SELMER, Tenn. – A minister's wife accused of shooting her husband to death after an argument over money was released from jail Tuesday on $750,000 bail.
Mary Winkler, 32, is charged with killing Matthew Winkler on March 22 at their church parsonage in Selmer, about 80 miles east of Memphis.
She was arrested the following day in Alabama, where she had taken the couple's three young daughters, and has been behind bars on murder charges since then.
Her trial is scheduled for October.
Investigators said Winkler told them she shot her husband after a night of arguing over finances and other problems. The couple had been fallen victim to a scam in which victims are told that a sweepstakes prize or other riches are waiting for them if they send in money to cover the processing expenses, her lawyers have said.
Defense attorney Leslie Ballin refused to talk about a motive except to say that his client told investigators she had been "emotionally abused and verbally abused."
No one has said how much money the Winklers might have lost, or what role the financial strain might have played in the shooting.
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