ARIZONA (Washington Insider Magazine) – An Air Force officer was given a life sentence in Arizona on Wednesday for kidnapping and murdering a 27-year-old woman in 2020.
In October, a jury found Mark Gooch, an airman first class, guilty of first-degree murder and abduction in the killing of Sasha Krause. Krause’s body was discovered a month after she vanished in Arizona’s Sunset Crater National Monument.
Krause and Gooch, now 22 years old, had never met before.
According to NBC News, Gooch, who has disputed abduction or executing Krause, showed no remorse as the court ordered him to life in jail without the chance of parole.
In court on Wednesday, he offered his sympathies to Krause’s family and expressed gratitude for his own family’s support.
Krause was seen exiting her home in the Mennonite hamlet of Crouch Mesa in the northwest portion of New Mexico on the night of Jan. 18, 2020.
She was kidnapped on her way to church and was discovered in Arizona in February. Officials have stated that she was shot in the rear of the head.
According to court filings, Gooch was raised in a Mennonite household in Wisconsin and went to Mennonite school through the eighth grade. He enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 18 and was also an airman first class when he was apprehended.
Prosecutors claimed he made derogatory remarks about Mennonites and conducted the acts out of hatred for Krause’s religion. Malice was not found to be an aggravating element by the judge on Wednesday, stating that such a finding would necessitate some guesswork.
Gooch’s attorney claimed the evidence was merely circumstantial, and he requested a life term with the possibility of parole after at least 30 years.
Krause’s parents were absent in court for the punishment, but in a letter read at the hearing on Wednesday, they stated their daughter was strong, wrote poetry, and taught.
“God will use her death for His glory,” mother Laura Krause said in a statement. “I am convinced He has an eternal purpose for Sasha that we can only assume from here on.”
Image via azdailysun.com
