Found Deceased TX - PFC Vanessa Guillen, 20, Fort Hood military base, items left behind, 22 Apr 2020 *arrests* #3

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Noharg said:
If you look at her Instagram, she posed with 2 different guns in 2 different photos. He had access, I feel pretty sure. JMO
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I assumed those were fake. She has a video of herself dancing with one that looked plastic. It looked like an airgun. But yes, she seems preoccupied with guns, fire, rap and dark minds.
 
geekinpink said:
I posted this to facebook the day Vanessa was found. This was in High School. For those unfamiliar, the instructors in AFJROTC are retired. This was a Lieutenant Colonel, and the other was a Chief Master Sergeant. But this is why she didn't report it. She was afraid. Perhaps she was waiting until she had more concrete evidence, maybe she was wanting him to make a bigger step so there would be more than just her word against his.


When I was in high school, I was sexually assaulted on school grounds by someone I thought was a friend. However, because he and I had "dated" before, and everyone said I was a "flirt", my JROTC instructors made me feel as though it was my fault. They also went to great lengths to convince me that I shouldn't ruin his life, how he had potential within the military. He's now an officer in the Air Force. Rather, was when I last looked into it. I had reported it to our campus police officer who was waiting for me to make a formal report. After the conversation with my instructors, I said nothing. To add insult to injury, any meetings we then had where I was present without another female, we were instructed to leave the door open for protection against any further "false accusations".
Was I a flirt? Sure. Did I dress "provocatively"? Sure, but not anymore than any other teenage girl in my school. Did I deserve it? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
I don't mention this for pity, and it's not something I talk about, especially to those who knew this person. Last time I did talk about it, the only reply I got was that he's a "family man" now.
My point with this is that, today, Vanessa Guillen's remains were found. The man suspected of her murder killed himself before anyone could get any information from him. Women have been afraid to report harassment or assaults within the military and that's SO WRONG. I have to wonder if this man had priors, I wonder if someone had been afraid to say anything, or encouraged not to say anything because he "had potential" and she "deserved it".
absolutely disgusting.
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Just want to say Thank you. Takes a lot of guts to share a personal story like that. Your insight into the dynamics swirling around Vanessa's backstory are invaluable, and pertinent to her case; and the voice that should be heard. (Virtual Hug.)
 
Noharg said:
If you look at her Instagram, she posed with 2 different guns in 2 different photos. He had access, I feel pretty sure. JMO
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IMO I think she was more involved than what she's saying...To try and get a lesser sentence...One thing for sure....There is no way in H*** I would be willing to go to prison let alone in TX for someone else horrendous acts, especially if I had a kid....Nothing makes sense.
 
Noharg said:
If you look at her Instagram, she posed with 2 different guns in 2 different photos. He had access, I feel pretty sure. JMO
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Well there's an Instagram to make you feel nauseous.

Could someone link the affidavit please? Been searching back through the last thread but can't find it
 
kaen said:
I worry that the family of Ms. Guillen will never really get the justice they deserve. Her killer (most likely, the only person who killed her) is dead. His accomplice appears to be talking and will most likely get some sort of deal despite the heinous acts she committed, the lies she told and repeated acts to hide their actions. It appears that the issues present at Fort Hood will remain because even though there is talk of transparency little seems to have changed. The recent finding of Mr. Wedel-Morales in a shallow grave but the army refusing to change is classification from AWOL without proof of death 10 months ago and causing the grieving family to pay for his funeral until all of their conditions proven indicates that the Guillen family and others are treated with disrespect consistently. Too many soldiers are harmed at this base. It is almost laughable that the 2 star even expects that people will come forward. You can have policies and procedures but if you cultivate a fear that reporting will lead to retaliation people will not make complaints. The most poignant thing I have read is that Ms. Guillen's mother was willing to call and report the actions of those who were harassing her daughter. She wanted to protect her daughter. I know the Army would never have listened to her but it is clear she trusted her daughter's words and wanted to keep her safe.

I have such sadness for the Guillen family. I also have sadness that the soldiers who are willing to fight and die for this country have to keep quiet and/or live in fear from their own. There are numerous lists of many soldiers who have died at or near this base, with a fair amount listed as COD unknown to the compilers but a number of homicides. How hard can this be to fix?
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“I worry that the family of Ms. Guillen will never really get the justice they deserve”

“It appears that the issues present at Fort Hood will remain because even though there is talk of transparency little seems to have changed.”

“Too many soldiers are harmed at this base. It is almost laughable that the 2 star even expects that people will come forward. You can have policies and procedures but if you cultivate a fear that reporting will lead to retaliation people will not make complaints.”

I am old.

#iamvanessaguillen

My superior would stick a knife in my face and arm in front others, threaten to kill me all the time. I was told by another that the one time he stuck a knife up to my arm while I was handling the controls responsible for 2 vessels integrity he risked taking down two vessels. Nothing was ever done about the way he treated me and it was in broad daylight in front of many troops. Chain of command did nothing, I reported it over and over asking for something to be done.

It was invisible to operations, accountability yet out there in broad day light for all to see and threatening not just myself, but others.

So my experience is that it can be front and center for all to see, but denied.

So my experience leads me to believe that Vanessa’s experiences of harassment were valid yet will never be validated. It is a cultural tradition to be maintained at all expense. It is an expectation of all good troops to not see what is seen, not report. Do not report, not Vanessa, not any other troop. And it will all be denied by the chain of command.

I am old.

#iamvanessaguillen

The military will hide the truth, resist change, equality and justice.

My heart goes out to Vanessa’s family. They deserve better.

I would not find validation in a military investigation or “facts”, but a private, independent one. I believe nothing the military has to say. This is my reality, my experience and with all my heart I can say I wish it could have been different. For Vanessa.
 
Gardenkeep said:
No, I don't. I believe it simply said "barracks". Now you've got me re-reading! ROFL
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Whatever the circumstance, IMO they had just found the remains, but hadn't officially identified them. They first confronted his girlfriend with the evidence, as it was more likely she would confess and cooperate with them in getting solid evidence to arrest him. This is standard FBI procedure. The key is that the suspect shouldn't realize he's the prime suspect. This is how, for eg, they successfully prosecuted the murderer of a university student in Illinois, his girlfriend wore a wire and he walked around with her, bragging about what he'd done.

Then the news broke that remains had been found, which AR saw. AR went AWOL, that made his guilt more probable, though I think they still were pursuing him for questioning, rather than arrest. Instead, he had no confidence he would get away with it, and shot himself.
 
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Beltonian said:
Mu husband who was NCO in the military for over 20 years and heard a lot about this case from me wanted to add this.

Everyone wants to blame Fort Hood and the command, but there are things you have to understand. The military is a combat force, they are not a law enforcement or an investigative entity. Even the military police are not crime investigators. Civilian law enforcement agencies investigate even on military bases. I served on a command team at Fort Hood when we had a soldiers who had committed felonies. We knew we had a criminals in the unit, but could not let those persons know we knew anything. We had to take one soldier to combat with his weapon while knowing what he was being investigated for. Only months later were we permitted to remove his weapon and turn him over once the agencies involved had gathered sufficient evidence to make a conviction.

This case is no different. The military cannot take action against someone that would ruin a criminal investigation. Nor can they comment on any knowledge about a crime unless the civilian agencies investigating permit the release of information. Often the information being released is tailored to assist the investigation and prevent the guilty parties from knowing they are suspects.

Everyone want to think Fort Hood or the unit are somehow complicit and must have known something sooner. Even if they had, the crime had already happened and all they could do is act in such a way to best assist the investigation, even if they caused stress to the family. Their responsibility was to assist in seeing that justice was served, not answering to the public's and families demands for action or information that would have jeopardized finding her body and apprehending the responsible parties.

Sexual harassment is a serious matter, I would say it is dealt with far more seriously within the military than in the civilian workforce. I have seen many soldiers careers ruined due to claims of sexual harassment even when the claims turned out to be false and malicious. What happened to this Vanessa is tragic. What is also tragic is that other soldiers that had nothing to do with this crime may have had their careers permanently damaged because people not involved with the investigation chose to name them by name when promoting unsupported theories of what might have happened.

The container used to move her body is a common item in the military and we use them to store our equipment or to pack for deployment. Armories often use them to store magazines, scopes, bayonets etc. Filled, these boxes often weigh easily over 100lbs so seeing someone moving a heavy tough box and putting it into a car is nothing unusual.

Had the leaders of Fort Hood handled this case in a fashion more palatable to the family or the public, Vanessa's body may never have been found and the person who killed her would not have been held accountable.
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"
Had the leaders of Fort Hood handled this case in a fashion more palatable to the family or the public, Vanessa's body may never have been found and the person who killed her would not have been held accountable."

VG's body was found by contractors working on a fence, so the military had nothing to do with that.
Vanessa Guillen killed with hammer and her body mutilated, affidavit says

The leaders of Fort Hood are not the people who can be credited with finding out who killed VG, but are the people responsible for VG's safety.
 
spangled said:
Thank you...

Horrific reading. Absolutely shocking. And how brazen to carry out a something like that on camp.

Seems like they were on to him pretty quickly.

I hope her charges are increased.
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"And how brazen to carry out a something like that on camp."

Says something about the prevailing subculture there. And violence against women in America is on the rise, paralleling the lost of VAWA:
Spike in domestic violence during pandemic spurs call to take Violence Against Women Act 'off the shelf'
Spike in domestic violence during pandemic spurs call to take Violence Against Women Act 'off the shelf'
 
Please read The Rules folks. Every member is responsible for familiarizing themselves with Websleuths rules and posting in accordance with them.

WS is fact based and rumors are not allowed. If you read it on social media it is rumor unless it was an account belonging to either MSM or LE, the victim or a perp.

Also, soliciting or discussing private messages on the thread is a violation of TOS. If you want to PM with someone, just do it without announcing it on the thread.

Thank you.
 
Satchie said:
Whatever the circumstance, IMO they had just found the remains, but hadn't officially identified them. They first confronted his girlfriend with the evidence, as it was more likely she would confess and cooperate with them in getting solid evidence to arrest him. This is standard FBI procedure. The key is that the suspect shouldn't realize he's the prime suspect. This is how, for eg, they successfully prosecuted the murderer of a university student in Indiana, his girlfriend wore a wire and he walked around with her, bragging about what he'd done.

Then the news broke that remains had been found, which AR saw. AR went AWOL, that made his guilt more probable, though I think they still were pursuing him for questioning, rather than arrest. Instead, he had no confidence he would get away with it, and shot himself.
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I really wonder if CA didn't have more to do with things, the history of this crime has got to have more twists in it that I think may never come out because it is so sick, the military will find the need to cover it up. CA had some real borderline sociopathic, homicidal statements on her social media. Military will need to cover up any indication that any of their troops had psychological issues as they should have never got in or been discharged. And is it just AR and CA? How could they have moved through everything they did on base and outside of base if there weren't others in the know or turning a blind eye? Impossible. Troops talk and know what is going on with each other and it isn't always pretty, sometimes it's pretty nasty. Chain of command likes to turn a blind eye. Once troops start talking the story will be told. I hope some journalist follows up on this so we can get the whole story in some future date, because the military isn't going to give it to us.
 
Gardenkeep said:
It appears that AR lived with CA. Unless I'm misreading, he was confronted at the residence with CA off-base which explains the possession of the gun. Also a controlled call was executed between AR and CA prior to the confrontation. The affidavit is quite the read. READ IT: Detailed affidavit describes evil girlfriend’s role in Vanessa’s Guillen’s dismemberment & MORE
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The affidavit in this article is missing a page.
Here’s the complete complaint:

https://heavy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/CecilyAguilarComplaint.pdf
 
CronesEye said:
"
Had the leaders of Fort Hood handled this case in a fashion more palatable to the family or the public, Vanessa's body may never have been found and the person who killed her would not have been held accountable."

VG's body was found by contractors working on a fence, so the military had nothing to do with that.
Vanessa Guillen killed with hammer and her body mutilated, affidavit says

The leaders of Fort Hood are not the people who can be credited with finding out who killed VG, but are the people responsible for VG's safety.
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I think this was an FBI case, but because both the victim and the prime suspect were recruits, the CID were closely involved. Interesting to compare this case with a somewhat similar case at University of Illinois, where both the victim and the perpetrator were students. The university police turned the investigation completely over to the FBI, because they're not involved in students private lives like an Army base is. But the university did deal with the victim's parents, brought them over from China, provided translators, and made sure the university's sophisticated communications department handled the media announcements. After all, the university charges students, ie parents, large amounts of money to send their kids there.

For me, what that comparison points out is that there is a world of difference between a military base and a university. It doesn't surprise me, because they have different functions in society. In particular, a university isn't going to send it's students out to fight a war, so they will try to promise parents their children will be safe (no one is ever completely safe). JMO
 
Satchie said:
IMO it's inevitable there would be tension between the officials assigned to a case, and an outsider who comes in, being paid by, and answerable to, the family. Especially when the family is suspicious of the officials and think they're covering up. And if both the family and the outsider depend on getting media attention. Then, officials are going to be wary of letting him know details, because he's going to pass it to the family, and it will get into the media prematurely. But that tends to make him feel shut out and conspired against, and more tending to go to the media... JMO
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Murder and possible national attention is a come as you are party.
A snap inspection, a sudden mobilization.
They weren't prepared and look it.
 
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