Tenn. minister's wife charged with his murder

SELMER, Tenn. -- A minister's wife was charged Friday with shooting her husband to death in the parsonage in a crime that shocked the congregation and shattered the couple's happy and loving image.

Mary Winkler, 32, was arrested on murder charges and confessed to the slaying after fleeing to Alabama in the family's minivan with the couple's three young daughters, authorities said.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr said authorities know the motive for the killing, but he would not disclose it. Court papers offered no hint of a motive.

Her husband of 10 years, Matthew Winkler, a popular and charismatic 31-year-old preacher at a fundamentalist Christian church, was found dead in a bedroom at the couple's home Wednesday night in Selmer.

Mehr said that the couple's daughters were at the house when their father was shot and that authorities had found the weapon used to kill him. Mehr would not give any further details.

Judy Woodlee, a member of a church in McMinnville where Matthew Winkler had been a youth minister before moving to Selmer, said Mary Winkler's arrest was a shock.

"They were a good Christian family. They always seemed happy," she said.

After a daylong search, Mary Winkler and her daughters were found Thursday night leaving a restaurant in Orange Beach, Ala., about 340 miles from home. Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said she had rented a condo on the beach after the slaying.

She agreed to be returned to Tennessee and was expected to arrive on Saturday.

A judge sent the three girls -- Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 -- back to Tennessee to live with their paternal grandparents, said David Whetstone, the district attorney in Baldwin County.

Matthew Winkler's father, Dan Winkler, attended the hearing and spoke to reporters later.

"Thank you for your love, support and prayers," he said. "Now we want to turn our attention to remembering our son and to the care of three young children."

Mary Winkler was led into the hearing but did not respond to questions from reporters.

Members of the Fourth Street Church of Christ found Matthew Winkler's body after he missed a Wednesday evening service. The slaying of the third-generation minister shocked those who knew him.

Winkler was hired at the 200-member church in February 2005. The congregation quickly came to love his by-the-book sermons, said Wilburn Ash, an elder.

Church members also took to his wife, whom they described as a quiet, unassuming woman who was a substitute teacher at an elementary school.

Eva Ferrell, principal of a Christian school in McMinnville where Winkler taught Bible classes before moving to Selmer, said Winkler was a good teacher and seemed to have a "strong, solid Christian marriage."

Mary and Matthew Winkler were married in 1996. They had met at Freed-Hardeman University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Henderson where Matthew's father was an adjunct professor. Mary took education classes, and Matthew took Bible classes. Neither graduated.

Churches of Christ do not consider themselves a denomination since every congregation is independently governed by a group of church elders. They generally believe the Bible should be interpreted literally and that baptism is essential for salvation. The church is also noted for its prohibition on using musical instruments during services.

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Associated Press writer Melissa Nelson in Orange Beach, Ala., and Beth Rucker in McMinnville, Tenn., contributed to this report.