Private Amanda Gonzales, 19, was on her first assignment in the Army when she was killed on a military base in Germany. A former soldier, arrested on Thursday, has been charged with her murder.
Several months into her U.S. Army service in Germany, Private Amanda Gonzales called her mother back home in Texas and told her that she was pregnant. She was only 19 and on her first assignment in the Army. She was excited and planned to name the child Alicia Marie, her mother, Gloria Bates, recalled.
Ms. Bates booked Private Gonzales a ticket home that Christmas. She never made it.
When she did not show up for work as a cook at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, then an Army base in Hanau, Germany, on Monday, Nov. 5, 2001, soldiers broke down the door to her third-floor barracks room, her mother said. Private Gonzales was found dead. Her death was ruled a homicide by asphyxiation.
For two decades, no one was charged. Frustrated, Ms. Bates said she fought to keep the investigation alive, writing letters to members of Congress and to television shows like “Dr. Phil” and “America’s Most Wanted.” On the 10th anniversary of Private Gonzales’s death, Army investigators offered a $125,000 reward for information. But the case still went cold.
بعد ذلك ، يوم الخميس ، بعد 21 عامًا من القتل ، قالت السيدة بيتس إن مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي اتصل بها ليقول إن السلطات اعتقلت أخيرًا. وبحسب وزارة العدل ، تم القبض على شانون ل. ويلكرسون ، 42 عامًا ، في فلوريدا ووجهت إليه تهمة قتل من الدرجة الأولى في وفاة الجندي غونزاليس ، الذي كان حاملًا في شهره الرابع. ويواجه السيد ويلكرسون عقوبة السجن المؤبد إذا أدين. وقالت وزارة العدل إنه كان يخدم في الجيش عندما قُتل الجندي غونزاليس وتم تسريحه لاحقًا من الجيش.
Mr. Wilkerson has pleaded not guilty, according to court records. The two federal public defenders representing him did not immediately respond to emails on Friday. Court documents filed in the case did not explain the relationship between Mr. Wilkerson and Private Gonzales, how investigators had connected him to the killing or any possible motive.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Florida said the office did not have further details to share.
Ms. Bates said that investigators told her that they had been examining DNA evidence in the case, although she did not know if DNA had linked Mr. Wilkerson to the crime.
قالت السيدة بيتس ، البالغة من العمر 60 عامًا وتعيش في ويلي ، تكساس ، إنها تعتزم حضور جلسة استماع السيد ويلكرسون في المحكمة الجزئية الأمريكية للمنطقة الشمالية لفلوريدا ، في بينساكولا ، في مارس / آذار. تم اتهامه بموجب قانون الاختصاص القضائي العسكري خارج الإقليم ، والذي يسمح للحكومة الفيدرالية بمحاكمة الجنود السابقين في المحاكم المدنية على الجرائم التي تحدث في الخارج.