Posted on 03/24/2006 8:28:46 AM PST by Blogger
Slain Minister's Wife to Be Charged With Murder Friday, March 24, 2006 MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The wife of a Tennessee pastor found shot dead in his house Wednesday will face first-degree murder charges, authorities announced Friday.
Mary Winklerwas found Thursday night with the couple's three daughters in Orange Beach, Ala., about 400 miles south of their home in Selmer.
Investigators with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said she was interviewed during the night and the charges were being prepared.
"We've interviewed her and she was cooperative," said Jennifer Johnson of the TBI, adding that once a warrant with the charges was drawn up, extradition proceedings would begin to have her returned to Tennessee.
Matthew Winkler was found shot to death in the bedroom of his parsonage Wednesday by church members who began searching for him after he failed to show up at an evening event at Selmer's Church of Christ.
Police said there were no signs of forced entry, but Winkler's wife and children — Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 — were gone.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Dear Central,
It's never easy to leave one's friends and start over
again in an unfamiliar town. The decision to make
this change was a tough one but we feel it was the
right one. I wanted to thank all the young people
that gave up their time and energy in pursuit of a
greater relationship with our Lord. You are very special
individuals. Continue to seek after the Lord and
live the Christian life. We love you. I also wanted to
take this opportunity to thank all of Central for the
love and kindness that has been extended to my family.
The time that we have been blessed to spend
with you as a part of the Central family has been special
to us. You will always have a special place in our
hearts. Please continue to keep our family in your
prayers as we will keep you in ours. It has been a
pleasure and joy serving the Lord with you.
In Brotherly Love, Matthew Winkler
Interesting isn't it. This isn't solely from him, he references his family throughout the farewell note. Hardly the writings of a self-centered, "I don't want a family anymore" person.
Carryout from a Waffle House?? LOL, she is definitely insane.
Strange how all your speculations are about her..MAYBE..HE had something going on the side...MAYBE he was molesting little boys...MAYBE he was molesting his daughters....MAYBE he was beating on his wife....It's not good to play that game.
What is holding up the news conference? Shall we speculate about that for a bit?
When we were younger, we saw things through innocent eyes. I personally do not believe they happened to the degree they do now, people were generally more comfortable with their assigned roles in life, and there was doubtless much weeping behind closed doors.
When I was young (50's), I was told about a hush hush story of a relative of a neighbor on the corner of my then idyllic street. She killed a baby in the oven (gas), was institutionalized, got out, and had and killed another one. The people who rented our home after we moved in early 1950's, the mother was mentally ill with children; I don't know how she fared. There was "crazy" Emma with a child and no husband on the corner one street over. I guess the house was filled with filth and nobody wanted anything to do with her. This would be your average, nice, middle-class neighborhood.
I do think things accelerated in the 60's and 70's. My marriage broke up, my pastor tried to patch it up, don't want to get into that, but shortly after the pastor himself was divorced and the associate pastor's wife with two children left him for a jeweler, giving him custody. This was a fairly large Methodist church.
A particularly tragic case occurred sometime in the late 60's. My friend came over one day in shock. One of her husband's work associates came home from church with their older son and found his wife had shot and killed their baby twin girls and turned the gun on herself. She was evidently depressed over her mother having cancer, sounds like there could have been some post-partum depression there with other things I never knew about. This husband had an excellent job with one of the best companies in the country.
A distant family relative shot and killed another woman early last century, have never sent for the court records of that. Her husband moved to another state and eventually committed suicide, if we have made that connection right.
There *were* a lot more suicides in the late 1800's than we might realize, but usually it was men who killed themselves and didn't harm the rest of the family.
I do know that murders in general and other types of crime have accelerated off the charts compared to the local news as I was growing up. Murders were very rare, and armed robberies were uncommon. There was once a stolen vehicle hidden in our alley. That was a real novelty to me as a teenager.
Now it seems things are going downhill faster and faster, like an avalanche.
It's not strange as his post was a reaction to all the people blaming the dead man who can't defend himself.
I just caught it -- that is "Walking Tall", Buford Pesser(sp?)country?
Maybe the good minister's wife got sick and tired of being "preached to" by the holy roller?
Fair fights are overrated. There's a bigger chance of losing a fair fight.
Pusser
~~~~
CNN Snip: "The TBI said it gathered enough information to charge her after speaking with her and getting search warrants for several locations.
Mary Winkler has not made a public statement. ..."
Well I know plenty of persons who attend Church of Christ churches, and you are way off base. There is a subgroup that sprung up (in the 70's or 80's?) called the Boston Church of Christ that is cult like, but they are a small minority of the churches with the name Church of Christ. Not sure if that subgroup even has a church in TN, but the Churches of Christ are about as big as the Baptists there. So in any group that size you are going to have a few bad apples.
Because so many of them do deserve it.
There was an old saying when I was growing up "He ain't worth the bullet it would take to blow his brains out."
This guy doing the press conference isn't telling much is he?
I thought of that - but she didn't stay there and she used her own name to rent it, evidently. Maybe she thought she could say she was there when it happened, but the timing was not thought out right for her to do that either.
"Maybe the good minister's wife got sick and tired of being "preached to" by the holy roller?"
Yep, and since we are in such a liberated age, no probelm, he's in my face,think I'll blow him away.Now, on to the Waffle House./s
'Cuz he's a guy?
These wonderful model family pastors are not always that. My cousin was married to one - well known and thought of throughout the state...our family loved him...until she walked into his office one day and found him and a choir member on his desk. She left him taking their four young children with her - he ended up on the bad side of a bridge drunk and DOA.
Greg Jarrett is getting carried away. "Shooting in the back shows RAGE!"
All of the defense attorneys are giving their armchair lawyer advice. Spare me.
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