Shirley Winters’ daughter fears her mother’s early release in May

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – She’s been in prison for 17 years for smothering her five-month-old son at their home in Otisco and drowning a two-year-old boy in a bathtub in St. Lawrence County.

Shirley Winters will be released in May on good time earned, allowed by a New York State statute.

Her daughter is terrified.

“There is absolutely no way a serial arsonist and serial child murderer should be able to earn good time in prison because, of course, she’s good in jail. It’s her perfect environment. She has medicine, it’s controlled, she has care, and her favorite victims aren’t present,” Joy Winters said.

Her favorite victims were her own children. In 1979, Shirley Winters’ two kids, Colleen and John, died in a house fire in Jefferson County. Shirley Winters was a suspect in the fire but was not prosecuted.

Shirley Winters completed a program while in prison, declaring she is not a danger to herself or others and deeming her fit for release.

“She’s going to be released into the public, and she’s going to move in next to somebody, and from everything that I know about her, if you make her angry, she’s coming after you. So, if she doesn’t like the way her neighbor looks at her, what’s going to happen to their children or their home? Because not only does she murder children, she burns down people’s homes and businesses,” Joy Winters said.

Coming across as trustworthy and kind, Joy said her mother fits the same profile as other prolific serial killers who appeared normal.

“She never shows you who she truly is until she is standing outside your house with a gas can or standing over the soaking wet body of your child, and by then, it’s too late,” Joy Winters said.

Shirley Winters, convicted of killing her son and another boy, suspected of killing others, and linked to 18 fires, will be a free woman on May 12.