Senseless murders creep closer to home

Brutal murders aren?t supposed to happen to people we know. They?re always supposed to happen to someone else in some faraway place, or so the logic goes.

Sadly, two people with Warren County ties have been shot to death this week giving faces and memories to our modern-day world of violent crime.

It?s easy to glance over the story when an inner-city Memphis man is gunned down during a drive-by shooting and never give the murder a second thought.

There?s no personal connection. The murder is simply another statistic.

But when it?s someone you know who is killed by a senseless act of violence the common reaction is to ask ?Why?? over and over.

Columbia store clerk Vada White, whose brother, Freddie Wright, delivers papers for the Standard was murdered Monday night. White had gone to work at the Spur convenience store and was going about her business when two men burst into the store and shot her twice in the chest. She died at the local hospital.

Then we have yesterday?s tragedy surrounding preacher Matt Winkler, who was killed in his own bedroom either Tuesday night or Wednesday. Winkler was adored by the congregation at Central Church of Christ where he served as youth minister for nearly three years.

The most unbelievable aspect of Winkler?s murder is his wife, Mary, has emerged as the prime suspect. While Winkler?s lifeless body was found in Selmer, Tenn., Mary and her three daughters were nowhere to be found. They eventually turned up last night on the side of the road on the Alabama coast some 475 miles away from their home.

Mrs. Winkler, of course, has not been found guilty of any crime. But I?d sure like to hear her answers to a couple of questions:

?Do you know where your husband is right now??

?What brings you to Alabama??

?Do you know your husband was murdered in your own bedroom??

Since I?m writing this at 10 p.m. Thursday night, these are very well questions that could have answers by now. Mrs. Winkler could have confessed.

Or maybe she?ll try the Andrea Yates defense and claim depression drove her to murder her husband. Or maybe she was just vacationing on the Alabama coast and is completely unaware of what has happened in Tennessee.

I?m convinced if her two older daughters know anything about what happened to their father, the complete truth will come out. Kids, especially young ones, are too pure and innocent to hide the truth for long.

What happens between childhood and adulthood is an interesting change. Somehow the innocence is lost and it?s being replaced by rage.

When a 9-year-old is shot and killed through a closed door in Nashville, it makes me wonder what this world is coming to. When a preacher is murdered in his own bedroom, it makes me think about how much is wrong with the world today.

The human race claims to be the smartest species on Earth. We have reached outer space and explored the depths of the ocean. We can communicate instantly thanks to computers and cellphones. We can build skyscrapers and perform brain surgery.

But the human race is also the only species which kills for no reason. Animals in the wild kill their prey for survival. We have become a society that kills for kicks.

We seem to tolerate that fact when it?s a lower-class minority getting killed on a street corner, or a car bomb exploding in the Middle East. But more and more, senseless murders are creeping closer to home.

James Clark is editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].