Investigators continue search for missing Fort Hood soldier

AUSTIN — The search for U.S. Army Spc. Abram Salas II, a Fort Hood soldier reported missing last week, continued Monday, but Army officials think he might be in San Antonio after leaving the Central Texas post for an unknown reason.

Salas, who failed to report for duty on June 23, currently has a status of “absent-unknown” as multiple military and civilian law enforcement agencies on and off Fort Hood search for him, according to a statement from Fort Hood officials Monday morning.

Fort Hood leaders in the past months have promised to properly investigate the disappearances of soldiers following the brutal slaying of 20-year-old Spc. Vanessa Guillen, who was last seen on April 22, 2020, before her remains turned up later that summer.

An independent investigation into how the Central Texas military leaders handled the monthslong search for Guillen found several examples where post officials loosely enforced soldier accountability, leading to an initial presumption that a soldier who fails to report for duty is absent without leave, or AWOL, instead of looking into whether they’d been harmed.

In the Salas case, the Fort Hood Department of Emergency Services is leading the search until he’s found. Texas Rangers, the investigative arm of the Texas Department of Public Safety, members of the Bell County sheriff’s office, Coryell County sheriff’s office, and local police departments are also helping to look for him.