A former father will remain jailed while awaiting trial for first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for the death of his infant son on Merritt Island in 2021. A circuit judge sided with the State Attorney’s Office in an order denying bail to DONOVAN B. WINTER. 26.
Winter was indicted for murder and child abuse by the Brevard County Grand Jury on July 17 along with his ex-wife, BELLE L. WINTER, 23. The baby boy, Ryder Winter, was less than three months old. Both have pled not guilty.
In a special bond hearing in Viera, Assistant State Attorney Julia Lynch argued that Donovan Winter should be held without bail based on the strength of evidence in the capital case. Circuit Judge Aaron Peacock agreed, finding that the proof of Donovan Winter’s guilt is evident and the presumption of a conviction at trial is great.
Sheriff’s investigators say the inexperienced parents struggled with their three-month-old son Ryder’s bouts of inconsolable crying, as evidenced by angry and exasperated text messages obtained from their mobile phones. The morning of June 1, 2021, Belle Winter called 911 to report that Ryder was cold, stiff and unconscious. The baby boy had died in his bassinet overnight from multiple blunt-force head injuries, the Brevard County Medical Examiner later determined.
Sheriff’s detectives continued to investigate and question Donovan and Belle Winter, who divorced and moved away from Brevard County, until gathering enough information to obtain arrest warrants in June 2025. Donovan Winter was arrested June 17 at a home DeLand. Belle Winter was arrested recently in Pennsylvania, extradicted, and booked into the Brevard County Jail Aug. 18.
Belle Winter will be tried separately from her ex-husband. She is being held without bond at the Brevard County Jail. Her next hearing is Sept. 16.
Witnesses and photos of the infant from a social gathering indicate that he was alive and unhurt shortly before the Winters arrived home to their apartment with him around 1 a.m. on July 1, 2021. By about 8:30 a.m., the baby was dead.
Donovan Winter, the son of an NFL player, made headlines eight years ago as a star defensive end at Bishop Moore High School in Orlando who accepted a football scholarship from Michigan State University. Legal troubles derailed those plans, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
In interviews with Sheriff’s investigators, Donovan Winter “admitted he may have been a little rough with the baby as he did not know his own strength,” the judge’s order says.