Investigators believe a man killed his wife at their home in Winona by mixing prescription medications with Kool-Aid mix and convincing her to drink it because their toddler child made it for her. Jason McClurg, 35, is charged with first-degree murder for the death of Stephanie McClurg, 32, on Sunday.
Jason McClurg told police that he came home on Sunday and found his wife dead. Winona police ordered an autopsy, which was performed on Monday, to try to determine how Stephanie McClurg died and whether the death might be from natural causes, suicide, or homicide.
Detectives now have learned that Jason McClurg may have tried to kill his wife on Saturday by mixing a prescription medicine with Kool-Aid mix, but it didn’t work. They got that information from another person who said Jason McClurg had told that person what he’d done.
McClurg then tried again on Sunday to kill his wife in the same manner, and this time it worked. The probable cause statement says detectives believe the fatal dose of medicine was either a prescription used to treat high blood pressure or one used to overcome motion sickness, or possibly a combination of more than one drug.
According to the probable cause statement, McClurg admitted to detectives that he got his wife to pretend she liked the Kool-Aid mix because their 2-year-old child had made it for her. He told detectives afterwards that his wife had “a fatigued feeling” after drinking the mix from a water bottle during a trip to Springfield.
Another person told detectives, according to the probable cause statement, that Jason McClurg told that person that he’d thrown a pill capsule beside the couch where Stephanie McClurg died to try to make the scene look like a suicide.
Jason McClurg is in the Shannon County jail with no bond.
