Authorities Say Minister's Wife Confesses
Mar 24 1:31 PM US/Eastern


By WOODY BAIRD
Associated Press Writer


SELMER, Tenn.


The wife of a slain minister confessed to shooting him at their church parsonage, then fleeing to Alabama, where she was found the following night with their three young daughters, authorities said Friday.

Mary Winkler told investigators she shot her husband on Wednesday, Selmer Police investigator Roger Rickman said.



Rickman declined to discuss a motive for the shooting but said Winkler had been "very cooperative." She was charged Friday in Tennessee with first-degree murder, and police in Alabama said she agreed to waive extradition. Rickman expected her to be returned to Selmer during the weekend.

"To my knowledge, the children saw nothing," Rickman said. He said he wasn't sure if they knew what had happened to their father.

Matthew Winkler, the 31-year-old minister at Selmer's Church of Christ, was found dead Wednesday night in a bedroom of the parsonage after church members went looking for him because he had missed an evening service.

Police said the home didn't appear to have been broken into, but Winkler's wife and children _ Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 _ were gone.

Mary Winkler, 32, was spotted Thursday night with the children as they left a Waffle House restaurant in Orange Beach, Ala., 340 miles south of their home.

Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said that she had rented a condo on the beach but that she hadn't stayed there.

A custody hearing was scheduled Friday afternoon in Foley, Ala., where a juvenile Court judge will decide whether Matthew Winkler's parents can take custody of the three children.

Mary Winkler's father, reached in her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., declined to comment Friday.

"I don't have anything to say. I appreciate your interest. I just have nothing to say right now," Clark Freeman told The Associated Press.

The news of the shooting death of the third-generation minister shocked those who knew him in Selmer, a town of about 4,600 in West Tennessee.

Matthew Winkler was hired at the Fourth Street Church in February said Wilburn Ash, an elder at the church. The congregation quickly came to love his straight-by-the-Bible sermons. Church members also took to his wife, who they described as a quiet, unassuming woman who was a substitute teacher at the elementary school.

"They were a nice family," said former Selmer Mayor Jimmy Whittington, who worked with the minister collecting donations for hurricane victims last year. "They just blended in."

Mary and Matthew Winkler met at the Church of Christ-affiliated Freed- Hardeman University in Henderson, where his father, also a minister, is an adjunct professor.

On Thursday, members of the Selmer congregation gathered inside the one-story brick church.

"I can't believe this would happen," said Pam Killingsworth, a church member and assistant principal at Selmer Elementary.

"The kids are just precious, and she was precious," Killingsworth said. "He was the one of the best ministers we've ever had _ just super charisma."



SAINTS ALIVE !!!!!!!!!

What a real, real tragedy!! Somehow, I don't think the spirit of Christ was prevelant in that home.

Depression hits some preachers' wives


SELMER, Tenn. (AP) — Mary Winkler was the quiet, unassuming wife of a small-town, by-the-Bible preacher, seemingly devoted to church and family. But now her husband, Matthew, is dead and she is charged with shooting him in the back with a shotgun.
Authorities won't discuss a motive, and church members say they didn't see any indication she was unhappy. But experts say preachers' wives often struggle with depression and isolation, expected to be exemplars of Christian virtue while bearing unique pressures on their private and public lives.

Gayle Haggard, author of A Life Embraced: A Hopeful Guide for the Pastor's Wife, said ministers' wives can feel isolated because of a misconception about leadership, since they and their husbands are leaders of their congregations.

They can feel trapped, she said, by unrealistic expectations "to live a certain way, to dress a certain way, for their children to behave a certain way."

And ministers' wives often find themselves handling more jobs than they expected to take on, said Becky Hunter, current president of the Global Pastors Wives Network.

"You're not really hired, and yet there is some expectation in most church settings that the pastor's wife comes along in a package deal," Hunter said.

Too often, ministers and their wives are reluctant to seek emotional help from members of their congregations because they're looked up to as leaders, said Lois Evans, a former president of the Global Pastors Wives Network. They can become isolated, lonely and depressed.

"This family needed help," said Evans. "It seems like there was no place to turn to and no place to talk and it became an explosive situation."

Matthew Winkler, 31, was found dead in a bedroom at the couple's parsonage Wednesday night in Selmer, a town of 4,400 people about 80 miles east of Memphis. Mary Winkler, 32, and her three young daughters were found Thursday night leaving a restaurant in Orange Beach, Ala., about 340 miles from Selmer. Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said she had rented a condo on the beach after the slaying.

She was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bail. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr said authorities know the motive for the killing, but he would not disclose it.


Mary Winkler was working part-time as a substitute teacher and taking college courses to get a teaching certificate as well as raising her three children and serving the congregation as its preacher's wife.

"You know she was weighted down," said Jimmie Smith, a member of Matthew Winkler's Fourth Street Church of Christ congregation and a retired psychiatric nurse.

Defense lawyer Steve Farese refused to talk about the Winklers' private life or if they had personal troubles.

"I can't discuss anything she's told me," Farese said. "But I think you have to look at the entire picture. You can't look at the end of a story and determine what the beginning and middle were."

Did god make her do it? or did he just allow it to happen?

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Did god make her do it? or did he just allow it to happen?

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Did you totally quit beating your wife or partially?

Probably related to the increase of Powerpoint presentations in sermons.

Is your god omnipotent and allknowing?

Better question...

Is there love without choice?

aggiez

It's gotta be a tough thing to be a pastor's wife, with all the demands on his time. No excuse, I know, but I'll bet she thought she was playing 33rd fiddle a lot of the time...Wonder if there was another woman involved?

Texasag

Nope, another man.......Jesus

don't mean to butt in, but my mothers maiden name is Winkler. That minister was her cousin.

She was at their wedding, and is at a loss for what happened.

People are free to act for themselves. God will never allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist. I will submit to you that neither of these individuals had an eternal perspective of their marriage or of their relationship with each other or to the Saviour. Their marriage was simply for "until death do ye part". Much more difficult to murder your "eternal" companion with your children also sealed to you and your spouse for time and all eternity.

Depression, "double mindedness", jealosy, rage, drug addiction, hate, adultery; all are at odds with the Spirit of Christ and can produce murder. It certainly did here!

The subtile sins we tend not to get rilled about, but they are all of the same Father of lies.

Is this why Catholic priests don't marry?

Hmmmmmmm...

Beside being a false and wicked perversion of the Gospel, it is also why they are totally unqualified to give counsel on marital and family reltionships, having never experienced either (well at least not officially).

Being a preacher's wife is a difficult life. Not everyone is strong enough to handle it.

I thought that was where the Lord made up the difference.

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I will submit to you that neither of these individuals had an eternal perspective of their marriage or of their relationship with each other or to the Saviour. Their marriage was simply for "until death do ye part". Much more difficult to murder your "eternal" companion with your children also sealed to you and your spouse for time and all eternity.

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Hmmmmm....did you really just post that this woman committed murder because she was a Protestant instead of an LDS? That if she had just had an "eternal perspective" she wouldn't have done it?

You didn't really just post that did you?

No Andy, not because she was a Protestant (or a Catholic, or a Jew, or LDS), because the spirit of Christ was not in their home. If it were, she would not have done what she did. An LDS family, if they are not living their Gospel covenants, are as subject to the buffetings of Satan as any other person.

I am strongly suggesting that when you have an eternal perspective of your marriage and your family, it would be most unlikely to happen. If you believe that your marriage is over at death, then whether the end comes sooner or later would not mean much in the perspective of the eternaties. Other than the obvious fact, that it is not your privelege to terminate the marriage "with prejudice". I didn't say it could "never" happen, but it would make it so much less likely. I will be so bold as to declare you would go broke looking for a single similar instance in an LDS Bishop, Stake President or General Authority's home. Protestant ministers and their wives, and Catholic Priests are supposedly much closer to the Lord because He has called "them" to "the work". That is what is supposed to separate them from the flock, for their lives are expected to be on a higher spiritual plane.

And I think it is awfully arrogant and prideful for you to presume to know what the personal life of two people you dont know is like.

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Beside being a false and wicked perversion of the Gospel,

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Pot meet kettle....

Does anyone else think this is ironic coming from someone of the LDS church?

Flame away.

aggiez

Aggiez03 -It was God himself who declared the family a divine institution. Of all the titles that God has, the one he prefers to be addressed by is "Father". Why? Because he is the father of all of our spirits!

Soup -I don't have to know their personal lives to know that there is a dead body on the floor and she put him there. Are you already suggesting that there is an "excuse" for this behavior? By the way does the murder put her "salvation" in jeapordy?

Judgement, anyone?

This is a horribly sad situation about which the only details we know are that a father is dead, the mother had confessed to killing him, and 3 precious, innocent children are without either of their parents. My prayers are for the Winkler family...the ENTIRE Winkler family.

Please note, I am not condoning the choice of this woman. I just think we shouldn't waste any time trying to imagine why she did it. Just pray for her because she did.

Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth...or don't.

I have to disagree with the premise that one's marriage is automatically stronger if it is eternal.

I really love my husband but there are days when if I thought it was eternal -- I'd kill him to try to get a break from him while I could.

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I am strongly suggesting that when you have an eternal perspective of your marriage and your family, it would be most unlikely to happen.

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The Bible states that the marriage covenant ends with the death of the spouse and one is not married in heaven!

Listen to the LORD and not false prophets!

Matthew 22:23-33
23On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,
24asking, "Teacher, Moses said, 'IF A MAN DIES HAVING NO CHILDREN, HIS BROTHER AS NEXT OF KIN SHALL MARRY HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP CHILDREN FOR HIS BROTHER.'

25"Now there were seven brothers with us; and the first married and died, and having no children left his wife to his brother;

26so also the second, and the third, down to the seventh.

27"Last of all, the woman died.

28"In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had married her."

29But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures nor the power of God.

30"For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

31"But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God:

32'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'? He is not the God of the dead but of the living."

33When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

When the Mormons heard Jesus' teaching they were not satisfied, and made up their own version of scripture and heaven and marriage.

[This message has been edited by AgGermany (edited 4/5/2006 8:30a).]

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By the way does the murder put her "salvation" in jeapordy?

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Of course murder does put salvation in jeapordy... what you do purposefully and intentionally shows "who" is running your life.

AgGermany - I answered this in great detail which I am sure your read. The question was centering around the issue of the resurrection. I will refresh your memory if necessary. Paul was not making idle conversation when he said that "neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord.

PS Thanks again for reinforcing the fact that "plural" marriage was a consistent practice among the ancient Israelites.

LoveaTm -When we are resurrected with a perfect body and perfected also in intellegence and spirit, we will not operate on the same level that we do in this earth life. You nor I will never have those kind of issues. Perfect love will exist!

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Verses 11, 12
Nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman, in the Lord For as the woman is of the man, so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God.

Despite the fact of Paul's speaking on the subordination of woman in God's order of created beings, he was careful here to point out what kind of subordination he was speaking of. Man and woman are mutually dependent upon each other, each enjoying unique prerogatives and blessings under the will of God, as Paul stressed in Eph. 5:22-33, etc. While true enough that the first woman was made out of man, it has been true of all others since then that they are born of woman. The natural relationship between men and women, like everything else, is ordained of God. Johnson believed that the point of emphasis here is that "The man must always remember that he exists by woman, and that both are of God." F25

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Paul is plainly talking about roles in the Church and the roles of man and woman in marriage. I read 4 commentaries on this chapter and they all reference the proper dress, hair, and church and family relationships.

Paul is not saying that marriage would last forever. Paul does not contridict Jesus. Even if you take the verse you quoted out of context, which you did, then he would be contridicting exactly what Jesus said.

The quote above clearly states that Jesus said we will not be married in Heaven. I don't think that Paul would like being taken out of context to try and make a point.

aggiez

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Soup -I don't have to know their personal lives to know that there is a dead body on the floor and she put him there. Are you already suggesting that there is an "excuse" for this behavior? By the way does the murder put her "salvation" in jeapordy?

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It is not up to me to judge his, her or their daughter's salvation. Her action of murder is wrong - but no more wrong than hating someone.

Her salvation is between her and God and God alone. You or me or anyone else speculating on it is sinful, because we do not have all the facts, information, etc. It is between her and God.

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Thanks again for reinforcing the fact that "plural" marriage was a consistent practice among the ancient Israelites.

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They also consistantly worshipped idols.

Soup -I really have to question your objectivity. You called self defense- murder (unfortunately, not one of the men wounded died; John Taylor was given bad information that was later corrected.) and now you say that murder is the same as hate. You need to educate yourself on the God's categories of sins. If you keep going, I am sure sexual immorality will be like malicious gossip. Murder = hate; hate = murder. I am sure that doctrine will appeal to some.

On the plural marriages in ancient Israel -Moses endorsed the program if you will go back and read the scripture concerning the dead brother's wife. Bad comparison on your part.

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Beside being a false and wicked perversion of the Gospel, it is also why they are totally unqualified to give counsel on marital and family reltionships, having never experienced either (well at least not officially).

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I'm sorry I missed this one yesterday.... Ibm, it is very impressive how you are so ignorant and arrogant at the same time.

On the rest of your comments about marriage, let's face it... Christians and mormons have different goals. We want to be with God when we die... mormons want to be god.

Rab91 -only partly right. We would alsways be with God. We are just thrilled over the possiblity of being joint-heirs with Christ and inheriting all that the Father has, the result being we eventuall become like the Father or "Gods". Read my post on "eternal progression" that I replied on to "apetree". I think it will help you more completely understand the process.

Guitarsoup -Did I read somewhere that God "hates" iniquity!?

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You called self defense- murder (unfortunately, not one of the men wounded died; John Taylor was given bad information that was later corrected.)

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According to John Taylor, when Smith's brother was shot and killed, Smith then grabbed his gun and stormed off to kill those men. Maybe he did, maybe he didnt kill them, but from Taylor's testimony he certianly did convey the rage and anger Smith acted in. Someone acting in self defense acts in fear, not anger.

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now you say that murder is the same as hate. You need to educate yourself on the God's categories of sins.

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Sorry, but I follow the one true Bible, not anything a treasure hunter made up in upstate New York.

1 John 3:15
Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer.

Matthew 5:21-22
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

Maybe these are verses that Smith threw out of your Bible.

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I am sure sexual immorality will be like malicious gossip.

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Nope, but Lust=Adultry.

Matthew 5:27-28
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I am only the messenger.