Wife Who Killed Minister Gets Kids

(AP)  An attorney for Mary Winkler says the convicted killer has taken custody of her three daughters from her slain husband's parents.

Rachael Putnam, a custody attorney for Winkler, said the former minister's wife picked up the girls from Dan and Diane Winkler on Friday and the children will remain with her permanently in McMinnville.

Winkler was convicted of voluntary manslaughter last year for shooting her husband, Church of Christ minister Matthew Winkler, at their residence in Selmer.

She was sentenced to three years in prison but is free on probation.

The children, who are ages 11, 9 and 3, have been living with their grandparents since Winkler's arrest, but they have been visiting their mother through court-appointed visits for the past year.

[stupidrules3]

This is probably even a bigger crime than the murder. Those kids have been wronged in the worst way. This woman should be in jail for the rest of her life. She shot a sleeping man in the back with a shotgun. She had the option of leaving and chose to murder instead.

[observer2020]

Wow, this opens the doors to countless more murders. There IS such a thing as divorce. She made the choice to murder her husband, the father of her children (by choice, too). And now she''s free AND getting her children back? She needs to stay in an institution or go to jail. This is NOT a good ruling America...but it''s about par for the course as of late. When her children do find out exactly what happened, they will leave their mother. Their judgment will be harsh, as it should be.

[mellie1957]

Only Mary & God know what really happened leading up to her husband''s death. I wish the best for her & her children but, know they have a rough road ahead of them. I, for one, will say a special prayer for Mary, the girls & the in-laws.

[Meg003]

I keep thinking about the parents and friends of Matthew Winkler. As far as I can tell, the worst allegations against him are that he liked playful *** with his wife and he was "mean".

What will this monster do to her children if THEY act in a way that doesn''t suit her? This woman should be spending life in prison for premeditated murder.

[Diamondarrie]

MANY MANY men are emotionally, verbally, sexually and otherwise abusive to their wives and then...in public...they are the most charming, ingratiating SOBs anybody could ever hope to meet. I know this from personal experience as well as from personal experiences of many many other women. This does not give their wives a reason to kill them as tempting as that thought can be, GOD knows! However, I DO believe what she said about her reasons for being driven to do what she did and I can cut her some small amount of slack in the judgmental department for this reason. That being said, I still would NEVER have the gumption to attempt to regain custody of my children and face the questions and the condemnation they will inevitably hold in their hearts, not to mention the judgmental damnation of the public in general!

[Diamondarrie]

Personally, I would NOT want to be in this woman''s shoes now---I''d rather have been executed!

[brandysouth]

The only sympathy anyone should have in this situation is for those poor children. Mary Winkler has had WAY more than she deserves.

[brandysouth]

Pensacola88:

1. I don''t really give a rat''s *** how bad Ms. Winkler will be made to feel having to answer to her daughters each day for the loss of their father, and neither should anyone else. Children are not put on this earth to facilitate parental penance. The best welfare of these girls was not remotely considered by this court. Period.

2. It''s nice to say that pastor''s are bad, blah blah, but there was never any breath of the type of allegations against Matthew Winkler that you list in your posts. Except for the accusations made by the woman who shot him in the back while he slept (and unplugged the phone from the wall), there were some stripper shoes offered into evidence, and some testimony from her family. That''s it. No accusations of abuse of the children, no drug accusations; he was just ''mean'' to her and, according to her, he liked kinky ***. Whatever you may think of pastors generally, labeling Mr. Winkler in that manner based solely upon the word of his murderer is disingenuous.

[pensacola88]

In the last six months around the south, pastors have been murdered by their wife, have been arrested for and charged child molesting, and have been arrested and charged with possession of cocaine. This area is littered with churches, who are given 501c3 status to avoid paying taxes. There are more churches than gas stations and restaurants combined. Some hardly see attendance ever pass 10 or 20 followers. Some where the pastor was arrested used "Sanctuary" in the church name. Churches change management and are bought and sold like commodities all over the south. There is an explosion of church brokering and no one can police the validity or legitimacy of the churches very easily. Many have pastors, who were former felons and ex-prisoners that couldn''t find a regular job after leaving prison. It''s becoming the fastest get rich quick scheme in the south!

[tootall10142]

i dont why the man was shot but i know there are a lot of people who need killed and the laws wont let me do it for the well being of the masses.this doesnt give me the right to shoot a man down on whay i think he did.If this man was sexually assaulting his children he needed killed, im not clear onthat but however ervery one i killed in battle was volunteer man slaughter i slaughtered as many as i could gey a bead on and some for standing next to the wrong person sh===t happens every dau and toprove it ill see some of you here tommorow.