State-Journal.com - Bette Winn's autopsy delayed

Joe Greg Wilson

Sheriff Steve Clark says further testing on the brain of Bette Winn, who died the day after she was assaulted Oct. 17, will push autopsy results back for at least a month or two.

Joe Gregory Wilson has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of domestic violence in the matter and is scheduled to appear next month in Franklin District Court.

Medical examiners sent Winn’s brain to an undisclosed neuropathology specialist to perform a second brain biopsy, Clark said Tuesday.

The sheriff’s office is investigating Winn’s death and detectives have worked around the clock interviewing and gathering evidence, Clark said.

Detectives have conducted 39 interviews and sent several pieces of evidence to the state police lab for testing, Clark said. Results of the lab tests are pending, he added.

Clark said detectives have sent subpoenas for phone records of Winn, 53, and Wilson, 57, both of 4232 Georgetown Road.

“That may open new leads in this case,” Clark said.

Detectives are gathering evidence while waiting on a cause of death, Clark said. In this investigation, accuracy trumps speed, he said.

“We’re not wanting to make a hasty decision in this investigation,” Clark said. “It’s important that we have all the evidence that’s available before presenting this case to the commonwealth’s attorney.”

Clark says once sheriff’s detectives complete their investigation, he will present it to the Franklin County grand jury and Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland.

Wilson pleaded not guilty in Franklin District Court to charges of domestic assault Nov. 10. He is scheduled to appear again Dec. 8. He is currently free on bond.

Wilson, who goes by his middle name, Greg, was charged with assault after sheriff’s deputies found Winn beaten at Wilson’s residence 4:15 a.m. Oct. 17.

The incident report says sheriff’s deputies found Winn in an upstairs bedroom with a bruised face and both eyes blackened.

Winn refused medical treatment and told deputies Wilson came home and began hitting her while she was asleep, the report says.

Winn said she didn’t know why Wilson assaulted her, the report says.

Wilson was under the influence of alcohol when deputies arrested him at 4:26 a.m. and admitted he’d been drinking at Parley’s Tavern on Versailles Road, court documents show.

Winn died Oct. 18 at a friend’s home on Kentucky Avenue. The friend called paramedics at 9:51 a.m. and they were unable to revive an unresponsive Winn.

“Paramedics tried to do CPR to revive her, but were not able to revive her,” Clark told The State Journal Oct. 21.

Winn was Wilson’s girlfriend at the time of the incident, the incident report said. She was legally married, but separated from her husband, Clark said in October.

Clark didn’t know how long she’d been separated from her husband or the length of her relationship with Wilson.

Wilson has one other documented incident of domestic violence. In June 2008, city police responded to a 911 hang-up at Wildwood Place, a court document says.

When police arrived, they found the victim – Wilson’s former live-in girlfriend – bleeding profusely from her left arm with several bite marks around the wounds, the document says.

Police contacted Wilson and convinced him to turn himself in, but the woman didn’t want to prosecute him, the document says.

Court documents show the assault charges against Wilson were dismissed in October of 2008 because he complied with the court’s no contact order and didn’t receive any new charges.

Winn also made headlines in November 2005 after state hiring officials found she lied on her job application by checking “No” on the question, “Have you ever been convicted of violating any law?” the Lexington Herald-Leader has reported.

Officials became aware of Winn’s felony conviction when her parole officer called the Deferred Compensation Authority’s director, where she worked as a receptionist, the report says.

She’d been convicted of theft in Jefferson County in 2004 and an investigation of the state’s merit system exposed four others who lied on their job applications, the report says.

Winn was dismissed from her position following the incident, the report says.

Wilson worked as a branch manager for the Education Cabinet’s Department for Libraries and Archives until his resignation in August 2005, according to records obtained from the Personnel Cabinet.

Wilson works for the Department for Environmental Protection, Personnel Cabinet records show.