Airman 1st Class Charles Amos Wilson III was found guilty Monday of the premeditated murder of his fiancee and their unborn child in 2013.
Wilson, an airman with the 461st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia, was found guilty in a court-martial of one count of murdering Tameda Ferguson and a second count of murdering the child she was 8 1/2 months pregnant with at the time, Robins officials said in an email to Air Force Times. Ferguson was found shot to death at her home in Dawson, Georgia, about 100 miles south of Robins, in August 2013.
Robins officials said the sentencing phase began Tuesday, and that Wilson could be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, life without the possibility of parole, or death.
"The Air Force is committed to the pursuit of justice," Robins spokesman Roland Leach said in the email. "Based on the evidence and the law, a panel of military members found Airman First Class Charles Wilson guilty of the premeditated murder of Ms. Tameda Ferguson ... and Ms. Ferguson's unborn child ... Monday, Feb. 13, at the Houston County Courthouse in Perry, Ga."
The Macon Telegraph first reported Wilson's conviction on Monday.
This is the third court-martial Wilson has faced in the last year. In June 2016, Wilson was found guilty in another court-martial of striking Tech. Sgt. Denise Forrest, who was his girlfriend at the time, during an argument, though he was found not guilty of other charges. He was sentenced to the maximum six months of confinement — but because he had already been in jail for two and a half years, his sentence amounted to time served — and a reduction in rank from senior airman.
In another court-martial that same month, Wilson was found not guilty of felony murder in the death of his friend, Demetrius Hardy, who was a civilian employee at Robins. Wilson was also found not guilty of aggravated arson, conspiracy, and other charges during that court-martial. Prosecutors alleged that Hardy set fire to Wilson's trailer in what authorities called an insurance fraud scheme, so both men could collect insurance money. But Hardy was severely injured by the fire and died a few days later.
Before his arrest, Wilson was a support section team member and hardware custodian.
Former Senior Airman Andrew Witt was also convicted of murder; he was sentenced to death in 2005. Witt was also stationed at Robins when he stabbed another airman and the airman's wife, and nearly killed a third person in 2004. However, in July, a military appeals court ruled he should have a new sentencing hearing, which he is still awaiting.
The last time the Air Force executed an airman was in 1954. That year, two airmen were executed for the rape and murder of a Guam citizen.
Editor's note: This story originally incorrectly said that Wilson - not Ferguson - was found shot to death, and did not include the latest information on Witt's appeal leading to a new sentencing hearing.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
