Ex-soldier gets 30 years for killing pregnant Army private 2 decades ago in Germany

Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Army soldier convicted of killing 19-year-old Pfc. Amanda Gonzales, who was 4 1/2 months pregnant and possibly carrying his child, in Germany more than two decades ago has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Shannon L. Wilkerson, 44, was sentenced Thursday, closing a case that had remained open over the course of more than two decades.

"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," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in a statement.

Gonzales' body was found Nov. 5, 2001, in her third-floor barracks room on Fliegerhorst Kaserne near Hanau, Germany, after she failed to report to work.

Her cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation. She had only been in Germany eight months when she was killed.

According to court documents, Wilkerson was married to another soldier stationed in Hanau, who was pregnant at the same time as Gonzales.

Gonzales, uncertain about the paternity of her unborn child was, had wanted to end her relationship with Wilkerson, according to prosecutors, who also said Wilkerson feared the child was his.

The 19-year-old was last seen walking to the bathroom in her barracks the night of Nov. 2, 2001, about three days before her body was found.

After her body was found three days later, the case ran cold, and in 2020, the FBI announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect.

Details of Wilkerson's arrest were not clear, but he was detained and charged in February and convicted in May.

Evidence federal prosecutors introduced during trial stated that Wilkerson killed Gonzales out of fear that her unborn child was his and that it would interfere with his marriage and military career.

Wilkerson was honorably discharged in 2004.

"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 soldier back, we hope this will close another chapter in the Gonzales family's grieving process," Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division said.