Preacher's Wife Sorry for Killing

THE TENNESSEAN: Online Newspaper for Middle Tennessee

Preacher's wife sorry for killing, friend says

By KATE HOWARD
Staff Writer

Published: Monday, 03/27/06

SELMER, Tenn. — Mary Winkler, who police said has confessed to killing her minister husband, showed little emotion during a jailhouse visit with a member of their church but offered an apology and seemed resigned to a fate away from her children.

Pam Killingsworth, a member of the Fourth Street Church of Christ, visited Winkler yesterday for about a half hour.

She said Winkler, who was arrested Thursday night and charged Friday with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Matthew Winkler, came into the room smiling and only broke into tears once.

"I was crying the whole time, and she was saying, 'Pam, it's going to be OK,' " said Killingsworth, assistant principal of Selmer Elementary School, where the Winklers' children attended and Mary Winkler often volunteered.

"But I went because she needed to see someone from the church to reassure her that we haven't thrown her away."

Winkler was found in Orange Beach, Ala., on Thursday and brought to the McNairy County Criminal Justice Center on Saturday. She had taken her three young daughters to the Gulf Coast in the family van.

The girls are in the custody of their paternal grandparents.

Winkler asked Killingsworth to deliver a message to the congregation last night: that she apologizes for everything she's done and if she were at the Fourth Street church, she would walk right down that aisle and repent her sins.

Winkler also said she hoped everyone could forgive her, Killingsworth said.

Killingsworth held a copy of yesterday's church bulletin to the glass partition at the jail, showing Winkler the photo and memorial to her husband. She said that's when Winkler showed her first sign of emotion.

"She covered her face and said she loved him so much and she's sorry for what she's done," Killingsworth said.

Winkler gave no explanation of why she shot her husband, whose body was discovered Wednesday at the church parsonage where the family lived. Killingsworth said she didn't ask for a reason.

Winkler did ask for pictures of her children — Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 — but said she's not worried because she knows they'll be fine.

"She said she's been reading the Bible and that she doesn't have Matt or the kids but she knows the kids are going to be raised right," Killingsworth said.

"It's almost like she's already accepted that she'll be without him. … It goes along with everything else and just doesn't make sense."

Winkler appeared to be healthy and said the people at the jail were treating her very well, Killingsworth said.

Yesterday morning, grieving members of the Fourth Street Church of Christ were urged by preachers to avoid the urge to speculate about why their minister was slain. They were asked to let God judge Mary Winkler.

During a Bible class and church service yesterday morning, deacon Robert Shackelford urged more than 200 people in attendance to carefully consider the lack of information before they talk about what may have led to the slaying.

Shackelford said anything members say, and even think, will only plant the seed of uninformed rumors about their 31-year-old minister.

Shackelford also encouraged members to pray for Mary Winkler, 32, who is scheduled to be arraigned today.

"The simple fact is, right now we don't know why," Shackelford said. "No one does, except Mary, so we shouldn't speculate about what we do not know. ...

"Mary is a member of our family, and we may be the closest family she has at this time."

Investigators said Winkler told them during a confession why she shot her husband, but no information has been released about her motive. Friends of the couple say there was no sign that they had any marital problems.

No members of the family attended yesterday's service at the church.

Church member Dorothy Weatherford said she took some clothes and personal care items to the county jail yesterday for Winkler.

"God forgives," Weatherford said, "and we also have to."

Weatherford said that she knew Winkler from church functions but that some of the younger women may have been closer with her.

Thinking back, Weatherford said, Winkler used to spend a lot of time walking around and talking with everyone at events, but she hadn't done much of that lately.

"I guess I'm thinking about things like that now," she said.

Yesterday's sermon was delivered by Jeremy Weekley, dean of student life at Church of Christ-affiliated Freed-Hardeman University, where Mary and Matthew Winkler met when Mary was taking classes to become a teacher.

Selmer police officers were stationed outside the church, and media cameras were not allowed inside during the service.

Leading the congregation in a prayer, church elder Drew Eason encouraged members to keep praying for Winkler, who is in county jail a couple of miles from the church.

"We pray that she can confess and repent her sins in such a way that she will have a home with you in the end, and with us," Eason prayed aloud.

The message of forgiveness that permeated the day's services was not lost on church member Judy Turner, who said she and her fellow congregants can't forget that God commanded them to love everyone.

Turner filled in yesterday to teach the children's Sunday School class, usually taught by Mary Winkler.

"The fact is, this church is real close, and we've basically lost two people that we love so much," Turner said.


Published: Monday, 03/27/06