Ronald Winters III was a 5-month-old living in a trailer in Otisco, New York, when he died on November 21, 1980. His death was initially attributed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and remained classified that way for more than two decades.

A 2006 child fatality involving Shirley Winters prompted a re-examination of earlier family deaths. In March 2007 Ronald’s body and those of his siblings Colleen and John, who died in a suspicious 1979 house fire, were exhumed. A new autopsy on Ronald concluded he had been smothered. An Onondaga County grand jury indicted Shirley Winters on March 28, 2007, charging her with second-degree murder in Ronald’s death.

On April 24, 2008, Shirley Winters pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter in Ronald’s death and admitted she had tried to seriously injure him by smothering him. The court sentenced her to 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison to be served concurrently with another sentence related to a separate child’s death. Does anyone have memories of the Winters family in Otisco or information that could shed light on these events?