Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more!
Daughter Begged Prosecutors To Oppose Bond For Mom Who Allegedly Murdered Her Dad
Savannah Wynn says she told authorities that her "abusive" mother, Dawn Wynn, would flee if granted bond while awaiting trial for the murder of Savannah's dad, Harold Lee Wynn.
The daughter of a Missouri woman who went on the run this month while on bond for the alleged murder of her husband says she tried to keep her mother behind bars.
Savannah Wynn, the daughter of 49-year-old Dawn Rene Wynn, told People she had “begged” local prosecutors and the Victims Advocates office not to grant her mom bond while she awaits trial for the murder of her husband and Savannah's father, Howard Wynn.
“I told them, ‘She will run. I don’t want her out,’” Savannah said. “I’m pretty upset about it all.”
McDonald County Sheriff Rob Evenson said in a statement on social media that Dawn Wynn had been granted bond because of a recent Missouri Supreme Court ruling, despite “objections from the prosecuting attorney."
Dawn, who is accused of shooting her husband Howard in the back of the head last year while he slept in the couple’s camper, had been staying with her mother in Pea Ridge, Arkansas after she was granted pre-trial release, but was ordered to check in regularly by phone.
However, McDonald County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Hall told Oxygen.com that Dawn's family discovered a suicide note and her gone on Aug. 14, and subsequently reported her missing to deputies with the Benton County Sheriff's Office.
Despite the note, Hall said authorities do not believe Dawn took her own life and noted that "nothing has been found to corroborate" a suicide.
Savannah told People she’s now worried about what her mother plans to do on the run.
“I don’t know what she is capable of…what her intentions are,” she said.
Savannah hasn’t spoken to her mother since her father was murdered in November.
Dawn told authorities that she had been asleep next to her husband on Nov. 16 when she heard a gunshot and woke up to find him covered in blood, according to an affidavit obtained by The Joplin Globe.
He had been shot in the back of the head by a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol that was found on the bed between the couple’s pillows. The mother of five told authorities that the weapon, which was usually stored on a bookcase shelf at the head of the bed, must have accidentally gone off and struck her husband.
However, Deputy Donavon Pierson wrote in the affidavit that investigators were unable to find “anything that would cause the weapon’s trigger system to be activated” and arrested Dawn for second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
"My mom, she is very manipulative," Savannah told People. "She was very abusive, as far as verbally, psychologically and mentally to us kids and my dad."
Savannah described her father as a “very outgoing man” who had owned his own successful plumbing business.
“He loved to make anybody’s day, to make them smile — make them happy and brighten their day,” she said, adding that he had “loved his kids” and did whatever he could for them.
McDonald County Sheriff Evenson said Dawn is “considered dangerous and could be armed.”
According to Lt. Hall, there have been no credible sightings to date and investigators are not sure where Dawn may be hiding.
If anyone has information about her current whereabouts, they are urged to call the McDonald County Sheriff’s Office at 417-223-4318.
