Vanessa Guillén

**United States Armed Forces SPC Vanessa Guillén** (September 30, 1999-April 22, 2020) was an American military artillery repairwoman who was murdered by a fellow soldier while at the armory of a US Army Base she was stationed at.

## Death

Before the time of her death, SPC Guillén had confided with her mother that she was being sexually harassed by an unnamed sergeant at the Fort Hood US Army base with complaints from several other soldiers not being investigated. Guillén's mother, Gloria, advised her to report it, but was met with Vanessa saying she'd put a stop to it herself out of fear her mother would be harmed for filing a report on behalf of Vanessa.

On the afternoon of April 22, 2020, Vanessa, who was a PFC at the time, entered the Regimental Engineer Squadron Headquarters of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment and was bludgeoned to death with a hammer by a fellow soldier, 20-year-old US Army SPC Aaron David Robinson, whilst inside. He used a Pelican transport case to hide Guillén's remains while leaving the base. Vanessa was 20 years old at the time of her death.

## Aftermath

SPC Robinson would enlist the aid of his girlfriend, 22-year-old Cecily Anne Aguilar, in order to dismember the remains and dump them into the Leon River immediately following her death. The pair would return to the dump site on April 26 to further break down her remains.

PFC Guillén was reported missing on April 23, 2020 after the Criminal Investigation Command (CID) was informed by Military Police that she had not reported for duty. A missing soldier letter was issued the next day and Military Police issued a Be On Look Out (BOLO) advisory regarding her disappearance. Searching began on April 24, 2020 and Robinson was interviewed for the 1st time on April 28. On April 30, the US Army Secretary, Ryan D. McCarthy, made a statement regarding the disappearance of PFC Guillén after a COVID-19 briefing in order to raise awareness and ask the public for any information regarding her whereabouts.

A break in the investigation would come on May 18, 2020 as 2 soldiers claimed to have seen SPC Robinson leaving the armory while struggling to carry a Pelican transport case. Robinson immediately became the prime suspect in the case and gave permission for his phone to be searched by law enforcement on May 19, 2020. In early June, the Guillén family spoke with reporters who feared that the US Army knew where Vanessa was and was trying to cover up what happened, with family attorney Natalie Khawam, saying the family believed that the military was purposefully keeping them in the dark about their investigation. A protest was held on June 13, 2020 outside of Fort Hood, with protest organizers believing there was a lack of transparency involving the case, which had hundreds of people attend. Cecily would be interviewed on June 19, 2020 regarding the disappearance.

On June 21, 2020, law enforcement found the burned lid of the case used to hide Vanessa, but no body would be found until June 30 as contractors would find Vanessa's remains along the bank of the Leon River. After being interviewed once again by the CID on June 30, Cecily would confess that she helped SPC Robinson dispose of the body as he had told her he had killed a soldier on-base. That night, Robinson would flee from Fort Hood after Cecily placed a controlled phone call to inform him police found Vanessa's body and a manhunt would be issued. Law enforcement would attempt to make contact with SPC Robinson in the early morning of July 1, 2020, but he immediately shot himself in the head once confronted.

Cecily was arrested and charged with 1 count of accessory to murder after the fact and 3 counts of making a false statement. On December 8, 2020, Secretary McCarthy announced that 14 senior officers were being disciplined for leadership failures regarding the case. Cecily would reveal the motive for the murder in May of 2022, stating that Vanessa had caught a glimpse of Robinson's lock screen, which was a photo of Cecily. After realizing that he could get in trouble with Army officials for violating fraternization rules as Cecily had a husband on-base, he made the decision to kill Vanessa to keep word from getting out. Cecily would plead guilty to all charges on November 29, 2022 with sentencing set to take place on August 14, 2023. Vanessa would be posthumously promoted from PFC to SPC.