The family of a Texas soldier who was sexually assaulted and died at a military installation near Killeen in 2020 filed a lawsuit against the US government on Friday, demanding $35 million in damages.
Vanessa Guillen, 20, was killed at the military post in 2020 by fellow soldier Aaron Robinson, then 20, who bludgeoned her with a hammer, stole her corpse from an armory at Fort Hood, Texas, dismembered her, and buried her bones on April 22. Robinson died as officers moved in to arrest him, and his death was ruled a suicide.
A military inquiry into the murder of Guillen, who was slain by a fellow soldier at the US Army installation Fort Hood, discovered that she had also been sexually harassed and that superiors failed to take necessary action.
Guillen was harassed twice during her tenure as a soldier, according to the complaint, and she had suicidal thoughts as a consequence of dealing with the harassment, which she told her family she did not disclose for fear of punishment.
Guillen’s family is suing for sexual harassment, abuse, assault, rape, sodomy, and wrongful death.
‘This will give every victim the feeling that they not only have a voice, but that they may be made whole,’ said Natalie Khawam, who brought the complaint on behalf of the Guillen family.
The case follows a judgment on Thursday by a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that an Army colonel may continue with a sexual assault claim against a former Air Force General.
The court determined that a statute prohibiting military personnel from claiming compensation for injuries sustained while on active duty did not apply.
Guillen went missing in April 2020. Her remains were discovered in July, when the soldier suspected of murdering Guillen committed himself after a dispute with authorities. Cecily Aguilar, his married girlfriend, is also charged with assisting Robinson in disposing of Guillen’s remains.
Aguilar was accused with tampering with evidence after telling detectives that she assisted her boyfriend in burying her corpse last April.
‘He told her he was scared about getting in punishment for breaching the Army’s fraternization laws since Aguilar was still married to another soldier,’ investigators claimed.
Robinson, according to Aguilar, “would get into moods where he would not be his typical self and have a “tic.”
She also reportedly informed one of her coworkers that Robinson had’snapped,’ and that he had an image in his brain. He pictured himself assassinating her and intended to do it.’
Aguilar first claimed she was at home with Robinson the night Guillen went missing, but she reportedly admitted to being there when Guillen’s corpse was discovered.
Despite informing police that Guillen left an arms room and he went to be with Aguilar, investigators discovered Robinson was the last person to talk to him.
Investigators then determined that Robinson’s phone was pinged by a bridge along the Leon River in Belton, Texas, in the early morning hours after Vanessa’s disappearance.
When they arrived, they discovered a fire pile, which included a sturdy box, which eyewitnesses had seen Guillen holding earlier.
Investigators discovered that Robinson and Aguilar had many phone calls the night of Guillen’s disappearance, which Aguilar claimed was due to her inability to locate her phone.
Army officers at Fort Hood captured Robinson on June 30, only hours after investigators found Guillen’s mangled remains.
The Army issued a study detailing the officers who rejected Guillen’s sexual harassment charges in April 2021, a year after her death was discovered. The slain soldier had reported it verbally at least twice in 2019.
Natalie Khawam, the family’s lawyer, blasted the study for taking months to complete. ‘We knew she was being harassed sexually,’ she told CBS News. ‘We realized individuals were lying to us. We knew she had been misplaced. We were very aware of everything. I’m not sure why it took so long to come up with this.’
Guillen’s death, as well as her family’s accusations that she was harassed and abused at the Texas installation, prompted a social media campaign of former and present service members who used the hashtag #IAmVaessaGuillen to share their own military experiences.
In honor of Guillen, state and federal politicians have enacted laws removing some power from commanders and giving survivors greater alternatives for reporting.
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