Sasha Marie Krause, a 27-year-old Sunday school teacher from the Mennonite community in Farmington, New Mexico, disappeared on the evening of January 18, 2020. She had been at her residence on Crouch Mesa, where she shared a meal with her housemates before heading to the Farmington Mennonite Church to prepare for her Sunday school teachings. However, she never returned, and her disappearance sparked a frantic search by her community and law enforcement.
Krause's body was discovered over
a month later, on February 22, 2020, by a camper gathering firewood near Sunset Crater National Monument outside Flagstaff, Arizona. The body, identified through fingerprints, showed that Krause had been subjected to severe physical injuries; her wrists were bound with duct tape, and she had been shot in the back of her head. An autopsy confirmed that she died from a gunshot wound and blunt force trauma.
The investigation into Krause's disappearance and death involved multiple state and federal agencies, including the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, San Juan County Sheriff's Office, the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab, Glendale Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The breakthrough in the case came from cellphone and financial records, as well as surveillance video, which linked Mark Gooch, a 21-year-old Airman stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona, to Krause's disappearance and death.
Mark Gooch, who grew up in a Mennonite family in Wisconsin but later rejected the faith and enlisted in the Air Force, was identified as the prime suspect. Gooch had traveled from Luke Air Force Base to Farmington, New Mexico, on January 18, 2020, allegedly seeking fellowship at a Mennonite church, a claim he made during an interview with Detective Lauren Nagele. However, cell phone data revealed that Gooch had spent two hours near the church without attending any services and had been in the vicinity of where Krause's body was later found. His cell phone had communicated with the same cell towers as Krause's phone on the night of her disappearance, and his phone was also tracked to be about a mile from where Krause's body was found in the early morning hours of January 19, 2020.
Gooch was arrested on April 21, 2020, at Luke Air Force Base after detectives served search warrants. During his interview, Gooch denied any involvement in Krause's disappearance or death, but the mounting evidence against him was compelling. Text messages exchanged with his brothers revealed a deep-seated resentment towards the Mennonite community, which prosecutors argued was the motive behind the murder. Gooch's car was detailed the day after the body was found, and a. 22-caliber rifle he had asked a friend to hold was later identified as the weapon used in the crime through state crime lab analysis.
At his trial, prosecutors presented the circumstantial evidence, including cell phone data, financial records, and the rifle, to argue that Gooch's resentment towards Mennonites drove him to kidnap and murder Krause. Despite his defense arguing that the case was circumstantial with no DNA or eyewitness evidence, Gooch was found guilty of kidnapping and first-degree murder by a Coconino County jury on October 13, 2021. In January 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Gooch's sentencing hearing was marked by emotional statements from Krause's parents, who described their daughter as a good sister, conscientious, and determined. They expressed their gratitude for the love and support from their community and their faith that God would use Sasha's death for His glory. Gooch, during the hearing, expressed condolences to Krause's family and thanked his own family for their support, though he showed no emotion and did not testify during the trial.
