Over a year ago, a Tampa family man and his wife dropped their daughter off at college in Tallahassee for the beginning of the fall semester. He left the hotel alone in the middle of the night and wasn’t seen again by his family.
Jason Winoker’s skeletal remains were found on October 17 in a wooded area near the Apalachee Parkway, a short walk from the hotel where his wife had last seen him.
Winoker was 52 years old when he disappeared. He was found by a group of hikers in the woods. They found the bones and the Tallahassee Police Department determined them to be from a human skeleton. It was later confirmed the skeleton belonged to the missing man.
A Tallahassee Police Department spokesperson, Alicia Hill, said the police had extensively searched the area when he had disappeared.
According to Hill, it still wasn’t clear when and why Winoker went into the wooded area. Apalachee Parkway is on the opposite side of the hotel where he was staying.
Winoker and his wife had traveled from Tampa to Florida State University to drop off their daughter. The couple stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites. Mrs. Winoker said her husband left their room on August 17, 2021, at about 1 am, and that was the last time she saw or heard from him. She said that Winoker woke up at 1 am, seemed to be confused, grabbed his wallet and keys, and left their room without his phone.
Renee Winoker described her husband’s last moments on Facebook, saying he had been dealing with depression and insomnia, and sometimes he would take a walk to clear his mind. When her husband left their room, she assumed he had gone to the hotel lobby and wasn’t overly concerned, at first.
She started panicking a few hours later when he was still gone, and looked for him and couldn’t find him at the hotel. He had not returned to the hotel by the evening of August 17, 2021 and she reported him missing.
Mrs. Winoker told reporters that the police and police dogs had done an extensive search around the hotel. She said the police had used cadavers, sniffers, and drones to search the area, but they could not pick up a trail.
The hotel’s security video footage was useless to track Winoker’s movements; the footage had been recorded over.
Police believe the Winoker died a short time after entering the woods. The investigation into his death continues. Mrs. Winoker said that her husband had a defibrillator and that police were analyzing it to see if it provides any clues.
Anyone who has any information about what happened that night should contact the Tallahassee police at (850) 891-4200.
