Woman who helped hide US soldier Vanessa Guillén’s body sentenced to 30 years in prison
A Texas woman was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison for helping dispose of the body of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén, whose disappearance and killing in 2020 led to greater public scrutiny of the military and its handling of sexual abuse.
Cecily Aguilar is the only suspect arrested in the death of Guillén, who was killed at Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, near Killeen in Central Texas. Aguilar was 24 years old when she pleaded guilty in November at a federal court in Waco to one count of accessory to murder after the fact and three counts of making a false statement.
The sentence came after hours of testimony from attorneys, experts and Guillén’s family.
It was the maximum punishment Aguilar could receive, said Jaime Esparza, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas.
More: Suspect's girlfriend pleads guilty to playing role in Vanessa Guillen slaying
Aguilar aided boyfriend Army Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, of Calumet City, Illinois, in dismembering and disposing of Guillén’s body in a rural, wooded area near the post, according to federal and state authorities. Robinson died by suicide on July 1, 2020, the day Guillén’s remains were found.
“Our hope is that today’s sentence brings a sense of relief and justice to the Guillén family, who have endured such pain throughout these past few years,” Esparza said.
What happened to Vanessa Guillén?
In April 2020, Guillén was a Houston-area native serving at Fort Hood, one of the nation's largest military training grounds.
At the time, Fort Hood touted its decadeslong reputation of preparing troops for combat in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Guillén’s sister, Mayra, was the first to report her missing after text messages to the soldier went unanswered. She did not yet know that Guillén had been killed that day.
Guillén’s family protested outside Fort Hood over the next several weeks as they called for congressional intervention into what they believed was a complete failure by the post's leadership to find Guillén.
Two weeks after Guillén’s body was finally found, Aguilar pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges. Later, a judge dismissed her legal team’s attempt to throw out her confession because she said she had not been read her Miranda rights at the time her statement was taken.
Then-U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said during a visit to the Texas post that it had one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army, later adding that the patterns of violence were a direct result of “leadership failures.”
After Guillén’s death, her family claimed that she was harassed and assaulted at the Texas post. Though Army officials initially denied that Guillén was sexually harassed, the Army confirmed more than a year after her death that a superior of Guillén’s at the post had sexually harassed and retaliated against her.
The family's claims ignited a movement on social media of former and active service members who shared their experiences with sexual assault and harassment at military bases throughout the country using the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen.
More: Sparked by Fort Hood soldier's slaying, Army to cluster resources for sexual misconduct victims
The movement caught the attention of state and federal lawmakers. New legislation honoring Guillén removed some authority from commanders and gave survivors more options to report abuse and harassment. Army officials disciplined 21 commissioned and noncommissioned officers in connection with Guillén’s death.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Woman sentenced to 30 years in prison for role in Vanessa Guillén’s murder
