The wife of a popular preacher has confessed to shooting her husband in the bedroom of their parsonage in Selmer, Tenn. and will be brought back to the small city to face first-degree murder charges, officials said.
At a televised news conference, Chief Roger Rickman of the Selmer Police Department said Mary Winkler confessed to authorities in Alabama. No motive was announced.
Mary Winkler will be transported from Orange Beach, Ala., about 350 miles south of Selmer, from where she and the couple's three daughters fled after her husband was killed. She will be returned this weekend and will likely be arraigned on murder charges next week, Rickman said.
Matthew Winkler, 31, the minister at Selmer's Fourth Street Church of Christ, was found shot to death Wednesday. After he missed the popular midweek evening service, shocked church members called authorities.
Police said there was no evidence that the home had been broken into. Mary Winkler and the children - Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 - were missing, so authorities issued an Amber Alert.
Authorities in Alabama noticed the vehicle and contacted Tennessee police. Mary Wilkins, 32, who had rented a condo on the beach, was in the custody of Alabama police, who interviewed her.
The children were expected to be given to the grandparents at least temporarily. Rickman said the children did not witness the shooting.
Matthew Winkler had been the minister at the Fourth Street church for about 13 months. He and his family became key parts of the community in the city of about 4,600 in southwest Tennessee near Memphis. It is a rural area near the Mississippi border with horse and cattle ranches.
"They were the perfect family," said Pam Killingsworth, a member of the church and an assistant principal at the elementary school attended by two of the children.
She was "the perfect mother, the perfect wife. She brought her children to school every day. She volunteered at the school," Killingsworth said on CNN.
"It is just not real. In my heart, I can't believe this is happening," she said. "She was not this kind of person."
Two shocks have rocked Selmer, former Mayor Jimmy Whittington told CNN: The murder of a charismatic preacher, followed by the disappearance of his wife and children.
"Yesterday we were tied in knots, worrying where they [the family] were, what was happening. To some degree, there is relief that the children are safe," he said.
"I doubt there is anybody in the community who can tell you what happened," Whittington said. "Small communities have a tendency to think these type of things happen elsewhere. When it happens to you, you're shocked."
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The trouble with Christianity is that so many Christians are so unchristian.
Before any Christians feel it necessary to rebuke me for the above comments, be advised that I am an equal opportunity skeptic about all mystical cults and beliefs. It has been my observation that people who like to dabble in imaginary things, don't always have a firm grasp on reality, and are prone to do irrational things, like drinking cyanide laced Kool Aid, Killing themselves so they can hitch a ride on a comet, and drowning their children so Satan can't get them.
Dan (Rationalist)
"They were the perfect family," said Pam Killingsworth, a member of the church and an assistant principal at the elementary school attended by two of the children.
HA! Apparently, this Christian (with an appropriate last name for this story) has an average grip on reality (average for a Christian) - which is none.
Christianity changes lives, all right. No denying that!
Maybe Satan told her to kill her husband because he, went over his quota of souls saved this month.
or
Maybe God told her to kill him because he was a false prophet.
or
Maybe they were both totally insane, like all christians are.
oh jeff dahmer was a church of christer go fig
Insidious? Cult-like? Do you have any examples of this, or is that just ass-mouth? And how did a woman under so much "cult-control" escape the "collective" and make it to Alabama? The elders didn't even go look for Winkler until Wednesday! Some cult!
My prediction? She allowed her emotions to drive her to do something stupid, like most women do, religious or not. See: Jerry Springer, Girls Gone Wild, plastic surgery, eating disorders, etc. You don't need to be "patriarchal" to recognize that.
I was just discussing this shooting with a co-worker of mine this morning. We both felt that the reason she shot her husband could fall under a few motivations: 1) he was cheating on her, 2) he was abusing her, 3) he was abusing one or more of his children, or 4) a combination of the above.
I'm not condoning what she did at all, I would like to think that she could have sought some help. But it does seem like there is a pattern here with so-called christians committing heinous crimes. They get so removed from rational thought due to brainwashing, that they end up losing it. Just my opinion, anyway.
I don't really care about the offing of the m.f. husband but I hope she finds the truth sometime in the future about christianity
Wow. It really does sound like YOU need to get a grip on reality.....most women "doing stupid things because they are driven by their emotions"...really? What about all those men who have been put into prison because of violence against their wives and others? Aren't there more men in prisons today because of emotional instability causing them to commit these crimes against society?...i.e. shooting one's wife because she cheated or was suspected of cheating or shooting her lover? Come one....get a grip and look at the individual for the individual as not everyone is the same. With such a bad attitude towards women such as you have, I wonder if you haven't been abused in your past, molested, or an overbearing mom?
If you don't get this straightened out, I seriously doubt if you will ever have a healthy, loving relationship with any woman if you are heterosexual or otherwise. You seem to not even want one based on your comments, so maybe that does not even apply. For your own sake and others, please seek an attitude adjustement.
This is purely speculation, but I predict that preacher daddy was diddling his daughters.
1. Women, particularly the brainwashed sort (by any religion, not just xianity) tend to stick by their men even if they are abused or cheated on. They are so mentally damaged they feel lucky to still have the man or truly believe they are unworthy of respectable treatment and deserve abuse. Some women even believe men are entitled to cheat or "need" to cheat. Cheating and abuse are not the best motive.
2. Mothers, particulary good mothers, again regardless of faith, will protect their offsping at all costs. I believe mothers kill to protect their children before they would kill to protect themselves.
3. In this particular case, the mother obviously feels loyalty to her husband. No doubt because of the xian brain washing and abuse she has probably suffered.
a) It explains why she chose to kill him rather than expose him to have him arrested.
b)It explains why she still hasn't coughed up a motive.
c)She also may be ashamed she wasn't able to protect her daughters.
d) No doubt she is well aware of the loyalty of her husband's followers and probably feared/fears no one would believe her or support her, and would even retaliate against her.
Whatever the reason, this woman believed she had no other course of action available to her.
And to Anonymous 3/27/06 7:55pm:
You are ignorant.
Most likely the man of God was having sexual touching or worse.
There was a preacher near here, he was arrested for having sexual intercourse with his three daughters one of them had a baby by her father.
Heathen Sister said:
2. Mothers, particulary good mothers, again regardless of faith, will protect their offsping at all costs. I believe mothers kill to protect their children before they would kill to protect themselves.
Excellant Point!
By your statement alone above, proves without a single doubt that Jesus was not the legitimate child of Mary, and she was full aware that he was not.
The reason being, when they asked whom will speak for up this man, Jesus, if Mary had been his legitimate mother and the bible says she was there and she spoke not one word, neither would Jesus's legitimate mother have allowed and watched as her son was being whipped and crucified and stand there and say it was the will of God.
You're right on, Heathen Sister and I agree with everything you write, Love Ya, keep it coming.
Your friend, Ben(The Rationalist)