Cherokee County, SC: Ex-boyfriend charged in Cherokee murder

Sheriff: Clark ‘our man' in strangling, knifing


By Trevor Anderson
trevor.anderson@shj.com

Published: Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 3:15 a.m.
The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office filed murder charges against a North Carolina man Monday in the death of a 26-year-old woman whose body was found Thursday on the side of a rural road.

Joey Lynn Clark, 39, of 2927 Wood Road, Mooresboro, N.C., is accused of strangling, beating and stabbing Winter Delane Wingard, of 130 Songbird Lane, and dumping her body on the side of Mike's Creek road.

Investigators said Clark, who is Wingard's ex-boyfriend, was at her home the night she was killed. Clark was arrested Friday on traffic charges and is being held at the Cherokee County Detention Center without bond.

“There's always gratification for the officers that worked hard on this, and for the victim's family when an arrest is made,” Cherokee County Sheriff Bill Blanton said. “We're sure (Clark) is our man. We don't file charges until we are absolutely certain.”

Blanton said Clark has a lengthy criminal history that includes a number of charges for assault and kidnapping. He was arrested twice by Gaffney police for assaulting Wingard, Blanton said.

“We knew he was at the home the night she was killed,” Blanton said. “We started focusing on him, and everything came together. I credit the investigators who worked through the weekend and used every tool in their arsenal.”

Blanton said Clark was considered a “flight risk,” and officers had to work quickly.

“We were hoping that he didn't get out on bond before we made the arrest. Fate was on our side this time, and we knew exactly where to find him,” Blanton said.

Wingard's current boyfriend told investigators last week that she left the home with her mother about 1:30 a.m. Thursday to go to the store.

Her partially clothed body was found by a passerby about 4 p.m. in a small gully on a dirt portion near the side of the road, about two miles from her home.

Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler said Wingard died from subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages caused by blunt force injury to her head.

Fowler said she was severely beaten on the head and neck, strangled, and sustained multiple stab wounds to the neck. He ruled Wingard's death a homicide following an autopsy on Friday, but he would not release the cause of death until sheriff's detectives filed charges in the case.