Remains of Fort Hood soldier, labeled as deserter, found

Since the remains of Pvt. Gregory Wedel-Morales were discovered in a shallow grave outside Fort Hood last month, the mystery of his disappearance has only intensified.

The Army declared WedelMorales a deserter a month after he was reported missing in August. But his family said he probably walked away from his post. He was days away from leaving the service for good, propelled by his goal of working on wind turbines on the Texas coast.

Officials have said the Army does not track down alleged deserters, but Wedel-Morales’ family is left wondering: What if it had tried?

“The military failed him by not looking,” his mother, Kimberly Wedel, told the Washington Post. “They just assumed the worst and let it go.”

Wedel-Morales, 23, was a goofy prankster with a cowboy hat always within reach, his family said. He enlisted as a truck driver in 2015, serving tours in Kuwait and South Korea while stationed at Fort Hood, the Army said.

He was days away from leaving the Army when he called his mother June 19 last year to ask for gas money, Wedel recalled. That was the last conversation she had with her son. The last time anyone heard from him was the next day, according to Army investigators.

His case sputtered for nearly a year as the family reached out to Army investigators nearly daily for updates that rarely came, his mother said.

But his disappearance rose in prominence during a search for another missing soldier at Fort Hood, Spc. Vanessa Guillén, who was last seen in April in a separate case. The remains of the two soldiers were found outside the installation in late June, two days apart.

Both families said the Army had not searched for either one with enough urgency and empathy.

The Army offered a $15,000 reward for information on the disappearance of WedelMoralesmore than nine months after his disappearance. That came one day after Kimberly Wedel asked in an email why there was no previous reward, as there was in the Guillén case, according to an email provided to the Washington Post.

The reward increased to $25,000 on June 15. His remains were found four days later after investigators received a tip, the Army said. The Army then said officials suspected foul play was involved.

“They didn’t do any real searching until they got a lead,” Nick Wedel, Wedel-Morales’ younger brother, said of the Army. “If an M16 goes missing, they shut down an entire unit to find it. Why don’t they do that for people?”