Sat July 1st reported....Via
Sun-Sentinel: SELMER, Tenn. · A minister's wife charged with murdering her husband told police she shot him after they argued over family finances and then told him "I'm sorry" as he lay dying in their bedroom, according to testimony at a bond hearing Friday.
Mary Winkler, 32, has been jailed without bond since March 23, accused of killing her husband, Matthew Winkler, 31, at their Church of Christ parsonage in Selmer, a small town 80 miles east of Memphis.
In court Friday, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Agent Brian Booth read a statement Mary Winkler gave authorities in Alabama, where she was arrested a day after her husband's body was found by church members.
Booth testified that Winkler told police she knew her husband kept a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun in the closet of the home where they lived with their three daughters. She said she didn't remember getting the gun.
"The next thing I remember was hearing a loud boom. I remember thinking it wasn't as loud as I thought it would be," Booth said, reading from Winkler's statement.
She told police her husband rolled from the bed onto the floor after being shot.
"He asked me why, and I just said `I'm sorry,'" Booth read from the statement.
Prosecutor Walter Freeland said Matthew Winkler was shot in the back from close range with a 12-gauge shotgun as he lay in bed, with the blast breaking his spine and tearing into internal organs.
Winkler said she and her husband had argued throughout the evening about several things, including family finances. The problems were "mostly my fault," she said, because she was in charge of keeping the family books.
"He had really been on me lately criticizing me for things -- the way I walk, I eat, everything. It was just building up to a point. I was tired of it. I guess I got to a point and snapped," Booth read to the court.
Judge Weber McCraw is expected to decide, perhaps by next week, if he will set a bond. Prosecutors asked McCraw to keep Winkler in jail to await her trial scheduled in October.
More at
Knoxville News: Minister's wife says, 'I snapped'
Past News: June 12, 2006
The Jackson Sun-
Selmer News:
Grand jury to weigh Winkler chargesA grand jury in McNairy County is expected to decide Monday whether to indict the wife of a prominent Church of Christ minister on homicide charges in the March 22 shooting death of her husband.
Mary Winkler, 32, was arrested in Orange Beach, Ala., almost 24 hours after her husband, 31-year-old Matthew Winkler, was found shot in the back at their Selmer home. Police said she had taken the couple's three young daughters and fled to the Gulf Coast area in her minivan after the shooting. [
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KnoxNews : Additional information
Tennessean.com:
Winkler may be indicted MondayUPDATE: Although Mary Winkler confessed to killing her minister husband, reports indicate Mary Winkler will be pleading Not Guilty to the charges. Still no motive has been given.
BREAKING NEWS REPORTS -
The Grand Jury has indicted Mary Winker of 1st Degree Murder, a charge stemmed from premeditated murder.WVLT Volunteer TV, Knoxville, TN: Grand Jury Indicts Wife of Slain PreacherJune 14, 2006 -Updated information at Assorted Babble News or click here. The Median Sib -
Mary Winkler - FINALLY some news!!Others Blogging: Blue Star ChroniclesPast Posts:3/23/06 Amber Alert3/24/06 Minister's Wife Drives to my Home Area3/24/06 Witnesses Recall Winkler's Arrest in Orange Beach, AL3/25/06 Mary's Mystery Motive - Winkler Case3/27/06 Mary Winkler sees TN Judge Monday3/30/06 Winkler Case - Thursday 3-30-066/12/06 Grand Jury will decide on Mary Winkler - TNTags:
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