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

[Stacy_C]

definately keep us updated. You seem to be close to the Mc Naily area. Is there an internet feed for your local t.v. stations? Or even a website to the newstations would be nice to know too. thanks.

The closest news station to McNairy County is WBBJ-TV 7 in Jackson. The website is www.wbbjtv.com. HTH.

 

[MouseKids]

I hope she doesn't claim insanity to get out of the charges.

I may be reading too much into your post, but are you suggesting that the only reason she would claim insanity is to get out of the charges?

 

[horseshowmom]

I can't really fault anyone for getting an atty with a good track record for keeping his clients out of jail.

Believe me, I don't find any fault either. None of us knows what happened, and I'm not drawing any conclusions. I'm just stating some facts concerning the law firm. Heck, I've been having homicidal thoughts concerning the guy my DD just broke up with (hooray!), and if I were serious, I'd put Steve on speed dial!

 

[disneyfanz04]

Here is the latest from comcast.net...

SELMER, Tenn. - The minister's wife accused of killing her husband shuffled into court for her arraignment Monday wearing an orange jail uniform and shackles and clutching her attorney's hand.

Mary Winkler, 32, didn't enter a plea. Her only words were "no sir" when the judge asked if she had any questions after he read the complaint against her and explained her rights.

Winkler is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of her husband, Matthew Winkler, the minister at Fourth Street Church of Christ in this small town 80 miles east of Memphis.

General Sessions Court Judge Bob Gray delayed a decision on bail until a preliminary hearing, set for Thursday.

Authorities have said Mary Winkler confessed to killing her husband on Wednesday and then leaving town with their three young daughters, though officials haven't suggested a motive for the attack. The minister was found dead that night in the church parsonage.

Mary Winkler was apprehended late Thursday in Orange Beach, Ala., after authorities issued an Amber alert for the children, who are now in the custody of their grandparents.

 

[taeja71]

Now we have to wait until Thurs.

 

[sheherazade]

the possibilites are endless! As I said, I hate cliff hangers. To all who are interested....be sure to post if you find any thing out!

Okay, this is totally gossip. Take with a grain of salt. Take with a whole salt lick.

I have a friend who lives in Hornsby Tennessee, just one town to the west of Selmer on the road to Memphis.

She says (keep that salt lick handy; this is just gossip) that the church in question is known as being rigid about women's roles and that abuse has been overlooked/hidden by the church community before--both spousal abuse of wives by husbands and sexual abuse of children.

She also said that the conservative attitudes of the church and a majority of its parishioners might have made Mary Winkler feel powerless to do anything less destructive if, in fact, abuse of either herself or the children was a factor.

Is any of this true?




My friend swears by her insights. She volunteered for a while at a family violence center in the past year and she says she counseled at least two and she thinks it might be three wives from that particular church in the time she was there.

Is her theory true?

Haven't a clue.



You said to post if anyone found something out. I guess, technically, such gossip isn't real information.


But it's something I've heard.

 

[momrek06]

I have not really followed this story all that much, with the Minister's wife...but where she.....

so readily and easily came forward and announced her guilt...do you think,

she is either covering for someone...or does anyone think that something

might have been going on in that house that "PUSHED" Mary over the edge

to have her SHOOT HER HUSBAND....i.e...abuse or child abuse...or any sort of

misbehavior on the Husband's part involving the children....????

Mary is now saying she is "sorry" and all along what I have read about her, that this behavior is so unlike that of Mary. To be violent, to murder someone, let alone her Husband the Minister....

Something just does not add up here....

Why is there a GUN in the house to begin with....

This does not seem like it is PREMEDITATED...because then Mary would REALIZE that those 3 baby girls would have NO parents when everything is said and done....

Something SERIOUSLY made Mary SNAP.

 

[poohandwendy]

Anything is possible. We could guess until the cows come in and it could be something totally different than we are thinking.

This does not seem like it is PREMEDITATED...because then Mary would REALIZE that those 3 baby girls would have NO parents when everything is said and done....

That doesn't give any indication that it wasn't premeditated. She may have felt that they were better off with no parents than in the situation they were in. Or, she could have thought that she wouldn't be a suspect. Who knows?

It's not at all uncommon for people to premeditate a crime without using good 'long-term' judgement. And legally, she would not have had to give it all that much thought and it still would be considered premeditated. Even a few minutes of premeditation counts, in some cases.

 

[sheherazade]

Why is there a GUN in the house to begin with....

momrek06, Selmer is in Tennessee. Tennessee is in the south.

 

[Miss Inga Depointe]

Does anyone get the feeling that this one will be really hard to ever know the truth about? Whatever reason or lack of reason she had for killing him, she's got that Andrea Yates look on her face. That "I'm damned to hell anyway, so what does it matter" look.

I can't help feeling sorry for her. I don't even know why, it's just my gut reaction.

 

[Disney Doll]

You know, I always worry when I hear people say "they seemed like the perfect family".

There's just no such thing.

I thnk it will be interesting to hear what precipitated this.

Which doesn't excuse her, but may offer an explanation.

 

[sheherazade]

Does anyone get the feeling that this one will be really hard to ever know the truth about? Whatever reason or lack of reason she had for killing him, she's got that Andrea Yates look on her face. That "I'm damned to hell anyway, so what does it matter" look.

I can't help feeling sorry for her. I don't even know why, it's just my gut reaction.

Well, if the kids were being sexually abused, she may feel that while her life is over, her children are better off.


Again...

I'm just considering what my friend who lives in the next town over from Selmer has said.

 

[Shugardrawers]

Her lawyer was on GMA a little while ago. He hinted that it could have been a cumulative thing and that while the actual trigger may seem trivial, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. If he's hinting at what he seems to be it makes total sense. Not right, but at least makes some sense.

 

[kbkids]

She says (keep that salt lick handy; this is just gossip) that the church in question is known as being rigid about women's roles

Wouldn't know about the abuse that you mentioned, BUT I do know that the above is very true about that particular denomination. I teach a children's class at our church, and DH mentioned it to one of his co-workers once, just in passing. He has been on his back constantly since then that women shouldn't be in leadership roles, what we are doing is wrong, etc. "I know I'm making you mad, but God wouldn't be very happy with me if I didn't let you know this."

I have to admit - this was my first thought when they said the name of the church. Doesn't excuse it - but did make me say, "Hmm??"

 

[kbkids]

I kinda wondered too since a previous poster mentioned that she had just started substitute teaching and that day was actually her first day working. Did he know that she planned to do this?? Did he find out that day and get upset with her for getting a job?

 

[Stacy_C]

Okay, this is totally gossip. Take with a grain of salt. Take with a whole salt lick.

I have a friend who lives in Hornsby Tennessee, just one town to the west of Selmer on the road to Memphis.

She says (keep that salt lick handy; this is just gossip) that the church in question is known as being rigid about women's roles and that abuse has been overlooked/hidden by the church community before--both spousal abuse of wives by husbands and sexual abuse of children.

She also said that the conservative attitudes of the church and a majority of its parishioners might have made Mary Winkler feel powerless to do anything less destructive if, in fact, abuse of either herself or the children was a factor.

Is any of this true?




My friend swears by her insights. She volunteered for a while at a family violence center in the past year and she says she counseled at least two and she thinks it might be three wives from that particular church in the time she was there.

Is her theory true?

Haven't a clue.



You said to post if anyone found something out. I guess, technically, such gossip isn't real information.


But it's something I've heard.

I live in Henderson, TN which is where the Winklers attended college at Freed-Hardeman University. I have MANY friends who are members of this denomination and I respect them and their beliefs very much even though theirs differ from mine a bit. My dh attended FHU himself even though we are Baptist. Yes, they are vocal about not having women in leadership roles within the church. They do have scripture to back themselves up on that. However, it is not as if they look down on women as a lesser person or as someone who should be abused and they do not expect the women to cower down and be submissive to their husbands or any other man. The main reason they believe women should not be in leadership roles is because they shouldn't HAVE to fill that position because the men should be doing their jobs and stepping up to the plate and fulfilling their responsibilities to the church as leaders. IMO, there's nothing wrong with expecting the men to be men and doing their jobs. So, it's not necessarily a derogatory stance against the women in the church. It seems as if your friend is making it sound like a cult-like situation and it is not. It is a very well-respected denomination. There's no Jim Jones or David Koresh scenario going on.

 

[alabamaalan]

Thank you Stacy. I have enough friends from that denomination to cringe when I hear such a broad brush being applied to indicate that an entire group of people would condone alleged abuse like that.

If there are problems in that particular church, the focus should be there.

 

[dadto1]

Just read this whole thread and no one is blaming the victim! Lets see:

Speculation he may have been sexually abusing his children
Speculation he may have been abusing his wife
Speculation he may have been unfaithful

Killer:

She looks so haunted!
She just did it to protect her children!

Of course we needed to throw a couple of pot shots in at the church.

All this with not one official word of why she did it!


This thread is pretty disgusting if you ask me!

 

[ozarkmom]

Why is there a GUN in the house to begin with....

momrek06, Selmer is in Tennessee. Tennessee is in the south.

And maybe she bought the gun for this purpose.

 

[stacy347]

OK, I have absolutely nothing to say about the preacher or the wife (since I didn't know either of them, what possible insight could I have, right?).

BUT, I do belong to the Church of Christ and feel obligated to clear this up a bit:

Wouldn't know about the abuse that you mentioned, BUT I do know that the above is very true about that particular denomination. I teach a children's class at our church, and DH mentioned it to one of his co-workers once, just in passing. He has been on his back constantly since then that women shouldn't be in leadership roles, what we are doing is wrong, etc. "I know I'm making you mad, but God wouldn't be very happy with me if I didn't let you know this."

I have to admit - this was my first thought when they said the name of the church. Doesn't excuse it - but did make me say, "Hmm??"

I have no doubt that some men still feel this way but it is NOT the majority, let's be clear about that, please. I have been in this Church for many years and have visited many congregations (on vacations, etc.) and in every single case, there has been a woman Sunday School teacher for the children.

In truth, I have yet to attend a Church of Christ congregation that has a man in that position. What they do not approve of however is the women teaching the men (and in some cases, the other adult women as well).

Now while I totally understand that plenty of people in this day and age do not agree with this thought process, it is the way the church believes and operates and obviously while they welcome anyone with open arms, not everyone would want to be a part of that. So be it, but as someone stated above, painting an entire church family with such a broad brush is generally not going to be accurate or fair.

Sincerely not wanting to get into a debate here ~ I do not feel the need to defend my church nor would I attack anyone else's but I just wanted to point out some inaccuracies.