Saturday, March 25, 2006

Slain Minister's Father Asks for Prayers

While on vacation in Gulf Shores this week, we stumbled into the midst of the Matthew Winkler murder investigation. My mother-in-law knew Matthew's family so we were interested in knowing the details. I had received an email on Thursday morning telling us about Matthew's tragic death and that Mary and the children were missing.

Never did we dream we would be in the same town as to where Mary fled, but we ended up having breakfast Friday morning in Orange Beach as the story was unfolding. We were adjacent to the Winn-Dixie parking lot where she was first spotted.

We later heard on the radio that Mary was being transported to Foley, Alabama for a hearing about the children and we drove to Foley to see her. What we witnessed was a heartbroken father and mother making a statement to the press and asking for prayers for the family.

This is a picture I snapped of Matthew's father. I don't know how he kept his composure while making his statement. He and his wife were obviously disdraught and overwhelmed. Soon after this, Mary was secretly sneaked out the backdoor of the courthouse and taken back to the detension facility.

We don't know Mary's side of the story yet, but we can only pray that she will be treated fairly and justly.

Sharon Cawood
sharon@scanstore.com

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