After a 22-year investigation that spanned two continents, Shannon Wilkerson, a former soldier, was convicted on Monday, May 6, for the murder of 19-year-old Amanda Gonzales in 2001, according to a Justice Department press release. 

Gonzales, who was pregnant at the time of the murder, was found in her barracks in Hanau, Germany, on Nov 5, 2001. She was found fatally beaten and strangled. 

According to the release, advancements in DNA technology and Wilkerson’s unaccounted whereabouts between that same year on Nov. 2. when Gonzales was last seen, and that same year on Nov. 5. when her body was discovered, helped secure the conviction. 

The prosecution alleged that Wilkerson was wearing a sweatshirt that was borrowed at the time of the murder. A DNA test conducted on the sweatshirt in 2021 revealed a mixture of DNA, according to Jeffrey Fletcher, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Laboratory forensic biologist who examined the sweatshirt. 

"Fletcher found a mixture of DNA on the sweatshirt's sleeve that was at least 4,000 times more likely to have originated from Gonzales, Wilkerson, and the owner of the sweatshirt than from an unknown person," the prosecution said in the release.

Timothy R. Langan Jr. from the FBI's Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch said Wilkerson killed Gonzalez because he thought she was pregnant with his child. The Justice Department shared this possible motive when they announced the conviction.

After the conviction, Gloria Bates, Gonzales’s mother, expressed a sense of accomplishment and relief over her family’s battle to find justice for her daughter. 

"We feel like we accomplished this. It has been our life's work, and after all this time, I feel like I can finally breathe," Gloria Bates said. 

Gonzales, born in Hearne and raised in Madisonville, Texas, had graduated from Madisonville High School in 2000 before joining the Army. Her family and friends in the city reached out to express their support and prayers upon hearing the news of Wilkerson's arrest on February 2023

Wilkerson was found guilty of second-degree murder and now faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and will be sentenced on August 8. The FBI New York Field Office and the Department of Army's Criminal Investigative Division led the investigation.