Slain Preacher's Wife Faces Murder Charge
Police Say Woman Has Confessed in Shooting
By WOODY BAIRD, AP
SELMER, Tenn. (March 24) -- The wife of a minister found shot to death in his church's parsonage has confessed in the case, police said Friday.
Tennessee Minister Found Dead
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selmer Police investigator Roger Rickman said Mary Winkler, who is in custody in Orange Beach, Ala., 340 miles south of their home, admitted shooting her husband, Matthew, on Wednesday and then leaving town with their three daughters.
Rickman declined to discuss a motive in the case. He said she had been "very cooperative" talking with investigators from Tennessee, where she has been charged with first-degree murder.
Matthew Winkler, the 31-year-old minister at Selmer's Church of Christ, was found dead Wednesday night in a bedroom of the parsonage. Church members discovered the body after he missed an evening service.
The TBI issued an Amber Alert for the children -- Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 -- who had last been seen with their mother on Tuesday when she picked them up from school.
"To my knowledge they don't have no idea what happened to their father," Rickman said of the girls.
Greg Duck, Orange Beach assistant chief of police, said Mary Winkler waived extradition and will be sent back to Tennessee Friday or Saturday.
"We've known from the beginning that she was either a suspect or a victim," said TBI spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson.
A custody hearing was set for Friday afternoon in Foley, Ala., where a judge will decide whether Matthew Winkler's parents can assume custody of the children.
Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said that Mary Winkler, 32, had rented a condo on the beach but that she hadn't stayed there.
Police there found Mary Winkler when she went to a Waffle House to get a carryout order, Duck said. The children were in the car with her when she was stopped after picking up the food.
Duck said officers did a good job of finding the family, noting the city is full of spring break tourists.
Mary Winkler's father, who still lives 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 death of the third-generation minister and missing family 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 2005, said Wilburn Ash, an elder. The congregation quickly came to love his straight-by-the-Bible sermons. Church members also took to his wife, whom 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.
Matthew Winkler's grandfather was Church of Christ minister Wendell Winkler, who was well-known in four states for his 60-year career as an evangelist in four Southern states.
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."
Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson contributed to this story from Orange Beach, Ala.
Police Say Woman Has Confessed in Shooting
By WOODY BAIRD, AP
SELMER, Tenn. (March 24) -- The wife of a minister found shot to death in his church's parsonage has confessed in the case, police said Friday.
Tennessee Minister Found Dead
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selmer Police investigator Roger Rickman said Mary Winkler, who is in custody in Orange Beach, Ala., 340 miles south of their home, admitted shooting her husband, Matthew, on Wednesday and then leaving town with their three daughters.
Rickman declined to discuss a motive in the case. He said she had been "very cooperative" talking with investigators from Tennessee, where she has been charged with first-degree murder.
Matthew Winkler, the 31-year-old minister at Selmer's Church of Christ, was found dead Wednesday night in a bedroom of the parsonage. Church members discovered the body after he missed an evening service.
The TBI issued an Amber Alert for the children -- Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 -- who had last been seen with their mother on Tuesday when she picked them up from school.
"To my knowledge they don't have no idea what happened to their father," Rickman said of the girls.
Greg Duck, Orange Beach assistant chief of police, said Mary Winkler waived extradition and will be sent back to Tennessee Friday or Saturday.
"We've known from the beginning that she was either a suspect or a victim," said TBI spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson.
A custody hearing was set for Friday afternoon in Foley, Ala., where a judge will decide whether Matthew Winkler's parents can assume custody of the children.
Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said that Mary Winkler, 32, had rented a condo on the beach but that she hadn't stayed there.
Police there found Mary Winkler when she went to a Waffle House to get a carryout order, Duck said. The children were in the car with her when she was stopped after picking up the food.
Duck said officers did a good job of finding the family, noting the city is full of spring break tourists.
Mary Winkler's father, who still lives 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 death of the third-generation minister and missing family 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 2005, said Wilburn Ash, an elder. The congregation quickly came to love his straight-by-the-Bible sermons. Church members also took to his wife, whom 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.
Matthew Winkler's grandfather was Church of Christ minister Wendell Winkler, who was well-known in four states for his 60-year career as an evangelist in four Southern states.
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."
Associated Press Writer Melissa Nelson contributed to this story from Orange Beach, Ala.
Comments