Travis AFB: The Hunt for Saner Wonggoun

Military Murder

Mama Margot Productions LLC

True Crime, History, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In January 1994, a hiker near Muir Beach, California, made a grisly discovery—a woman’s body, wrapped in a sleeping bag, dumped off a coastal cliffside. The victim was Sopha Wonggoun, a mother of two and eight months pregnant. The suspect? Her husband, Technical Sergeant Saner Wonggoun of Travis Air Force Base. Within days of the murder, TSgt Wonggoun vanished—leaving behind his children, his uniform, and a stunned military community. In this episode, Margot digs deep into the shocking murder, the decade-long fugitive saga, and the military trial that ended in a sentence some say was far too light. ⸻ 🎧Need More to Binge? Listen to over 50 EXTRA full length episodes on Patreon! Join My Patreon Family! —— Thanks to today’s sponsors: Acorns: Visit acorns.com/ to start investing today! Quince: Visit quince.com/militarymama for 365 day of free returns and free shipping! If you would like to sponsor an episode, please reach out to [email protected] *Disclaimer - Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for supporting the show! Shop Margot’s Favorite Things: Shop my Amazon Storefront - www.amazon.com/shop/militarymargot My Favorite Loungewear (Comfrt) - Snag 15% off (above the sale prices) at comfrt.com/margot Favorite Preworkout (Energy Explosion) - Snag 15% off with code “mamamargot” at mbodysupp.com. Favorite Fidget for Insomnia (Calm Carry) - Use code “mamamargot” for 15% off at https://www.theglowcompany.co ——- FREE Ways to support your favorite podcast: Rate/Review the Show! Tell a Friend about Military Murder Share the Podcast on your social media! Military Murder is a military true crime podcast that focuses on murders committed by military members, veterans, and sometimes their family members. ---- Follow Margot on Socials 📸 💛 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mamamargot @mamamargot 💜 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@militarymargot @militarymargot ❤️ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/militarymurderpodcast @militarymurderpodcast & @militarymargot ♥️ Discussion Group: https://facebook.com/groups/militarytruecrime @militarytruecrime 💗 Email: [email protected] Additional Information: Sources used to script this episode include information available on public news sites, interviews, court documents, and documentaries. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember this content contains my independent opinion. Always do your own research. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. These views are subject to change at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. Mama Margot make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video/audio content and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the viewers/listeners responsibility to verify their own facts. Comments on this channel are the sole responsibility of their writers and as such the writers will take full responsibility, liability, and blame for any libel or litigation that results from something written in or as a direct result of something written in a comment. Please feel free to challenge or disagree in the comments section – but Mama Margot reserves the right to delete any comment for any reason– so please keep it polite and relevant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front.
0:04.7	Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be wearing or taking off.
0:09.2	The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain that'll soak you to the skin.
0:15.1	By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching their peak in the afternoon.
0:21.3	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
0:23.5	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:26.4	Sun Express, nonstop sunshine.
0:30.0	In early January 1994, the serenity of Northern California's coast was shattered by a gruesome discovery.
0:36.9	A hiker trekking near Slide Ranch just
0:39.2	north of Muir Beach in Marin County stumbled upon the battered body of a woman at the bottom of a hill
0:45.5	alongside this very desolate stretch of Highway 1. It took a few days, but the victim was soon identified
0:52.1	as 42-year-old Sofa Wangoon, and she was eight
0:55.5	months pregnant at the time of her death. A later autopsy would reveal that Sofa had been
1:00.6	bludgeoned to death, and it was consistent the blows on her head were consistent with a hammer
1:05.6	strike, and her body had been wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag, and apparently it had been rolled down the
1:11.7	remote embarkment. It was a shocking and heinous crime scene, one that left investigators and the
1:17.2	community as a whole horrified at the brutality inflicted on this mother and her unborn child.
1:23.5	Even more alarming was what followed this discovery. As authorities worked to identify the body
1:28.7	and notify the necks of kin, they learned that Sofa's husband, technical sergeant Sonar Wangoon,
1:35.0	who went by Shorty, he was a U.S. Air Force tech sergeant. Well, it had seemed like he vanished.
1:42.2	Wangoon was an 18-year tech sergeant stationed at Travis Air Force Base in California,
1:46.9	and by all accounts, he was a disciplined military man, not someone you would expect to flee from the
	...

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