December 18, 2009
Execution vigil brings forgiveness, opposition to death penalty
Father Paul Ferguson, pastor of Holy Redeemer Church, Evansville, offers comfort to Mary Winnecke, following a prayer service on the eve of the execution of Matthew “Eric” Wrinkles. Winnecke, a death penalty opponent, is the mother of Natalie Fulkerson who was one of three persons killed by Wrinkles in 1994. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
“God has given us peace. We have forgiven Eric,” said Mary Winnecke, mother of one of the three people murdered in Evansville by Matthew “Eric” Wrinkles in 1994. Winnecke attended a prayer vigil on the evening before Wrinkles was executed by lethal injection in the state prison at Michigan City, Ind.
Wrinkles, who was baptized a Catholic while in prison, said before he was executed that “the last 15 years . . . have been the true punishment. Living with the knowledge of the pain I caused was the severest punishment possible.”
Wrinkles was convicted of killing his estranged wife Debbie at the home where she had gone to seek safety. He was dressed in camouflage and face paint, and high on methamphetamine at the time.
Also killed were Debbie’s brother Tony Fulkerson and his wife Natalie, who had opened their home to Debbie. Four children were in the home at the time, as was another relative, a 19-year-old niece of the Fulker-sons.
In letters to several family members, Wrinkles has expressed his sorrow for what he did. Winnecke and others have campaigned against the death penalty in Indiana.
“What is the point of contining anger in your heart forever?” Winnecke asked in conversation with reporters on the eve of the execution. “You let go and let God, and God gives you peace.”
Natalie was Winnecke’s daughter, and according to the account of the killing spree, Natalie pushed her niece out of the line of fire just before she herself was shot to death. The niece, Tracy Hobgood, has also spoken out against the death penalty. She and Winnecke say that Natalie died saving her life, and that taking any life is wrong.
Hobgood’s grandmother disagrees and has been quoted in media reports as being in favor of the execution. The grandmother, Mae McIntire of Evansville, was the mother of Debbie and Tony. No one who attended the vigil spoke in favor of the death penalty.
None of the family members spoke during the vigil. Televi-sion and newspaper reporters conducted interviews before and after the ceremony.
Adam Heuck, Natalie’s younger brother, was among family members who spoke with the media representatives.
“My sister stood up for other people,” said Heuck. “Tony protected the whole family and they cared a lot for other people.”
“Killing [Wrinkles] is wrong,” he said. “Killing is wrong. And we have just got to pray that he has asked God for forgiveness and that he goes to heaven.”
Kim Dillman and Matthew Fulkerson, the children of Nata-lie and Tony, also oppose the death penalty. They were in the home when their uncle shot and killed their mother. Kim was nine, Matthew was four years old.
Kim and Matthew were raised by Winnecke, but she said their ability to forgive their father is a gift from God. “This is not something I put into their hearts.”
“It hurts,” Kim said in reflection on the murders. “It does hurt. But mom told us, ‘Thou shalt not kill,’ no matter what the circumstances.”
The “Prayer Vigil for the Sanctity of All Human Life” —including the lives of the victims, their killer and their family members — was organized by the Emily Snipes, coordinator of family life services for Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Evansville. It was held at Holy Redeemer Church in Evansville, where Mary Winnecke is a pa-rishioner, starting with Benedic-tion in the church itself, and followed with prayers every hour through the night at an adoration chapel.
Three deacons led the service attended by about 50 persons.
Deacon John McMullen preached a homily, acknowledging that “we are all lost sheep from time to time” and that our faith teaches us that “there are no worthless human beings, no worthless people. Jesus shed his blood for all of us.” He challenged his listeners to “cast away our fear of loving the unlovable.”
Deacon McMullen said Win-necke “prays for Eric Wrinkles, and following her example, so do we.”
Last statement
In his last statement before his death, Wrinkles wrote: “Although tonight I pay for my actions with my life, it has been the last 15 years that have been the true punishment. Living with the knowledge of the pain I caused was the severest punishment possible.”
While in prison Wrinkles was baptized a Catholic.
His parents were nonpracticing Catholics and, as a boy, the extent of his experience of faith was limited to an occasional Mass at Christmas or Easter. Through the guidance of clergy and other prison ministers, Wrinkles found himself increasingly drawn to the faith.
“Eric found meaning in the Catholic Church and asked to learn more,” said Bishop Dale J. Melczek of Gary, who had made several visits to the prison to offer Communion, prayer and guidance in recent months. “He became a full-fledged member of the church when he was baptized on death row in 2000 and has done his best to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus from that time.”
Deacon Malcolm Lunsford, also of the Gary Diocese, ministered to Wrinkles for nine of the last 15 years and came to call him a friend.
“At first I worried about him because I never heard him ex-press remorse, but then, about two years ago, he began to say it didn’t have to be this way,” Deacon Lunsford said.
Wrinkles’ conversion is proof that everyone is capable of change, by the grace of God, according to Bishop Melczek. “Eric is a perfect example of how God works in his own time, leading one to repentance and leading one to turn oneself over fully to the Lord.”
In an interview with the Northwest Indiana Catholic, Gary diocesan newspaper, Wrinkles said that with help from others, God made “a huge change” in his life and made him “see how badly drugs had distorted my perceptions of life, love, etc.”
The interview was conducted by correspondence because of limited in-person access by the media in the weeks leading up to his execution.
“Even though I didn’t go out to deliberately kill three people, people who I loved and were family, the fact stands that I did and that has been an insurmountable burden of grief, pain and shame that I can’t seem to ameliorate in my heart,” he said.
“I have made peace with God, but I am not God, and do not think it appropriate that I forgive myself in any way, shape or form,” he said.
Contributing to this story was Debbie Bosak of the Northwest Indiana Catholic.