So what's the story with the preacher's wife?

[Free4Life11]

Actually I think it happened in the church parsonage. Can you imagine the parishioners who found the body??

 

[kbkids]

Actually I think it happened in the church parsonage. Can you imagine the parishioners who found the body??

That's what I heard too. It's a home provided by the church for the pastor and his family. So, essentially, it was at their own home, not away somewhere.

 

[taeja71]

That's what I heard too. It's a home provided by the church for the pastor and his family. So, essentially, it was at their own home, not away somewhere.

The church parsonage can be feet away or located some where on the church property.

 

[decaff38]

My gut says he was abusing his daughters in one way or another and the mother knew she needed to get away. Maybe she was packing and he walked in on her. If he was the controlling force, she would be terrified and react in the only way she could. I get so suspicious of these minister stories. I worry about how much power we give these people believing they are somehow a step better than we are morally. Then again she could be the unbalanced one and he really was a wonderful person. When they do not reveal a motive it flags that there are minors involved in the motive. We all will just need to watch and see. And pray for the kids.

 

[powellrj]

It may not be that sinister. A few years ago we had a "very religious" woman kill her DH, drag the body to the garage, take the kids and drive them to Michigan. His crime, he wanted her to do something in their romantic life that she didn't want to. She had been to her minister, bible study and church family for help. He in turn had been to HIS bible study and church family for help too. The thing is question is pretty tame in todays romantic life (there was an Oprah show about how popular it is with the middle school set) I'm trying to keep it "G" rated!!!!

She was tried of him asking her for this and she killed him. I have tried google it, but I can't remember the womans name, but it made for very interesting reading at the time.

 

[Stacy_C]

I live 15 minutes away from Selmer, TN. There's no new news around here today as to what the motive was. It is being reported that she planned the murder. Oddly enough, she had just been approved to substitute teach in McNairy Co. (where Selmer is) and had just had her first day at work on Wednesday (the day of the murder). I think the whole town is just in shock. There is a lot of speculation obviously....abuse, PPD, etc.

I do think we need to be careful to not make the victim a "bad guy" until the whole story comes out. It's bad enough that he's dead, but even worse that people are already accusing him of bad things when in reality NO ONE in the general public knows exactly what happened. When a husband murders his wife, no one ever tries to turn the blame around on wife/victim. So, why should this man not get the same respect until something comes out that denies him the right to that respect?

It did happen at the parsonage which was the home that the church provides for the pastor's family.

 

[kbkids]

I live 15 minutes away from Selmer, TN. There's no new news around here today as to what the motive was. It is being reported that she planned the murder. Oddly enough, she had just been approved to substitute teach in McNairy Co. (where Selmer is) and had just had her first day at work on Wednesday (the day of the murder). I think the whole town is just in shock. There is a lot of speculation obviously....abuse, PPD, etc.

I do think we need to be careful to not make the victim a "bad guy" until the whole story comes out. It's bad enough that he's dead, but even worse that people are already accusing him of bad things when in reality NO ONE in the general public knows exactly what happened. When a husband murders his wife, no one ever tries to turn the blame around on wife/victim. So, why should this man not get the same respect until something comes out that denies him the right to that respect?

It did happen at the parsonage which was the home that the church provides for the pastor's family.

You know, you're right. And I'll be the first to apologize. I did jump to conclusions just simply based on my experience with that particular denomination and have never met this man in my life. People have had negative things to say about our pastor, when they've never met him, and they couldn't have been more wrong. My comments were just as out of line as theirs, and that was wrong.

I do wish the best for the kids. That's a horrible thing for them to have to deal with for the rest of their lives.

 

[Stacy_C]

I just wanted to add that I am not naive and I know that any of the scenarios or motives mentioned in this thread are completely possible, but until something is revealed to the contrary, the man at this point is an innocent victim and I believe should be treated as such.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

I haven't accused him of anything. I'm just wondering what happened.

I guess I'm sorry for treating them like they are some mystery story and not real people, but I'm not assuming anything.

 

[taeja71]

My dh just told me that on yahoo news he read the other day, that the pastor, wife, and their kids were staying in a home/cottage-type place for a church retreat when this happened. I am wondering if another person is involved with the wife to kill her dh? And I can't imagine how the wife and the girls were able to escape so fast and get to AL so fast when this happened, being a church retreat- that other people are close in vacinity to them? I guess we will all eventually find out sooner or later what happened.

Rosemarie

Here's a link to the article you noted your husband (might have) read. The full text is below. The parsonage is where the death occured. There was no retreat.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325...WOnbbKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-


- - - - - - - - - - - -
Tenn. Parishioners Mystified by Slaying By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 20 minutes ago

SELMER, Tenn. - Members of a church planted flowers Saturday in memory of their slain pastor, while deputies went to Alabama to pick up his wife, who authorities said confessed to shooting him in their home.

The killing Wednesday in Selmer, a town of 4,600 about 80 miles east of Memphis, baffled friends and church members who knew Matthew and Mary Winkler as a happy, loving couple.

Matthew Winkler was found dead in a bedroom at the couple's home after church members went looking for him when he did not appear for a service at the Fourth Street Church of Christ.

Mary Winkler, 32, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge Friday in Orange Beach, Ala., about 340 miles away, where she driven with the couple's three daughters, authorities said.

On Saturday, authorities in Baldwin County, Ala., transferred her to the custody of McNairy County sheriff's deputies who were expected to return her to Selmer later in the day, Baldwin County sheriff's spokesman John Murphy said.

In Selmer on Saturday, members of Matthew Winkler's congregation planted beds of pansies outside the church in his honor. The flower beds were part of a spring cleanup he had planned.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr said police know why Winkler shot her husband, but he would not disclose the motive except to say police did not believe it was infidelity. He would not comment on whether Mary Winkler had accused her husband of abuse. Court papers offered no hint of a motive.

Matthew Winkler had preached at the Fourth Street Church for a little more than a year. His wife was a quiet, unassuming woman who was substitute teacher at an elementary school, church members said. They were married in 1996.

"Everything we saw belies what has happened," church member Janet Sparks said. "It just doesn't go together. Something is amiss, and we don't know what it is."

Authorities said that the couple's daughters were at the house when their father was shot and that investigators had found the weapon used to kill him.

At a juvenile custody hearing in Alabama on Friday, a judge placed the couple's daughters — Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 — with paternal grandparents Dan and Diane Winkler, who live in Henderson, about 20 miles north of Selmer.

"It was important these kids were placed in a loving and nonhostile environment," said David Whetstone, a Baldwin County district attorney.

Orange Beach Police Lt. Rusty Roberts said the girls were "extremely sharp, bright children" and that Mary Winkler was very concerned about their well-being. She attended the hearing, but did not speak to reporters.

Dan Winkler spoke to reporters afterward.

"Thank you for your love, support and prayers," he said. "Now we want to turn our attention to remembering our son and to the care of three young children."
___
Associated Press writers Melissa Nelson in Orange Beach, Ala., and Beth Rucker in McMinnville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Here's a link to www.Tennessean.com http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/NEWS01/603250338/1006/NEWS

 

[tinatark]

I was reading this thread in disbelief - the common thought seems to be that HE did something to cause her to kill him.

Even if HE is guilty (we'll never know, since he's dead, and we can never hear his side of any situation) of some type of excuse - she can kill him? When did that law get passed?

I hate the blame the victim mentality you see so often.

 

[taeja71]

The following articles are from www.commercialappeal.com. I tried copying them to a Word document, but my computer froze b/c of all advertisement and image overload. So, here are the articles for your and my future reference as this case moves along. If some one has a subscription to this commercialappeal.com, please share the previous two articles. The website wants me to subscribe to get access to them! The nerve...


Minister's wife has confessed in shooting death

Mary Winkler in custodyStory Tools
By Woody Baird
Associated Press
March 24, 2006

SELMER, Tenn. - The wife of a minister found dead in the church parsonage has confessed to shooting him and fleeing to Alabama, where she was found the following night with their three young daughters, authorities said Friday.
Mary Winkler told investigators she shot her husband on Wednesday, Selmer Police investigator Roger Rickman said.

"Our concern at this point is why the crime took place," he said. "There have been no specific accusations made by Mrs. Winkler."
Rickman said Mary Winkler had been "very cooperative" and authorities expected to learn more once she was back in Tennessee. She was charged Friday with first-degree murder, and police in Alabama said she agreed to waive extradition and was expected to be returned to Selmer in the next few days.

Matthew Winkler, the 31-year-old minister at Selmer's Church of Christ, was found dead Wednesday night in a bedroom of the parsonage after church members went looking for him for the evening service.

Police said the home didn't appear to have been broken into, but Winkler's wife and children _ Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 _ were gone.

Mary Winkler, 32, was spotted Thursday night with the children as they left a Waffle House restaurant in Orange Beach, Ala., 340 miles south of their home.

Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said that she had rented a condo on the beach but that she hadn't stayed there.

A custody hearing was scheduled Friday afternoon in Foley, Ala., where a juvenile Court judge will decide whether Matthew Winkler's parents can take custody of the three children.

Rickman said he wasn't sure if the children knew what had happened to their father. "To my knowledge, the children saw nothing," he said.

Mary Winkler's father, reached in her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., declined to comment Friday.

"I don't have anything to say. I appreciate your interest. I just have nothing to say right now," Clark Freeman told The Associated Press.

The news of the shooting death of the third-generation minister shocked those who knew him in Selmer, a town of about 4,600 in West Tennessee.

Matthew Winkler was hired at the Fourth Street Church in February 2005, said Wilburn Ash, an elder at the church. The congregation quickly came to love his straight-by-the-Bible sermons. Church members also took to his wife, who they described as a quiet, unassuming woman who was a substitute teacher at the elementary school.

"They were a nice family," said former Selmer Mayor Jimmy Whittington, who worked with the minister collecting donations for hurricane victims last year. "They just blended in."

Mary and Matthew Winkler met at the Church of Christ-affiliated Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, where his father, also a minister, is an adjunct professor.

On Thursday, members of the Selmer congregation gathered inside the one-story brick church.

"I can't believe this would happen," said Pam Killingsworth, a church member and assistant principal at Selmer Elementary.

"The kids are just precious, and she was precious," Killingsworth said. "He was the one of the best ministers we've ever had _ just super charisma."

- - - - -
Minister's wife charged
BI won't disclose motive for Selmer shooting
By Woody Baird
Associated Press
March 25, 2006

SELMER, Tenn. -- A minister's wife was charged Friday with shooting her husband to death in the parsonage in a crime that shocked the congregation and shattered the couple's happy and loving image.
Mary Winkler, 32, was arrested on murder charges and confessed to the slaying after fleeing to Alabama in the family's minivan with their three young daughters, authorities said.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr said authorities know the motive for the killing, but he would not disclose it. He said police did not believe it was infidelity, but he would not comment on whether Mary Winkler had accused her husband of abuse.
Her husband of 10 years, Matthew Winkler, a popular and charismatic 31-year-old preacher at a fundamentalist Christian church, was found dead in a bedroom at the couple's home Wednesday night in Selmer, a town of about 4,600 south of Jackson in West Tennessee.

Mehr said the daughters were at the house when their father was shot, and authorities found the weapon used to kill him.

After a daylong search, Mary Winkler and her daughters were found Thursday night leaving a restaurant in Orange Beach, Ala. Police Chief Billy Wilkins said she had rented a beach condo Thursday after the slaying.

She waived extradition and was scheduled to arrive back in Tennessee today.

The three girls -- Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 -- will be sent back to Tennessee to live with their paternal grandparents, said David Whetstone, the district attorney in Baldwin County.

Matthew Winkler's father, Dan Winkler, attended the custody hearing and spoke to reporters.

"Thank you for your love, support and prayers," he said. "Now we want to turn our attention to remembering our son and to the care of three young children."

Mary Winkler, who stands 5-foot-3 and weighs 120 pounds, was led into the custody hearing Friday, but she did not respond to questions from reporters.

Members of the Fourth Street Church of Christ found Matthew Winkler's body after he missed a Wednesday evening service. The third-generation minister was hired at the 200-member church in February 2005. The congregation quickly came to love his by-the-book sermons, said Wilburn Ash, a church elder.

Church members also took to his wife, whom they described as a quiet, unassuming woman who was a substitute teacher.

Mary and Matthew Winkler were married in 1996. They met at Freed-Hardeman University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Henderson where Matthew's father was an adjunct professor. Neither graduated.

Churches of Christ don't consider themselves a denomination since every congregation is self-governed by a group of church elders. But they generally believe the Bible should be interpreted literally. They are also noted for not allowing instrumental music during services.

Mary Winkler's father, who still lives in her hometown of Knoxville, declined to comment Friday.

END

 

[Shugardrawers]

I think the reason so many people are wondering about the victim's involvement is because women generally kill only as a defense, not for sport. That's not to say it never happens or that it didn't happen in this case, it just would be extremely unusual and we know that. For all we know she's just a complete wacko who had to wash his skid marked underpants one time too many. Whatever her motive, there's no doubt she's gone off the deep end.

 

[Disney Doll]

But there was a humorous point in Fox News article. She was busted at the Waffle House. I'm trying to follow the logic. Shoot my husband and I gotta have those hash browns?
I know she's got 3 kids and they have to eat but any self-respecting murderer gets their hash browns from McDonalds.
Sorry but my DH loves Waffle House and forces us to stop every time we're in Florida. Come to think of it, I've often thought of shooting him over the Waffle House issue.

 

[poohandwendy]

Wow, interesting and horribly sad story. I agree, I think people are speculating because it is just human nature to want to know why a seemingly 'normal' woman would kill her well respected husband...I mean, I almost want to believe there had to be a reason that makes at least some sense, like defending the kids.

No, it is never right to kill someone...but self defense or defending the children are much more understandable reasons than to be with a lover or gain money from an insurance policy.

I pray for the families involved, the parishoners and the community...how horrible.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

I was reading this thread in disbelief - the common thought seems to be that HE did something to cause her to kill him.

Even if HE is guilty (we'll never know, since he's dead, and we can never hear his side of any situation) of some type of excuse - she can kill him? When did that law get passed?

I hate the blame the victim mentality you see so often.

Let's not start in on each other until we have all the facts, OK? No one is blaming anyone. We don't have any idea what happened.

 

[taeja71]

My dh just told me that on yahoo news he read the other day, that the pastor, wife, and their kids were staying in a home/cottage-type place for a church retreat when this happened. I am wondering if another person is involved with the wife to kill her dh? And I can't imagine how the wife and the girls were able to escape so fast and get to AL so fast when this happened, being a church retreat- that other people are close in vacinity to them
Rosemarie

Please read the two articles I just provided above in post #52. I toally agree with poohandwendy. I think sticking to what has been reported is all we should do right now. Reading into things is/can be dangerous. Look there's finger pointing already, placing blame on either, and flames are already starting to smoulder.

Shoot, I saw an article that mentioned she had a miscarriage before having the now 1yr. old-which may be part of the PPD motive. I should've copied it. sorry all. If I come across it, I'll post it here. Better yet, if you have it, feel free to post it.

 

[nhrenee]

and this may have strained their relationship with God.(

Ya' think?

It really is so sad for the children especially.

 

[Cindyluwho]

For all we know she's just a complete wacko who had to wash his skid marked underpants one time too many. Whatever her motive, there's no doubt she's gone off the deep end.

If that's the case then my DH definately needs some serious killin'

 

[taeja71]

Found the article pretty quick through my history folder. Glad I didn't have to dig for it.

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060325/NEWS01/603250338
Killing rips image of perfect couple

Minister's wife confesses to shooting him, unsettles town

By LEON ALLIGOOD
and KATE HOWARD
Staff Writers


SELMER, Tenn. — From the accounts of friends and neighbors, the Winklers, Matt and Mary, of Mollie Drive appeared to be a loving couple, committed to their work in church ministry, their three daughters and their marriage.

But Wednesday — sometime after 3:30 p.m., when minister Matthew Winkler was seen walking the family's dog, and before approximately 8 p.m., when members of the Fourth Street Church of Christ found their beloved minister's lifeless body — appearances splintered with the pull of a trigger.




Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials said Mary Winkler gave a confession in which the minister's wife said she committed the crime in the bedroom of the church parsonage, with a firearm whose caliber and style remain out of public view in the investigators' notes.

Mary Winkler was returned to Selmer last night from Orange Beach, Ala., where she and her three daughters, ages 1 to 8, were located Thursday evening. In Selmer, she will be held in the McNairy County Jail with no bail amount set. Her first court appearance is expected next week.

News that a minister's wife has confessed to raising a gun and firing at her husband, a man she's known since college, has unsettled this small town of 4,600. "We're more like Mayberry than Mayberry is," said Police Chief Neal Burks.

Up and down Court Avenue and over on the Y Square, the tragedy that has befallen their hometown occupied minds and hearts yesterday. People who love the Winklers want to know why, what motive spurred the violent act.

For the moment, police are remaining mum.

John Mehr, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent, said authorities know the motive for the killing, but he would not disclose it. He said police did not believe it was infidelity, but he would not comment on whether Mary Winkler had accused her husband of abuse. Court papers offered no hint of a motive.

Reached at his home in Knoxville, where Mary Winkler grew up, her father declined to discuss his daughter's case.

"We appreciate all the support, but we just don't want to say anything at this time," Clark Freeman said.

In McMinnville, where Matthew Winkler was a youth minister at Central Church of Christ for three years before moving to Selmer in February 2005, the couple's former neighbors on Franklin Street said nothing appeared awry in the couple's actions to indicate *******.

"They were wonderful people. He was nice as he could be, and she was real nice, too. I would see her out with her daughters and you'd think nobody could be happier," said Lola France, 88, who lived near the Winklers.

"I can't understand this."

In McMinnville, the couple lived in the Bel-Aire subdivision in a single-story brick rancher. Next-door neighbor Michael Weeter said the Winkler kids always played with his kids.

"They seemed like good people. It's hard to believe what is being said now,'' he said.

A friend, Kirk Brothers, acknowledged that the couple had tough times before moving to Selmer. Brothers, also a minister, said Mary Winkler had a miscarriage, a pregnancy before Breanna, their youngest daughter, 1, that caused the couple much internal anguish.

Still, Brothers said he could not say she was unhappy, although she would not be the type to talk about it if she were, he said.

"A lot of people knew her, but she didn't open up to a lot of people. I don't know if there were many people she shared her innermost feelings with,'' Brothers said.

Brothers, however, said Matthew was happy as ever and proud of the work he was doing at his new church.

A first-grade teacher at Selmer Elementary, where the two oldest Winkler girls were enrolled, described the woman as friendly and happy but less outspoken than her exuberant husband.

"We had no indication that there was any problem," said Annette Whittington, although Mary Winkler sometimes appeared lonely.

All three children were placed in the custody of Matthew's father after a hearing yesterday in Alabama.

Whittington said Mary Winkler, who had just recently turned in paperwork to become a regular substitute teacher, had gotten an early start by filling in for Whittington on Tuesday, one day before the shooting of her husband.

The teacher said Mary Winkler also was taking classes at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, the same university where she and her husband met in the mid-1990s.

"I thought she was really on the upswing," Whittington said.

"She was going to classes, getting out and talking to people. It can be hard living in a new community as a stay-at-home mom. But she didn't show any signs that this was going to happen."

The Winklers seemed to have an ideal relationship, said Chuck Wilkerson, a member of Fourth Street Church of Christ.

"I've seen them out in the park, holding hands," Wilkerson said. "You couldn't ask for no better."

I hope all this copying and pasting isn't too much info overload for you all. Let me know and I'll try and cut and paste into my Word program again.