Background: Mary Winkler–who shot her husband in the back and then refused to aid him or call 911 as he slowly bled to death for 20 minutes–walked away a free woman last summer after serving a farcically brief “sentence” for her crimes.
Mary Winkler”s claims of abuse were largely uncorroborated during the trial. According to the testimony from Matthew Winkler’s oldest daughter, Patricia, the dead father–who as he lay dying looked at his wife and asked “why?”–was a good man and did not abuse her mother.
Mary Winkler is currently in a custody battle with Matthew Winkler’s parents, who have been raising their three daughters for the last two years. The Winklers seek to terminate Mary Winkler’s parental rights and adopt the girls. I support their position. In September Mary Winkler was granted supervised visits with her daughters–an important step towards getting custody of them. Shortly afterwards an appeals court blocked the visit after a last-minute application from the children’s paternal grandparents, but this appeal was recently set aside.To learn more about this horrendous injustice, see my co-authored column No child custody for husband-killer Mary Winkler (World Net Daily, 9/14/07), or click here.The article below–Doctor: Winkler’s Oldest Daughter Afraid Of Her–details the latest in Matthew Winkler’s parents’ struggle to keep their grandchildren away from the woman who murdered their son. In the story, Mary Winkler says:“I long for the day when Dan and Diane [Winkler] will sit down and talk with me and let us please work this out.”
Funny, but she didn’t take the same approach when dealing with her husband Matthew. He didn’t have a chance to try to “work things out” when Mary Winkler shot him in the back as he slept.
According to the article:
“The court filing indicates that the children exhibit fear and confusion toward their mother and her role in their father’s death.
“A doctor testified that the 9-year-old girl said, ‘She killed my father. I don’t know if she will kill me. I want to ask her if she will do that to me. It scares me, kind of, if she did. Well, I guess I would see my father’…
“Dan Winkler testified that her phone calls to the girls triggered flashbacks and sparked sleeping problems that included graphic nightmares and sleepwalking.”
I can believe it.
Jim Todd, a Nashville attorney, says that the Winklers must convince the court their former daughter-in-law is a threat to her children, and that Mary Winkler will probably regain custody. It makes me wonder–if shooting the children’s father in the back doesn’t indicate she “poses a threat,” what on earth could?
The full story is at Doctor: Winkler’s Oldest Daughter Afraid Of Her. The three children–none of whom Mary has killed–are pictured above.