GUILTY TN - Rev. Matthew Winkler, 31, shot to death, Selmer, 23 March 2006

[blueclouds]

CNN was also reporting that a "reason" was given for the shooting but they wouldn't elaborate. Obviously something very wrong within the family. I think even far more than if he was cheating. That would be an easy one within the courts for her to obtain custody if he "great pastor" was screwing around.

The other thing that infuriates me reading through the articles is that the "children did not know anything about their father's death..."

I mean what?!! Did the LE tell these kids in that way? That has to be horrific on its own. I can only hope some family members were there with them. You don't just blurt out "oh your daddy's dead...."

I don't know. Can't imagine.

Also - English - you state rage..... I suspect also a high level of fear by shooting him in the back of the head. So she wouldn't have to face him at all.

 

[kato]

Women can also be two different people. Nice lady to everyone, docile and sweet, and an absolute tyrant behind closed doors to the family. The oldest child will be able to tell the real story. She is old enough to tell about the family dynamic without placing blame which would cause her guilt.

I hate to say it but my sister is/was one of those women. She wasn't physically abusive to the kids but she would scream and cuss. Her screaching (as I called it; sounded like a banshee) was soooo bad I would have to leave. But boy would she wail on her husband. I walked in one day and she was justa puonding on his chest and back and he did nothing back. When divorce time came sorry to say I was on his side. Poor guy gave her everything and it was never enough.

 

[cammy-g]

In the days of the Wild Wild West, if a gunfughter shot a man in the back it was a sign of cowardness.



I think rage or anger would be shown by shooting him in his private parts, not shotting him in the back. IMHO

 

[englishleigh]

In the days of the Wild Wild West, if a gunfughter shot a man in the back it was a sign of cowardness.



I think rage or anger would be shown by shooting him in his private parts, not shotting him in the back. IMHO

Not necessarily. I would find that really twisted if she'd done that. I agree with the fear reason for shooting him in the back. I wouldn't call it coward, I would call it FEAR. And perhaps she had a REASON to feel that way.

 

[HeartofTexas]

Here's a quote that sends chills up my spine... perfect perfect perfect. Something made her perfect world crumble.

"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.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-032406minister_lat,0,109567.story?coll=la-home-headlines

 

[brad]

This is such a horrible story and there is so much information we dont know. I'm anxious to see what details will emerge as to why she did this. I wonder what her psychological state is and if she is just nuts, some form of postpartum, or if the minister did something that enraged her so much that she killed him?

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Did he possibly have an affair? Did she?

All sorts of possibilities at this point.

 

[brad]

I hope we get a place to dedicate to this case.

 

[cammy-g]

True about the fear, I just do not feel she had anything to fear in this relationship, time will tell.

I just did not see rage in shooting him in the back, I think this case will easily bear out premeditation as charges have already been put in place with first degree.

Her plans were not that of a genius, she rented a vacation condo in advance on Orange Beach, probabaly left her searches on her pc from looking for the condo, I do not have any doubts that she placed the call from her home to rent the condo. These to me are all signs of a person not very well connected, it seems to me if she were having troubles with spousal abuse, she would have concocted a better plan. This vacation plan just screams
COO KOO.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

I only posted what I did because I remember a book about a small town murder based on an affair, but it was the opposite. The wife was going to kill the women her husband slept with, only that woman panicked and wound up killing her with the very axe that was being swung at her.

Here's a link to that book. True story. http://www.amk.ca/books/h/Evidence_of_Love

 

[MrsMush99]

Prayers, I think there was a movie on the case you speak about. Barbara Hershey was in it. It's been on Lifetime a few times but I can't remember the name.

 

[LurkingSleuth]

I am reading this thread and wondered why it is when a woman is kill and the husband is suspected everyone says he was a sorry sack of S#*t probably cheating on her and such YET when the man is kill such as this case, people jump in speculating that he was probably abusive most likely a pedophile?

I am not saying he is or isn't but why do female victims get the benefit of the doubt from most of you and male victims do not?

 

[IdahoMom]

If and only IF theres a possibility that this PASTOR did something terrible with his girls - THEN there's reason enough. Sorry English.

If theres any person out there that will ever mess with my kids - Lord help them.

...but the parents that take matters into their own hands leave their children parentless.

 

[southerngirl]

I am reading this thread and wondered why it is when a woman is kill and the husband is suspected everyone says he was a sorry sack of S#*t probably cheating on her and such YET when the man is kill such as this case, people jump in speculating that he was probably abusive most likely a pedophile?

I am not saying he is or isn't but why do female victims get the benefit of the doubt from most of you and male victims do not?

Statistically most criminals are male. Prisons overflow with male offenders. Males are usually the ones who molest, rape, and murder. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. There are certainly evil women. Just fewer of them. And often women who DO resort to murder do so in self-defense or because they are at the absolute end of their rope. That said, I can think of at least a dozen cases where the woman who murdered was greedy and sociopathic. It happens, just much less often. For me, I'm waiting to speculate on the Winklers until I hear more info.

 

[docwho3]

I am reading this thread and wondered why it is when a woman is kill and the husband is suspected everyone says he was a sorry sack of S#*t probably cheating on her and such YET when the man is kill such as this case, people jump in speculating that he was probably abusive most likely a pedophile?

I am not saying he is or isn't but why do female victims get the benefit of the doubt from most of you and male victims do not?

I suppose it may have something to do with the fact that men are physically bigger and stronger than women on average and are usually seen as being the agressor in most relationships. Also, if a man wants out of a marriage he may be facing financial loss in the form of alimony or child support payments and thus has a reason to kill and a woman who kills the husband may face loss of those potential payments from him and thus has less motive to kill.

When you look at a woman in a murder case being weaker than a man and facing possible financial loss by killing the man you may ask what drove her to take such a risk to herself to decide to confront a human being stronger and bigger than herself and face possible financial loss even if she had not been caught?

Having said all that:
I admit that many probably do have a sort of blindspot when looking at the possibility of a woman doing a crime. Maybe its because its part of our culture to want to think of highly of women and to believe they are to be protected and not seen as killers.

 

[BillyGoatGruff]

Prayers, I think there was a movie on the case you speak about. Barbara Hershey was in it. It's been on Lifetime a few times but I can't remember the name.

A friend of mine wrote that book. The tv movie was nominated for an Emmy, I think--it had Barbara Hershey & Brian Denehhy (sp?) in it. The book is an excellent example of adultry and sex in the fundamentalist suburbs of Ft. Worth.

 

[Daisy]

I hope we can get a place dedicated to this case as well. I just read an article about it on MSN news and she has confessed to killing him but no reasons have been given as to why yet. I don't know if she's divulged some info to the police and they're just not releasing it to the media or if she really hasn't stated why she did this.

Kellidiester, I agree with you in that the statement of him being by the book and her being quiet speaks volumes!

Mods....if this case escalates to a "biggie", pleeeeeeeeeze give us a forum for it!

 

[cathieq]

There's a video at this link:

http://www.wjactv.com/video/8231215/index.html

Doesn't really say much except when the official is asked by a reporter for a reason why she did it, he says there were some things he couldn't divulge. There is also another pic of her, a more casual picture.

She looks like a very tiny woman and the fact that her husband was shot in the back...rather seems like she was afraid of him, like if she looked into his eyes he could control her. The fact is, though, he's dead and she shot him. Why? She, of all people, had to know the difference between right and wrong. She had rented a condo on the beach...when? Before or after?

 

[mysteriew]

I think a lot of the reason for the speculation about the husband, is because of the description of the wife. She was quiet, but seems to be well thought of also. Thus she seems to appear to draw sympathy.
The comments about being the perfect wife, the perfect mother are drawing my attention also. Those kinds of pressures put a lot of pressure on a person. The community looks up to people like preachers, and she evidently had been trying to maintain that image. I remember talking with a preacher's kid once about the pressures of being a preachers kid. She described it as if she got into trouble, everyone would point that out as happening to the preacher's kid. Not John Doe's kid, but the preacher's kid, like they were supposed to be more perfect than the rest of the sinner's. I would think that would apply to the preachers wife also.
The motivation here is going to be really interesting.

 

[LurkingSleuth]

I admit that many probably do have a sort of blindspot when looking at the possibility of a woman doing a crime. Maybe its because its part of our culture to want to think of highly of women and to believe they are to be protected and not seen as killers.

True but one could also speculate that she was having an affair, decided she would never be able to get the kids in a divorce so she killed him to get him out of the way or go even further and say killed him and then she was on her way to roll her car into a lake with the kids in it because kids were not in her future plans either.

Speculation should go either way, it just unnerves me the way women are always given the benefit of the doubt and men are always considered the bad guy. (I am a woman by the way)