 1966:

—Jan. 26, 1966: Carbon monoxide fumes from a damaged outdoor exhaust pipe killed her brother, Peter, 10, and sisters Lieta, 4, and Joyce, 11, in their home at Onondaga Hills. Eight-year-old Shirley Baron (Winters) was not home, staying a quarter-mile away with her grandmother.

—Sept. 11, 1979: Leo R. Gotham, 13, Patty Sue Gotham, 9, and Xann Mae Gotham, 5, were killed in a blaze at the family home on North Woods Road, Russell. The victims' mother, Pam, was a childhood friend of Winters.

—Sept. 12, 1979: The Hyde Lake fire.

—Nov. 21, 1980: After Mrs. Winters separated from her husband, Ronald, their infant son, Ronald Jr., died, the cause listed as SIDS.

—January and February 1981: Separate fires in her mobile home in Onondaga County resulted in double arson charges. She was convicted on one count of criminal mischief.

—Nov. 9, 1982: She was charged with setting a fire in the living room of her mobile home in the Onondaga County town of Otisco, and was later convicted of criminal mischief.

—Nov. 12, 1986: An apartment building where she lived in Marcellus was destroyed by fire. The cause was undetermined.

—Nov. 12, 1989: Fire erupted in a basement storage room in a house on Willis Avenue in Syracuse. Winters, a baby and two other children were occupants. A grand jury accused her six months later of setting the blaze.

—Jan. 6, 1990: Fire erupted in her house on Split Rock Road, Onondaga County. Family Court subsequently transferred child custody to her former husband, and she admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital.

—March 18, 1990: Fire erupted in the basement of a house at 124 Lakeview Ave., Syracuse, occupied by Winters and two other adults.

—Sept. 21, 1990: A garage was torched at the residence of Winters's aunt.

—Oct. 5, 1990: The garage was torched again, this time destroying it and the aunt's house.

Winters served two prison terms prior to the one for which she was released Friday. A conviction in Onondaga County for attempted second-degree assault in January 1991 prompted her confinement until November 1992, when she was released on parole, according to the state correction's website.

She was convicted of second-degree arson in 1997, and served most of the next eight years in prison. She was discharged in June 2005.