Another possible theory from another thread from TERRI :
(this theory would be in addition to the only other two possible theories imo - child molesting, or she was just plain nuts - but even a crazy person needs something to set them off)
"I know we have no basis for our speculation other than curiosity and gut feeling, but I predict that it will come out that this was somehow related to porn addiction. Having read many books on the subject written by pastor’s wives who’s families have “recovered” I see the writing on the wall.
My guess is that it had nothing to do with the children except that their parents lived a living hell and from which Mary had no place to turn without destroying her husband’s career.
I speculate that they had moved at some point to “start fresh” but there is always a pattern here. Mary saw it coming and most likely he “relapsed” while she was at work that first (or second) day. She had thought about it in advance and knew it because she could see the “cycle”.
The thing is, it’s so silent, and in her case it had to be an absolute secret, and the world tells one it isn’t “adultry”.
It makes the “victim spouse” literally physically ill and there appears no escape within the moral system in which they lived. In the Christian faith, you can’t even justify divorce for this despite that you KNOW in your mind, that at least to YOU that it is absolutely adultry.
People talked about PPD. I don’t think it was that but the hell she went through being compared at least in her own mind pregnant, postpartum, and simply “real”.
I bet that we will soon find that Pastor Winkler took the day, or at least half a day, off from work either Tuesday or Wednesday to “prepare his sermon”. I would bet a cheesecake that he spent the day “surfing the internet”.
I would even venture to guess that Mary was resentful
of taking the job perhaps under his pressure. Combine that with the upcoming anniversary, the sick feeling of seeing the “cycle”, the pressure to appear “perfection” with no where to turn, and she snapped.
If Mary ever mentioned this to ANYONE, it would have naturally resulted in the rumors about “inappropriateness” with the youth, even if there were none. If he ever used the church computer, same result.
Somehow I just don’t think it had anything to do with his own children. I agree that he seemed focused outside the family. I don’t think the acts/results would have been the same on Mary’s part if he had abused the children.
If this does come out, the public or anyone who hasn’t experienced this living hell, will not be as merciful as perhaps they should.
I think she ultimately knew the consequences and thus why she was so cooperative. I think she just wanted her personal secret intolerable hell to end.
Just gut theory."
continuation from TERRI:
"“Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr has said police know why she shot her husband, but he would not disclose the motive except to say police did not believe it was infidelity. He would not comment on whether Mary Winkler had accused her husband of abuse.”
Police “did not believe” it was infidelity. They know the motive, and either it is, or it isn’t, unless it’s porn, then it’s a matter of view point.
Understand that I am not in any way validating this as an excuse to kill. But it is a form of mental abuse that most can not even begin to comprehend, and that “the church” is for the most part in the dark about."
Did you know women can have porn addictions as well?