News

Sep 06, 2023

State Documents Reveal Potential Motive for Vanessa Guillen Murder

I Am Vanessa Guillen is available to stream and download on Netflix now and

I Am Vanessa Guillen is available to stream and download on Netflix now and audiences have been moved by the tragedy of what happened to 20-year-old Vanessa Guillén.

The new documentary film, directed by Christy Wegener, explores the murder of Guillén, whose dismembered remains were found in three graves along the Leon River in Texas two months after she disappeared. She was last seen in the parking lot of Fort Hood army base near Killeen, Texas on April 22, 2020, around lunchtime.

I am Vanessa Guillen also follows the incredible efforts of her sisters Lupe and Mayra and lawyer Natalie Khawam to seek justice for Guillén and sexual assault victims in the military in the wake of Guillén's death.

Ultimately, only one person, Cecily Aguiler, has been charged in relation to Guillén's death, with her suspected killer, fellow soldier Aaron Robinson, 20, never facing the courts after he died by suicide on July 1, 2020.

But in the wake of Aguiler's arrest, new information surrounding the circumstances of Guillén's death has come to light.

On the day Guillén's remains were discovered, Aguilar was interviewed again by the authorities. She told police that Robinson had said he killed a female soldier with a hammer inside the armory at Fort Hood. She was also suspected of assisting Robinson in dismembering, burning and burying Guillén's body.

By July 2021, Aguiler has been charged with 11 counts: one count of conspiracy to tamper with documents or proceedings; two counts of tampering with documents or proceedings; three counts of accessory after the fact; one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation; and four counts of false statement or representation.

Her trial will begin on January 23, 2023, and she faced up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

In challenging her charges earlier this year, court documents have revealed a potential motive for Guillén's murder at the hands of Robinson.

"Aguilar later explained [during her confession in 2021] why Robinson killed Guillén saying Guillén saw Robinson's cellphone lock screen, which contained a picture of Aguilar," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a report on May 24, 2022.

"(Robinson) told her he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer."

The report also detailed how Aguilar and Robinson dismembered and buried Guillén, with Aguilar telling authorities their hope was Guillén would not be found for several years.

Ultimately, Aguilar sought to have her confession thrown out, arguing she did not see a judge in a timely fashion when first charged, ABC13 News in Houston reported in May.

Vanessa Guillén's sister Mayra dismissed Aguilar's claims while speaking to the news station.

"Cecily Aguilar will try everything in her power to walk freely as we are being denied the truth at this very moment," Mayra said at the time. "My sister was a very responsible person, that would not meddle into Robinson's and Aguilar's alleged 'relationship.' We truly hope Vanessa receives justice, no family deserves to go through this. Vanessa should be here today, defending her loved ones and her country."

The exact motive behind Guillén's death is unlikely to ever be known, considering her suspected killer, Robinson, died by suicide before police could arrest him.

Robinson was one of the last people to see Guillén alive at Fort Hood and he had been interviewed by investigators when Guillén's initial disappearance was reported but was ruled out as a suspect.

It remains unknown if Robinson had made unwarranted sexual advances on Guillén on the day she died. As heard in I Am Vanessa Guillen on Netflix, her family and friends suspect Guillén was sexually assaulted before her murder.

Robinson had been accused of sexual harassment in the past but unrelated to Guillén.

It was Robinson's cell phone records that had led investigators to the burial spot alongside the Leon River. When Guillén's remains were found, Robinson was being held at his unit for violating COVID-19 quarantine rules

On the evening of June 30, Robinson escaped the custody of an unarmed guard from his unit and traveled six miles from his base. In the early hours of July 1, 2020, Killeen police located Robinson but, before they could arrest him, he shot himself dead.

Guillén's sister Lupe told Newsweek: "The sister relationship that I had with Vanessa was very tremendous as any other sister relationship. From her, as you can see in [the] documentary, I've learned so much even in the living, she was a person to never give up.

"She was a person to be strong and from those two criteria, I've learned till this day, and especially during her disappearance and death, to not give up to fight and to be brave enough to speak up, because she wasn't given the right to speak up," she said.

"The passion that she had for sports and the passion she had for us as a family is the same passion that I would like to share with the world because no one deserves to die the way she did," Lupe added.

"No one deserves to live the way she did at that military base, and the only thing I have left is to leave her legacy because she deserves it more than anyone else."

I Am Vanessa Guillen is streaming on Netflix now.