Vanessa Guillen was killed as she'd found out about fellow soldier's affair with married woman, says lawyer
HOUSTON, TEXAS: Missing Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen, whose remains were reportedly found past week more than two months after she was last seen, was killed because she uncovered a fellow soldier's affair, it has been claimed.
Guillen, a 20-year-old private first class, was last seen in the parking lot of the Regimental Engineer Squadron Headquarters, 3rd Cavalry Regiment at around 1 pm on April 22, 2020. Investigators made a breakthrough in her disappearance late last month at a location roughly 30 miles from Fort Hood after finding the lid to a pelican storage case. When another man reported smelling a foul odor in the area where the lid was uncovered, investigators said they knew they were in the right location.
They discovered remains buried in a shallow grave nearby. "It appears he buried her, put lime on her, mixed up concrete, put that over her, put dirt over her, rocks and stuff," said Tim Miller, whose organization Texas Equusearch was spreading the hunt for the 20-year-old. The primary suspect in her disappearance, Aaron David Robinson, a 20-year-old Army Specialist from Illinois who entered the Army in October 2017, killed himself on July 1 when the authorities tried to contact him.
Now, Guillen's family attorney, Natalie Khawam, has revealed that the soldier had an altercation with Robinson just before she went missing.
Speaking to CrimeOnline, Khawam shared that evidence linking Guillen's death to Robinson dates back to April 22, when a witness spotted him in the parking lot of Fort Hood. When Guillen arrived in the arms room that day, Robinson was already inside working. Khawam said the 20-year-old saw photos on Robinson's phone and confronted him about "about having an affair with someone married to a former soldier." An incensed Robinson then told her he wasn't going to let her ruin his military career and hit her with a hammer.
The brutal attack left blood all over the armory room, where he stored her body in a case before leaving the base to buy supplies he would use to dispose of her body. Khawam claimed Robinson then used a machete to dismember Guillen's body, burned it, and encased parts of her in cement. Prosecutors said his attempts to burn the body did not work and that he then placed her remains in three different holes before covering them back up.
"Vanessa’s sister Mayra was arriving at the base, [and] while was looking for her sister, they were dismembering her body," the attorney shared.
The woman Robinson was having an affair with has been identified as 22-year-old Cecily Aguilar, who has now been charged with one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence in connection to Guillen's disappearance and death. A news release issued by the Department of Justice US Attorney's Office — Western District of Texas states Robinson got her help to dispose of Guillen's body. She reportedly confessed as much during interviews with investigators.
Aguilar confessed Robinson told her he had killed Guillen, according to the Sun. She said he picked her up from work on April 22 and took her near a bridge close to the Leon River where he showed her a box on wheels, and with handles, that contained a dead female inside. She is currently being held at the Bell County jail and faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.