Did Shannon Wilkerson strangle US Army cook Amanda Gonzales in Germany in 2001?

Amanda Gonzales

Amanda Gonzales of Madisonville, Madison County, Texas, United States was on her first assignment in the U.S. Army as a cook when she died. She was 19 years old and four months pregnant when she was found dead on November 5, 2001 in her room on the third floor of Fliegerhorst Kaserne near Hanau, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, Hesse, Germany.

Fliegerhorst Kaserne was a U.S. Army base from 1945 to 2007. Initially built for Hermann Goering’s German Air Force in 1937, it was occupied in 1945 by the US Army, which used it as a signal depot, consisting of a maintenance division and a storage division.

In 2021, Gonzales’s father Santos Gonzales died without knowing who killed her. She is Glorida Bates‘ daughter and Michael Bates‘ stepdaughter.

The FBI is offering a reward for info leading to an arrest in the 2001 murder of U.S. Army Soldier Pfc. Amanda Gonzales in Hanau, Germany. Gonzales was 19 years old and four months pregnant when her body was found in her barracks room on November 5, 2001: https://t.co/uYrdMwswPR pic.twitter.com/7X96FEGXQK
— FBI Most Wanted (@FBIMostWanted) November 5, 2020

Shannon Wilkerson

Amanda was fatally strangled allegedly by Shannon L. Wilkerson, now 44. At the time of the alleged offense, he was a member of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Before killing Amanda, Wilkerson allegedly acted with premeditation. But no suspect was named and the case went cold.

Following Amanda’s death, Wilkerson attended a memorial for her at Fliegerhorst Kaserne. He was discharged from active duty in 2004 and from the U.S. Army Reserve in 2007.

On February 23, 2023, Wilkerson was arrested in Florida, USA. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the strangulation of Amanda and he pleaded not guilty when he made an initial court appearance that day.

Wilkerson was charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. This law gives the U.S. federal courts jurisdiction over crimes committed outside the U.S. by, among others, former U.S. Armed Forces members who are no longer subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

On March 3, 2023, Wilkerson will attend a detention hearing. On March 27, 2023, his trial will start in Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida.

On May 7, 2024, a jury in Pensacola, Escambia County, Florida found Wilkerson guilty of second-degree murder in Amanda’s death. On October 24, 2024, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

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