Jury selection began Tuesday for the trial of a U.S. airman charged with kidnapping and murdering a Mennonite woman, authorities said.
Prosecutors alleged that Mark Gooch, 22, a member of the U.S. Air Force stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, shot and killed Sasha Krause, 27, before dumping her body in a forest clearing.
Much of the evidence against Gooch is circumstantial, but if convicted, the airman could face a life sentence, as he is charged with first-degree murder, among other charges, authorities said.
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The Mennonite woman went missing from her New Mexico community in early 2020, and her body was found near Flagstaff, Arizona, in February of that year with her wrists restrained with duct tape, the Associated Press reported.
The officers who worked on the case, cellphone data analysts, ballistics experts, and residents of Krause’s community are all reportedly anticipated to testify in the Coconino County Superior Court trial.
Both Gooch and Krause were raised surrounded by the Mennonite faith, prosecutors said.
Although the two did not appear to know each other, cellphone records, financial statements, receipts, and the air base’s surveillance footage were used to tie the airman to the woman’s death and disappearance, according to the prosecution.
Furthermore, a bullet removed from Krause’s skull was confirmed to have been fired from Gooch’s .22-caliber rifle, a state crime lab report said.
The prosecutors have yet to assign a motive, but Gooch held disdain for Mennonites, they argued.
Gooch was brought up in a Wisconsin Mennonite community but never became a member and joined the Air Force to get away from the restrictive lifestyle, sheriff’s records indicated.
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“We did not see who showed up at the church that night and kidnapped Sasha,” said Paul Kaufman, the general manager of the publishing ministry where Krause worked. “We did not see who committed that horrible act. We didn’t see that. But God saw that.”
