SC inmate convicted of killing wife dies on death row

COLUMBIA — A death row inmate convicted of killing his estranged wife died in prison Monday morning after an extended illness, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Louis Winkler, a 66-year-old from Horry County, spent 18 years on death row. He was one of 22 men housed at the maximum security prison in Columbia.

The Department of Corrections did not give any more information about his illness or how long he was sick. Winkler will receive an autopsy, according to the agency.

Winkler was convicted in 2008 of killing his estranged wife two years prior, then causing a two-week manhunt.

Winkler and Rebekah Grainger Winkler, also known as Becky, spent less than two years married when Grainger Winkler ended the relationship and moved out in September 2005, according to court documents.

A month later, Winkler was charged with kidnapping, assaulting and raping his estranged wife. He was released on bond and allowed to leave his house every evening to search for a job.

In March 2006, while Winkler was still out on bond, he broke into 50-year-old Grainger Winkler’s Little River condominium, splintering the door in the process. After throwing Grainger Winkler’s 14-year-old son to the floor, he shot his estranged wife in the face, killing her instantly, according to court records.

For two weeks, Winkler evaded police, hiding in the woods near the condo. He was captured after a golfer spotted and reported him. When police found him, Winkler had a pistol, ammunition, a knife and a newspaper clipping about the shooting.

A jury convicted Winkler in 2008 of murder, burglary, and assault and battery, and recommended a sentence of death.

Winkler’s case remained in the appeals process at the time of his death.

A circuit court judge overturned Winkler’s death sentence in 2012, saying his attorneys made mistakes during his trial. The state Supreme Court reinstated his sentence four years later, sending the case back to the circuit court for further consideration.

Last month, his attorneys asked the state Supreme Court to again intervene, this time to stop a circuit court judge from dismissing Winkler’s claims of having brain damage that could make it illegal for the state to execute him. The state’s highest court had not yet taken up the case.

SC’s longest-serving death row inmate dies of natural causes

Winkler’s death leaves 21 inmates on death row in South Carolina. Another is imprisoned in California for crimes committed there.

Executions resumed in the state in September 2024 following an unintended 13-year hiatus, caused in part by prison officials’ inability to source the drugs used in lethal injections.

The state has put seven men to death since then. Three chose to die by firing squad, and four selected lethal injection. None have picked the electric chair, the state’s default method.

No inmates are scheduled for upcoming executions as several wait on last-ditch appeals to save them from the death chamber.