Vanessa Guillen murder: Texas woman who helped boyfriend dismember Fort Hood soldier wants confession tossed
WACO, TEXAS: A Texas woman who allegedly helped her boyfriend dispose of late soldier Vanessa Guillen's remains now claims that her rights were violated when police interrogated her about her involvement in the crime.
Cecily Aguilar's defense attorney Lewis Gainor filed a motion in court on Wednesday, March 24, claiming that investigators who interviewed his client did not read her the Miranda Rights. Gainor also alleged that investigators confiscated Aguilar's phone while questioning her in a windowless room at the US Army Criminal Investigation Command Office in Killeen, Texas.
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Aguilar, 22, is facing three counts of conspiracy for tampering with evidence after she was accused of helping her boyfriend and soldier Aaron Robinson, hack 20-year-old Guillen's body to pieces and dispose of the remains after Robinson beat her to death with a hammer in April 2020, according to CrimeOnline.
Robinson hid Guillen's remains in a Pelican case and placed it in the armory room on the base, before leaving to buy supplies, per court documents. Guillen family lawyer Natalie Kwaham told CrimeOnline that Robinson returned that evening and took the case to the Leon River area. Robinson needed help with disposing of Guillen's body and so he contacted Aguilar, Kwaham said. The duo then drove to Leon River and used a machete to dismember Guillen's body.
The suspects returned to the area on April 26, 2020, wearing hairnets and gloves. They reportedly used cement to encase Guillen's remains and covered them with lime and rocks to get rid of the evidence. According to the criminal complaint, the duo buried the hairnets and gloves at the crime scene before they drove home and burned the clothes they had worn that day. “Vanessa’s sister Mayra was arriving at the base; while she was looking for her sister, they were dismembering her body,” Kwaham told the outlet.
Robinson took his own life while authorities were closing in on him, while Aguilar was arrested last June, per the report. However, Gainor has now alleged that Texas Ranger Travis Dendy did not follow proper procedure while questioning his client.
The motion states that Aguilar sobbed throughout the interrogation while trying to assist authorities in locating Robinson's whereabouts. He was later surrounded by police near Fort Hood but shot himself to death before they could apprehend him. Authorities initially told Aguilar she was not under arrest and was free to leave, Gainor noted, but they read her rights to her only after she confessed to the crime. Aguilar was reportedly under the assumption that she would be released if she helped officers track Robinson down.
Her lawyer is now demanding an evidentiary hearing and the release of any footage officers might have of their interactions with Aguilar when they initially apprehended her during a traffic stop. Gainor is also pushing the prosecution to provide them with a list of witnesses, according to CrimeOnline.