Andalusia, Alabama’s Shannon Wilkerson sentenced to 30 years in prison

Shannon L. Wilkerson, 44, of Andalusia Covington County, Alabama, United States is a former member of the U.S. Armed Forces. Hailing from Madisonville, Madison County, Texas, USA, Amanda Gonzales spent her final days serving in the U.S. Army.

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

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

Amanda Gonzales

When Gonzales was killed, she was on her first assignment in the U.S. Army as a cook. 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.

Shannon Wilkerson

Amanda was fatally strangled allegedly Wilkerson. 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. 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 attended a detention hearing. On March 27, 2023, his trial started in Pensacola.