Since the beginning of the year, there have been 12 Fort Hood soldiers who have vanished, died, or, in one case, turned up dead after going missing last year. The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. (Killeen Police stated they have no knowledge of anyone declining to investigate.) Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . Fort Hood had refused to list him as missing, and it was only after his then fiance, Paradise Rodriguez, posted a video on Facebook that an officer at the parish jail saw it and got into contact. During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. Inside Jeffrey Epsteins Decades-Long Relationship With Leslie Wexner Trumps Deranged Replacement Theory Mightve Lost Him the Election Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk Want to Burn Their Cash in Space Three Texans Bust Myths About the Alamos Famous Last Stand The Guy Who Could Send Trump to Prison May Soon Cooperate With the Feds Bill and Melinda Gatess Epic Divorce Saga Enters Its Next Phase Juneteenth, Critical Race Theory, and the Winding Road Toward Reckoning Trump Is Now Urging People Not to Vaccinate Their Kids Against COVID From the Archive: Microsofts Odd Couple, in the Words of Paul Allen Not a subscriber? = Link to a nongovernmental site. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. So when, the following spring, Fort Hood offered a $15,000 reward for information about Guillen, then raised it to $25,000 in June, Kim called to demand the same. The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. Beyond the base, gas station attendants and restaurant servers, many of whom were veterans or had ties to the military, all seemed resigned to certain fates. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. Amid all those other deaths, on June 21, 2020, a search party found the charred lid of a cargo box along the Leon River 20 miles east of Fort Hood. The purported motto of the Army was family first, mission second, Gary Shafer, a noncommissioned officer who served at Fort Hood from 2012 to 2018 and who knew Wedel-Morales through the car-club scene, told me. Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. First came the British and Germans. Before Guillen, there had been Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was found dead in a tent in 2005 in Iraq. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillens friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. The murder of Vanessa Guilln, a 20-year-old United States Army soldier, took place inside an armory at Fort Hood, Texas, on April 22, 2020, when she was bludgeoned to death by another soldier, Aaron David Robinson. 6 min read. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. October 13, 2021 04:48 PM. You can click this link to create an obituary. Hazel Buck Blackwell, whose family lost their farm, homestead, barns, orchards, and adjoining land when the base took over, said the closest thing might be the unexpected death of someone you loved very much. It was a heartrending, searing experience, central Texas historian GraDelle Duncan said, leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some from the psychic devastation that followed. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. Toxic leadership is nothing new. Last December, a Special Forces soldier and an Army veteran were found dead at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where another soldier disappeared in May and was later found murdered. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. The small Texas frontier town was also a hotbed of Klan activity, according to Texas historian Gene Preuss of the University of Houston, so much so that when trains stopped in Killeen, Black passengersrelegated to colored carsknew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. As many as 28 Fort Hood soldiers died in 2020, including in multiple homicides, suicides and other accidents. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. When his parents rushed to the hospital, they saw that Chee, lying unconscious, had bruises and scrapes on his chin and on both sides of his face. The military is necessarily an institution of state-sanctioned violence, where we teach our young to kill on our behalf in the name of ideologies such as patriotism or democracy. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. From this inauspicious start, Killeen grew into a proper military town and is now home to six strip clubs, 18 pawn shops, 35 dollar stores, and 38 tattoo parlors. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. All rights reserved. Texas Death Records Indexes, Obituaries and Cemetery Burials by County. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. Yet instead of being taken into custody, Robinson was placed in a conference room on base, initially, it was said, for committing adultery, which is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. The base might have continued to devour its soldiers had it not been for a missing soldier's family whose rage, love, and devotion would attract the attention of the media, celebrities, and later the White House, sparking congressional and military investigations. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). (Penny says they met online.) ARMY-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS. Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. 22.4 (births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age) Infant Mortality Rate. Maxwell Hockin. After 8 p.m., Guillens sister Mayra called the base. On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. A 214,968-acre installation, this is the only post in the United States capable of stationing and training two armored divisions. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. At least 159 Fort Hood soldiers died out of combat between 2016 and last year, including seven homicides and 71 suicides, according to an analysis by The New York Times. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. Maxwell Hockin, 26, was. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. A sergeant from Guillens division called it mandatory fun days. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. Victoria a friend of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinson's girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, changed her story and told Army investigators that Robinson had confessed to her that he killed Guillen in the arms room, beating her to death with a hammer. Police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death Austin December 25, 2022 Weather View Your 7-Day Forecast Here MILITARY Family hopeful for answers after police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death By Olivia Levada Texas PUBLISHED 4:24 PM CT Apr. Visit this link to create a free obituary then read the advantages of creating an obituary on Echovita and either click Start now or Create an obituary for your loved to begin. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Moraless body was found, Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died at Fort Hood after his repeated requests to see a doctor were denied, according to Carma Johnson, whose brother died at Fort Hood. September 10, 2020. What happened on that base and in the Army to cause this person who is normally very [kind] and responsive to all of a sudden leave and shut down? In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Blocks death was ruled an accident by a single shot of friendly fire before the family received the body and saw that she had five gunshot wounds, including one to the head. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. The small Texas frontier town was also a "hotbed of Klan activity," according to Texas historian Gene Preuss of the University of Houston, so much so that when trains stopped in Killeen, Black passengersrelegated to "colored cars"knew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. One of the first times she stepped onto the base, a rosary she had been carrying in the palm of her hand tore apart, its beads scattering over the concrete ground. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillens unit, says that the training had come to feel stupid and pointless. What on earth are you training for? he asks, then answers. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) (According to Killeen police, no such vests were found at the scene of the crash. Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillens murder in those 40 minutes? Chris and Moses friends of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. 5.2 (infant deaths per 1,000 live births) Life Expectancy (at Birth) 76.5 years (2020) Marriage Rate. Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. Search Fort Hood obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. 2023 Cond Nast. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpses hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. It's possible. Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. Then they tried burning the body. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. He died the evening of September 2. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpse's hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. Two days after Staff Sergeant Anthony Lovell, 40, disappeared in 2017, his body was found, eyes pecked clean, face split in half, in a creek off Killeens seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast.