Vanessa Guillen, the 20-year-old soldier that was reported missing from a military base in Fort Hood, Texas over two months ago, was bludgeoned, dismembered, and burned by another soldier.
What We Know:
- On Monday, the human remains which were found buried nearby Fort Hood were positively identified as belonging to Private First Class Vanessa Guillen, according to the family’s attorney, Natalie Khawam. Guillen was last seen at Fort Hood in Texas on April 22, where she reported for work and later disappeared, leaving her car keys, ID, and cell phone behind.
- In an interview with Nancy Grace, Khawam described the gruesome details surrounding how Guillen was murdered. The body was discovered in a shallow grave that was enclosed in cement, rocks, and dirt, over two months after she went missing from the base.
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- It was revealed that Guillen was hammered to death by fellow soldier Spc. Aaron David Robinson, 20, the suspect that committed suicide last Wednesday after the Killeen Police Department (KPD) attempted to make contact. He is also the soldier who was sexually harassing Guillen before she disappeared, Guillen’s sister said in a press conference.
- For over two months, the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), had failed to provide any concrete details to Guillen’s family related to the case, until last week when the top agents involved in the investigation called Khawam and scheduled a meeting.
- During the Grace interview, Kwaham said the CID told her Guillen reported to work in the armory room, and Robinson was already inside working. Guillen accidentally saw photos on Robinson’s phone of Cecily Aguilar, the second suspect arrested the day Robinson killed himself, who is the estranged wife of a former Fort Hood soldier.
- Guillen commented that Robinson was violating army rules because Aguilar was still married to a former officer, the two were having an affair, and that she was going to report it. Robinson did not want to ruin his career and to stop Guillen from taking action, grabbed a nearby hammer and began bludgeoning Guillen in the head until she died, leaving blood in the armory room.
- Robinson stored Guillen’s body in a Pelican case in the armory room and then called Aguilar and asked her to help him dispose of the body. Both Robinson and Aguilar used a machete to hack up Guillen’s body and then used cement to encase and get rid of any evidence. They left the military base and buried the body by the Leon River, where the remains were found over two months later.
- The officials told Kwaham that Guillen’s face was hammered so severely that they could not use her teeth to identify the young woman, and had to use her hair.
- The local police, U.S. Marshals-Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, and the Fort Hood Criminal Investigation Division (CID) combined forces to find Robinson, according to a KPD press release. As the KPD tried to approach Robinson, he revealed a weapon and discharged it on himself, dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
- Cecily Aguilar has been charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence. An arraignment has not been scheduled.
Kwaham and the Guillen family are demanding a congressional investigation after discovering that Vanessa was murdered on Fort Hood grounds, and it took the CID over two months to attempt to make an arrest and provide any concrete information related to what happened to the young soldier.
