Air Force member sentenced to life in prison for killing Mennonite woman

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (TCD) -- A 22-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison this week for killing a Mennonite woman who was collecting supplies for Sunday school in 2020.

According to the Arizona Daily Sun, Mark Gooch was convicted in October of kidnapping and first-degree murder for the killing of 27-year-old Sasha Krause. Judge Cathleen Brown Nichols said in her sentencing that his actions were "senseless and mindboggling," especially because Gooch and Krause did not know each other. KPNX-TV reports Gooch also grew up in a Mennonite community but left and later joined the U.S. Air Force.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico announced Krause’s disappearance Jan. 21 and said she had last been seen Jan. 18 at approximately 8 p.m. leaving the church where she lives. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said in a follow-up news release, "Resources that Sasha would normally take with her, if she willingly left her residence, were left behind."

About a month later, on Feb. 24, the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said a camper discovered a possible dead body near Forest Service Road 545. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office identified the body the next day as Krause’s. According to Arizona Daily Sun, Krause was shot in the back of her head and her hands were bound together with duct tape.

Detectives from Coconino County and San Juan County arrested Gooch on April 21 at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz. The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said in their arrest announcement that Gooch traveled from the Air Force Base to Farmington, N.M., where Krause lived. Investigation also reportedly placed Gooch near Sunset Crater, where Krause’s body was located.

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Department wrote following the sentencing announcement, "Mark Gooch has been sentenced to natural life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Sasha Krause. A natural life sentence means that there are no parole hearings, no credit for time served, no possibility of release. Short of a successful appeal or an executive pardon, such a sentence means that the convicted will, in no uncertain terms, die behind bars."

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