Dateline: Rachel Winkler’s Murder Case, Trial, and Verdict

The Rachel Winkler murder case, featured on NBC’s “Dateline” in an episode titled “Deadly Twist,” ended with her husband Todd Winkler convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing her to death with a pair of scissors at their Cameron Park, California home on February 27, 2012. He claimed self-defense. A jury took one hour to reject that claim after twelve days of testimony, and he is now serving 25 years to life. What made the case national news was the twist: Todd’s first wife had died in a fiery single-vehicle crash in Georgia in 1999, and he had collected nearly $1.2 million in life insurance.¹

Who Rachel Was

Rachel Winkler was 37 when she was killed. She managed the Cameron Airpark, a small airport where private planes and cars share the roads, and she was the mother of three young children: Eva, Ariel, and Alex, who was seven months old at the time of her death. Her father is Don Hatfield, a Napa-based impressionist painter who often used her as a model.²

Rachel had married Todd in 2005, weeks after meeting him. Friends testified the marriage deteriorated as Todd traveled for work. In emails to her close friend Brandy Stanley, Rachel described their home as a “danger zone” and called Todd a “pathological liar.” In September 2009 she began an affair with James White, a handyman at the airpark. By early 2012 she had decided to leave Todd and was working on divorce papers.³

Rachel had also grown afraid of him. After finding a box holding the ashes of Todd’s first wife, Catherine, in their garage, she confronted him about the 1999 crash. According to her father’s testimony, Todd answered, “Well, just don’t ever make me mad.” Rachel told James White that if anything happened to her, he should look at Todd.³

The Morning of February 27, 2012

By Todd’s own account to detectives Michael Lensing and Paul Hadjes, he woke up around 3:30 a.m. and he and Rachel began arguing about divorce and custody. He said Rachel attacked him with scissors, that a “long, long protracted struggle” followed, and that he eventually took the scissors and stabbed her in the neck in what he called a “kill or be killed” moment. In the recorded interview he said he “went for the throat” and pushed the scissors “deeper and deeper,” and he acknowledged that at the time he wanted her to die. He also admitted she had been “begging for her life” before the fatal wound.⁴³

What he did next weighed heavily at trial. Todd lay on top of Rachel’s body for five to ten minutes to make sure she was dead. He cleaned up the blood, burned the cleaning supplies in the fireplace, and showered. He did not call 911. About six hours later, around 10:30 a.m., he dropped his three children off at neighbors’ homes and phoned a neighbor to report a “domestic incident.” Neighbors who saw him that morning said he appeared calm and freshly showered, smelling of shampoo or cologne, with no visible injuries or emotional distress.⁴

El Dorado County Deputy Sheriff Michael Roberts arrived at 10:40 a.m. Todd emerged from the home 17 minutes later with bandages on his hands. Officers questioned him for over an hour before arresting him on a murder charge.⁵

The First Wife: Catherine’s 1999 Death

The “twist” in the Dateline title is Todd’s first marriage. He married Catherine Carlisle in 1991 while on active duty in the Air Force. They lived in Japan, then moved to Georgia in 1997. Catherine was the primary breadwinner at $47,000 a year, and the couple maintained a lifestyle that included a lake house, a boat, a private plane, and a Mercedes.⁶

On September 26, 1999, Catherine died in a single-vehicle crash in the Duke’s Creek Wilderness area of Georgia’s Chattahoochee National Forest. Todd told investigators Catherine was driving him to a hospital because he was having a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting. He said the truck went off an embankment and burst into flames, that he was thrown clear, and that Catherine was trapped inside. She died of burns and smoke inhalation.⁵

First responders noticed things that did not add up. Todd never showed anyone the bee sting. He was dressed in a long-sleeve shirt, jacket, and pants on a hot September night. Deputy Ricardo Johnson described him as “casual” and “not upset,” and “a lot more calmer than I would be.” Nearby campers who had encountered Todd found his behavior “not believable.” Investigators nonetheless ruled the crash an accident and no charges were filed.⁶ Todd collected nearly $1.2 million in life insurance.¹

The Trial and the Self-Defense Claim

Todd Winkler’s trial opened on September 23, 2014, in El Dorado County Superior Court. Deputy District Attorney Lisette Suder led the prosecution; David Weiner represented the defense.⁵

The first day produced an outburst. As Suder began her opening statement and touched on Catherine’s 1999 death, Todd started hitting his own forehead with his palms, rose from his chair, and screamed, “You do not speak the truth, you only want to destroy!” He shouted references to being a “Samurai” and having “Bushido.” Bailiffs and his own attorney restrained him. Suder called the episode “completely phony.” The defense said it was a genuine psychiatric event.⁷⁸

Suder argued Todd murdered Rachel to avoid paying spousal and child support in the pending divorce. Evidence at trial put estimated child support alone at $7,800 a month. She called Todd “a mastermind, a manipulator, and a murderer.”¹

Forensic pathologist Dr. Stephany Fiore testified that Rachel died from a stab wound roughly 1.5 inches deep on the right side of her neck that severed her jugular vein. Rachel had defensive wounds on her hands, including cuts deep enough to sever tendons, abrasions on her knees indicating she had been on the floor, a punctured lip, and a stab wound above the buttocks. Blood spatter showed she was upright when the neck wound was inflicted, and the injuries suggested death took several minutes.⁴

Prosecutors contrasted Rachel’s injuries with Todd’s. His hand bandages covered what were described as superficial cuts, and Dr. Fiore said a gouge on his thumb looked “cut out” rather than defensive, supporting the theory that he had staged his own wounds. Suder told jurors that “this 230-pound man” had stabbed, kicked, punched, and bitten his 110-pound, five-foot-three wife.⁹⁴ Prosecutors also traced blood on the bed, the floor, and the couple’s infant son’s onesie, arguing Rachel had picked the baby up from his crib during the attack. Rachel’s laptop and a separate hard drive were missing from the home and never recovered.¹⁰

Witnesses filled in Rachel’s fear. Brandy Stanley described watching her personality dim over the marriage. James White repeated Rachel’s instruction to look at Todd if anything happened to her. Don Hatfield told the court Rachel had discovered Todd had previously discussed staging a car crash for insurance money. Dean Essenmacher testified Rachel once asked Todd whether she would meet the same fate as Catherine and that Todd replied, “Not if you watch yourself.”¹³

Todd spent two and a half days on the stand. He admitted killing Rachel and admitted wanting her to die, but stood by self-defense. He testified she had threatened to have James White “hurt him” if he tried to keep the children, then attacked him with open scissors.¹¹¹²¹³

Verdict, Sentence, and Appeal

On October 22, 2014, after twelve days of testimony, the jury deliberated for one hour and found Todd guilty of first-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for personal use of a deadly weapon.¹¹ On December 8, 2014, Judge Kenneth Melikian sentenced him to 26 years to life.⁹

At sentencing, Don Hatfield told the court, “The pain and anguish my family and Rachel’s friends have endured since this vile act is unimaginable. These beautiful children were orphaned in one cruel deed. How will I ever explain, or even comment on the question ‘Why did daddy kill mommy?'”³

Todd appealed to the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, with appellate counsel Athena Shudde challenging the admission of evidence about Catherine’s 1999 death. On November 2, 2020, the appellate court agreed the trial judge had abused his discretion in how that evidence came in, but ruled the error harmless given the strength of the other evidence, and affirmed the conviction. It also rejected claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and cumulative error. The court ordered a correction to the abstract of judgment, reducing the recorded sentence from 26 years to life to 25 years to life and removing an erroneous reference to life without parole.⁴¹⁴

Where the Case Stands Now

Todd Winkler is incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, serving 25 years to life.¹⁵ Don Hatfield, who had been planning for retirement when his daughter was killed, took custody of Rachel’s three children and moved to a four-bedroom rental in Napa to raise them.¹⁶

After the conviction, Catherine Winkler’s family publicly said they hoped the verdict would prompt a new investigation into her 1999 death in Georgia.⁹ No formal reinvestigation has been publicly reported.

1
Merced Sun-Star. Cameron Park Man Convicted of Murdering Wife
2
Sacramento Bee. Rachel Winkler’s Father Takes Stand at Sentencing
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CBS News. The Two Faces of Todd Winkler
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Justia Law. People v. Winkler, C077992
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CBS News. The Case Against the Man Who Killed His Wife With Scissors
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Mountain Democrat. Winkler Trial Looks to 1999 Georgia Death
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CBS News. Defendant’s Bizarre Outburst Shocks Court
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Mountain Democrat. Outburst Puts Pause to Winkler Murder Trial
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ABC News. California Man Sentenced for Stabbing Wife to Death With Scissors
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Sacramento Bee. Winkler Trial Prosecution Presents Evidence
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Oxygen. Todd Winkler Stabbed Wife Rachel, Claimed He Was Defending Himself
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Sacramento Bee. Winkler Trial Reveals Fighter Pilot’s Troubled Past
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CBS News. The Two Faces of Todd Winkler
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FindLaw. People v. Winkler, C077992
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CDCR. San Quentin Rehabilitation Center
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Deseret News. His Daughter Slain, Man Cares for Three Grandchildren