Pregnant soldier was found strangled to death in 2001. Now, man is arrested in Florida
UPDATE: A federal jury found Shannon L. Wilkerson guilty of second-degree murder May 6, the Justice Department announced May 7. He is facing up to life in prison, according to prosecutors. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 8.
The original story is below.
A U.S. Army soldier didn’t report for work one day and was later found dead in her third-floor barracks room at a base in Germany in 2001.
For over two decades, no arrests were made in connection with the cold case — until now.
Pfc. Amanda Gonzales was 19 years old, and four months pregnant, when she was strangled to death at the former U.S. Army base of Fliegerhorst Kaserne in Hanau, Germany, about 30 miles east of Frankfurt, according to the FBI. Her body was found on Nov. 5, 2001.
Gonzales’ mother Gloria Bates never lost hope and believed her daughter would one day receive justice, she told the military newspaper Stars and Stripes in 2008.
Now, a former Army soldier has been arrested on a first-degree murder charge in northern Florida in relation to Gonzales’ death more than 21 years later, the Justice Department announced. The exact location of his Feb. 23 arrest wasn’t specified.
Shannon L. Wilkerson, 42, is accused of acting with premeditation before killing Gonzales at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, an indictment said.
“They took away my daughter and first grandchild,” Bates previously said in 2008, according to Stars and Stripes.
McClatchy News contacted Wilkerson’s attorney for comment on Feb. 24 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
Wilkerson was discharged from the Army in July 2004, according to the indictment, which didn’t say the reason for his discharge.
In 2001, Gonzales was stationed at Fliegerhorst Kaserne and worked as a cook in the Headquarters Supply Company of the 127th Aviation Support battalion as part of her first Army assignment, according to the FBI.
She was from the Brazos Valley region of Texas, according to KBTX-TV.
In 2020, after Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillén was killed that year, Bates told the outlet that the news of Guillén’s death reminded her of Gonzales.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is my daughter all over again,’” Bates told KBTX-TV.
If Wilkerson is convicted on the murder charge, he could be sentenced to up to life in prison, prosecutors said.
He’s charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, according to the Justice Department.
Under this law, federal courts have the authority to prosecute crimes committed overseas by former members of the U.S. military.
Wilkerson served in the Army for five years as a Light Wheel Vehicle Mechanic from 1999 to 2004, Matt Leonard, an Army spokesperson told McClatchy News on Feb. 27. During this time, he deployed to Iraq from April 2003 to October 2003, according to the spokesperson, who added that Wilkerson held the rank of sergeant before his discharge.
Leonard said the Army can’t specify a reason for any soldier’s discharge because of privacy constraints.
The case is being investigated by the FBI. It was initially investigated by the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office, the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations and Army’s Criminal Investigative Division. These agencies helped arrest Wilkerson, officials said.
The Army’s Criminal Investigative Division is continuing to help the FBI with the investigation, the spokesperson said.
This story was originally published February 24, 2023 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Pregnant soldier was found strangled to death in 2001. Now, man is arrested in Florida."
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