Overview
- At a Dec. 12 court-martial at Fort Hood’s Lawrence Williams Judicial Center, John Gitau Mwangi pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder.
- Military Judge Col. Maureen Kohn imposed 26 years of confinement, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to E-1 and a dishonorable discharge, with confinement at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Leavenworth.
- Prosecutors said Mwangi shot Sgt. Esther N. Gitau during a Feb. 21 argument in their Killeen home, then left after locking her in the primary bedroom.
- Investigators from Army CID and Killeen police documented blood, DNA and other evidence, and military police detained Mwangi the next day when he tried to enter Fort Hood.
- Two children were found in the home, and court records list a March 20 hearing in the county case.