Erich Winnecke Obituary, Death; – A man from Jeffersonville, Indiana, is facing felony charges after allegedly killing and decapitating his father, as per court records submitted on August 18.

Bryce Winnecke, aged 33, has been charged with murder and abuse of a corpse in relation to the death of his father, Erich Winnecke, who was 73 years old. He is currently detained at the Clark County Jail in Indiana and is set to make his initial court appearance on August 19. Prosecutors are pursuing a life sentence, according to the court documents.

As stated in a probable cause affidavit, Ann Winnecke, Bryce’s mother and Erich’s ex-wife, reported to the police that she witnessed her son running down the stairs of their home located in the 3000 block of Callaway Drive — where he resides with his mother and brother — at approximately 9:15 a.m. on August 15. He seemed “excited” and took a knife from a kitchen drawer before leaving the house and driving away, as detailed in the affidavit.

She contacted the police around 9:56 a.m., expressing her concern that her son may have harmed his father, noting that she had been unable to reach Erich, which was out of the ordinary.

Evidence referenced in the affidavit suggests that Bryce’s comments and text messages prior to the alleged murder revealed tension between him and his father, while his behavior seemed “delusional.”

Ann informed the police that the father and son had engaged in “heated debates” before Erich’s death over a matter that was not specified in the affidavit but was described as an “ongoing source of serious contention,” according to the records.

She requested a welfare check for Erich, prompting police to visit his residence in the 1700 block of Summerlin Place, where they discovered a decapitated body.
Around 10:16 a.m., police arrived at the Callaway Drive residence following a potential sighting of Bryce and located the vehicle he had reportedly driven away in earlier that morning. Officers also observed a man walking near the residence, carrying a knife and a plastic bag containing an object “approximately the size of a human head,” as indicated in the affidavit.

Police later obtained a search warrant for Erich’s home on Summerlin Place around 11:47 a.m. Investigators found trails of what appeared to be blood leading to the master bedroom. Inside the bedroom, investigators found a knife and deceased man whose head could not be located inside the residence, according to the affidavit.

Officials wrote in court records that the scene indicated a “substantial physical confrontation.” Surveillance footage found at the Summerlin Place home showed a man, later identified as Bryce, walking toward the residence’s front door while carrying an “elongated object” just before midnight Aug. 13 and leaving shortly before 1 a.m. Aug. 14.

The video also showed a man believed to be Bryce leaving the same residence around 9:47 a.m. Aug. 15 carrying a plastic bag with an “object of significant size” inside. Bryce was eventually arrested following a four-hour standoff at the Callaway Drive home. Following the arrest, police found several items of interest inside the house, including a head thought to belong to Erich, according to the affidavit.