- Matthew and Mary Winkler were well known in the small town of Selmer, Tennessee. Matthew was the popular young pastor of the Fourth Street Church of Christ, and Mary was his cheerful wife, a stay-at-home mom who kept busy caring for the couple's three young daughters. But, the Winkler's 10-year marriage would come to a quick and violent end in March, 2006. When Matthew didn't show up for a Wednesday night service, several congregants went to the Winkler home to check on him. They found Matthew dead in the bedroom, shot in the back. Mary and the girls were nowhere to be found. An Amber alert for the girls led police to Alabama, where they found Mary and her daughters safe. Then, authorities promptly arrested Mary for Matthew's murder. She confessed, telling police that she and Matthew had argued the evening of March 20th, and the next morning, she retrieved a shotgun from the closet and shot Matthew in the back while he lay in bed. Mary said that between Matthew's constant criticism and arguments over money, she had finally "snapped." Police later learned that, unknown to Matthew, Mary had deposited more than $17,000 worth of bad checks into the family's account. At trial, her attorneys claimed she was an innocent victim of a notorious check scam operation. Prosecutors contended that she knew exactly what she was doing, since she had withdrawn most of the money before the checks cleared and deposited the cash into a private account. In April 2007, Mary was acquitted of murder but convicted on the charge of manslaughter. She served 60 days in a mental health facility, and was released on August 14, 2007.—Anonymous
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