Army identifies Vanessa Guillén’s remains, soldier’s family says

Army investigators have positively identified the remains of Spc. Vanessa Guillén, her family told The Washington Post on Sunday, more than two months after she vanished from Fort Hood.

Remains discovered Tuesday in a shallow grave east of the Texas installation triggered a manhunt that ended when one suspect — Spc. Aaron Robinson— killed himself as officers closed in, the Army said.

Robinson’s girlfriend was charged with evidence tampering and said she helped dispose of the body, court records show.

Guillén’s disappearance, and her family’s allegations that she was sexually harassed, drew attention from activists, lawmakers, celebrities and other soldiers. The family has also complained that the Army’s search for the 20-year-old soldier lacked urgency and care at the highest levels.

Investigators moved too slowly to piece together evidence and secure phone data that led to the suspects more than two months after Guillén disappeared, said family attorney Natalie Khawam.

“Her leadership failed her,” Khawam said. “The Army failed her.”

Guillén was bludgeoned to death at Fort

Hood on April 22, near where she was last seen, investigators said. The remains found Tuesday were so close to a site searched by investigators nine days earlier that they unknowingly stood on top of them, one search leader said.

Fort Hood and the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, which headed the investigation and is the service’s equivalent to the FBI, did not respond to a request for comment over the holiday weekend.

Guillén believed that she could not approach her chain of command with allegations, her relatives said, and instead confided in family members. “She felt if she spoke, something would happen,” sister Mayra Guillén told The Washington Post. “I now realize everything leads back to them harassing her at work.”

“They broke her spirit,” sister Lupe Guillén added.

The Army said last week that the allegations had not produced viable leads and that it found no connection between Guillén’s death and the accusations.

Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, the deputy commander of Fort Hood, defended the search effort and said officials offered the family tempered information to protect the integrity of the investigation.

“I just wish I could have done a better job balancing those needs,” he said during a news conference Thursday, in reaction to the family’s criticism.

But the sexual harassment allegations spurred many female service members and veterans to share their own stories about assault and harassment on social media with the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said in a letter Thursday that they were “gravely concerned with the appearance that the Army was able to marshal significant additional investigative resources after her family began a social media campaign.”

Information provided by earlier interviews with Robinson and his alleged accomplice, Cecily Ann Aguilar, depicts the last moments of Guillén’s life — and the effort to hide her body.

Guillén worked in an armory on the sprawling base outside Killeen, according to a criminal complaint filed by an FBI investigator in U.S. District Court.

On April 22, she left her car keys, barracks room key, Army identification card and wallet at her armory, and walked to the arms room overseen by Robinson.

Robinson beat Guillén in the head with a hammer in the arms room, killing her there, the complaint said.