Federal and military investigators on Thursday said that a soldier missing since April was killed by a fellow soldier stationed at the same Texas base.
The revelation followed demands for the US Army to release details about its investigation of the disappearance.
A criminal complaint released by the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas charges a civilian with helping to hide the body of 20-year-old solider Vanessa Guillen. The document, prepared in conjunction with the US Army Criminal Investigative Command and the FBI, says that the civilian helped the other soldier get rid of evidence after he bludgeoned Guillen with a hammer at Fort Hood in Central Texas, and later dismembered and dumped the body.
Human remains were found on Tuesday near the Leon River in Bell County, about 32km east of Fort Hood, in the search for Guillen.
Her family said through attorney Natalie Khawam that they believe evidence shows the remains are Guillen, but authorities said they are still awaiting positive identification.
“The whole thing is devastating, gruesome, barbaric,” Khawam said.
The US Army on Wednesday said that the soldier suspected in Guillen’s disappearance had killed himself.
At a news conference on Thursday, the army identified the soldier suspected in Guillen’s disappearance as Aaron David Robinson. Army investigators declined to comment further on the details of Guillen’s case, saying that they did not want to compromise the ongoing investigation.
The criminal complaint released later said that the civilian arrested in connection with the Guillen case was Cecily Aguilar, 22, of Killeen, Texas.
Aguilar faces one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence.
Robinson enlisted Aguilar to help him dispose of Guillen’s body, the complaint says.
Aguilar was arrested on Wednesday and was being held at the Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas.
Khawam said that the US Army Criminal Investigations Division told her that Robinson cleaned up the area where Guillen was killed, placed her body in a container and wheeled her out to his vehicle.
After driving to pick up Aguilar, Khawam said, the pair drove to a nearby river and tried to burn Guillen’s body, but later chopped it up with a machete. Then, they put cement on the body and buried the remains.
Tim Miller, of Texas Equusearch, who was assisting in the search for Guillen, told KHOU television that investigators found a lid last week that belonged to a container consistent with one a witness saw loaded into a vehicle on the night Guillen disappeared.
Investigators were called back to the scene this week when a man working in the area reported a foul odor. Miller said that it appeared the suspect “buried her, put lime on her, mixed up concrete, put that over her, put dirt over her, rocks and stuff.”
Guillen’s elder sister, Mayra Guillen, on Thursday said that the family was distraught after learning details about her sister’s disappearance.
“There are a lot of horrifying things that happened that day,” Mayra Guillen, 22, said. “There are just no words.”
Mayra Guillen said that her sister had spoken with their mother about experiencing sexual harassment, but that her mother has been too devastated to talk about it.
From their text conversations, Mayra Guillen said that she believed her sister was afraid during her time at Fort Hood.
China’s military news agency yesterday warned that Japanese militarism is infiltrating society through series such as Pokemon and Detective Conan, after recent controversies involving events at sensitive sites. In recent days, anime conventions throughout China have reportedly banned participants from dressing as characters from Pokemon or Detective Conan and prohibited sales of related products. China Military Online yesterday posted an article titled “Their schemes — beware the infiltration of Japanese militarism in culture and sports.” The article referenced recent controversies around the popular anime series Pokemon, Detective Conan and My Hero Academia, saying that “the evil influence of Japanese militarism lives on in
ANTI-SEMITISM: Some newsletters promote hateful ideas such as white supremacy and Holocaust denial, with one describing Adolf Hitler as ‘one of the greatest men of all time’ The global publishing platform Substack is generating revenue from newsletters that promote virulent Nazi ideology, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, a Guardian investigation has found. The platform, which says it has about 50 million users worldwide, allows members of the public to self-publish articles and charge for premium content. Substack takes about 10 percent of the revenue the newsletters make. About 5 million people pay for access to newsletters on its platform. Among them are newsletters that openly promote racist ideology. One, called NatSocToday, which has 2,800 subscribers, charges US$80 for an annual subscription, although most of its posts are available
GLORY FACADE: Residents are fighting the church’s plan to build a large flight of steps and a square that would entail destroying up to two blocks of homes Barcelona’s eternally unfinished Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has grown to become the world’s tallest church, but a conflict with residents threatens to delay the finish date for the monument designed more than 140 years ago. Swathed in scaffolding on a platform 54m above the ground, an enormous stone slab is being prepared to complete the cross of the central Jesus Christ tower. A huge yellow crane is to bring it up to the summit, which will stand at 172.5m and has snatched the record as the world’s tallest church from Germany’s Ulm Minster. The basilica’s peak will deliberately fall short of the
Venezuelan Nobel peace laureate Maria Corina Machado yesterday said that armed men “kidnapped” a close ally shortly after his release by authorities, following former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s capture. The country’s Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed later yesterday that former National Assembly vice president Juan Pablo Guanipa, 61, was again taken into custody and was to be put under house arrest, arguing that he violated the conditions of his release. Guanipa would be placed under house arrest “in order to safeguard the criminal process,” the office said in a statement. The conditions of Guanipa’s release have yet to be made public. Machado claimed that
RSS