Former Soldier Convicted in Killing of Pregnant Army Private Two Decades Ago

A former U.S. Army soldier has been convicted of murdering a pregnant 19-year-old fellow soldier on a U.S. base in Germany more than two decades ago, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The former soldier, Shannon L. Wilkerson, 43, was charged last year with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Pvt. Amanda Gonzales. He beat and strangled her to death on Nov. 3, 2001, in her barracks room at Fliegerhorst Kaserne, then a U.S. Army base, in Hanau, Germany, the department said on Tuesday.

On Monday, a federal jury found Mr. Wilkerson guilty of second-degree murder, according to court documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

“Many dedicated law enforcement officers and prosecutors persisted for years, pursuing every available lead and never wavering in their search for evidence to hold the victim’s killer to account for his heinous crime,” Nicole M. Argentieri, a principal deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department, said in a news release on Tuesday. Timothy R. Langan Jr., an executive assistant director with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that Mr. Wilkerson had believed that Private Gonzales was pregnant with his child.

Mr. Wilkerson’s lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday evening. Details surrounding the murder remained unclear, and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for more information on Tuesday evening.

Gloria Bates, the mother of Private Gonzales, said by phone on Tuesday that the conviction felt “like a dream. I still can’t believe it.”