A body believed to be the missing 23-year-old soldier was discovered hanging from a tree Aug. 25 in Temple, about 30 miles from the base. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. The base said the chain of command is in contact with Basaldua Ruizs family and providing support and resources to her family and those who worked with her. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. All this has been true since the founding of the American military, but a sense of disorientation has increased in recent years, as wars that were never good to begin with began to lose moral shine. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. According to the letter, during an August visit to Texas McCarthy stated that Fort Hood had the highest, the most cases for sexual assault and harassment and murders for our entire formation of the US army. Military bases are the last piece of the homeland that soldiers see before they are deployed to fight and the first glimpse of home when they return. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. Vanessa Guillen enlisted shortly after she graduated high school and had expressed interest in joining the military when she was as young as 10, said her mother, Gloria Guillen, at a press conference in June. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. Fort Hood: What we know about 12 soldiers missing, slain or killed in A mural in Austin in remembrance of Fort Hood Army Spc. Her story led to another social media campaign with survivors of sexual abuse and harassment in the military sharing their stories online using the #IAmVanessaGuilln hashtag and demanding change. Inside the Rash of Unexplained Deaths at Fort Hood | Vanity Fair In 2013, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand introduced the Military Justice Improvement Act, which would give independent military prosecutors outside the chain of command control over sexual assault cases. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpses hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecranss Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. Aguilar advised the female soldier never made it out of the Army alive, the complaint states. Aguilars cell phone location data was also analyzed and revealed she and Robinson were together near Leon River on April 23 and April 26, the complaint states. Combat engineer Pvt. Khawam plans to present womens testimony to Congress to encourage legislation while the family visits Washington D.C. this week. Fort Carson in Colorado had 18 such deaths in 2020. Dallas police identify suspects wanted in 2022 murder case | Fort Worth Aaron Robinson, who fatally shot himself as police moved to arrest him. Service members who report sexual harassment or assault risk ostracism and their career. We are deeply disturbed by the string of deaths at Fort Hood, and if there is any malfeasance or negligence involved, the Navajo Nation calls on our national leaders to pursue every available avenue to protect the lives of our Navajo warriors and those serving in the US armed forces, the Navajo speaker of the council, Seth Damon, said. Awareness and outrage over sexual violence in the military grew after the 2012 documentary Invisible War. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. She was talking about getting married. The Dallas Police Department has identified two suspects who are wanted in a shooting in June 2022 . Morales was reported missing in August 2019. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood? When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) On the night of August 19, Wedel-Morales went out to Club Fuego, located in a desolate strip mall about 10 miles east of Fort Hood. 2023 Cond Nast. There are currently four inmates awaiting execution at Leavenworth, but these four will not face the gallows. DeSantis Went to DC to Win Support for a Possible Presidential Bid. Isaac Aguigui, Sgt. Rodriguez disputes this claim. Killeen itself sits on an especially brutal stretch of central Texas, along the Balcones Fault, which separates the high plains of the Hill Country to the west from the grand prairies and limestone plains of the east, and along which runs Interstate 35. Before she went missing, Guilln had told her family she had been sexually harassed by a supervisor. Khawam said Army officials, accompanied by an Army chaplain, met with Guillens family on Sunday to inform them that Guillen was dead. Racism could also be a factor. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. Atop these sedimentary layers of desecration, displacement, and disorientation, the U.S. War Department set out to build a base that would go on to serve as a footnote to nearly every war in modern memory. At first, Aguilar told investigators, they cut her up using a machete. The base was named after John Bell Hood, a Confederate general from a family that enslaved people in Kentucky, who made his name by breaking a Union line at Elthams Landing in Virginia and who, by todays standards, likely suffered from PTSD. McCaskill, a former sex crimes prosecutor, found herself labeled as the roadblock to the most significant piece of congressional legislation challenging rape culture in the military. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? Private Morta died on. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. The letter also names Pvt Mejhor Morta and Sgt Elder Fernandes, whose deaths are under investigation, and the homicide investigations of Pvt Brandon Scott Rosecrans, Spc Freddy Delacruz Jr and Spc Shelby Tyler Jones. Also that year, Marine Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach was raped by her superior, which she reported. If theres not actual accountability for those actions, then the fact that things have changed a little bit on the books doesnt change the culture at all, said attorney Sara Darehshori, a principal at Vestry Laight who wrote two reports on retaliation for sexual assault crimes in the military while senior counsel at Human Rights Watch. In emergencies, call 911, or seek care from a local hospital or mental health provider. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. About one in three service members report sexual assault, according to the defense departments sexual assault prevention and response office, which was established in 2005. According to a criminal complaint, Aguilar was Robinsons girlfriend, and on April 22 he called her to say he struck a female soldier in the head with a hammer multiple times, killing her, on Fort Hood. Several other investigations into conduct at Food Hood are also under way, including one examining the allegations that Guilln was sexually harassed, and another on the support given to those who report sexual harassment and sexual assault. Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. New HBO Max series Love & Death anchors a Texas true crime story in the human condition. The soldiers said that Guillens belongings had been found in the arms room, but otherwise she had left no trace. Active Duty Military Installations | Office of the Texas Governor Three weeks before her disappearance, Vanessa Guillen told her mother that she was being sexually harassed and followed by an Army sergeant, but was afraid to report him, according to the Guillen family who made a website to coordinate their search. Site Gregory Wedel-Morales' remains were found in Killeen, Texas. All rights reserved. The small Texas frontier town was also a hotbed of Klan activity, according to Texas historian Gene Preuss of the University of Houston, so much so that when trains stopped in Killeen, Black passengersrelegated to colored carsknew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandess mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. Later, on June 30, contractors working near the river discovered body parts. We believe that Vanessa told him that she was reporting him, and thats why he bludgeoned her, said the Guilln family attorney, Natalie Khawam. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. I asked him directly if he wasnt willing to speak because of position and he signaled yes, and he said, Id rather tell you in person. , Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. Vanessa Guillen in Fort Worth, Texas in July 2020. Mejhor Morta, 26, and Specialist Francisco Gilberto Hernandez-Vargas, 24 died two weeks apart in what appeared to be drowning accidents in the same lake. But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like mission first, equipment second, he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. Guillen did not disclose the name of the alleged perpetrator to her mother who suggested she would report the man on her daughters behalf. I hide my feelings partly because I believe that nobody will believe me, she wrote on Facebook. The Armys own investigation found major flaws at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. "We are devastated by the tragic loss of Drill Sergeant Jessica Mitchell. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinsons phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. Namely, the military. Robinson himself left soon thereafter, he would testify, to spend the night off post with his girlfriend. Congress will launch an investigation into sexual assault, disappearances, deaths and leadership response at Fort Hood as 28 soldiers stationed at the US army base in Texas have died this year, two leaders announced on Tuesday. The family began posting online about Guillens disappearance and distributing Missing fliers. Everything we know about the 16 soldier deaths at Fort Hood this year Vanessa Guilln's family demands more change one year after her murder Ive lost so much since Ive been in. Then they tried burning the body. 28 Apr 2023 21:06:24 Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. Instead, a Bunch of Republicans Endorsed Trump. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). On July 2, Robinson was identified as the soldier in question. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. A History of Shootings at Military Installations in the U.S. Fernandes, who had reported sexual abuse prior to his. "Her loss is felt not just in our formations but across the Army. At the time of his first trial, Davis was believed to be the wealthiest man to have stood trial for murder in the United States. The Army is about to leave the house from this visit they had. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? On June 21, CID, the Bell County Sheriffs Office and Texas Rangers identified a burn site and disturbed earth near Leon River, but did not find remains that day. Soldiers cannot sue the military for harm, and have little recourse aside from reporting up the chain of command. Christopher Salmon, and Pfc. She doesnt belong to the Army anymore, AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. The Army charged a fellow soldier with Guilln's murder, though that soldier killed himself before charges were announced.. A recent story in Vanity Fair explores how murders like Guilln's, as well as suicides, aren't rare on American military bases. Fort Hood was cast under intense scrutiny when Guilln, a 20-year-old soldier, disappeared from the military base in Bell County on April 22, 2020. Officials did not reveal how she died but said an investigation is underway into the circumstances. Dozens of people were killed, died by suicide, or went missing from the Texas military base last year alone. On my very first deployment, new girl, fresh meat. The 28th death at Fort Hood this year occurred last week. Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me, Rodriguez told me. (On July 14, 2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. Specialist Guillen's family has raised. [Vanessa] was supposed to be safe while working and protecting the country we live in, Lupe Guillen told reporters at a June 23 press conference. She wanted to be a part of something that was bigger than herself. While visiting Killeen last year, Jeong says the atmosphere was uncomfortable. The Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg - Rolling Stone Female soldier found dead at Fort Hood, the same Army base in Texas The apparently unrelated deaths of two female Army soldiers in Texas are under investigation after officials said one died after being shot in her car on a freeway on New Year's Day and the other was discovered dead in her military barracks on New Year's Eve. A soft October wind carried the first chill of the season. Deaths of 2 female Army soldiers probed in Texas, 1 fatally shot on Ana Basaldua Ruiz was found dead on Monday at the same military base. Fort Lee renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of Black military officers Guillens superior confirmed she was missing. The soldiers were identified as 30-year-old Staff Sgt. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. Because in my mothers heart, I already feared that I would suffer. "Army CID will continue to conduct a thorough investigation and gather all evidence and facts to ensure they discover exactly what transpired. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time. My entire deployment I was catcalled, and called names, wrote Crystal De Los Rios in a Facebook post as part of the #IAmVanessaGuillen campaign. Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chees clothes were stolen. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Give me the name and I will report the bastard, Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. Specialist Justen Ogdens death in July 2017 was ruled a suicide, but the suicide note Fort Hood produced as evidence did not match his handwriting, according to his mother, Toni. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. The Pentagon, in a document attached to the suicide figures, cautioned against ranking them by risk, noting that the populations of the . The TMPC continues to advocate for Texas' military personnel and installations, while . When Ailina contacted the military police at Fort Hood, they told her that Fernandes was an adult, and that if he was missing, he likely didnt want to be found. Homicides occurred at a rate of nearly one a day over the past three years, while arrests for those crimes dropped. In 2015, a sergeant with the bases sexual assault reporting unit which Guilln would have reported to had she lodged a complaint pleaded guilty to running a prostitution ring with vulnerable young soldiers. Authorities say Army Specialist Aaron Robinson, 20, bludgeoned Guillen to death with a hammer inside an armory room on Fort Hood. Agamemnon demonstrates disrespect, vanity, and other lapses in judgment, the result of which is what clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay describes as moral injurya (i) betrayal of whats right, (ii) by someone who holds legitimate authority, (iii) in a high stakes situation. Such moral injury deteriorates social trust, which is then replaced by the settled expectancy of harm, exploitation, and humiliation from others, resulting in despair and violence to self and to others. She pleaded not guilty. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Moraless body was found, Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died at Fort Hood after his repeated requests to see a doctor were denied, according to Carma Johnson, whose brother died at Fort Hood. Vanessa Guilln and the national outcry that followed helped shed a light on the widespread problem of . The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillens staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. Heather OsbourneAustin American-Statesman via AP, Inside the Utah National Guard DC Deployment. But once they become disposable, they werent really interested in following up, which really kind of goes against the ethos and the branding of the American military, you know: we take care of our own and when our own dies, were going to take care of their families, Jeong said. The letter also demands the immediate relief and replacement of Guillns chain of command, up to and including the commanding general of Fort Hood, and a boycott on enlistment until systemic rape culture is addressed. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. But the only among the victims may be the institution that them all to kill. Vanessa Guillen, addresses the crowd outside the gates of Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas on June 12, 2020. They checked into a nearby hotel and returned at 8 a.m. the next day. The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. Guillen's case sparked national attention after she was allegedly murdered by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood in Texas in April, then dismembered and her remains dumped. At present, the reporting system is designed so that service members report to an internal entity or their superiors in the case of the Army its the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, known as SHARP, which the family believes is ineffective. 2023 Texas Standard. Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. Sadly we are all Vanessa Guillen.. On June 30, Fort Hood officials announced that partial human remains were found close to Leon River in Bell County, Texas. Fort Hood is a sprawling base of nearly 215,000 acres, or 340sq miles, founded in 1942 in mid-Texas, between Austin and Dallas. Rodriguez sensed something was off. IE 11 is not supported. Fort Bragg is the largest military base in the U.S. and the command post for the Army's most elite units, such as Delta Force and the Green Berets, which have borne a disproportionate burden. Should inmates in Texas be eligible for early parole if they exhibit good behavior? Vanessa Guillen is painted on 14th Street NW in Washington July 13. (Carolyn Kaster/AP) The rates of certain violent crimes, including murder, are generally . Basaldua Ruiz, 20, who was from Long Beach, California, joined the Army in July 2021 and was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division since December that year. Fort Hood, which is situated in Killeen, Texas, is one of the largest military bases in the country, housing 36,500 soldiers and another 30,000 family members. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptrollers office.). It is situated on 340 square. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. Most of the groups were aboveboard, even as they were ruled by certain strictures for meeting attendance, dress code, and how to appropriately signal respect. Killeen was named after another disappointing man: Frank Killeen, an assistant general manager to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. There was no immediate indication that foul play was involved. I still live with anxiety and depression every day. As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Ana Basaldua Ruiz no foul play is evident, and will remain under investigation.. The hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen spread across social media as service members shared stories of sexual violence and harassment in a #MeToo reckoning for the military, as the country also grapples with the wider indictments of systemic racial discrimination and injustice following the killing of George Floyd. She told family and friends that she was being sexual harassed by two different soldiers who outranked her, including Robinson, but never formally reported the allegations, fearing retaliation. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. On most nights, I had nightmares. On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. The members of Congress cited the deaths of Spc Vanessa Guilln, who according to federal officials was bludgeoned to death at the Texas base in April by a fellow soldier, and Pvt Gregory Morales, whose remains were found in June during the search for Guilln. There have been several unsolved deaths or disappearances at the base. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. FORT GREGG-ADAMS, Va. (WWBT) - What was once Fort Lee's Army base now bears the names of two Black military officers. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. I lived in Afghanistan for four-and-a-half years. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. Guillen was last seen on April 22 in the parking lot of her Regimental Engineer Squadron Headquarters, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, at the Fort Hood military base wearing a black shirt and purple fitness pants, according to a public statement by Fort Hood. The Guilln family plans to lead a peaceful protest in Washington DC, on 30 July, when they will present their proposed bill to lawmakers. This increase is very troubling and shows that the Armys sexual assault prevention strategies have not achieved their intended results, the report says. Almost 90 lawmakers have signed a letter spearheaded by the Texas representative Sylvia Garcia calling for the defense departments inspector general to investigate Guillns disappearance at Fort Hood. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. Shut It Down: Calls Grow to Close Fort Hood After Probe into Murders On May 11, however, Fernandes reported to Fort Hood abusive sexual contact from a staff sergeant, whom he alleged groped him in a supply room, according to the redacted military investigation report.

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