Pittsburgh woman says she stabbed husband in self-defense, doesn't recall wrapping body in garbage bags

An attorney for Janet L. Winbush said the woman with a long and well-documented history of mental illness fatally stabbed her husband in self-defense in December 2020 after years of domestic abuse.

Prosecutors argue that Winbush had planned to kill Deric Bryan Davis, 53, and then, after she did, she wrapped his body in garbage bags with duct tape and intentionally hid it in their Brighton Heights yard. Mental health had nothing to do with it, they say.

An Allegheny County Common Pleas judge said after closing arguments Thursday in Winbush’s three-day, non-jury trial that he would deliver a verdict in the case on Monday. Winbush testified in the trial to illustrate what her defense attorney Wendy Williams called “a tumultuous 20-year relationship” plagued by violence and Winbush’s mental illness.

Winbush, 53, who grew up in Grove City, Mercer County, is facing charges of criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse.

Members of Davis’ family filled the back row of Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski’s Downtown courtroom this week, sometimes responding with quips or gasps to the proceedings.

Stacey Davis, Davis’ sister, said after Thursday’s closing arguments that she thinks Assistant District Attorney Grant Olson proved Winbush’s guilt.

“My brother would not put his hands on a woman — nothing like that ever happened,” said Stacey Davis, 54, of North Versailles. “(Winbush) knew what she was doing. I’m going to pray the judge sees through this ploy.”

Winbush said she and Davis fought and hit each other for four to six hours on Dec. 7, 2020, starting around 2 a.m. that day.

Williams said Davis choked his wife, leaving marks, and struck her in the face so hard that it detached the retina from her left eye. The injury required surgery, Williams said.

“I just wanted him to stop hitting me,” Winbush testified Wednesday. “I was traumatized. I just didn’t expect how he reacted to me.”

Winbush testified that after Davis grabbed a steak knife and threatened to kill her, she kicked him, grabbed the knife and stabbed him once in the chest in self-defense. She said they continued arguing for about an hour.

Davis ultimately walked downstairs in their North Side duplex and sat on a step on the staircase, where Winbush found him dead the next day.

What happened next is unclear.

Winbush — who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and has been hospitalized multiple times for her mental health — went into what an expert called a “traumatic haze” and has no memory of hiding her husband’s body.

Psychologist Shannon Edwards testified that Winbush was suffering from battered-woman syndrome and displayed signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

Winbush had reported previous fights to law enforcement as far back as 2002, but there were no arrests or convictions in any of the incidents. She did not call police before or after the stabbing on Dec. 7, 2020.

Davis’ brother reported him missing on Dec. 21, 2020, after not seeing him for two weeks. Winbush said she joined a family search party and called three or four local hospitals to see if her husband was there.

Winbush admitted in court Wednesday that was a mistake.

“It was stupid of me to do so when I knew where he was,” she said.

Prosecutors told a different story.

Olson said Winbush saw private text messages and photos of “a half-naked woman” on Davis’ cellphone and believed he was cheating on her. Davis maintained a separate apartment in Wilkinsburg, where he often would spend weekends. Winbush only had been there once or twice.

Olson questioned reports of Davis’ violence. He used Winbush’s testimony — and that of others — to paint Davis as “a good man” who was “a great provider” for Winbush and their daughter, a Temple University graduate who is now 23.

If Davis had beaten Winbush for several hours, Olson said she would have suffered more bruising or cuts to her face. Alleged photos of her injuries were not presented as evidence. The eye injury, Olson said, was pre-existing.

Once during the fight, Winbush went to the bathroom. While in there, she didn’t call 911 on her cellphone, which was with her, because there was no domestic violence, Olson said.

Winbush’s retelling of the events “is filled with holes and flaws,” Olson told the judge in closing arguments. “Frankly, it makes no sense.”

The rest of the story plays out in a police report on Winbush’s arrest.

In late December 2020, Pittsburgh police went to the couple’s California Avenue home to speak with Winbush about Davis’ missing person report.

While waiting for someone to answer the door, detectives noticed a mound on the ground near the front porch. It was a heap of trash covered with a deflated air mattress.

The smell of a decaying body prompted the investigators to look under the mattress. There, they discovered Davis’ body wrapped in plastic and duct tape.

Winbush did not answer the door. But a vehicle registered to her was parked outside.

Fearing there could be other victims in the house, police broke in and found Winbush sitting in the basement.

Detectives also found a blood-soaked umbrella that Winbush admitted to moving away from Davis’ body.

There were droplets of blood on the steps leading to their apartment. Police also discovered a sofa and carpeting had been cleaned with bleach. A test determined there were traces of blood still present on the fabric.

A family member who helped clear out Davis’ apartment in Brighton Heights after his death told police that he found blank divorce papers among the victim’s personal items. A friend told police Davis had been thinking about divorcing Winbush because of her erratic behavior, the complaint said.

If Winbush is found not guilty of third-degree murder, both the defense and prosecution argued that Sasinoski should find her guilty of a lesser of voluntary manslaughter, meaning that she fatally stabbed Davis but did not intend to kill him.

Winbush, who walked into court each day in shackles and a red prison jumpsuit, has been held in Allegheny County Jail since March 2021.