Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Amanda Marie Janzen, 39, has received a life sentence for murdering a woman during a custody exchange on Christmas Day in 2023. In addition, she was sentenced to 30 years for shooting her child’s father, 15 years for fleeing, and 5 years each for five counts of child neglect.

Janzen pled nolo contendere to second-degree murder, a lesser included offense, along with attempted first-degree murder, fleeing, and five counts of child neglect. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment with a 25-year minimum mandatory term. Judge Denise Ferrero announced the eight sentences with terms of no contact with the victim’s family and no contact with her children until approved by a licensed therapist and sanctioned by a court order. Janzen must also surrender her firearm.

According to the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) arrest report, Janzen had been in a relationship with the male victim since September 2021, and they shared an 11-month-old baby at the time of the incident. Janzen suspected her child’s father of having an affair with the female victim after the baby’s birth. She reportedly informed the female victim’s husband about the alleged affair, and a few weeks afterwards, her child’s father initiated custody proceedings for the baby in Putnam County.

On December 20, 2023, a court ordered Janzen and the baby’s father to share custody 50/50, and the parents agreed that Janzen would turn over the baby at Walgreens (3909 NW 13th Street) at 2 p.m. on Christmas Day.

Janzen drove from her home in Alachua to the Walgreens store with her five children in her car. On the way, she pulled into a nearby store and gave her oldest son her debit card, food stamp card, and instructions on how to pay his cell phone bill. Her son told officers that she had never done this before.

Janzen arrived at the Walgreens store first and took a gun from her bag while still sitting in her car.

The victims arrived in the female victim’s car, with the woman driving and the man in the front passenger seat. The man got out of the car, then Janzen got out of her car with the gun in her hand but hidden behind her back and walked toward the driver’s side of the female victim’s car. Janzen shot at the female victim three times, then went around the back of the car toward the passenger side, where the male victim jumped into the car before Janzen shot him three times. Janzen reportedly said, “You made this happen!” while shooting the male victim. The incident was captured on surveillance video at the store.

The female victim died from the gunshot wounds, and the male victim survived.

Janzen returned to her car and drove northbound on NW 13th Street at high speed. A GPD officer nearby heard the gunshots and saw the car leaving Walgreens. GPD officers, Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies, and Alachua Police Department officers pursued Janzen for 13 miles with her five children in the car at speeds of up to 100 mph.

During the pursuit, Janzen called 911 and said she had just shot two people, giving their first and last names, and said the police were following her. Her children could be heard pleading with her to pull over during the call.

Janzen was arrested near the Taco Bell in Alachua, where officers found a discarded firearm. A search incident to arrest produced two additional loaded magazines