By David J. Krajicek

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A Different Woman

College friends of Mary Winkler told the Crime Library last year that they were stunned by the plain, mousy and emotionally blank young woman that she appeared in be in the mug shots taken after her arrest.

She was once a vivacious, attractive and personable young woman, with spark in her personality and a twinkle in her eye, they said.

Winkler appeared to have regained some of that spark during her trial. She dressed conservatively but with modest flair, and she was clearly engaged by the proceedings.

In her statement to police, Winkler said she had been beaten down by her husband over "stupid stuff" until she was bullied to the brink of insanity.

"I love him dearly, but gosh, he just nailed me in the ground," she said, "and I was real good for quite, quite some time."

At the trial, the defense offered some corroborating evidence — two people who witnessed Matthew's temper; a friend of Mary who saw her with a black eye; another who said the woman seemed to cower when she was in her husband's presence.

But it was the testimony of the shooter herself that held sway with the jurors.

A number of pastor's wives who contacted the Crime Library since the murder said they understand what she apparently went through.

"Until someone has walked in the shoes of a pastor's wife, they have no idea what kind of pressures and unrealistic expectations are often put on them by most of the people they meet," said Deborah, a pastor's wife from Canada. "It can wear someone down to constantly be pushed aside (literally) so someone can reach their husband to tell him how amazing he is, or to be told their husband is amazing over and over without so much as a 'and how are you' to them."

Tom Flowers has watched the Winkler story unfold with keen interest.

A Tennessean, he attended the same college as the Winklers, is active in their church denomination and was acquainted with Matthew's preacher grandfather, Wendell Winkler.

He said the prosecution was flaw from the beginning.

"I was just stunned when the prosecution was pressing for a conviction of premeditated, first-degree murder," he said. "So when the verdict came out, I was satisfied that justice had been served."

 

 

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By, David J. Krajicek