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 ...
The only thing necessary for performing a wedding ceremony is a license from whatever State where a couple is marrying. There is no basis in the Bible for having a preacher, teacher, elder, deacon, etc. to perform a wedding ceremony. Or there's not one that I'm thinking of at this moment.
rte66,
i can't recall the exact words that he used, but he made it quite clear that it did NOT "involve" the kids, and he didn't mean about their witnessing of the shooting...it was very clear to me what he meant the moment that he said it
...so, it seems as tho it was somehow accidental, or she snapped...perhaps he did something relatively minor to set her off, or perhaps it was a build-up of something over time...it also seems clear that this so-called "church" is a cult
From the interview I saw on Larry King with the TBI spokesperson, I didn't get the impression that abuse was involved.
GRACE: Mr. Farese, was there a history of abuse in the Winkler home?
FARESE: You know, there are different kinds of abuse. I`m not willing to go into anything that she`s told me, and that will be something that is ferreted out at a later date.
GRACE: Well, when you say there`s different kinds of abuse, what do you mean by that?
FARESE: Well, you know, there`s more than physical abuse. There`s more than sexual abuse. There`s verbal abuse. There`s mental abuse.
GRACE: Do you think at any time her three daughters were in danger of harm in that home?
FARESE: Well, what I think doesn`t matter. I was not there. I do not know. From all that I feel that I know, I would not think they would have been in any danger.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/27/ng.01.html
here's the larry king transcript too:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/27/lkl.01.html
here's the larry king transcript too:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/27/lkl.01.html
From Larry King Live
CALLER: I have a question. Could the motive have been that Mr. Winkler could have been abusing his wife or children in any way?
KING: Jennifer, that's a logical thing to think.
JOHNSON: A lot of people have asked that question and from the very moment that we came upon the scene we actually looked and there's no history of domestic violence. As I said earlier, we can't share the motive but I think, you know, the history does sort of speak for itself.
Nancy didn't seem to think much of her defense attorney.
I have a feeling she is going to use post partum depression as her excuse. Matthew used to be the youth pastor in a nearby town and the local paper eluded to post partum depression. She reminds me very much of Andrea Yates.
She said she planned it to take place on the 22nd of March.
I agree. Matthew seemed like a wonderful person. However no one really knows but I hate the way that as soon as something as something like this happens, right away people say "what did he do", instead of looking at the fact that she may be at fault.
Or maybe its not his fault. She plainly stated she planned the murder right up to the day she was going to do it. Maybe she's physco. She looks like it. People who knew her well said she doesn't look like the same person they knew. Like she looks kind of wierd.
Excellent point!
When this story first came out, I had the impression that Mary Winkler had been a substitute teacher for some time. Then I heard that she had only substituted last Tuesday. My theory (at this moment) is that money had become a very serious issue to the Winklers. So Mary decided she would earn some money in a way that she found acceptable. Maybe her husband didn't like that. Maybe she didn't like it. It doesn't seem like a big enough issue for murder, but some people snap more easily than others.
I know more than one preacher's wife who has felt almost completely helpless over money issues. It is made worse when the preacher cannot say no to all the folks demanding his time and $$$$$$. The wife is often left with all the bills, the children, the cleaning, the need for perfectly starched collars, the smiling despite a need to cry, and a whole bunch of other stuff. The worst thing is the expectation that a preacher's family must look perfect in every way. It sounds worse than being a politician's wife.
Seems like I read an article that said her first day substituting was Tuesday. It also said she was on her cell-phone a lot that day.
The Church of Christ is about as far away from "holy rollers" as you can get. They are not as strict as Baptists, or The Church of God or Pentacostals.
That house would be about a hundred grand here in rural Tennessee.
Matthew was a wonderful person. Everyone loved him. She was a bit weird, though. Of course thats just the opinion of an entire town and what do they know.
Poppycock! That idea is so outdated! Its just not true.
Our local paper did say it wasn't infidelity.
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