On May 7, a jury in Pensacola, Florida, found Shannon L. Wilkerson, 44, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Amanda Gonzales, a pregnant 19-year-old fellow soldier who died on a US Army installation in Germany more than 22 years ago.
The Department of Justice sentenced Wilkerson, a former US soldier, to 30 years in prison on Thursday.
“Shannon Wilkerson brutally murdered Amanda Gonzales, a fellow soldier who Wilkerson knew was pregnant at the time,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, in a statement.
“While nothing we can do will reunite Amanda with her family, we hope today’s sentencing brings some measure of closure and comfort to Amanda’s loved ones.”
According to court documents, Wilkerson battered and strangled Gonzales to death on November 3, 2001, in her barracks at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, a former US Army base in Hanau, Germany.
Evidence produced at trial revealed that Wilkerson was concerned that he may be the father of Gonzales’ unborn child and that her pregnancy could imperil both his military career and his marriage to another soldier stationed at the base.
“Justice for victims is not just a promise, it’s a commitment, no matter how long it takes,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division in a statement.
“This sentencing comes just as Amanda Gonzales’ family will mark 23 years since she and her unborn child were brutally murdered by Shannon Wilkerson on Nov. 3, 2001. While no amount of prison time will bring the young Army solider back, we hope this will close another chapter in the Gonzales family’s grieving process.”
