I have been doing the Catch my Killer podcast since 2019. Although many of the cases I cover are really old, I am always hopeful that the right person will listen and provide a tip that will lead to finding out what happened to a homicide victim or missing person. Regardless of how old a case is, I try to remain confident there will be a resolution. So whenever I see a case is solved, it always brings me joy for the families.
One of the earliest cases I covered was the unsolved homicide of a 19-year-old pregnant soldier named Amanda Gonzales. Amanda had joined the Army and became a cook. She was stationed at Fliergerhorst Kaserne, an Army base in Hanau, Germany. Amanda had only been in Germany for under a year when she was killed. She had made plans to return home to Texas for Christmas of 2001 to visit her family. Amanda’s parents and siblings were excited to see Amanda. On November 5, 2001, Amanda was found deceased in her barracks. Someone had beaten and strangled the pregnant mother to be.
For the podcast, I spoke to Mike and Gloria Bates, who were Amanda’s parents. They were looking forward to becoming grandparents. They were even more excited to learn that Amanda’s baby would be born on the same day as Mike and Gloria’s wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, instead of planning a homecoming, they would be planning Amanda’s funeral.
When speaking to Amanda’s parents, I had asked them who had fathered Amanda’s baby. They told me Amanda had died before identifying the baby’s father. I had wondered if that could have been the motivation for Amanda’s death.
Additionally, her family was suspicious that he hadn’t contacted them to offer his condolences. Over the years, the names of the investigators changed. The family began to lose hope that anyone would ever be arrested for killing Amanda. When I last spoke to Mike and Gloria Bates, they had little hope of ever seeing justice. This was over two years ago. However, this all changed on February 23, 2023, when the FBI arrested a former soldier named Shannon Wilkerson, 42, and charged him with one count of first-degree murder. Wilkerson had left the Army in 2004 and then joined the Army Reserves.
He faces a penalty of life in prison if convicted. For now, the motive for the homicide has not been revealed.
This case reminded me of the murder of Vanessa Guillen, another former U.S. soldier. Both were young Hispanic women who had joined the military after high school and both were murdered by fellow male soldiers. Sadly, Amanda’s child should now be an adult and possibly be attending college.
I am relieved that Wilkerson has been arrested. This means that the family will finally get a chance to see justice for their daughter and grandchild.
Marc is a longtime resident of Clermont County and an avid reader. Contact him through his website at www.themarcabe.com or through Facebook: www.Facebook.com/themarcabe or his twitter account @themarcabe. Marc also has a podcast called Catch my Killer where he interviews family members seeking justice for their murdered loved ones. You can listen at www.catchmykiller.com.