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Left: Nildaliz Arline Flores-Roman (Norfolk police). Right: Katrina Anderson (Joshua Mortuary).
A woman has been sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison for the murder of a U.S. Navy sailor who tried to intervene in a domestic dispute between the woman and her spouse.
Nildaliz Arline Flores-Roman, aged 27, received a 28-year prison sentence on Friday after being convicted by a Virginia jury. The charges included second-degree murder and using a firearm during the commission of a murder, related to the shooting death of Pfc. Katrina Ann Anderson last year.
According to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office, both Anderson and Flores-Roman’s wife were in the Navy and stationed on the USS Mahan. The two were celebrating Anderson’s 28th birthday on March 15, 2024. Flores-Roman was also out that evening with a different group, but by the night’s end, both groups converged at the same venue.
Later, Flores-Roman, her wife, and Anderson returned to the couple’s residence on East Little Creek Road. An argument erupted between the wives in the parking lot, during which Flores-Roman attempted to drag her wife inside. Anderson intervened, defusing the situation temporarily, and they all entered the apartment.
However, tensions flared once more when Flores-Roman retrieved a firearm from her bedroom. Her wife shouted at Anderson to flee, but as Anderson approached the front door, Flores-Roman opened fire, striking Anderson in the chest.
“Ms. Anderson collapsed on the sidewalk just outside the apartment, and as she lay dying, Ms. Flores-Roman hit her once on the head with the gun before tossing it and walking away,” prosecutors said.
The suspect’s wife called 911 and paramedics pronounced Anderson dead at the scene. Cops arrested Flores-Roman. Her wife described an “emotionally abusive” marriage in an interview with detectives and said Anderson tried to counsel her as a friend and co-worker.
Jurors took just 20 minutes to convict Flores-Roman after a two-day trial in June.
“Ms. Anderson, the victim of Ms. Flores-Roman’s crime, was a Good Samaritan trying to help a fellow sailor. She did not deserve to die,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said in a statement. “Most people who commit murder offer some kind of remorse. Had Ms. Flores-Roman showed any sign of being sorry for killing her, we would have recommended less time than we did. I mourn Ms. Anderson and extend my condolences to her family.”