Dawn Renee Wynn
A woman who allegedly shot her husband in his sleep and later went on the run has been arrested. Dawn Renee Wynn, 48, was apprehended on Monday, Sheriff Robert Evenson of McDonald County, Missouri, told Law&Crime.
Citing information one of the investigators received from U.S. Marshals, the sheriff said Wynn was in a motel or hotel in Vigo County, Indiana. Staff was suspicious of her and called local law enforcement, he said.
Wynn is the woman charged with shooting her husband Harold Lee Wynn, 51, in the back of the head while he was asleep at their Missouri home in Nov. 16, 2021. Released on bail pending trial, Dawn Wynn was supposed to stay at her mother’s home in nearby Benton County, Arkansas, but authorities declared her missing in August. She left a note and disappeared, Evenson previously told KOAM. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office described her as a possible danger to herself.
Harold and Dawn’s daughter Savannah Wynn, however, took issue with the official description of her mother as missing. She told Law&Crime in an August interview that her mother was definitely on the run. She described her mother’s letter as a “suicide note,” but she believed her mother was using it as a diversion. She called her mother a “coward” and “too selfish” to die by suicide. Savannah, who said she grew up with four brothers, said their mother was verbally and psychologically abusive when they were growing up. Mom “took over everything” and pitted the children against their father, she said.
In the interview, she discussed the possibility of her mother being in South Carolina (where Harold and Dawn used to run a plumbing business) and Florida (where she said Dawn once had a job offer and also suggested moving if cleared of the killing).
It turns out that Dawn Wynn was alive this entire time, and authorities found her in the Hoosier state. Online records show she is currently locked up without bond at the Vigo County Jail. The Terre Haute City Police Department was the arresting agency. Cops, U.S. Marshals, and the Benton County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for comment. Prior reports, including from Law&Crime, had defendant Wynn’s age as 49, but jail records say she’s 48. Savannah confirmed her mother’s age is 48, with Dawn having been born on May 20, 1974.
Harold Wynn’s loved ones welcomed news of Dawn Wynn’s capture.
Booking photo of Dawn Wynn is on the left. Family describes the picture on the right as being from recent months.
“She needs to pay for what she has done and put us kids through, and that we all, including my dad and his family, deserve justice and closure,” Savannah Wynn told Law&Crime in a text message on Monday.
Harold’s ex-wife Melanie Thomas, who spoke with Law&Crime in August about the missing Dawn Wynn, said she was “beyond excited” at news of the arrest. Harold’s children and family can now work on closure, she said.
“When Savannah called me earlier to tell me, I was in tears,” she said. “This is an early Heavenly Birthday Present for Lee who would have been 52 this coming Saturday. It is time for Justice to be served on a man that loved his family and would do anything for anyone. If she were not Guilty of Killing him, she would have never run. God has answered so many Prayers for his children and his family by this Capture.”
Calling the staffer an angel, Thomas said she would love to personally thank the hotel worker who reported Dawn Wynn to authorities.
[Mugshot via Vigo County Jail]