Amy Chesler describes her murderer brother Jesse Winnick as a “ball of spite” who has “infinite hatred. He gained so much joy out of other people’s fear and pain.” He had intentions to kill Amy and still does. She’s terrified now that he’s up for parole for the 2007 killing of their mother Hadas Winnick.
Lies and rage
Amy says Jesse, who is three years older than her, was always a quiet kid, but Amy always knew him to be a liar. One day he ate an entire package of Oreos and had crumbs in his teeth from it. Still, Jesse insisted that it was Amy who ate all the cookies. When his mother pointed out he had crumbs in his teeth, he argued that he had only had one cookie.
As he got older, Jesse started punching huge holes in the wall when he would get angry. He had abandonment issues because their father had left soon after Amy was born, but the extent of his rage was extreme.
One day CPS showed up and asked Amy if their mom had ever hit them. Their mother was embarrassed and thought maybe the neighbors had called CPS on her. Amy remembers looking over at Jesse and seeing him smiling. In this moment, Amy suspected that Jesse had been the one to call CPS just to watch their mother suffer.
When Amy was in fifth grade she scratched the picture in her yearbook because she didn’t like how it looked. Jesse found it and used it as blackmail against her. He told Amy that their mom would be mad if she knew about the photo because it wasted her money. He would use this blackmail her to do sexual acts in front of him. It took Amy years to understand that she had been abused.
One day the blackmail ended when she saw Jesse make a motion that he had Amy wrapped around his finger. Their mom asked what was going on, and Amy told her about the yearbook. Her mom wasn’t upset, so the blackmail stopped. The abuse, however, didn’t. In fact, it got more physical.
One day he kicked Amy between her legs when she was just standing in the kitchen. She hurt for days after that. Their mom saw him do it, and he told her that he was just curious. Again, Amy didn’t recognize this as abuse. She and her mom thought that he was just going through a tough time.
Jesse also got obsessed with death and weapons. One day he found out that his mom had witnessed a kid kill himself playing Russian roulette in high school, and wanted to hear all about it. He also started collecting weapons. He had at least one gun and multiple swords.
Their mom didn’t know Jesse had a gun until he shot Amy one day. She saw joy in his eyes as he aimed the gun at her. As she turned away, he shot Amy in the butt. It was a BB gun, so thankfully it didn’t do too much damage.
Jesse’s violence escalated to their mother when she found herself wheelchair-bound because of back and ankle problems. One day, he shoved her down in her wheelchair.
Soon, Jesse dropped out of high school, had no job, and found himself as their mom’s caretaker. Their mom called the cops dozens of times, but would always drop the charges because she didn’t want to hurt him.
Things got even worse as Amy went to college. One night she spent the night away for a frat party, but that night Jesse attacked their mom Hadas with an aerosol can and a lighter. Hadas kicked Jesse out of the house after that terrifying attack.
Jesse would often come to Amy to tell her that he wanted their mom to die. He’d even offer to “split” their mom’s insurance money with him.
Later, their mom set up a life insurance policy with just Amy as the beneficiary.
On September 25, 2007, Amy got a phone call from her mom while at work. Amy had a date that night, so she would be headed home late. Still, Amy felt off. Soon, she got a call from Jesse, again asking when she would be home. She felt like they were both having a bad time, still, Amy went on her date.
While on the date, her mom called again. Amy asked if everything was ok, and she said everything was fine. Jesse then called Amy immediately after. His voice sounded gruff and tense. He hung up on her. Amy knew, then, that something was badly wrong.
She went home immediately, feeling the whole time that something was wrong. She called her mom, but she didn’t pick up. She called Jesse, who told her not to go home. After some back and forth, he admitted that he had killed their mother.
Amy called 911. Police told her not to go home if her brother had killed their mother. Amy said that he could be lying. She went into the house anyway and found her mom dead in the kitchen in a large pool of blood.
Jesse said he was eating a sandwich and cutting up cheese. He said she came in a screamed at him and he told her to relax, so she slapped him. This prompted him to stab her in the neck with a knife.
He pled not guilty to her murder by reason of diminished capacity. Later, detectives asked Amy if she had anything to do with her mom’s murder. Jesse had written a note claiming that Amy had come up with the plan to murder their mother.
They also informed Amy that Jesse had intentions to kill Amy.
Jesse was given a plea deal for 2nd-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life. On April 16, 2021, less than 10 years after the conviction that he was up for parole. If he got out of prison, Amy would be terrified for her life and would go into hiding with her kids.
At the hearing, he said he had stabbed over 90 people while in prison. He also threatened to kill Amy at the hearing. He was denied parole but would have another hearing in two years. Amy is angry that she will have to continue to live in fear of these parole hearings for the rest of her life. She hopes that he is never set free because he represents a threat to her and her family as long as he is alive.
