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CNN Live Today

Wife Suspected in Death of Tennessee Pastor; Suspicious Package Found in California

Aired March 24, 2006 - 10:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The average American taxpayer will see a refund of about $2,400 bucks this year and chances are, you already have a pretty good idea of where to spend that money. But there are some wise long-term alternatives.
Here's CNN's personal finance editor Gerri Willis with her "Top Five Tips." You're going to keep us on the straight and narrow now, aren't you?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, I hope I'm not going to be too boring. I am going to turn you on to gimmicks out there that a lot of marketers are using that are really not worth it. Look, 70 percent of Americans are going to get a tax refund. If you're like the average American, you'll get $2,400 in your pocket. It will probably burn a hole there.

Understand that marketers want to get a piece of the action. Turbo Tax, for example, is offering to put it on gift cards so you can spend the money at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Starbucks, wherever.

NGUYEN: Right.

WILLIS: Jackson Hewitt, the tax preparer, wants to put it on prepaid debits that you'll pay $30 for the privilege.

NGUYEN: Huh?

WILLIS: And listen to this, Betty. I've never -- this is the first time I've ever heard of this. Car dealerships are offering to do your taxes for you. They will take the money, turn it into a loan for a car. But for the privilege, they're going to charge you $100, $150.

NGUYEN: Get out of here!

WILLIS: Look, at the end of the day -- yes. At the end of the day, you can go on irs.gov and get free tax -- yes, free -- tax software and do it for nothing.

NGUYEN: For zero. All right, so you mentioned the $2,400, the average refund that people are going to get back. If you're getting a large refund, is that a sign that you're paying too much in taxes?

WILLIS: Oh, you bet. Well, look, here's what people do. They never adjust their withholding, so they're always putting too much money aside, giving it to the government. Hey, it is an interest-free loan. You're giving the government money that is yours. So when you get that refund, it's really money you should have had in the first place.

You really want a rule of thumb here, just simply sit down, compare the amount of money you had in withholding, the total for the year, with the amount you owed in taxes. If that withholding was 25 percent more than what you owed, well, you got a problem. You need to recalculate your W-4, go to irs.gov to make that happen.

NGUYEN: In some states, you have to do it, as well, with your state taxes, to make sure you're not paying too much there, either.

WILLIS: Good point.

NGUYEN: All right. So, while a shopping spree may sound like a great idea with this money, you should really use it to cut down your debt, shouldn't you?

WILLIS: Well, absolutely.

NGUYEN: Boring, but it's the best thing to do.

WILLIS: It's absolutely true. And remember, just one more point about the W-4s, Betty. You probably want to do that every year because the numbers change if you have kids, if you have a house. It really pays to make those adjustments. But when you get the dough, maybe you haven't made the adjustments, one of the great things to do is pay down that high interest rate debt.

Remember, credit card, the average interest rate on a credit card is about 12 percent. That's a lot of money. It's even better to pay that down than to put the money into savings, because you'll only be making a single -- you know, 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent on short- term money. So pay down the debt.

Think about even making an extra mortgage payment. If you make an extra mortgage payment each and every year, instead of having a 30- year loan, you'll have a 22-year loan. That's the difference...

NGUYEN: Big difference.

WILLIS: ... paying down early makes. Yes.

NGUYEN: Yes, OK, but what about saving for college? How does that compare when you're thinking about paying off that debt and that mortgage? Should you also spend a little bit of it and put it towards college?

WILLIS: It's a good idea. You know, if you have children and you really are working at getting their college fund together -- maybe you've got a lot of time. If you do, you want to think about the Coverdell ESA plan. You can set aside $2,000 a year. That's about how much you're probably going to get in your refund, so that when Junior is ready to go to college, the money will be there.

Also think about education savings bonds. You can find these out on the Department of Treasury's Web site. These are safe, safe, safe bets if you're trying to set aside some money for Junior. It's always important to get started on that, and if there's a little extra dough coming from Uncle Sam, that's a great place to put it.

NGUYEN: Keeping us on that straight and narrow. It's a smart thing to do. All right, Gerri, thank you so much.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

NGUYEN: As always, it's a pleasure.

Well, this story just continues to develop. We're getting new information now in the case of a pastor being shot to death in Tennessee. That happened on Wednesday. We learned just a few minutes earlier from our Rick Sanchez that the wife of that pastor is being charged with first degree murder and now there is more to tell you about.

We're going to go live to Selmer, Tennessee, and CNN's Rick Sanchez right after this break. You want to stay tuned for those developments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: We're continuing to follow this developing story out of Tennessee. A pastor found murdered on Wednesday. His is wife named as a suspect and now today we learn that there are charges in this case.

Let's go now Selmer, Tennessee, and CNN's Rick Sanchez with the latest on what he's learned so far today -- Rick.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really just a matter of paperwork, Betty. We're being told by police that they're going to be filing charges within the hour. You know, and as soon as they get that done, her status will officially change, obviously.

At this point, she's really only being detained. She's being detained where she was found, in Alabama. Talking about Mary Winkler, of course. She was found there with her three children, no one else in the car, which immediately made a lot of people preclude what they had imagined here, that maybe she'd been abducted by someone who may have perpetrated this crime.

Well, police are spinning this completely differently now. They're giving us the information that a lot of people had been suspicious of and that is that they believe now, after interviewing Mary Winkler and after serving several search warrants, that they have enough information to charge Mary Winkler with the first degree murder of her own husband, a very well-known minister here in Selmer, Tennessee, who was found dead Wednesday night after he didn't show up at prayer services.

Some of the folks in the congregation went to his home, they knocked on the door. Nobody came to the house. So they had a key to the parsonage and they went inside the home. When they went into the bedroom, they found him there dead, where he'd been shot in the back. Interestingly enough, his wife Mary was gone, as were the children, and that's what this -- set this whole process in motion.

Of course, a lot of people are extremely concerned right now about those children. And what we learned from officials when we asked them is that they've been placed in the custody of Alabama children's services. That could change, because we understand from officials, as well, that the parents or family members of the deceased minister, Matthew Winkler, have been asking for custody of the children. And unless there's some surprise, there's every reason to believe they probably will be granted that custody.

But that's a big part of the story as well, because everyone has been asking and very concerned about what kind of horrible situation the children could have been going through and what they're still going through now.

Betty, back over to you.

NGUYEN: Well, this is really a shocking situation, too, for that town. I mean, this is a beloved pastor there. It's a young couple. He was just 31 years old. Mary Winkler, 32. It seems like all is well in the household. And now it appears with these charges that you're speaking of that things went awry at some point.

SANCHEZ: Yes, obviously, and the specifics of what went awry, we don't know. There has been an awful lot of intimation this morning here, and this is going to be hopefully cleared up somewhat by police, as to what her defense could be. You know, there has been some talk that she has told police that she did this for a specific reason. The specifics we can't get into at this point, because police have not given them to us. Only to say that she did say there is a reason that she had done this. And hopefully that came out in the interview.

We asked them specifically, too, and I'm sure a lot of people are wondering, well, is this a confession? Did she confess to the crime? And when we asked police that, they said, no, we're not at this point calling it a confession. Whether they do that later on, we don't know. But they told us, point blank, this morning when I was on the phone with them we're getting this information from the interviews we've done with her, the information that we've gathered and the search warrants. That's where they're leaving it at this point.

NGUYEN: Well, Matthew Winkler was found shot to death in his back on Wednesday. What about the murder weapon? Has anyone been able to find that?

SANCHEZ: Well, the only thing I've been able to deduce just from asking around and getting information is that he was a hunter, which is obviously very normal for people who live in this area. A lot of people do a lot of hunting so that obviously adds the possibility that there may have been weapons in the house already because he was a hunter. Whether it was that specific gun that was used or not, we don't know at this point, but that little tidbit of information was made available to us by the authorities thus far.

NGUYEN: Yes, it is interesting.

Also, Matthew Winkler, a third-generation minister. His father served in the ministry, so did his grandfather. Obviously this is a family that's well known in this town. Have you heard from the family, his family on what has happened and the fact that their daughter-in-law is now accused of this crime?

SANCHEZ: They haven't made any statements yet, but interestingly, the Winklers had only been here a year and two months. They had recently come from another town in Middle, Tennessee, not far from here. He was very -- he loved small town America and would always tell everybody this is where the heart of the country is, and he was very strong on that point with many of the folks in his congregation, so he loved being in small towns, he had been in other small towns prior to this one, but he had only been here a year and two months thus far, although they certainly made a lot of friends and a lot of associations here, because he was beloved by the people of this town, and certainly by the people in this congregation, as well.

NGUYEN: And getting back to Mary Winkler, we know of the charges you speak of today, but she was found in Alabama. Why Alabama? Do you know the circumstances behind that?

SANCHEZ: All we know at this point -- that's a good question, Betty -- that she got in the car and started driving. Obviously police immediately started checking on places she could possibly go. You know, what police do investigations like this they check phone records, they check credit card receipts to see where it's been used, then come up with that information automatically. As they describe it to us, none of that worked. As far as waiting for her at a relative's house, or checking the receipts or the record.

What worked was because they put out an Amber Alert, there was a curious patrol officer who had seen the report, spotted the van, spotted the woman with the three small children that fit the description, stopped them, and that's how they were able to place her in custody, or detain her to be able to ask questions in Alabama. She went as far south it seems as she could possibly drive. Why she was driving in that direction, how she ended up there, who knows, other than to say that she was driving and probably had a lot of things to think about while she was driving that car.

NGUYEN: No doubt. Well, we hope to learn more at 11:30 Eastern Time today. I know you will there asking all these pertinent questions.

Rick, we'll talk with you shortly. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Sure, Betty.

NGUYEN: We got some more news to tell you about. Also, want to go back to that suspicious package in California. Remember we showed you video of that a little earlier, them searching a car.

Well, CNN's Tony Harris has been following the story, and he joins us now from the newsroom with the latest on what they have found.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Betty -- this is the -- the latest that we know so far. As you mentioned, this started with a traffic stop at about 5:00 a.m. local time, and while police were talking to the driver of that vehicle, police noticed a suspicious package inside the car with what they describe as wires attached. Now, police have evacuated part of south El Monte, California. This is a community east of Los Angeles. The streets around this car have been closed obviously. Arson and explosives teams are on the scene, and you see this one member of the team carrying something away, certainly can't tell you at this point what it is, if it is an explosive device, but it seems at this point to be the only item that is being carried away.

Now we have watched this particular person on the center of your screen essentially take this vehicle apart, piece by piece. We were asking a sergeant with the Los Angeles County Police Department whether or not that suspicious package was found in the passenger compartment of the vehicle.

But I will tell you that this particular person who was handed this, whatever this item is, off to another member of the team, has really just taken this entire vehicle apart. We saw that person just a couple of moments ago virtually inside the trunk pulling pieces of it apart, and pictures from earlier today of this member of the team working over the passenger compartment of the car, don't know if the package in question has been found. And if that is, in fact, some kind of explosive device. We will continue to watch the situation for you, Betty, and we'll bring you an update when we learn just exactly what it is that has been found.

NGUYEN: All right, Tony. We are following a number of stories. That being one of them.

Another is the pastor in Tennessee found shot to death. Now his wife a suspect, could be charged within the hour with first degree murder. We're going to learn much more about the circumstances surrounding that murder in an 11:30 news conference out of Tennessee, where authorities will be speaking to the media about what they know so far in this case so you'll want to stay tuned for that.

When it happens, we're going to bring it to you live right here on CNN LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: At 11:30, just under an hour from now, we're going to be hearing from authorities in Tennessee about a pastor who was shot to death on Wednesday, shot in the back. We've learned today that his wife could face first degree murder charges in that case. She, indeed, is a suspect. We're going to learn so much more on this when that news conference takes place at 11:30 eastern. You'll want to stay tuned to CNN LIVE TODAY for that. We're going to bring you live coverage when it happens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it's funny, because each of these things is supposed to save me time. But because I have to use them all, it actually winds up costing time.

Well, I've got two cell phones. Neither one does everything that I need it to. They both have their pluses and minuses; but, unfortunately, there's no way to combine the best aspects of each phone. The systems aren't compatible. If there were just some way to combine them into one device I could carry around, I'd be set.

To me, the most important thing is to be able to do everything that I can do on a computer on a handheld device. And the technology is out there to do it. I'm just waiting for it.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): And so am I. But the single device solution for phone calls, e-mail, Web surfing, pictures, organizer, you know, the gadget that does it all remains the digital Holy Grail. And I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever be discovered.

(voice-over): You bet, says technology analyst Rob Enderle. He says the answer may lie in a new breed of fourth generation, or 4G, mobile devices.

ROB ENDERLE, TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: And the cell phone is trying to evolve into a personal communications device, but something less than a laptop in terms of size, but encompassing all of that in terms of the device.

O'BRIEN: Due out by 2010, 4G comes with promises of full Windows XP capabilities, broadband Internet speeds and a set of worldwide service standards. I'll believe it and buy it when I see it.

ENDERLE: It's really supposed to bring everybody together in some type of a kumbaya environment and things will work. But be aware, we've had this promise before, so I probably wouldn't hold my breath.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Enderle says Japan and Korea, that is, are the most aggressive players in the 4G arena. The reason they're so far ahead? Well, unlike the U.S., they have far fewer carriers and their governments strive for universal standards that put everyone in synch.

Coming up, more breaking news coverage on charges in a pastor's killing. Authorities say they will charge the pastor's wife with first degree murder. We're going to have live coverage of a police news conference from Selmer, Tennessee, at the bottom of the hour.

Also, discharged hospital patients are being dumped -- yes, dumped -- on L.A.'s skid row.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to be welcomed and treated with dignity. Don't drop them off like baggage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: The problem has gotten so bad, a surveillance camera has been set up. But what's the solution? Stay tuned for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Welcome back to CNN's LIVE TODAY. We're at the top of the hour, 11:00 Eastern.

Take a look at this video. We have learned within the last few minutes that there has been an all-clear given in this case. What has happened, and what you're looking at right now, is authorities stopped this red vehicle and saw what they believed to be a suspicious package. So several items of this car have been taken out of the vehicle. They've been investigated.

They've been searching through this car for, oh, the past hour or so. And as you can see, a lot of the items in the car are on the sidewalk, on the ground. And this man in a suit is carrying away a white box of some sort, which could have been that suspicious package. But at this point, it's been deemed that it is all-clear, so obviously, they did not find anything suspicious or anything that could be dangerous within the situation. So that is good news.

But we've been following this for the past hour. It's been very interesting and we've been watching it kind of on the edge of our seats at some points, because you see this guy in this protective gear bringing many items out of this red vehicle. But the good news is, the scene has been given the all-clear and everything is A-OK.

We're also covering breaking news in the case of a Tennessee pastor found shot to death in his home. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced last hour the pastor's wife will be charged in the case. Now, the TBI says 32-year-old Mary Winkler will face a charge of first degree murder.

The body of Matthew Winkler was found in his home Wednesday night, but authorities couldn't find Mary Winkler or the couple's three children. A nationwide Amber Alert was issued, and last night, police found the mother and children in Orange Beach, Alabama. That is some 350 miles from their home in Selmer, Tennessee.

Now, Selmer police are holding a news conference at the bottom of the hour, at 11:30 to be exact. We're going to bring you that news conference live as we hope to learn much more in this case of a pastor found shot to death in his home on Wednesday.

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