FOR HELPING TO DISMEMBER AND DUSPOSE OF THE BODY, ONLY THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE WILL SERVE JUSTICE

Vanessa Guillen case: Cecily Aguilar who helped boyfriend dismember soldier indicted on 11 counts

 

By Kunal Dey  

 

meaww

July 15, 2021

 

                                        Cecily Aguilar (left) and Vanessa Guillen

 

The Texas woman, who allegedly helped her boyfriend dismember and dispose the body of Fort Hood Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen, is reportedly facing an 11-count indictment for concealing the soldier's death.

22-year-old Cecily Aguilar was charged with evidence tampering after she admitted to investigators that she helped her boyfriend, Army Specialist Aaron Robinson, dispose Guillen's body in April 2020. Robinson, said to be Guillen's senior, allegedly bludgeoned her to death with a hammer, removed her body from an armory at Fort Hood, Texas, before dismembering her and burning her remains on April 22, CNN reported

Aguilar's defense team filed a motion in April to toss her confession, arguing that it was recorded illegally and that interrogators had violated her constitutional rights in the process. However, the 11-count indictment filed on Tuesday, July 13, in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, claims Aguilar "did unlawfully and knowingly combine, conspire, confederate, and agree with another person to corruptly alter, destroy, mutilate and conceal any record, document and other objects, to wit: the body of V.G., and did attempt to do so, with the intent to impair its integrity and availability for use in an official proceeding."

Aguilar was dating Robinson, 20, who had been identified as the main suspect in Guillen's disappearance and death. He was found to be the last person Guillen spoke to, despite his claims that she had left the arms room and he went to be with Aguilar, who supported his version of events. 

It was later confirmed that Robinson's phone had pinged in Belton, Texas, by a bridge near the Leon River shortly after Vanessa went missing. Following the coordinates, investigators eventually found a burnt pile, which included a tough box that was recognized by a witness as belonging to Guillen. Detectives also found that Robinson and Aguilar had shared multiple phone calls on the fateful night Guillen disappeared. Aguilar previously claimed it was because she couldn't find her phone. 

Army officials at Fort Hood detained Robinson on June 30, just hours after investigators located Guillen's dismembered body. However, he somehow managed to escape custody and was later spotted in the city of Killeen, just outside of Fort Hood. As the Army and civilian police cornered Robinson, he proceeded to fatally shoot himself. Aguilar confessed to authorities the same day that Robinson had, in fact, killed Guillen.

The 20-year-old Army Specialist was last seen at Fort Hood on April 22, 2020, in the parking lot of her barracks. She went missing after confiding in her family that she had been sexually harassed while on base. The soldier was then designated as being AWOL two days after she vanished, sparking a large-scale search. However, her dismembered and buried remains weren't found until June 30 at Leon River, 23 miles from where she was last placed by a witness.

Last July, family attorney Natalie Khawam told CNN that Guillen's remains were sent to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to be identified. Khawam and Guillen's family have since tried to draw attention to a string of deaths that occurred at Fort Hood last year. In 2020 alone, 31 soldiers connected to the central Texas installation died, with 11 reported as suicides and five as homicides, including the bludgeoning death of Guillen.