Ex-US Soldier Found Guilty of Killing Another Decades Ago

(NewsWorthy.news) – A former American soldier has been convicted in the cold case murder of a fellow soldier more than 20 years ago.

A federal jury in Pensacola, Florida, recently found Shannon Wilkerson, a 43-year-old who used to serve in the United States Army, guilty of killing young Amanda Gonzales, another soldier. The incident occurred in 2001 at an American military base in Hanau, Germany.

According to a May 7 press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), Gonzales was beaten and strangled to death while inside her barracks room at Fliengerhorst Kaserne, which used to be an American Army base. Court documents and evidence revealed in the drawn-out criminal trial detailed that she was killed on November 3, 2001. Gonzales was pregnant at the time of her death.

Wilkerson, whose sentence hearing is set for August 8, was found guilty of second-degree murder and could spend the rest of his life in jail. His deceased colleague was 19 when she died. Her unborn child was four months old. According to authorities, Wilkerson was under the conviction that his victim was carrying his child.

Earlier in the trial, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that Gonzales’ body was found in her room at the then military barracks on November 5, 2001, two days after she was killed. She worked as a cook at the Hanau Army base but had not appeared for her scheduled shift, sparking the discovery of her body.

Asphyxiation was later determined as her cause of death, opening a murder investigation. In February 2023, Wilkerson was arrested in Florida, charged with first-degree murder over 21 years after the crime was committed. During that time, he had since been discharged from the military. The circumstances of the discharge remain unclear, as are the motives for Wilkerson’s actions.

Nicole Argentieri, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s criminal division, said in a statement that the conviction—even though it was delayed—serves as “a testament” to the agency’s “unrelenting pursuit of justice.”