Anna Mae Branson Murder: Alibi, Costa Rica Flight, and Conviction

Anna Mae Branson, an 85-year-old Madisonville, Kentucky multimillionaire, was stabbed roughly 97 times in her home on the evening of January 12, 2003. Her nephew, Russell Winstead, was convicted of her murder and robbery after fleeing to Costa Rica, being identified through a tip generated by America’s Most Wanted, and standing trial on a case built entirely on circumstantial evidence. He is serving life in prison with no parole eligibility until 2030.

Who Anna Mae Branson Was

Branson was a well-known figure in Hopkins County. She had owned a Dairy Queen in Madisonville that drew local teenagers, was active at her church and the Madisonville Senior Citizens Center, and was engaged to a retired eye surgeon, Dr. Bob Fenneman.¹ Friends described her as generous with her money, and she frequently loaned it to people in need, including her nephew.²

How the Body Was Found

On the morning of January 13, 2003, Dr. Fenneman went to Branson’s house after he could not reach her. Her car was in the garage but no one answered the door. He walked across the street to the First Baptist Church and called her brother, Earl Winstead. The two called 911, met police at the home, and Earl used a spare key Branson kept hidden to get inside. He found his sister’s body in the basement.³

She had been stabbed approximately 97 times in the back and suffered severe blunt force trauma to the head. The medical examiner placed her death between roughly 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. the previous evening, shortly after she returned from a church service.²

Two details at the scene shaped the whole investigation. There were no signs of forced entry, and Branson was still wearing her $30,000 engagement ring.⁴ Retired Madisonville Police Detective Scott Troutman said there was “nothing to suggest it was a random act of violence,” and that the ferocity of the attack pointed to someone driven by “passion and anger” who was “emotionally out of control.”³ Branson had been struck from behind, suggesting she had turned her back on someone she knew.

Why Suspicion Turned to Russell Winstead

Investigators focused early on Branson’s nephew, Russell Winstead, then 41. He had a serious gambling habit and had borrowed heavily from his aunt. Her personal ledger showed he owed her close to $100,000.² The day before the murder, Winstead had written her a $1,200 check that he could not afford to cover. Prosecutors later argued he killed her when she refused to tear it up, and that he took the check from her home to avoid a felony bad-check charge.⁵

A witness reported seeing Winstead at or near Branson’s driveway that night. Police also found a knife hidden under his mattress that was consistent with the weapon used in the stabbing. No one saw the killing itself, and no scientific evidence tied him directly to the scene. Hair follicles recovered from the house did not belong to Branson or Winstead, and they were never submitted for DNA testing.⁵

The Alibi That Fell Apart

Winstead told investigators he was home by 7:25 p.m. on the night of the murder. His wife, Terri Rainwater, initially backed him up, saying he had arrived around 7:30 p.m. She later contacted police through an attorney and changed her story. In a second interview, she said he had not come home until about 9:05 p.m., leaving him unaccounted for during the window Branson was killed.⁵

At trial, Rainwater testified that a few days after the murder, Winstead told her to say he had come home at 7:30, citing his “gambling problems” as the reason he needed an alibi. She said Winstead told her he had discussed it with his father and “they had decided what to do.” He also told his friend Rick Blanchard to borrow a drill from him, so it would look like they had been together that evening. Blanchard confirmed on the stand that he did borrow a drill that night.⁵ By the time of trial, Winstead and Rainwater had divorced, which later became a spousal-privilege issue on appeal.

Fleeing to Costa Rica

On June 5, 2003, before charges were filed, Winstead left the country for Costa Rica.⁶ A Hopkins County grand jury indicted him on murder and robbery charges on July 15, 2003.⁷ He first entered Costa Rica under his own name, then took the identity of Jeffrey Dan Fish, a U.S. citizen living in the coastal province of Limón.

INTERPOL opened an investigation in 2003 after receiving information about his entry. In Kentucky, state police Detective Ben Wolcott contacted America’s Most Wanted to feature the case, the first time a local fugitive had been pursued through the show.⁷ The episode aired on February 19, 2005, and generated a tip pointing to the Horseshoe Casino in San José. A joint INTERPOL and Costa Rican Public Security Ministry operation arrested Winstead on May 3, 2005, as he left the casino at the Hotel Del Rey. He was extradited to the United States on February 24, 2006.⁶

The Circumstantial Case at Trial

Winstead was tried in Hopkins Circuit Court under case number 03-CR-00253, before Judge James Claud Brantley. Commonwealth’s Attorney David G. Massamore prosecuted; Marc A. Wells of Princeton, Kentucky represented Winstead.⁸

There were no eyewitnesses to the murder and no forensic evidence placing Winstead in Branson’s home. Prosecutors assembled a case out of five threads: the roughly $100,000 gambling debt and the uncovered $1,200 check, the knife found under his mattress, Rainwater’s testimony about the fabricated alibi and the borrowed drill, Winstead’s flight to Costa Rica, and testimony from two jailhouse informants.⁵

The informant piece worked like this. Fred Roulette, an inmate at the Hopkins County Detention Center facing his own murder charge, approached a correctional officer claiming to have written letters confessing to Branson’s killing. At the request of Officer Ben Wolcott, Roulette sent Winstead a letter seeking a reply. Winstead did not write back himself but asked another inmate, Daniel Morseman, to send Roulette a letter saying he “had not been forgotten by his friends.” Prosecutors argued this showed Winstead was trying to arrange a false confession by someone else.⁵

The jury convicted Winstead of murder and first-degree robbery. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for 25 years on the murder count and 20 years on the robbery count, with the trial court ordering the sentences to run consecutively.

The Appeal and Current Status

Winstead appealed to the Supreme Court of Kentucky, challenging his ex-wife’s testimony under spousal privilege, the sufficiency of the circumstantial evidence, the informant testimony, the extradition terms, and alleged prosecutor and juror misconduct. On April 22, 2010, the court affirmed his convictions on all counts. It held that the spousal testimony privilege ends when a marriage is dissolved, that any error regarding marital communications was harmless, and that the most incriminating informant exchange — Winstead’s request that Roulette confess — had been initiated by Winstead, not by law enforcement.⁸

The court did give Winstead one point. It ruled the trial court had improperly ordered the murder and robbery sentences to run consecutively, vacated that part of the judgment, and sent the case back to Hopkins Circuit Court to resentence him so the two sentences would run concurrently.⁵

Russell Earl Winstead is currently held at the Little Sandy Correctional Complex. His murder sentence is listed as life with parole eligibility after 25 years, and his robbery sentence of 20 years runs concurrently. His parole eligibility date is April 17, 2030, and no parole hearings have been held to date.⁹

1
14 News. Man Allegedly Kills Aunt Over Gambling Debt
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Oxygen. Russell Winstead Murders Anna Mae Branson Over Gambling Debts
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Oxygen. The Killer Among Us: Russell Winstead Killed Aunt Anna Mae Branson
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Yahoo News. Wealthy Widow’s Brutal Death After Church
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FindLaw. Winstead v. Commonwealth
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Tico Times. North American Fugitive Extradited
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Kentucky New Era. Winstead Extradited to Kentucky
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vLex. Winstead v. Commonwealth
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Kentucky Department of Corrections. Offender Details – Russell Earl Winstead