Posted on 04/14/2007 5:58:36 PM PDT by SmithL
SELMER, Tenn. (AP) _ Bank tellers testified Saturday that a preacher's wife accused of murdering her husband was in financial trouble and that the bank had caught her trying to deposit bad checks.
Prosecutors said the Winklers' bank account at Regions Bank in Selmer was overdrawn by $5,000, and that bank employees called Mary Winkler several times in the days before her husband's death.
Diane Hollingsworth, a teller at Regions Bank, said she talked with Mary Winkler on March 21, 2006 _ one day before Matthew Winkler was found shot to death in the church parsonage in this west Tennessee town.
"I just advised her that if she came in and talked to our bank manager that there would be some way that we could work it out _ that it was not an impossible situation," Hollingsworth said. "I advised her if she wasn't able to come in, it would be turned over to our security department."
Prosecutors have said Mary Winkler was caught up in a swindle known as the "Nigerian scam," which promises riches to victims who send money to cover the processing expenses.
But defense attorneys have said the Winklers were both taken by the scam.
Investigators say Mary Winkler, 33, admitted shooting her husband and that it had something to do with his constant criticism. She was arrested a day after the shooting on the Alabama coast, about 340 miles away, where she was spotted driving the family minivan with their three young daughters inside.
Three bank tellers testified that Mary Winkler had a separate account at the First State Bank in Henderson, about 20 miles north of Selmer. They say she tried to deposit a number of large checks from her First State account into the Selmer bank _ including one for $7,000 and two for $4,000.
"I called to explain to her that the items she had been depositing on the First State account, there were no funds there," Hollingsworth said. "That simply was not legal."
The tellers also said Mary Winkler deposited a $6,455 check allegedly from Canadian Trust Bank in December 2005. Regions accepted that check, but it turned out to be fraudulent.
In earlier testimony Friday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Chris Carpenter said Mary Winkler told him about her marital problems and the shooting.
"I don't remember going to the closet or getting the gun," Winkler said, according to the statement. "The next thing I remember was hearing a loud boom, and I remember thinking it wasn't as loud as I thought it would be."
The statement said Matthew Winkler criticized Mary for "the way I walk, what I eat, everything. It was just building up to this point. I was just tired of it. I guess I just got to a point and snapped."
Winkler's lawyer has said she intended to hold her husband at gunpoint only to force him to talk about his personal problems after a situation involving their then-1-year-old daughter, Breanna. The defense did not describe the situation.
Lawyers gave opening statements Thursday, and the entire trial was expected to last two weeks.
Oh my! I don’t have to hear a whole lot to think she did it premeditated.
I just don’t see how she could be so clear thinking about getting the girls to another state with such ease after she admittedly kills her husband.
No mention of her being upset.
Got problems here. One of my daughters best high school friends was a vivacious, smart, pretty little lady, not long after graduation, she announced that she was getting married. The “groom” was an in your face “Holy Roller”.
Everything seemed to be working fine, until the little lady had an orgasm! Hell, the lowlife SOB hauled her before the congregation and called her a whore!
I should maybe be on the jury, maybe Winkler needed shooting!
Thank you for sharing that.
Oh please. Nothing is that simple. Your story sounds horrible, but we don’t know the real story and neither do you, I betcha..
Kill a man because he’s a religious freak? Murder the father of your children because he is too fervent?? This is murder and it’s criminal and I hope she goes to prison for the rest of her life. Just like she stole from him....the whole life.
A member of the church of Christ is about as far from a Holy Roller as you can get. Think Southern Baptist, plus baptism required for salavation, minus the once saved always saved doctrine. Most members of the church of Christ are conservative politically and morally like many good Freepers. They are typical of the good church-going people in mid-America.
Good point. There's nothing holy roller in their method. For someone curious on how preachers in the churches of Christ conduct their sermons, the www.oabs.org web site has many archived sermons from meetings and lectureships including one from Wendell Winkler, the grandfather of the victim.
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