By WOODY BAIRD, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 38 minutes ago
SELMER, Tenn. - A community shocked by the slaying of a charismatic, popular Christian minister awaited the return of his wife Saturday, who authorities said confessed to shooting him in their home.
Mary Winkler, 32, was arrested on a first-degree murder charge Friday in Alabama, where she fled in the family's minivan with the couple's three daughters, authorities said.
McNairy County sheriff's deputies went to pick her up in Orange Beach, Ala., Friday night and were expected to return Saturday afternoon to Selmer, a town about 80 miles east of Memphis with about 4,600 people.
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent John Mehr said police know why Winkler shot her husband, but would not disclose it. He said police did not believe it was infidelity, but he would not comment on whether Mary Winkler had accused her husband of abuse. Court papers offered no hint of a motive.
The killing has baffled friends and church members who knew the Winklers as a happy, loving couple. Matthew Winkler had preached at the Fourth Street Church for a little more than a year. His wife was a quiet, unassuming woman who was substitute teacher at an elementary school, church members said.
"Everything we saw belies what has happened," church member Janet Sparks said. "It just doesn't go together. Something is amiss, and we don't know what it is."
Matthew Winkler was found dead in a bedroom at the couple's home Wednesday night, after church members went looking for him when he did not appear for a service. Authorities said that the couple's daughters were at the house when their father was shot and that investigators had found the weapon used to kill him.
At a juvenile custody hearing in Alabama on Friday, a judge placed the couple's daughters — Breanna, 1; Mary Alice, 6; and Patricia, 8 — with paternal grandparents Dan and Diane Winkler, who live in Henderson, about 20 miles north of Selmer.
"It was important these kids were placed in a loving and nonhostile environment," said David Whetstone, a Baldwin County, Ala., district attorney.
Orange Beach Police Lt. Rusty Roberts said the girls were "extremely sharp, bright children" and that Mary Winkler was very concerned about their well-being. She attended the hearing, but did not speak to reporters.
Matthew Winkler's father, Dan Winkler, spoke to reporters afterward.
"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 and Matthew Winkler were married in 1996. They 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.
Mary Winkler's father, who still lives in her hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., declined to comment Friday when reached by The Associated Press.
Before moving to Selmer, Matthew Winkler taught Bible classes part-time at Boyd Christian School, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in McMinnville. Principal Eva Ferrell said Winkler was a good teacher and seemed to have a "strong, solid Christian marriage."
"We're grieving," church member Judy Turner said. "This was a perfect family."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060325/...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl
Tennessee minister murdered; wife & 3 daughters are missing 
