Select by gender or name

Conflict

Ellen Wink was a Republican deputy registrar for Norwalk, Connecticut. She also rented out property she owned in the city.

One of her tenants, 54-year-old Kurt Lametta, stopped paying rent in September 2020. Because of the pandemic, she couldn’t evict him.

She hated having him there and became even more enraged by his presence after he allegedly got into it with another tenant in August 2021.

She told Lametta to leave, but he stayed.

In September 2021, Wink threw out all his stuff and changed the locks. When police showed up, they told her she had to evict him legally.
They told her to let him back in the home. She refused and was arrested for criminal lockout.

In November 2021, she turned off the heat and electricity to the home. Once again, the police got involved and told her she couldn’t do that.

There were two other times in late 2021 when police were called to the home.

Crime

Soon she started researching guns and ammo, and on January 20th, 2022, she barged into Lametta’s rental.

He was secretly recording with his phone and asked how she thinks she had the right to come into his home without notice.

She shot him multiple times while calling him a “bastard”. He tried to get away, but she followed him.

With him lying dead, she tossed his phone into the bushes before calling 911 and saying, “My tenant came at me.”

She ended up behind bars facing murder charges, with her bond set at $1 million.

After the cellphone with video of the shooting was recovered from the bushes, her bond was increased to $2.5 million cash.

At her attorney’s request, and against the prosecution’s objections, the judge modified her bond in August 2022, allowing her to post 10%.

She sold property to obtain those funds, was released on bond in September 2022, and was placed on house arrest with a GPS monitor.

She was only allowed to go to church, medical appointments, court hearings, or to meet her attorney.

At one point, she asked for permission to visit her parents for Thanksgiving, but the judge denied that request.

As time passed, Wink was offered the opportunity to plead guilty in exchange for a 40-year sentence, but she rejected the deal.

Conviction

When she went to trial in June 2025, she stuck with the self-defense story, but the video was too much to overcome.

On June 20th, 2025, she was convicted of first-degree murder.

She returned to court for sentencing on September 5th, 2025. She was facing up to 60 years in prison.

As the prosecutor spoke of how dangerous she is, Wink rolled her eyes to show her disagreement.

One of Wink’s friends spoke on her behalf, calling her a “strong, kind, and caring force in our community.”

Wink expressed remorse but also downplayed her actions, saying “there was no heart in my heart to harm anybody.”

Her words fell on deaf ears as the judge sent her away for 50 years, which is essentially a life sentence for the 66-year-old.