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| Hadas Winnick Case: Where Is Jesse Winnick Now? |
Jesse Winnick remains in prison in California nearly two decades after his mother, teacher Hadas Winnick, was killed inside her Calabasas home in September 2007. The case, revisited in Investigation Discovery’s Toxic episode “Don’t Go Home”, centres on a family relationship that had become increasingly troubled before ending in a crime that shocked Hadas’ relatives, friends, colleagues and students. The investigation moved remarkably quickly after her daughter, Amy Winnick, arrived home and discovered what had happened, with a call from Jesse providing investigators with one of the most crucial pieces of information in the case.
Hadas Winnick was born on January 26, 1952, to Sara and Shy Karmeli and eventually turned her love of mathematics into a career as a teacher at Canoga Park High School. She had married a lawyer named Sherman, who reportedly also had ambitions of becoming a musician, but the marriage later broke down. Hadas was left raising her children, Jesse and Amy, and eventually settled in Calabasas, where she built a life around teaching and caring for her family.
Her reputation extended well beyond the classroom. Hadas was remembered as someone willing to help people who needed it, including a teenage student who was allowed to stay at her home after being forced out of her own family house following a pregnancy.
It was the sort of generosity that made the events of September 25, 2007 particularly difficult for those who knew her. A woman known for looking after other people had suddenly become the centre of a homicide investigation in her own home.
That evening, Amy was returning from work in the Calabasas area when she arrived at the family property in the 3800 block of Declaration Avenue near Mulholland Highway. Instead of finding her mother waiting at home, she discovered Hadas unresponsive and called 911. Police determined that the 55-year-old teacher had suffered multiple stab wounds, prompting an immediate investigation.
The case took an unexpected turn when detectives spoke with Amy about a phone call she had received from her brother while she was leaving work. According to the account presented in the documentary, Jesse told her not to return home and said that he had killed their mother. That call placed Jesse Winnick at the centre of the investigation almost immediately, turning what might otherwise have been a more complicated search into a hunt for a suspect investigators already knew.
The relationship between Jesse and Hadas had reportedly been difficult for years. Their arguments had sometimes become serious, and the family had previously faced major concerns surrounding Jesse's behaviour. When he was 15, one argument was followed by an overdose involving Advil, after which he spent time in a mental rehabilitation facility. He was subsequently diagnosed with several disorders, according to the supplied case material.
Following Hadas’ death, Jesse reportedly abandoned her car before attempting to get away in a 2007 Range Rover. Officers later stopped the vehicle near Ventura Boulevard and De Soto Avenue, where Jesse was reportedly found hiding in the back seat. He was arrested and charged with his mother’s death.
Investigators alleged that Hadas was attacked with a large knife in the kitchen of the family home. Jesse later reportedly confessed during questioning, although the legal process that followed was not exactly a quick trip from arrest to courtroom.
In March 2010, Jesse was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and was sent to Patton State Hospital for treatment. More than a year later, on September 28, 2011, he pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, with an additional year imposed for the use of a knife in the crime.
That sentence meant Jesse could eventually become eligible for parole, but eligibility was never a guarantee that he would be released. His first parole hearing took place in 2021, during a Zoom hearing in which he reportedly acknowledged further serious incidents while incarcerated, including stabbing multiple people and making threats against members of his family. The parole request was denied.
The situation became even more complicated by five additional charges by 2023, including an attempted murder charge involving a correctional officer. Those convictions further affected when he could be considered for release, pushing his parole proceedings further down the road.
As of September 2026, Jesse Bernard Winnick is serving his sentence at Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad, California, and his parole eligibility hearing is scheduled for September 2026. That distinction matters: being eligible for a hearing does not mean a person is automatically released. The hearing is another stage in the legal process, rather than a guaranteed route out of prison.
What makes the Hadas Winnick case particularly unsettling is how quickly the investigation appears to have narrowed in on someone from inside the family. Amy’s account of that phone call meant investigators were not left wondering for long about where to begin, while the history between Hadas and Jesse provided a troubling backdrop to the events of that night.
The documentary’s interviews with relatives and officials also underline how a case can involve far more than the final court sentence, particularly for families left trying to understand how a deeply fractured relationship reached such a devastating point.
For me, the hardest part of this case is the contrast between Hadas’ life as a teacher and the circumstances surrounding her death. She spent years helping students and raising her children, yet the story ultimately became defined by a violent act inside the place that should have been home. There is also something painfully strange about the phone call to Amy: instead of quietly disappearing, Jesse allegedly called his sister and effectively announced what had happened.
It sounds almost too bizarre for a crime documentary, except this was a real family dealing with a real tragedy. The later prison incidents make the story even more complicated, because the legal process did not simply end with the original sentence. For viewers, the case raises uncomfortable questions about family conflict, accountability and whether a parole hearing can ever neatly resolve the damage left behind.
The Hadas Winnick case therefore remains a story less about a single night than about the long chain of events surrounding it. Jesse Winnick is still in prison, with his September 2026 parole eligibility hearing now the next major development, while Hadas’ legacy remains tied to the people she taught, raised and helped. After watching Toxic, what part of the case stood out to you most, and do you think the documentary gives enough context about Hadas beyond the circumstances of her death? Share your thoughts and join the conversation.