Shannon L. Wilkerson, right, was sentenced Oct. 24, 2024, to 30 years in prison for the murder of 19-year-old Amanda Gonzales, a fellow soldier, Nov. 3, 2001, at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, then a U.S. Army base in Hanau, Germany. (U.S. Army; Escambia County Jail)

An American veteran who was serving at a since-closed U.S. Army base in Germany when he killed a female fellow soldier two decades ago was sentenced to 30 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.

Shannon L. Wilkerson, 44, was convicted in May of second-degree murder in the death of Amanda Gonzales, 19. His sentencing was Thursday in federal court in Florida, the DOJ said in a statement the same day.

Wilkerson beat and strangled Gonzales to death on Nov. 3, 2001, in her barracks room at Fliegerhorst Kaserne in Hanau. The case went unsolved for years, but in February 2023, authorities charged Wilkerson with first-degree murder.

Evidence introduced at trial indicated that Wilkerson, who was married to another soldier at the time, feared that he was the father of Gonzales’ unborn child and that his infidelity would damage his military career, the Justice Department said.

Wilkerson served in the Army from 1999 to 2004 and was a light-wheel vehicle mechanic who held the rank of sergeant before his discharge, the Miami Herald reported.

When Wilkerson was convicted, authorities did not say where he was living, but a local newspaper gave his hometown as Andalusia, Ala.

He was charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which allows prosecution by U.S. federal courts for people no longer subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Prosecutors said they hoped the sentencing would bring a measure of closure to Gonzales’ family.

“The defendant took the life of a 19-year-old woman serving her country far from home, knowing that he was killing her unborn child,” U.S. Attorney Jason Coody said in the statement. “The sentence acknowledges the brutal, selfish nature of his crime and imposes just punishment.”