The murder of Vanessa Guillen and Other Strange Occurrences at Fort Hood.
- Kayla E. Leist
- Jul 10, 2020
- 8 min read
Hey all! Welcome back to my true crime blog! I updated the name from “Kaylas True Crime Blog” (blah) to “Unheard and Unjust” (woo!). I haven’t posted in almost two weeks. One of the reasons why this is because I have been waiting to hear updates on this case (and have had a lot going on otherwise). This one resonates with me for many reasons. Vanessa was a young woman who had much of her life ahead of her and she was taken too soon for reasons that are still unclear.
According to the Guillen family, Vanessa grew up knowing she wanted a career in the army. After hard work and dedication, she made her career goal come true. Vanessa Guillen ended up being stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. At first she seemed happy, but then she started confiding in her family about being sexually harassed by a superior. The New York Times reported in May 2019, “Sexual assault in the American military surged in the last two years, driven almost entirely by a 50 percent increase on assaults on women in uniform.” Another source of journalism, Stars and Stripes News, showed that the Department of Defense 2019 fiscal year report showed 7,825 reports of sexual assault in 2019- that’s a rise of 3 percent from 2018.
After the news of Vanessa’s disappearance broke to the media, the army released a statement claiming that those claims were just “rumors“ and were never reported or substantiated. They made this statement despite the fact of the acknowledgement of the prevalence of sexual assault/ harassment in the military earlier this year. The Guillen family has stood by their claims of Vanessa’s sexual harassment and thought that it probably had something to do with her disappearance from the get-go. The following information came from “Its A Crime” YouTube channel and the affidavit from CecIily Aguilar regarding the case. Specialist Vanessa Guillen was last seen on post at Fort Hood by her peers on April 22, 2020. She was working in an armory room when witnesses claim she received a text from Specialist Aaron Robinson, who was working in a separate armory room on base. The unusual thing about this is that Vanessa left her keys, ID card, and bank card back at the armory. It was later revealed that Vanessa was asked to meet with SPC Robinson at another armory on base to confirm serial numbers. Witnesses state that Vanessa’s belongings were still in the armory room hours later at the end of the night. On April 23, 2020 USACID was notified by a Captain in Regimental Provost Marshal at Fort Hood, Texas that Vanessa was reported missing from her unit. When Vanessa’s family learned the news, it was not long until they were out searching for her and begging for public help. A search of Vanessa’s phone records show her last outgoing text message was to SPC Robinson. Robinson was the last known person to see Vanessa, but he claimed after they verified the serial numbers in the arms room, she left to take paper work regarding a repair to the motor pool. Employees at the motor pool claim Vanessa never arrived. SPC Aaron Robinson was interviewed by USACID on April 28, 2020, 6 days after Vanessa disappearance. Robinson stated that after his duties on base on April 22nd, he went to his off-post residence and spent the rest of the evening with his girlfriend Cecily Aguilar. He claimed to have been home all evening, except for around 6:30 pm when he returned to base to log on to his government computer to complete some training. Hm. Who leaves base and then goes back to do computer training? Wouldn’t you just complete it before you left for the day? Moving on. On May 18, 2020 (almost a full month after Vanessa disappeared) two witnesses came forward claiming to have seen Robinson coming from the armory room struggling to pull a large “tough box” to his vehicle. Okay, he’s coming from the armory room. He could have weapons or equipment in there, right? The following day, SPC Robinson consented to a search of his cellular phone via UFED extraction. Call logs revealed that on the night of April 22, Robinson and Aguilar made several phone calls back and forth to each other that night and into the morning of April 23. Why would they need to call each other if they were together in the same home? A month later on June 19, the girlfriend Cecily Aguilar was interviewed. According to Aguilar, Robinson called her several times on the night of April 22 because she had lost her phone and he was calling it to help her find it and that they were indeed home together all night. Cell phone records show that statement is inconsistent with length of phone calls happening that night. All of the calls were either a minute or longer. That doesn’t make much sense if you were just calling to help someone look for their phone. During a re-interview, Cecily admitted she lied in a previous statement. She now stated she and Robinson did leave the home that night to go for a drive because that’s how she “copes.” Another review of Robinson’s cell phone logs revealed that on the night of April 22/ early morning of April 23, his phone was pinging at a tower in Belton, Texas- on or around a bridge and near the Leon River. Cecily Aguilar’s phone records were then reviewed and showed she was with Robinson in the Belton area at the same time he was. Based upon these findings, USACID, Bell County Sheriffs Department, and Texas Rangers searched the area of the Leon River on June 21, 2020- 2 months after Vanessa went missing. A burn site with disturbed earth and charred remains of a “tough box” was located during the search of the area were Robinson’s phone pinged on April 22. The burn site and disturbed earth seemed fresh, and officers claim there was an odor of decomposition. No human remains were found at this time. On June 30, 2020, over two months after Vanessa was last seen, authorities were notified that construction workers on a site adjacent to the Leon River in Belton found what appeared to be human remains. USACID, BCSD, FBI, and Texas Rangers came to the scene and found human remains mixed with what appeared to be a concrete substance buried in 3 separate holes. Vanessa’s sister later shared with the media that as soon as her family heard the news of the remains, they knew it was Vanessa. The authorities also believed this very soon after finding the remains. It was confirmed a few day’s later.
Around 8:30 pm on the evening the remains were found Cecily Aguilar was interviewed again. Aguilar then admitted that on the evening of April 22 2020, her boyfriend Aaron Robinson told her he killed a female soldier in the arms room at Fort Hood. He went on to explain that he put the female in a pelican case (tough box) and moved her to a location near the Leon River. Aguilar went on to say that on the evening Vanessa was killed, Robinson picked Cecily up at the gas station where she worked, and took her to the site of Vanessa’s body. Robinson revealed Vanessas body to Cecily in the pelican case. In order to more easily dispose of the remains, Cecily and Aaron proceed to cut the limbs and head from Vanessa’s body using an axe and machete. The couple also attempted to burn Vanessa’s body, but Cecily later admits “she wouldn’t burn all the way.” After their failed attempt to cremate her, they proceeded to bury her body parts in three separate holes. Phone records confirm the couple returned to the site three days later and covered the holes with concrete mix. Prior to June 30 2020, SPC Robinson had been confined to his barracks on base. Authorities asked Aguilar to place a screened call to Robinson, and he never denied anything they did to Vanessa Guillen. He was found to have also sent Cecily screenshots of news articles to which she replied, “baby they found pieces, they found pieces.” I think we can all put together what she meant by this. Robinson was now awol, after hearing law enforcement were closing in on him. He was missing for two hours before authorities found him on foot in Killeen, Texas. When he was approached by officers, he pulled out a pistol and shot himself in the head. When putting all the evidence together, authorities theorize that Robinson killed Guillen after an argument ensued in the armory room about Vanessa going to their superiors about Robinson’s relationship with his married (to another soldier mind you) girlfriend Cecily. Others, such as the Guillen family and their lawyer, still believe this had something to do with Vanessa’s claims of sexual assault she shared with them, which the army has discredited from day 1. So, heres the thing. Since the circumstances of Vanessa’s murder has been released to the public, there have been so many questions arise. For example, from the time Vanessa was seen going to the arms room to meet Robinson and when Robinson was seen carrying the pelican case, is supposedly 43 minutes. How in the h*ll did Robinson have time to bludgeon Vanessa to death (oh yeah, that’s how he killed her- with a hammer to her face and skull), clean up, change clothes, load the body, etc in 43 minutes? Also, you would think when you bludgeon someone to death, you would be covered in blood. How did this go unnoticed? Did he have a change of clothes (because he planned this)?? Or did he have help cleaning up...? 🤔
Admittedly, I do not have much knowledge about the Army. I do not have much knowledge about how an Army base is set up/ functions and so forth. But still, HOW did all of these occurrences fall on deaf ears? Did no one hear Vanessa scream and cry for help? I simply do not understand. To me, this has cover-up written all over it. I truly believe Robinson and Aguilar were not the only two involved. When Vanessa told her family about the sexual harassment she was enduring, she told them it was by a superior. This would rule out Robinson, as he was simply her peer. I do not buy that SPC killed Vanessa for the simple fact of her threatening to go to their higher ups about his relationship with Cecily. Even if he did, he then ENDS HIS LIFE when confronted about it? After everything he had done to cover his tracks. Yet again, this leads me toward a cover up. I believe it is more plausible to believe that SPC Guillen was killed for the simple fact she was going to report sexual harassment by a superior. Furthermore, Vanessa’s death at Fort Hood is simply one of many that have raised questions about this particular base and it’s occurrences. When I decided to do my own research regarding Fort Hood, I went to the Army Times. They are military based, and seemed to be very credible. When I entered “Fort Hood” into the search bar, what I found was shocking. Report after report of suicides and suspicious deaths. Here are a few to give some insight:
November 2016: PVT Dakota Stump, 19, found dead next to burning vehicle on Fort Hood.
April 2017: PVT Justin Lewis, 19, found dead from apparent gun shot wound several blocks from base.
March 2018: SPC Certaine found dead at her off-post residence.
March 2018: Two soldiers, SPC Devon Wulff and PVT Colton Vassar found dead at their residences two days apart under suspicious circumstances.
January 2019: Kelton Sphaler died in suspicious boating “accident” on base.
June 2019: PVT Gregory Morales found dead in a field off-post. May 2020: PFC Brandon Rosecrans found dead next to burning jeep 13 miles from post.
(This is not a complete list by any means. This was after TWO PAGES into my search.) Again, this begs the question- WHAT IN THE F$@,? is going on at Fort Hood?!? Why are we not getting answers? Why is the Guillen family not getting answers? Or all of the families from deaths listed above. Following the discovery of Vanessa Guillen’s remains, the hashtags #IAmVanessaGuillen began trending on social media. This empowered women and men of the military to share their experiences of being sexually harassed/ assaulted during their service. In my opinion, this just reinforces the terrifying reality of what women in uniform face every day. This is not even to mention the cases that don’t get reported. Where does it end? How do we make this right? We can start by being an ally to each other and being honest and supportive. As a victim of sexual assault myself, I know it is not easy to talk about. But please know that I hear you and I support you. I believe you. Please sign the petition for justice for Vanessa Guillen at change dot org.
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