Posted on 03/24/2006 8:28:46 AM PST by Blogger
Keeping a loaded gun in the house is stupid. Keeping a loaded gun in the house with kids is just plain criminal. I would like to believe that no on does that!
She staying in a small town jail. I heard someone from Selmer say "We're more like Mayberry than Mayberry is." Think Otis letting himself in and out of his cell. The TBI spokesperson said this is a very puzzling case, and it makes very little sense. It looks like things will continue to happen that make no sense. Mary told her friends (and perhaps others at the Selmer jail) that she loved her husband, and she is sorry for what she did. From what I know of the Winklers, they would have no objection to Mary visiting Matt's body before burial.
Everybody I know with guns in the house knows that it is stupid to keep the ammo anywhere near the gun. My dad kept the ammo locked up, and we kids had no clue where the key was.
That was the first thing I said, too, and was quickly corrected. You keep it locked up, but easily accessible by an adult. The fact that they had children made it all the more imperative that he be able to defend his family and home.
Oh yeah. I did a Mayberry post yesterday, matter of fact, about the pre-dawn secret visitation, on one of the short threads:
"I know the sheriff's name is said to be Roten, but I swear, since they called their town "more Mayberry than Mayberry is," I think it must really be Andy Taylor and Mary is the new Otis. Aunt Bee will have the doilies washed overnight for the rocking chair in Mary's cell - there'll be fried chicken in the lunch basket tomorrow - and maybe the Darlin's will come around to sing and set a spell, while Deputy Barney Fife accompanies on harmonica.
If Mary needs to get her hair done or something, there are the keys right by the cell door. Be back around 4 for some of Aunt Bee's apple pie and homemade ice cream, ya hear? Opie wants ya to help him with his homework, Miz Mary! Yiiiiiikes."
Not necessarily loaded all the time, just loaded at the moment she decided to use it. I just want to know if she is gun-proficient at all. I have shot and have gone hunting with others quite a bit and I know I wouldn't know how to start from scratch loading a shotgun.
I keep my ammo separate from my handgun and no one else lives here - how stupid is that if I get a home invader or burglar?
I don't know if she has a handgun, but Matthew was shot with a shotgun and the shotgun that was the murder weapon was found among her belongings, after they searched the van in AL. What a coincidence!
If she has a handgun, they probably let her keep it for her own protection there in the Mayberry jail. If she doesn't have one, I'm sure Pam could get one to her. In the cake with the file.
Sorry. I didn't realize the shotgun was confirmed.They just had ME Levy on Nany Grace and he did say it was shotgun. He described location of the wound and position they thought he was found in. I wonder if she would have had time to call for medical help if she had wanted to & if that will have a bearing on the case.
Yes,you keep the gun locked up, but you never keep it loaded. I can't conceive of a loaded gun in the house...maybe too many years teaching hunter safety does that to ya!
Very strange. M DIL said that her lawyer said on TV that the poor woman had just lost her husband and was distraught. Well Duh!
No problem, sorry I got cutesy about it. There is a lot to keep up with, for sure--and so much of what we read can be misconstrued. Things are said one day and then disputed the next, by the very person who said them, sometimes.
I also saw a mention tonight that the ME said the shot in the buckshot was "birdseed-sized." I was picturing a little larger, thinking wild turkeys would need bigger pellets to bring them down--more flesh to penetrate--than dove or quail, but that seems to be about the same size. If that's wrong, I'm certain one of our FR hunters will correct it!
It's hard to know how long Mary stayed around after the gunshot, without having a better idea of the motive, I think. If he fell the way he was found, which I think is a possibility, then she probably didn't go check to make sure he was dead. At least, she may not have turned him over.
Someone who knew a little about the scene, described it as Mary shooting him when he was between the bed and the closet. If she was standing at the doorway to the bedroom, or let's say, further into the room (I don't know how it's laid out) and closer to the opposite side of the bed from where Matt was standing -- meaning the 2-3' distance the ME stated, taking into consideration the length of the shotgun barrel, too -- it's possible he fell backward onto the bed, face up.
But we don't know what surface he was found on - floor, bed, or some other furniture, maybe.
If she "shot and ran" - as if already having the children rounded up and put in the car where they wouldn't hear - where did she go next? She didn't get to OB until 6PM the next night, a minimum of 24 hours later. The Amber Alert was issued at 3AM on Thursday morning.
If Sharyn Everitt heard Mary's car "storming" down Mollie Drive at around 4-5-6PM on WEDNESDAY instead of Tuesday, as she originally said, it could mean she had just shot Matt or it might not.
So much still to find out. None of these actions are those of an innocent person, for sure. It's hard to say whether she left the house and left him to die at the same time, or if she killed him much earlier and stayed to grieve his death or what she had done.
Maybe we can see an implication of her having left immediately and "stormed out" by her need to see his body one last time to say a real "goodbye" at the funeral home. Again, it's hard to say!
I wonder where her family is. If my husband had abused me or our kids I don't know if I'd want his family having custody of the children.
Well, the only time I lived with a shotgun in my house was when I was married and we didn't have children on-premises. A loaded shotgun sat/stood in the coat closet right by the front door, in case of emergency.
For myself, I always assume any gun I see is loaded.
Pam is the one who is giving all the interviews?
The police know whatever "motive" it was that she told them in her confession, so I felt that if there were allegations of such, they would have been the ones to prevent Matt's family from taking the girls, at the hearing in AL, if just to stall for time to further check it out. The girls were only in state protective custody in AL overnight.
Her father is in Knoxville, but we don't know a lot about the familial relationships on that side.
Yes - Killingsworth.
Ya sleep with the key pinned to the pajamas or shorts.
Maybe I'm missing something but her attorney said today that they are considering a defense of post-partum depression.
Well, I guess it all depends on your perspective. After 10 years as a prosecutor, and receiving many, many death threats, and now in private practice defending criminal defendants, and handling family law (divorce) cases, (where I have again been threatened) I have a different opinion. There are several people in prison that have stated that when they get out...they are coming after me. And I take that seriously. Not only do I have a loaded handgun in the house, I have about 4 hidden in different places in my house. As well as a loaded .45 caliber in my car. And I have children. They are all teenagers now, but even when they were younger, I still had the guns, and they were loaded. You see, an unloaded gun is just useless for protecting my family or myself, unless the person is close enough that I can hit them in the head with the gun or I guess I could throw it at them. But actually, I would just as soon shoot them. And yes, I have a carry permit. And yes, I have had to retrieve my gun on more than one occasion. I also have a 12 gauge pump riot shotgun with extended magazine, and it is loaded. It is more for the wife and kids to use if necessary than me. My wife couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a pistol, but she could come close with 00 buck. At least she would make enough noise that most prowlers would understand the risk involved in not running off. My kids, (all girls) have never touched one of my guns. They aren't and have never been even interested in the guns. They understand their purpose and that they are for only one thing...to kill someone, and so they never bother with them. No one but me knows where they are hidden. But they are where I can get any one of them within seconds if I need one. I have needed them in the past, and I fully expect needing one again in the future. And I am very proficient. I have qualified on the range several times. Usually shoot a 90-95 out of 100. I tell the ones that have threatened me that they had better get me with the first attempt because there won't be a second.
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