A 42-year-old man was being held without bond on Friday in northwest Florida’s Santa Rosa County jail accused of killing a 19-year-old pregnant woman while the two served in the U.S. military in Germany about 21 years ago.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced the Thursday arrest of Shannon L. Wilkerson for the 2001 murder of U.S. Army Pfc. Amanda Gonzales, of Texas, at the Fliegerhorst Kaserne in Hanau, Germany.
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Gonzalez’s body turned up on Nov. 5, 2001, in her barracks room, and investigators believe Wilkerson, 42, of Alabama, killed her by asphyxiation on Nov. 3, 2001, according to prosecutors and the FBI.
Gonzalez, who was four months pregnant, was a cook for the Headquarters Supply Company of the 127th Aviation Support battalion, according to prosecutors.
“She was strangled and beaten. I couldn’t even open her casket. She wouldn’t let someone do that to her. She’s a fighter,” Gonzalez’s mother Gloria Bates told KBTX after news of the arrest.
FBI special agents worked with investigators from the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army to identify Wilkerson as the killer.
Wilkerson, who was discharged from the U.S. Army in 2004, is facing a first-degree murder charge in federal court in Florida’s Northern District. His next hearing is on March 3.
Prosecutors announced charges under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows an indictment over foreign crimes committed by former members of the U.S. Armed Forces who are no longer subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
If found guilty, Wilkerson could face up to life in prison.