Mary Winkler to Get Supervised Visits With Her Children
Mary Winkler, the preacher’s wife who was convicted of killing him, has been granted supervised visits with her daughters while a custody battle with her former in-laws still is ongoing.
Her former in-laws want to remove her parental rights and adopt the girls, ages 10, 8 and 2.
A woman who killed her minister husband with a shotgun can begin supervised visits with her three young daughters on Sept. 29, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Judge Ron Harmon said he will draw up rules and locations for the visits within a few days and Mary Winkler can phone her children every other day.
The visits will be supervised because of worries about Winkler’s mental health, the judge said, and physical security for the children will also be provided if needed.
Winkler, 33, was convicted of voluntary homicide in April for shooting husband Matthew Winkler, a Church of Christ minister, at their residence in Selmer, Tenn., in March 2006.
How any of the children react to her is the question. The two older ones are old enough to know what she did and may be hostile to her, while the youngest one is so young and has been separated from her for so long she may not remember her.
The judge is right to mandate supervised visits in order to make sure the children are not harmed psychologically or physically. I doubt she would harm them physically, but then I wouldn’t have thought she would have killed her husband either.
I hope they can re-establish a loving relationship for the well-being of all of them.
Written by ~J~
