NORFOLK, Va. – Shana Christine Winborne, a 34-year-old Norfolk woman, was sentenced in Norfolk Circuit Court on Friday, April 22, 2022, to 17 years in prison for stabbing and killing her husband, then-39-year-old Dwan Winborne, while she was out of jail on bond for stabbing him two months earlier.
The night of Oct. 11, 2020, Mrs. Winborne spent some time at the hospital with her and Mr. Winborne’s newborn baby who was ill. After asking hospital staff if she could somehow prevent Mr. Winborne from visiting their infant and being told the hospital could do no such thing without a court order, Mrs. Winborne was heard by a nurse telling someone on the phone that, “I will kill him,” referencing Mr. Winborne. Mrs. Winborne was also heard telling the individual to “stay on the phone and, if he says anything else, I will stab or shoot him.”
Mr. and Mrs. Winborne had been drinking and arguing throughout the day. During one of their arguments earlier in the day, Mrs. Winborne called Norfolk Police to the couple’s apartment. However, according to Mrs. Winborne’s then-11-year-old daughter, the pair had left the apartment before officers could arrive.
After Mrs. Winborne’s return from the hospital, in the early morning hours of Oct. 12, 2020, another argument ensued between Mr. and Mrs. Winborne. During this argument in their bedroom, Mrs. Winborne got out of bed and retrieved a knife from the kitchen. She then returned to the bedroom and stabbed Mr. Winborne on the left side of his chest, piercing the left ventricle of his heart and mortally wounding him.
Around 2:30 a.m., Norfolk Police responded to another call from Mrs. Winborne saying her husband had stabbed himself. When officers arrived at the apartment on the 300 block of South Military Highway, the front door was open, a trail of blood was seen from the bedroom to the living room, Mr. Winborne was laying on the living room floor covered in blood and Mrs. Winborne was holding pressure to his chest with towels while Mrs. Winborne’s daughter stood at her stepfather’s feet. Mr. Winborne was transported to Sentara Leigh Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Mrs. Winborne initially told detectives that Mr. Winborne had stabbed himself but, after being advised of her legal rights, she admitted to stabbing her husband, putting the knife in his hand, and ultimately moving the weapon back to the bedroom.
Mrs. Winborne’s daughter later told detectives that she had been sleeping in her bedroom during her parents’ early-morning argument but was awakened by what sounded like water splashing. It was when she looked outside of her bedroom door that she realized the sound was that of blood from her stepfather’s wound. She also told police that her mother had stabbed her stepfather in a separate incident just months before and that she had heard her mother say before that her stepfather “wouldn’t make it to 40.”
Mrs. Winborne had previously been arrested for stabbing Mr. Winborne on Aug. 2, 2020, and was out of jail on bond at the time of the fatal stabbing.
Mrs. Winborne pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Jan. 20, 2022. On Friday, Judge Jerrauld C. Jones sentenced Mrs. Winborne to a total of 25 years with 8 years suspended, leaving an active prison sentence of 17 years. Ms. Winborne’s suspended sentence is conditioned upon 10 years of uniform good behavior as well as indeterminant supervised probation upon her release.
“My heart goes out to the family of Dwan Winborne, who have lost a son and a father,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi, “I particularly grieve for the baby who will grow up never knowing her father and for the young girl who witnessed this terrible crime and the other violence that preceded it. No child should have to see what she has seen.”
Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle L. Newkirk led the prosecution of Ms. Winborne’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth. Please contact Nia Tariq at 757-620-5454 for more information.
If you have or someone you love has fallen victim to crime, including but not limited to domestic violence, resources are available at the Norfolk Family Justice Center. For more information, please visit norfolkfjc.org, call 757-330-0376 or stop by the NFJC on the sixth floor at 500 E. Plume St., between 8 a.m. 5 p.m. on weekdays. If you are in crisis, call the 24/7 hotline by dialing 757-251-0144.
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