Dec. 10—An online fundraising campaign has been created to help support the two children of a local woman who was murdered at her Woodbridge home last week.
Janelle Wagers set up a GiveSendGo page over the weekend to raise $50,000 for Nicole Winans’ children, ages 7 and 10.
As of Monday, some $4,260 had been raised.
Winans, the owner of Salon Envy & Boutique in Downtown Lodi, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Dec. 6 on the 900 block of Academy St. in Woodbridge. Her estranged husband, Shane Winans, was arrested immediately at the scene after neighbors stopped him from fleeing, according to reports.
Wagers said the children were present at the time of Winans’ murder, but were able to run to a neighbor’s house and did not witness the crime.
Both children have been devastated by Winans’ death, as is her 23-yer-old daughter, Wagers said.
Nicole was a beautiful, loving, caring woman who went out of her way to help others,” Wagers said. “All our lives have been forever changed by this senseless act.”
GiveSendGo is similar to GoFudMe, where users can create fundraisers for a variety of causes. Not only can visitors to Wagers’ page donate monetarily, they can also send prayers to let the page creator know people are thinking of them. A candlelight vigil was held for Winans last Friday at her salon, located at 200 N. School St.
Hilda Loza, a hairdresser at the salon, told the News-Sentinel Friday afternoon that Winans and her husband were going through a divorce.
She described Winans, 43, as very friendly and dedicated to her two young children.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the shooting just after midnight Friday morning and found the victim, later identified as Winans, suffering a gunshot wound to the head. She was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m., according to reports.
Shane Winans, 50, is the owner of Anchors Away Tattoo and Body Piercing Parlor, located at 8 N. School St.
He was booked into San Joaquin County Jail Friday morning without bail on suspicion of murder and willful cruelty to a child with possible injury or death.
An additional charge of possession of explosives in a residence was added over the weekend, according to the jail’s inmate roster.
Shane Winans appeared in San Joaquin County Superior Court for arraignment on Tuesday.
To donate to Wagers’ GiveSendGo, visit tinyurl.com/NicoleWinans.