MN - Barbara 'Bobbi' Winn, 35, shot to death, Maplewood, 8 May 1981

justice4barbara

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Recently, a 25 year old cold case has been re-opened for the third time in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1981, Barbara Winn was shot in her chest with a .38 Special. When Maplewood Police asked her boyfriend what happened, Aaron Walter Foster told Maplewood Police that Barbara told him, "I shot myself...get rid of the gun". Foster did get rid of the gun, but told police where to find it. Police took four bullets from his pocket before arresting Foster for murder. Foster was never charged with Barbara's murder. Now, the case has been re-opened by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Cold Case Unit, and has enflamed debates between Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, and the man who is running as his opponent, William Finney; former St. Paul, Minnesota Police Chief; a friend of Aaron Foster since childhood, in the upcoming Ramsey County Sheriff election.

Finney was a police sergeant at the St. Paul PD at the time of Ms. Winn's death, and he attended her autopsy. In 1985, Foster was arrested by St. Paul Police for pulling a gun on his girlfriend and pistol whipping her friend. Police recovered three handguns from Foster's home. One of the guns were stolen, and of them Foster had purchased from WIlliam Finney. The same Assistant Ramsey County Attorney; James R. Konen who declined to charge Foster with Barbara's murder in 1981, refused also to charge Foster in the 1985 incident, even though there were two witnesses willing to testify against Foster. Moreover, police reports reveal that Finney sat in on the police interrogation in this incident.

Finney later became St. Paul PD's Police Chief, and gave Foster a job at the department as a "civilian" employee. In addition, Finney issued Foster a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

In 2002, Foster's girlfriend sought an Order for Protection against Foster. She testified that she wanted to leave the abusive relationship with Foster but he told her that if she left him that she would get the same thing Barbara Winn got when she tried to leave him. Finney, testified as a character witness for Foster. Her request for an Order for Protection was denied.

Recently, two St. Paul Police officers approached the Ramsey County Sheriff's office and questioned why Foster had a permit to conceal and carry, while he is still the prime murder suspect in Barbara Winn's death. You may read, watch, and listen to all of the recent news/media coverage by the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, KMSP TV, and KARE11 News by following the links on our web site. There is a link to our new blog on the site, as well.

www.justiceforbarbara.com
 
First off, welcome to WS, Justice4Barbara. I hope you'll find lots of support and friendship here.

Is Barbara Winn a relative of your's, or were you just a friend of her's? I went to the website and the first thing I noticed was a little baby in her lap in one picture. Was that her child? Whatever your ties, I wish you luck in bringing Foster to justice.
 
HeartofTexas said:
First off, welcome to WS, Justice4Barbara. I hope you'll find lots of support and friendship here.

Is Barbara Winn a relative of your's, or were you just a friend of her's? I went to the website and the first thing I noticed was a little baby in her lap in one picture. Was that her child? Whatever your ties, I wish you luck in bringing Foster to justice.
Thank you for your kind words and for visiting our web site. Barbara was my husband's sister. I, too, hope to find support and friendship here as well. I do not wish to see Barbara's family let down for a third time by the justice system. I've seen what they have gone through over the past twenty five years, and it is heartbreaking.

In addition to the obvious, I find the dead silence of our local women's and domestic violence groups on this issue very disturbing. I cannot understand why women, above all, are not outraged to learn that the Ramsey County Attorney's Office has, literally, let this man get away with murder, ignored the fact that he threatened another woman with a gun, and denied a woman an Order for Protection from a man whom she obviously needed protection from. On top of that, Foster works for the police department, and until yesterday, had a permit to conceal and carry.

This case has become a very political issue. And, even though we do not care about the politics, we also know that had it not been for this upcoming election, Barbara's case would still be buried somewhere. We are afraid, however, that once the elections are over, that this case might fade away, again. That is why we published a web site. We have decided that it is up to us to keep this case in the limelight. We are going to host a candlelight vigil and keep as much attention on the case as possible. So, any ideas on how to effectively achieve this would be greatly appreciated!

I find it very curious that Foster has retained a very expensive attorney. I am wondering how I might be able to find out if someone else paid the retainer fee on his behalf. If so, I want to find out...who. I am trying to find out if Foster's employment/salary information might be public information, since he does work for the police department. So, if any one knows if it is or is not public information, I would appreciate any advice you may provide! In fact, we need all of the help and ideas we can get.
 
I obviously know nothing about this Foster guy, but it sounds like there could be some level of corruption involving St. Paul LE and Foster.

You mentioned a girlfriend filing charges against him in 2002. I found a record of him possibly getting married in 2000... does that jive with what you know? Seems odd he would have gotten married in 2000 and had a girlfriend in 2002.
 
We will be having an hour long discussion tomorrow 10/4/06 on "The Power" (XM Satellite Channel 169) at 2:00 ET.

We hope you can listen in...

Finally, we found someone on a national level who cares about this case!!
 
Welcome! Bobbi was such a beautiful woman and this is such a horrible story. I can't imagine what her children had to go through, that just breaks my heart. I have to agree with HeartofTexas this does sound like corruption. I hope Foster has been haunted by this for all these years.
 
I am wondering about something. I recently learned that in 1982 someone told the St. Paul Crime Lab that this case was closed. The crime lab sent a memo to the Maplewood Police telling them to pick up the evidence or it would be destroyed. Was it legal or ethical for the crime lab to destroy the evidence being that the cause of death was still "undetermined"?

The physical evidence in this case was either lost or destroyed. There is no record indicating whether Maplewood picked it up or not. Maplewood thinks they did pick it up, but may have lost it when the department moved to a new building.
 
We are having a Domestic Violence Awareness Month Candlelight Vigil to honor and remember victims of domestic violence and, of course in memory of Barbara Winn. If any of you live in the Twin Cities area, we would love to see you there! The vigil will be held on Thursday October 19, 2006 at Mears Park (221 5th Street East) in Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota from 7-9 pm.

Most likely the speakers will be primarily family members because Domestic Violence and women's groups will not speak at our ceremony because of the political complications surrounding this case (so sad). So, if any of you know someone in this area whom belongs to an organization and whom might like to be a guest speaker, have them contact us: contact@justiceforbarbara.com.

Thanks!
 
Ok we are not going to have a speaker at our vigil, other than family. So, everyone, wish us well. I do not know if I will have time to check back until Friday since the vigil is this Thursday!
 
justice4barbara said:
Ok we are not going to have a speaker at our vigil, other than family. So, everyone, wish us well. I do not know if I will have time to check back until Friday since the vigil is this Thursday!
Good luck. Your family deserves answers.
 
About 50 or 60 people attended, and it was very beautiful. We passed out and discussed a lot of information about domestic violence, and were able to discuss Barbara's life and her children made statements concerning the effect her death had on their lives. It was very sad, yet beautiful...

We were also able to discuss, in detail, Foster's other 4+ victims. I am considering posting the text from that presentation on our website. I just think I should consult an attorney, first. So, if anybody here is an attorney, I would like some advice about this.

A few days ago I learned that there is an abundance of horrifying information...which is well documented...concerning Aaron Foster and William Finney. It turns out, including Barbara, Foster had extremely violent relationships with 5 women, and the person he pistol whipped in 1985 was a woman, as well. Every last one of them were either directly threatened by him with a gun, or fearful that he would kill them with one. We are very disturbed by this new knowledge. Not quite sure what to do....

I did, however, expose much of what I have learned...and much of it goes far beyond victimizing or covering up the victimization of women, at the vigil. Everyone was stunned! I am, still.

So, overall it went well. I am very angry at a local reporter, though. I have to sleep on it a few days and see how it plays out before deciding what I am going to do about it. Most likely, I will discuss it on our blog. I'll let you know, soon.

Again, thank all of you for your support, prayers, and well wishes. We need all we can get!
 
Thanks for letting us know how it went. I'm sorry a reporter made you mad. When you are ready to tell us about it you will. You had a nice turn out, especially after so much time has past since Barbara's death. That means other people are also ready for answers. Keep at this.
 
I too am glad to hear about the vigil. It sounds like you have a great crowd. I hope it brings you answers soon.
 
We have posted a link on Barbara's blog to a PDF document which contains the text from a presentation we gave at the candlelight vigil we hosted in her memory last week. The document contains new and very disturbing information which we recently learned about. Please read it, and if you would be so kind, share your thoughts on the blog. We would very much like to hear your thoughts, and would like others to hear them, as well.

You can go to www.justiceforbarbara.com and go to the "blog" page. Click on blog.justiceforbarbara, and you will see the link to the document. Or you can just go to http://blog.justiceforbarbara.com.

Thank you.
 
We are expecting the Anoka County Attorney to make a decision in this case, any day now. The investigation is going forward. People with information have been found, and new evidence has surfaced, recently. Investigators are working diligently to ensure there is an indictment in this case.

Pray for justice, please!
 

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