Woman accused of helping dismember murdered Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen loses bid to toss her confession after judge rules she spoke to investigators voluntarily
- Army Special Vanessa Guillen, 20, was last seen at Ford Hood on April 22, 2020
- Her dismembered remains were discovered 23 miles away on June 30
- Specialist Aaron Robinson, 20, was the main person of intertest in Guillen's gruesome slaying'
- He killed himself while fleeing from police who wanted him for questioning
- Robinson's girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, confessed that she helped bury Guillen's body
- She claimed she was forced to do so by Robinson, who held a gun to her headf
- Aguilar has pleaded not guilty to charges of evidence tampering, and her attorneys wanted her confession thrown out, claiming it was taken illegally
- On Wednesday, a judge denied that motion, saying Aguilar's confession was given voluntarily; she will now head to trial
A Texas judge has denied a motion to throw out the confession of the woman accused of helping to dismember the body of Fort Hood Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen.
Cecily Aguilar, 22, was charged with tampering with evidence after she told investigators that she helped bury Guillen's body in April of last year.
At the time, Aguilar was dating Specialist Aaron Robinson, 20, the main person of interest in Guillen's gruesome slaying.
Last month, Aguilar's defense team filed a motion to toss her confession, claiming it was taken illegally and investigators violated her constitutional rights.
During her interrogation, which occurred on June 30 of last year, officers allegedly failed to read Aguilar her Miranda rights.
But on Wednesday, a judge denied the motion to dismiss the confession, saying it had been given voluntarily.
Video of Aguilar's conversation with investigators was played during the hearing
According to ABC 13, Aguilar could be heard on tape telling investigators 'I'm ready to get this **** over with'.
She reportedly told them that Robinson put a gun to her head and demanded that she accompany him to the Leon River, Texas to dispose of Guillen's remains in April 2020.
Robinson had been accused of sexual harassment.
Cecily Aguilar (left) has been charged with tampering with evidence after she confessed to investigators that she helped cut up and hide Vanessa Guillen's body in April of last year. Guillen is pictured at right
Aguilar was dating Specialist Aaron Robinson (pictured), the main person of interest in Guillen's gruesome slaying.
Guillen, 20, was last seen at Fort Hood on April 22, 2020. The Army designated her as AWOL two days after she vanished.
Guillen's disappearance sparked a large-scale search, but her dismembered and buried remains were not found until June 30 at Leon River - 23 miles from where she was last seen.
Investigators learned that Robinson was the last person to speak to Guillen.
However, he told police that, on April 22, Guillen left an arms room and he went to be with his girlfriend Cecily Aguilar, who backed up his claim.
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Investigators later discovered that Robinson's phone pinged in Belton, Texas, by a bridge near the Leon River in the early morning hours shortly after Vanessa vanished.
When they went to the location, they found a burn pile, including a tough box, an item Guillen had been seen with earlier by eyewitnesses.
Investigators noted that Robinson and Aguilar shared multiple phone calls the night of Guillen's disappearance, which Aguilar said was because she couldn't find her phone.
On June 30, hours after investigators discovered Guillen's dismembered body, Army officials at Fort Hood detained Robinson.
However, he managed to escape and was later spotted by Army and civilian police in the city of Killeen, just outside of Fort Hood.
As officers were closing in to make an arrest, he pulled out a gun and shot himself dead.
The same day, Aguilar allegedly confessed to police that Robinson had killed Guillen.
Investigators believe Robinson bludgeoned Guillen to death with a hammer, removed her body from an armory at Fort Hood, and then dismembered her and buried her remains on April 22.
Guillen, 20, was last seen at Fort Hood on April 22, 2020. The Army designated her as being AWOL two days after she vanished
Guillen's killing shocked the military and forced the high command to re-examine the extent to which a culture of sexual harassment had taken root throughout the armed forces.
She disappeared after she told her family that she had been sexually harassed while on base.
Last year, a separate, civilian-run probe was launched examining the overall culture at Fort Hood.
As a result of the investigation, the Army fired or suspended 14 officers and enlisted soldiers at Fort Hood and ordered policy changes to address chronic failures of leadership that contributed to a widespread pattern of violence.
An independent review found that the Army's Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention Program (SHARP) failed to curb sexual assault and harassment on bases due to structural failures.
Panelists said there was a lack of training, resourcing and staffing at the SHARP office on Fort Hood.
It also found that the command climate failed to practice the program's core values below the brigade level, which led to less trust in the program.
The actions come after a year that saw at least 31 soldiers assigned to Fort Hood die due to suicide, homicide or accidents, including the bludgeoning death of Guillen.
Guillen's killing shocked the military and forced the high command to re-examine the extent to which a culture of sexual harassment had taken root throughout the armed forces
14 fired or suspended at Fort Hood: Army acts after investigation sparked by Vanessa Guillen's death finds 'chronic failures that fostered widespread pattern of violence including murder, sexual assaults and harassment' at base
The Army fired or suspended 14 officers and soldiers at the Fort Hood base in Texas after a damning investigation uncovered chronic leadership failures that contributed to a widespread pattern of violence including murder, sexual assaults and harassment.
In July, a panel of five civilians was formed to investigate the base's command culture and handling of sexual harassment cases and disappearances and those results were shared publicly in December.
'The investigation after Vanessa Guillen's murder found Fort Hood has a command climate that was permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault,' then Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said in a press conference in December.
He said the issues plaguing Fort Hood are 'directly related to leadership failures.'
Army Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, who was left in charge of the base when Guillen was killed, was fired from his post.
Army leaders had already delayed Efflandt's planned transfer to Fort Bliss, where he was supposed to take over leadership of the 1st Armored Division, due to the investigations into the base.
The base commander, Army Lt. Gen. Pat White, will not face any administrative action because he was deployed to Iraq as the commander there for much of the year.
The leadership of Guillen's unit, Col. Ralph Overland and Command Sgt. Maj. Bradley Knapp of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment were also fired.
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Broadwater and Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas C. Kenny, 1st Cavalry Division commanding general and command sergeant major, were both suspended.
Army Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, who was left in charge of the base when Guillen was killed, was fired following the review
Suspended: Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Broadwater (left) and Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas C. Kenny (right), both of the 1st Cavalry Division, were suspended following the review
Fired: Col. Ralph Overland (left), the 3rd Cavalry Regiment commander and Command Sgt. Maj. Bradley Knapp (right), both of whom were in charge of Guillen's unit, were fired
Their suspension is pending the outcome of a new Army Regulation (AR) 15-6 investigation of 1st Cavalry Division's command climate and Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program.
The names of the battalion level and below commanders and leaders who received administrative action were not released.
McCarthy said the panel published nine main findings and 70 recommendations that the Army is accepting to correct the command culture at the base.
The panel said they made an effort to talk to women in every division at the base, especially those in Guillen's unit.
The panel conducted 647 individual interviews on the base.
'Of the 503 women we interviewed [in the investigation], we discovered 93 credible accounts of sexual assault. Of those only 59 were reported,' said Queta Rodriguez, a member of the independent review panel.
'And we also found 217 unreported accounts of sexual harassment. Of those only half were reported. What we discovered was over the course of those interviews, the lack of confidence in the system effected the reports of those incidents,' she added.
The independent review found that the Army's Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Prevention Program (SHARP) failed to curb sexual assault and harassment on bases due to structural failures.
Panelists said there was a lack of training, resourcing and staffing at the SHARP office on Fort Hood.
It also found that the command climate failed to practice the program's core values below the brigade level, which led to less trust in the program.
McCarthy ordered for the review in mid-July to find the 'root causes' of sexual harassment and violence on the base and whether the command culture and climate reflects the Army's values.
Of the 31 deaths at the base in 2020, while some where deemed accidents, five were homicides and 10 were suicides.
'Soldiers assaulting and harassing other Soldiers is contrary to Army values and requires a dramatic change in culture,' Chris Swecker, the independent review panel chair, said.
'There was a founded fear that the confidentiality of the [sexual assault] reporting process would be compromised. It took so long to get an adjudication that people never saw an adjudication,' he added.
He said the panel's recommendations were designed to 'address deeply dysfunctional norms and regain soldiers' trust,' he added.
The panel offered new policies for the Army to implement including a restructure of the SHARP Program at Fort Hood, which they said was ineffective at the base.
The panel advised for the creation of full time Victim Advocates comprised of a hybrid of civilian and uniformed personnel and the creation of a SHARP Program Office track to monitor the life-cycle and aging of each sexual assault and harassment case and prepare a quarterly report with that information.
They also suggested new measures to better track soldier disappearances.
The panel advised for the creation of an Army-wide set of protocols for 'failure to report' scenarios in the critical first 24 hours of a soldier's absence.
Under the new policy commanders will be required to list service members as absent-unknown for up to 48 hours and must do everything to locate them to determine whether their absence in voluntary before declaring them AWOL, or absent without leave.
It also includes new guidance on steps to classify soldiers as deserters.
McCarthy said the People First Task Force has been created to study the committee's recommendations and map out a plan to enact them.
Fort Hood Commanding General Lt. Gen. Pat White said: 'There's some candid feedback on the culture here. What was made abundantly clear is we have to fix our culture, particularly with sexual assault and harassment.'
He said changes are already underway at the base and he has set aside more than four million hours for junior leaders to work on team building and get to know their soldiers.
He said that the base was given notice of the firings and had time to prepare a 'compassion team' that includes a lawyer, a public affairs representative, a chaplain, behavioral health representative and a cyber awareness expert.
The five members of the independent review committee are Chris Swecker, Jonathan Harmon, Carrie Ricci, Queta Rodriguez and Jack White, who together have a combined 75 years of experience as active-duty military and law-enforcement personnel.
Chris Swecker is the former assistant director of FBI's Criminal Investigative Division and Jonathan Harmon is a civilian trial attorney who represented Fortune 500 companies and a combat veteran who served in the Gulf War.
Carrie Ricci is 21-year Army veteran and assistant general counsel for the Department of Agriculture, Queta Rodriguez is 20-year Marines veteran and regional director for the non-profit FourBlock, and Jack White a partner at the law firm Fluet Huber Hoang in McLean, Virginia who is a West Point graduate and served five years on active duty.
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