Left: Nildaliz Arline Flores-Roman (Norfolk police). Right: Katrina Anderson (Joshua Mortuary).
A woman will spend nearly three decades behind bars after she murdered a U.S. Navy sailor who stepped in stop a fight between the suspect and her wife.
Nildaliz Arline Flores-Roman, 27, was sentenced Friday to serve 28 years in prison after a Virginia jury convicted her of second-degree murder and using a firearm in the commission murder for shooting and killing Pfc. Katrina Ann Anderson last year.
According to the Norfolk District Attorney”s Office, Anderson and Flores-Roman’s wife, who both served in the Navy and were stationed on the USS Mahan, were out celebrating Anderson’s 28th birthday on March 15, 2024. Flores-Roman was also out that night with a different group of people. The two groups ended up at the same location at the end of the night.
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Flores-Roman, her wife and Anderson went back to the couple’s apartment in the 1700 block of East Little Creek Road. The wives began arguing in the parking lot and Flores-Roman tried to pull her wife into the apartment. Anderson broke up the fight and the trio went inside.
But the Flores-Roman was apparently not done with the altercation. She went into her bedroom and grabbed a gun. Flores-Roman’s wife yelled at Anderson to “run” and as the victim reached the front door, the suspect fired a volley of shots, one of which hit the victim in her 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.”
