Airman sentenced to life in prison for 2020 murder of Mennonite woman
An airman with the United States Airforce has been sentenced to life behind bars for kidnapping a 27-year-old Mennonite woman and then fatally shooting her in 2020.
Mark Gooch was convicted by a jury in October on one count each of first-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of Sasha Krause. His sentencing hearing Wednesday in Coconino County Superior Court came almost two years exactly after 27-year-old Krause vanished from her religious community in New Mexico.
She was last seen preparing to teach a Sunday school class in January 2020, not far from the city of Farmington.
Police said Gooch, now 22, abducted Krause and then drove her across state lines into Arizona. He finally stopped in a forest clearing outside the city of Flagstaff, where he fatally shot her. It took investigators more than a month to find her remains at Sunset Crater National Monument, hundreds of miles from her home.
Her hands were bound with duct tape and she suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
There is no indication Krause knew her killer, though they were both raised in the Mennonite faith.
Gooch has repeatedly denied murdering Krause, but police said they obtained cellphone and financial records that tie him to the slaying. They also recovered damming surveillance video in connection with the case.
The evidence, presented during his trial, revealed that Gooch left Luke Air Force Base where he was stationed in metropolitan Phoenix, drove north past Flagstaff and through the Navajo Nation to Farmington in New Mexico — where Krause worked in the publishing ministry.
Gooch confessed to taking the trip but emphasized that his motives were not nefarious. He said he was searching for the fellowship of Mennonites but he denied taking and killing the woman.
Authorities also noted that he attempted to cover up the crime by passing off the murder weapon, a .22 caliber gun, to his friend. He also got his car detailed and deleted the location history on his phone following the slaying.
“Now, instead of honorably serving his nation, he is going to serve a humiliating life term in prison,” Coconino County Attorney William Ring said in a statement after the sentencing hearing.
“The victim’s faith was important to her, so as guided by Proverbs, we all do right by caring that justice gets done for the vulnerable ones.”
With News Wire Services
