An Alabama man was convicted by a federal jury Monday of the 2001 strangling and beating demise of a pregnant soldier on a U.S. Army base in Germany, prosecutors introduced Tuesday.
Shannon Wilkerson, 43, killed 19-year-old Amanda Gonzales, a fellow Army soldier, in Gonzales’ barracks room in Fliegerhorst Kaserne, then a U.S. Army base in Hanau, Germany, the Division of Justice stated.
Wilkerson, an Army soldier on the time, believed Gonzales was pregnant along with his youngster when he strangled and beat her, prosecutors stated.
Wilkerson was discharged from the Army, and Gonzales’ homicide case went chilly earlier than Wilkerson was arrested in Florida final yr.
In asserting Wilkerson’s conviction, prosecutors didn’t say the place the previous soldier lived, and the DoJ couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. However the Andalusia Star News of Alabama reported Wilkerson is from Andalusia.
He was convicted of second-degree homicide Monday in federal courtroom in Pensacola, Florida.
Wilkerson was charged beneath the Navy Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which supplies the U.S. federal courts jurisdiction over crimes dedicated exterior the USA by, amongst others, former members of the Armed Forces who’re now not topic to the Uniform Code of Navy Justice.
“The defendant violently beat and murdered Amanda Gonzales — a fellow soldier who was pregnant on the time — at a U.S. Army base in Germany in 2001,” stated Principal Deputy Assistant Legal professional Common Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Division’s Felony Division. “His conviction yesterday, greater than 20 years later, is a testomony to the Justice Division’s unrelenting pursuit of justice. Many devoted regulation enforcement officers and prosecutors endured for years, pursuing each obtainable lead and by no means wavering of their seek for proof to carry the sufferer’s killer to account for his heinous crime.”
Wilkerson is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 8.
U.S. Legal professional Jason R. Coody for the Northern District of Florida referred to as the homicide of Gonzales and her unborn youngster “a horrific act of violence.”
“This decades-long investigation and ensuing prosecution display the unwavering resolve of our regulation enforcement companions and their dedication to make use of each software obtainable to guard Individuals, particularly these serving our nation,” he stated.
“Twenty-two years in the past, Shannon Wilkerson brutally murdered Amanda Gonzales, who he believed was pregnant along with his youngster,” stated Govt Assistant Director Timothy R. Langan Jr. of the FBI’s Felony, Cyber, Response, and Providers Department. “Yesterday’s conviction is a testomony to our unwavering dedication of pursuing justice for victims of violent crime. By means of the collaboration of regulation enforcement, the FBI and our companions will proceed to hunt justice for victims, regardless of how lengthy it takes.”
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