July 21, 2022 • 36 mins
This week, we discuss the the disappearance of Army solider Vanessa Guillen in 2020. Guillen, who was stationed at Fort Hood, was eventually found dead a few miles from the base. And her killer was a fellow soldier.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio. We are your host. I'm Rashia Pecuerero.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
And I am even genteel and we are here as
always with our amazing producer Trevor Young.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Howdy howdy, Hey, Texon always comes out.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So, rash what's going on with my beautiful niece, Leilani Rose?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Like what? Leilani Rose is currently sequestered up in her
room because she has COVID and her moms do not.
I had it not that long ago, so I'm the
only one that's kind of around or like allowed around
her with my mask on. But vana's a compromise, so
she cannot be around her.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yay, yay, I mean I've had it. Trevor, did you
get COVID?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Oh? I got it? Just a couple of weeks ago
for the first time. It was not fun.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Did you do know how you got it? Because I
know I got it from my sister event, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Rassia, I have no idea. I mean, so we're in
this kind of weird space now where masks are pretty
much like suggested, but not mandatory anywhere anymore, right, right,
So I don't know. You can get it anywhere now.
You can get it at the grocery store, you know,
even if you are wearing a mask yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, yeah, I wear them everywhere.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So I have no idea. But I don't want to
do it again.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, no, neither do I. And again I don't know
where I got it either, Russia, I know. Okay, enough
of our COVID stories, Trevor, will you takes due today's case.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
For the first time, new court documents reveal a possible
motive for Vanessa Gean's murder.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
The meanings of Skadi were useless.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
There was no new information, and for them not to
give us an answer was like the problem is inside.
The high profile case sparked new rules about sexual assault
in the military. How can she go missing on a
military base?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's ridiculous, go find her and better find her. On
April twenty second, twenty twenty, not long after the start
of the COVID pandemic, twenty year old U. S. Army
soldier Vanessa Geen went missing. Vanessa had been stationed at
Fort Hood, Texas, and her time there had been difficult.
(02:44):
There were rumors that another soldier there had been harassing her.
She told her mother that she was being stalked and
sexually assaulted, but nothing had been done about it, and
after she went missing, the military base did little to
investigate the disappearance. Then, about two months later, her dismembered
body was found inside cement near the Leon River a
(03:07):
few miles away. It quickly became clear that the man
who had been harassing her, another soldier named Aaron Robinson,
was her killer. He was shortly detained by military base personnel,
but then he escaped. He found a car and drove
it off of the base. The authorities gave chase, and
(03:28):
he was eventually cornered and trapped. Robinson then shot and
killed himself. So why didn't Fort Hood do more to
investigate Vanessa's disappearance? How many other cases are there like hers?
And what does her story reveal to us about sexism
in the military, an issue that quite often leads to violence.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So I remember hearing about this case as it was
happening in twenty twenty. I mean, we were all witness
seeing horrible things happening, you know, with COVID and all
sorts of things. But as if things weren't bad enough
in the world, we were watching this tragedy unfold at
Fort Hood and this story was all over the news.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, I saw it all over social media and of
course the news. But let's be real, I get most
of my news from social media. But what grabbed me
and made me so grossed out was the negligence of
the Fortthood military base. Obviously, of course, the crime itself
(04:37):
was gruesome and terrible, but I kept thinking about how
all of this could have been avoided in the first place.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I know exactly. I mean, this is this is why
we're talking about this case, especially being female in the military.
I mean, we know how challenging that is. In this
case brings up an issue that we need to bring
more attention to. So Trevor, I know you have some statistics.
Can you just tell us what those numbers are?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Sure, here's a bit of research for you. So one
of the things we found was a recent survey done
by George Mason University, and they found that sixty eight
percent of women said they had experienced gender discrimination in
the military, and sixty six percent said they had experienced
sexual harassment or assault. It also showed that in twenty seventeen,
(05:26):
five two hundred and seventy seven service members reported being
sexually assaulted during their time in the military, compared to
just four seven hundred and ninety four the year prior
twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's crazy to me. It's so wild that most people
who are not in the military do not know about
this or don't realize how bad it actually is. But
I think that Vanessa's story is such an eye opener,
and I think it gives us a glimpse into the
realities of what it's like being a woman in the military.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Exactly rash. So let's just jump into it then, So, Trevor,
can you please tell us about Vanessa's life and her background,
just give us some information on Vanessa.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, of course. So Vanessa was born on September thirtieth,
nineteen ninety nine, in Houston, Texas. Her parents were Rohaleo
and Gloria gian and they were from Zacatecas State in Mexico.
Vanessa was one of six siblings, so pretty big family.
And by all accounts, Vanessa had a pretty normal, big
family sort of upbringing. And in twenty eighteen she graduated
(06:39):
from Caesar Shaves High School, where she was in the
top fifteen percent of her class, so pretty gifted kid.
Then in June of twenty eighteen, right after she graduated,
Vanessa enlisted in the Army. She trained as a ninety
one F which essentially is a small arms and artillery repairer,
so they work with weapons, and she was stationed at
(07:00):
Fort Hood in Colleen, Texas, one of the biggest military
bases in the country. And by all accounts, she was independent,
strong willed, and according to her friend Ashley Massias, and
listened in the army to prove herself and others that
she was capable of really anything.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Basically, it sounds like she was a badass. She was
a badass, I mean really Unfortunately, though, I think Vanessa
got a lot more than she signed up for. While
at Fort Hood, Vanessa told her mother that she didn't
feel safe there. She didn't feel safe at Fort Hood,
and she actually told her that one sergeant in particular
(07:38):
had been regularly sexually harassing her.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I remember reading that her mother, Gloria said that she
kept asking Vanessa to give her the name of that
particular sergeant, that Vanessa wouldn't do it. I mean, for me,
when I think about this story and just you know,
doing the research, I really feel like Vanessa was scared
to tell her mom because she if she would tell
her mom, like her mom was going to raise Hill right,
(08:03):
like she was going to find out what was going on,
what was happening to her daughter. I mean, what do
you guys think. Do you think she was embarrassed or
she didn't want to stir up trouble at the military.
What do you guys think?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
To me? I think she was intimidated by the sort
of military personnel and the sort of politics that happened
on military basis. I have a feeling she knew that
it probably wouldn't go well for her to rite out
a fellow soldier, especially somebody that was a superior. I
think Fort Hood was really good about creating a culture
(08:37):
of silence inside the base. You know, they didn't really
want any sort of drama. To me, I think she
was just kind of like, you know, why bother you know,
they're not going to really do anything about it anyways,
even if I speak up and say something.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So I can totally see that, but it makes me
so sad that you know that she possibly felt that way.
You know, I was reading that Vanessa told her mom
that the base was quote unquote evil and that she
was actually having trouble sleeping at night, and she never had,
you know, trouble sleeping before. I'm sure all of everything
(09:11):
that you both said, you know, made it so that
she didn't want to come forward. But it's interesting to
me that, you know, she said that the base was evil.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And I'll say somebody from Texas people talk about Fort
Hood in not so flattering terms. I think it's kind
of one of those places you know, you kind of avoid,
like the play Colleen especially, like.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Has it always had a bad rap?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, it's just kind of like a small town with
not a lot going on other than the base, and
it's just like kind of joyless outside of the military base,
you know, and I doubt the military base provides much
joy either, So I don't know, Yeah, it's just kind
of has a weird reputation. I can't speak specifically because
I don't know anybody who's you know, been in the
(09:53):
military or gone there, but I do know that those
kind of bad vibes that you're describing are very much
like felt in the state of Texas.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, especially for you growing up there, well in Austin.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
But yeah, yeah, alrighty. So anyways, even though she wouldn't
tell her mom who he was, Vanessa did tell a friend,
and she told her friend, Sierra, that the man's name
was Aaron R. And that he most recently had walked
in on her in the shower. First of all, that's disgusting, yeah,
(10:27):
and he should have been reprimanded for.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That, oh immediately, and it could have stopped right there,
but it didn't.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Right, and then things just got even more tough for Vanessa.
In the fall of twenty nineteen, Vanessa returned home after
a brief combat training stint in the Mahabi Desert in California, Gloria.
Her mom said that her daughter was very withdrawn when
she came home, and when she asked her what the
matter was, Vanessa told her quote, I am very tired, Mommy.
(10:57):
I just want to get out of the military.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
That breaks my mind. I know.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah. Well, there was at least one good thing that
did happen in Vanessa's life, and this happened in March
of twenty twenty, and Vanessa became engaged to her longtime
boyfriend one Cruise, But that was, of course, just a
month or so before she went missing. And Cruise saw
Vanessa for the last time on April nineteen, twenty twenty,
(11:23):
when she had to go back to Fort Hood, and
that was just three days before she went missing.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
And we'll talk about what happened after we take a
quick break.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Okay, So let's talk about that fateful day, the day
that Vanessa goes missing. So on April twenty second of
twenty twenty, Vanessa is working in the arms room on
the base and she sent her last communication, which was
a text, at ten twenty three am. She sent a
text confirming the serial number of a machine gun. She
(12:00):
was then last seen around one pm in a parking
lot at Fort Hood. Her barracks room key, her car keys,
her wallet, and her ID were all left behind in
the arms room where she worked.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Right, And that's already suspicious. I mean, people don't just
leave their wallet and car keys behind right. Anyways, So
around six pm, a good friend of hers name Tay
high Tower says he went looking for her. Her roommate
didn't know where she was, and her jeep was still
parked in the parking lot. So high Tower, of course,
is starting to get suspicious. And then around ten pm,
(12:36):
High Tower found out that the last person she'd worked
with in the arms room was specialist Aaron Robinson. This
would appear to be the same Aaron R that Vanessa
had told her friend Sierra about. So Vanessa was a
private first class and that would mean that Aaron Robinson
was technically ranked above her as a specialist. High Tower
(12:56):
says that he called Robinson and Robinson acted like he
had just woke up, and he denied even talking to
Vanessa that day, which seems already incredibly unlikely.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I mean, come on, like, we all know, like he's lying.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I mean, at least be like, oh, the last time
I saw her was, you know, in the arms room.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
This is baffling. I mean, anyone with a brain, right,
it would be clear by now that this guy is
responsible for whatever he's already done to her, Right, Yeah, okay,
let me just calm down, You're okay. So we now
know that Vanessa was summoned in the late morning by
(13:36):
Robinson to the armory room. Okay, she read him serial numbers,
and he supposedly gave her orders to service some weapons.
So the whole thing about him not talking to her
or knowing where she was is boushit complete and utter bullshit.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Keep in mind, you know documents that were reviewed later,
much later after the fact, about like where he was
that day, So at the time it's not confirmed that said, like,
there should have been some record of where he was working,
like on a call sheet or something.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
But you know, don't you think because it's a military base, right,
you would think everything's documented.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
But you would think there are cameras everywhere to know
who is coming and going from which area.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Right, Yeah, I have a hard time believing that an
arms room at Fort Hood doesn't have some CCTV on it,
I'm exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So, after High Tower was looking for Vanessa, her family
by this time knows that she's gone missing. So then
Vanessa's sisters and her fiance drove up together from Houston
that night. They arrived at Fort Hood at about two
thirty am in the morning and officials made them wait
(14:53):
until nine am to enter. So finally they met with
military police that day, but learned nothing, nada about what
had happened to Vanessa. So of course, you know, Vanessa's
family immediately thought her disappearance was suspicious. They didn't trust
(15:14):
the army's investigation efforts at all, and they felt like
they were being completely left in the dark, which they
were one hundred million percent.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, they weren't being super well taken care of. I mean,
being forced to wait until nine am to enter the
base that's just there for like seven hours, is yeah, unreasonable.
So one more thing to note here is that during
this time, there were actually two people, two witnesses, who
actually saw Robinson pulling a very large what they call
a tough box which is just like a big container
(15:45):
box on wheels, and it looked really heavy. So he
was coming out of the arms room, the same room
where he worked and where Vanessa was, with this box,
and then he loaded the box into his vehicle and
drove away, presumably off the base.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So I mean, come on, guys like you me, Trevor,
we would all think that boom, slam dunk, this is
the guy, right.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
No, they don't. Instead, on April twenty fourth, the Army
officially declares Vanessa to be a wall, which is short
for absent without official leave. And at the time of
set announcement, there was also no active protocols in place
for missing soldiers at Fort Hood, and also, since this
was the very start of the COVID pandemic, the base
(16:31):
was running at a limited capacity and was far less
active than normal, basically meaning they're not really planning on
devoting any resources to Vanessa's disappearance.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Which is so heartbreaking and one of the many failures
in my humble opinion of Fort Hood. But they did
at least interview Robinson, who said that Vanessa actually left
the armed room that day without him, then he went
to spend the night with his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, off
the base. So investigators said that Aguilar backed up Robinson's
(17:05):
alibi and they took it at face value, and then
they just left Robinson alone. And then for a few
months nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Supposedly the investigations like ongoing, but there's not really any developments.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Right, So, yeah, this is about when I started hearing
about it on the news, and I remember it was
probably in mid June and I remember hearing that the
Army had raised the reward for info about Vanessa from
twenty five thousand to fifty thousand. And also there was
a rapper by the name of baby Bash, and I
remember that because he's from the Bay Area, Valeo born,
(17:43):
and he added another five thousand dollars to the reward.
And also the actress sel Mahayak posted about it. She
put up photos of Vanessa on her Instagram page every
single day.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I think it's wonderful that people like Baby Bash and
Samahayak were using platform for good. And I have to
commend Vanessa's family because they created the hashtag find Vanessa
gain and I really think they're the ones that propelled
finding Vanessa forward. I'm one of the people that love
social media. Of course, you know there's times where you
(18:19):
do want to turn it off, but I think this
is one of the times where it was so impactful.
I think it's one of the reasons I think that
Vanessa eventually was found.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, I never really saw the celebrity stuff, but I
did see the hashtag going around.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You know, this is like not long after the George
Floyd Yep YEP incidents were going on. So I think
there was definitely a big rallying around social media as
a way to, you know, raise awareness of certain issues
at that time. So, as you mentioned, there was a
bit of tree shaking, and then it would be about
two months after she went missing that they would finally
(18:59):
find something. Of course, by then it was too late,
so we need to take another break real quick. But
when we come back, we'll talk about what happened after
they found Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So on June twenty third of twenty twenty, two months
after Vanessa's disappearance, the Army finally announces that they believe
foul play is involved, like the Just a week later,
on June thirtieth, partial human remains were discovered along the
(19:37):
Leon River in Bell County, Texas. So apparently investigators had
already searched the Leon River but they didn't have any
luck at that time. But on this particular day, there
were contractors that were working on a fence when they
smelled a very horrible odor nearby, and so they reported it.
(19:59):
They called the police, and soon the Texas Rangers and
Fort Hood c ID, which are the Criminal Investigation Division
from Fort Hood, they were all soon on the scene.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Right and it's weird to me that it had to
be contractors, right, not even lawn right, I found this,
But anyways, you can probably guess what they found. They
found three different shallow graves of human remains that had
been buried and covered in concrete, and in one of
them there was a lock of hair that was sticking
(20:31):
out of the concrete.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I can't even imagine, like you have this like horrible odor, right,
and then to discover that, like, I can't even imagine
being the person who found her.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Yeah, So with all of these developments, investigators start looking
again at Aaron Robinson, and they go to his girlfriend,
Cecily Aguilar, and then she, okay, get this, flat out
admits that Robinson told her that he did indeed kill
(21:06):
Vanessa Gean, and she also says she even saw Vanessa's
remains in the tough box that he carded out of
the arms room where he claimed to kill her.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And she still stayed with him and.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
She's only been with him for two months. Oh that
I've only been in a relationship for two months.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I totally forgot about that because she was married to
somebody else and dating him.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, but now you're going to someone you hardly even
know you're gonna be an accessory to murder.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, so this gets weirder. Robinson also told her that
he struck Vanessa multiple times with a hammer in that
said arms room. Aguilar even said that she drove with
him to the Leon River to help him dispose of
the body. So she told investigators that they actively he
dismembered the body. They dug the three separate graves, and
(22:03):
then they came back two days later to bury them
and cover them with concrete.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Jesus, that's I mean, I'm like totally disgusted, of course,
but one good thing I can say that Aguilar did,
at least at this point, she actually starts working with
police and she makes a recorded phone call to her
boyfriend Robinson while police listen in. And although they don't
(22:30):
get much, he never actually denies anything that they did
to gienn So he didn't fully admit anything, but he
didn't deny it either.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
I mean, but you'd think after all this that they
would finally arrest him, right, But no, no they don't,
and for whatever reason, Robinson was still not arrested. Instead,
he was put underwatch at Fort Hood with an unarmed
guard that was keeping an eye on him, but he
(23:03):
was also left to keep his cell phone.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
That's just ridiculous, Trevor.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Why can you tell me why.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Why they would let him keep his cell phone. That's
unbelievable to me. I cannot believe that if they thought
he was responsible for murder, that they would give him
any form of communication to the outside world. And this
becomes a problem later because he kind of finds out
about this, right So, I mean, really, all you can
call what they're doing now is just lightly detaining him.
(23:31):
There were a couple officers who expressed concern that he
might run or flee, and you know, they texted a
few people amongst themselves at the base that should he
try to flee, that they should quote unquote tackle his
ass if he, you know, ran away. But in a
moment of again comedic incompetence, that order about tackling him
(23:52):
was not given to the person guarding Robinson at that time.
He was left out of the conversation, and so of
course Robinson kind of figures out what's going on and
he runs for it. He just runs out of the room,
he escapes and off he goats.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
They're holding him. That's in air quotes okay, and off
he goes.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, clearly not very hard.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I loved what you said, Trevor, comedic incompetence.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Either it's comedic incompetent or somebody was helping him.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I mean, I'd say it's totally plausible that they're actively
thinking of ways to cover up the situation in this time.
I do think that makes a lot of sense. I
think this, you know, Bass has already proven that they're
very risk averse and don't like bad pr and they
don't like anything getting off the base. You know, that's
like the whole culture that they've built around Fort Hood.
(24:47):
So I bet in this moment, what they're thinking is like, Okay,
clearly something bad happened here, how do we keep this
from getting out? Of course, do we keep you know,
Robinson under control and calm and safe and you know,
we'll make sure everything's taken care of. But then he
clearly has other ideas, right right, And they weren't prepared
for that.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
No, they were so not prepared that he got into
a car and he drove off the base. I know
at least one person I guess was chasing him, but
nobody caught him. So I mean I'll give them the
benefit of the doubt that they were in COVID, probably
had a skeleton crew, right, I.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Mean, yes, it definitely it was during COVID. But still right,
you're on a base, you are still on a military.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
And you're holding someone who may have murdered someone.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
To me, the weirdest thing is, regardless of how many
people you have working, there's still a line of communication
that has to be carried down through your ranks, especially
like the person most you know relevant to the situation,
which would be the person guarding him. You know, even
if you can only spare one person, that doesn't mean
that that one person should be like left out of
(25:57):
the sort of reality of the situation.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, and what about the front gate? Like I've been
on an off military basis just to play softball, like
the typical lesbian that I am. But you can't just
drive off a military base like you have to check
in at a gate. Like they don't just be like,
oh here by, see you later.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yeah, it doesn't. That little thing doesn't go up just
because you drive close, you know, and it opens up.
You have to get permission to come on and go
off the base. So that's what's so alarming.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
So his girlfriend Cecily Aguilar. After Robinson made it off
the base, she helped police to figure out where he
was actually hiding, and about two hours after he left
Fort Hood, in the middle of a street, authorities converged
on Robinson. Robinson then pulled out a gun and shot
(26:52):
and killed himself rather than be arrested for the murder
of Vanessa Giann.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
So, with Robinson now dead, we should probably tell you
very briefly what happened to his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar. So
on July thirteenth, twenty twenty one, Aguilar was indicted by
a federal grand jury on eleven counts related to Vanessa's murder.
So some of the charges that were listening in that
indictment involve Aguilar's role in being an accessory after the fact,
(27:22):
of course, including destroying the body of Vanessa as we
talked about, as well as some of the records are
documents and issuing false statements in the federal case. So,
on July fourteenth, Aguilar pleaded not guilty to the three
counts of conspiracy to tamper with evidence, which is bizarre,
but as of now, as of today, at the time
(27:43):
of this recording. She is still awaiting a trial date.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I'd like to take a minute to talk about Fort
Hood and how they responded to this entire situation, and
of course, I think the broader conversation that needs to
be had about sexism in the military, because I think
Vanessa's story is an unfortunate reality for so many women
who serve in all branches of the military. We mentioned,
(28:10):
you know, some statistics at the beginning of the episode,
but it's clear that there is a long standing culture
of a patriarchy and of male dominance and sexism that
is prevalent in our United States Armed forces.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Absolutely rush and there are serious issues at Fort Hood.
In fact, there have been shocking number of crimes committed
there in many of which are still unsolved or under investigated.
For instance, like the death of Laurence Schrader in two
thousand and seven, where he died from dehydration and hypothermia.
(28:49):
And you know, in every case we go when we
research and I was looking up Lawrence's name and it
would not pop up, like I could not find it,
and how I mean, that's so sad. You know, There's
also been two mass shootings and a number of suicides
at Fort Hood.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
So I go back to what.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Vanessa was feeling and what she told her mom about
how she felt that that base was evil, And to me,
it just feels like there's evil that is festering or
that has been festering on this particular land for a
long long time, and all of this needs to be
(29:34):
brought to the light.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
And it would appear that the numbers tend to back
up that claim. According to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, Fort
Hood actually has one of the highest crime rates in
the Army of all the bases in the country. In fact,
Vanity Fair reported that in twenty twenty alone, at least
thirty nine Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing, which
(29:56):
means that Vanessa's case was just one of many that year.
So thirteen killed themselves, five were murdered, and eleven of
those deaths still are unsolved.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And we've only heard about Vanessa.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like Avett was saying, you know,
Lawrence Trader is a case that somehow we just don't
know about and I can't find anything on and I'm
sure it's going to be just as hard for any
of those other thirty eight cases that we know little
about so sad.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I mean, I just I think of the family like
it's just it's devastating to me.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
It's all just about the way that you know, military
bases work. I think they try to be really insular,
like we've been saying, and I think they want to
kind of keep all their problems contained on their borders.
And without that kind of transparency, there's not a lot
of accountability. And that lack of accountability paired with a
(30:53):
really like sort of toxic environment, you know, this really
male dominated environment that you were describing Russia, I think
that's like, yeah, like that's a horrible combination. That's the
kind of thing you need checks and balances on, and
the fact that they've created an environment where they don't
have to have those checks and balances is super dangerous.
As we're seeing.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
There have been, though, a few changes at Fort Hood
since Vanessa's murder, so a little bit of accountability, right, So,
on December eighth of twenty twenty one, the Army announced
that fourteen senior officers would face punishment in response to
quote unquote leadership failures related to Vanessa's death, as well
(31:34):
as the potential harassment that she had faced. So that's
some good news.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Right right. I also want to read this quote from
CNN that I found the decision marks one of the
largest disciplinary actions ever taken by the Service, underscoring the
seriousness of the problems at Fort Hood and broader concerns
related to how the military as a whole is grappling
with issues of sexual assault, harassment, and violence within its ranks.
(31:59):
And I think what that's really speaking to is how
this sort of toxic culture that we've been describing impacts
female soldiers at an alarming rate, like we were talking
about at the beginning of the episode.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, okay, I am I like to
be the bearer of good news. So there is some
good news that came from Vanessa's case and all of
the attention on Fort Hood. So on December fifteenth, the
I Am Vanessa Gee in Act was passed finally by
the US Senate. Trevor, can you please tell us about this?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, So, the bill essentially strips the military's authority to
prosecute sexual assault cases if they've been accused of ignoring
complaints or sweeping them under the rug. So now soldiers
can report incidents of harassment to outside third party authorities
who can then take on the case themselves and investigate
them properly. So when the military is not doing their job,
(32:56):
there's now a separate agency who can receive these sorts
of complaints on issues and actually do something about it.
And that's great, Like, that's the accountability that we needed.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I was just about to say accountability.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yes, that's huge, that's huge.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
And the bill was signed into law by President Biden
and it took effect on January first of twenty twenty two.
And I have to say, I think it's so beautiful again.
You know me with my hashtags, the hashtag I am
Vanessa Gienne. People have been using that hashtag to report
their own sexual harassment, So even if they're not confident
(33:35):
enough to say it to authorities, they're at least doing
that on social media and they're inspired by Vanessa. So's
it's amazing. And then now there's actually a bill that's
signed into law that can help the Vanessas of the world, right,
who are too afraid to report the horrible things that
happened to them, and I love that right, or who
(33:58):
are afraid of any type of retail. Now they have
a place that they can go and people will hear them. Yes,
all right, it's time for our last segment of the day,
our emua, and that is right.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
We want to dedicate this emua to all our female
soldiers and service women who take great pride in serving
our country and protecting us. Our hope is that your
country will start to take great care and pride in you.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Absolutely, you deserve to be safe, to be respected, to
be honored, so we hope that more positive changes are
made soon to honor your needs. We want to pay
our respects to the soldiers who have been killed or
gone missing, like Vanessa. Onward and upward.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Emua emua.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Well, that's our show for today. We'd love to hear
what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a
case that you'd like us to cover, find us on
social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
And to all our servicemen and women who serve with integrity, dignity,
and honesty, we salute you and we thank you. Until
next time.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Aloha.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Pacquerero in a Vetchintile
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Donald
albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of
(36:07):
Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on
social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
(36:31):
favorite shows
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of iHeartRadio and
Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast
are solely those of the individuals participating in the show
and do not represent those of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV.
This podcast contains subject matter which may not be suitable
for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hello, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio. We are your host. I'm Rashia Pecuerero.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
And I am even genteel and we are here as
always with our amazing producer Trevor Young.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Howdy howdy, Hey, Texon always comes out.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So, rash what's going on with my beautiful niece, Leilani Rose?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Like what? Leilani Rose is currently sequestered up in her
room because she has COVID and her moms do not.
I had it not that long ago, so I'm the
only one that's kind of around or like allowed around
her with my mask on. But vana's a compromise, so
she cannot be around her.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Yay, yay, I mean I've had it. Trevor, did you
get COVID?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
Oh? I got it? Just a couple of weeks ago
for the first time. It was not fun.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Did you do know how you got it? Because I
know I got it from my sister event, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Rassia, I have no idea. I mean, so we're in
this kind of weird space now where masks are pretty
much like suggested, but not mandatory anywhere anymore, right, right,
So I don't know. You can get it anywhere now.
You can get it at the grocery store, you know,
even if you are wearing a mask yourself.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah, yeah, I wear them everywhere.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So I have no idea. But I don't want to
do it again.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, no, neither do I. And again I don't know
where I got it either, Russia, I know. Okay, enough
of our COVID stories, Trevor, will you takes due today's case.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
For the first time, new court documents reveal a possible
motive for Vanessa Gean's murder.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
The meanings of Skadi were useless.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
There was no new information, and for them not to
give us an answer was like the problem is inside.
The high profile case sparked new rules about sexual assault
in the military. How can she go missing on a
military base?
Speaker 1 (02:23):
That's ridiculous, go find her and better find her. On
April twenty second, twenty twenty, not long after the start
of the COVID pandemic, twenty year old U. S. Army
soldier Vanessa Geen went missing. Vanessa had been stationed at
Fort Hood, Texas, and her time there had been difficult.
(02:44):
There were rumors that another soldier there had been harassing her.
She told her mother that she was being stalked and
sexually assaulted, but nothing had been done about it, and
after she went missing, the military base did little to
investigate the disappearance. Then, about two months later, her dismembered
body was found inside cement near the Leon River a
(03:07):
few miles away. It quickly became clear that the man
who had been harassing her, another soldier named Aaron Robinson,
was her killer. He was shortly detained by military base personnel,
but then he escaped. He found a car and drove
it off of the base. The authorities gave chase, and
(03:28):
he was eventually cornered and trapped. Robinson then shot and
killed himself. So why didn't Fort Hood do more to
investigate Vanessa's disappearance? How many other cases are there like hers?
And what does her story reveal to us about sexism
in the military, an issue that quite often leads to violence.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
So I remember hearing about this case as it was
happening in twenty twenty. I mean, we were all witness
seeing horrible things happening, you know, with COVID and all
sorts of things. But as if things weren't bad enough
in the world, we were watching this tragedy unfold at
Fort Hood and this story was all over the news.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, I saw it all over social media and of
course the news. But let's be real, I get most
of my news from social media. But what grabbed me
and made me so grossed out was the negligence of
the Fortthood military base. Obviously, of course, the crime itself
(04:37):
was gruesome and terrible, but I kept thinking about how
all of this could have been avoided in the first place.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I know exactly. I mean, this is this is why
we're talking about this case, especially being female in the military.
I mean, we know how challenging that is. In this
case brings up an issue that we need to bring
more attention to. So Trevor, I know you have some statistics.
Can you just tell us what those numbers are?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Sure, here's a bit of research for you. So one
of the things we found was a recent survey done
by George Mason University, and they found that sixty eight
percent of women said they had experienced gender discrimination in
the military, and sixty six percent said they had experienced
sexual harassment or assault. It also showed that in twenty seventeen,
(05:26):
five two hundred and seventy seven service members reported being
sexually assaulted during their time in the military, compared to
just four seven hundred and ninety four the year prior
twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
That's crazy to me. It's so wild that most people
who are not in the military do not know about
this or don't realize how bad it actually is. But
I think that Vanessa's story is such an eye opener,
and I think it gives us a glimpse into the
realities of what it's like being a woman in the military.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Exactly rash. So let's just jump into it then, So, Trevor,
can you please tell us about Vanessa's life and her background,
just give us some information on Vanessa.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, of course. So Vanessa was born on September thirtieth,
nineteen ninety nine, in Houston, Texas. Her parents were Rohaleo
and Gloria gian and they were from Zacatecas State in Mexico.
Vanessa was one of six siblings, so pretty big family.
And by all accounts, Vanessa had a pretty normal, big
family sort of upbringing. And in twenty eighteen she graduated
(06:39):
from Caesar Shaves High School, where she was in the
top fifteen percent of her class, so pretty gifted kid.
Then in June of twenty eighteen, right after she graduated,
Vanessa enlisted in the Army. She trained as a ninety
one F which essentially is a small arms and artillery repairer,
so they work with weapons, and she was stationed at
(07:00):
Fort Hood in Colleen, Texas, one of the biggest military
bases in the country. And by all accounts, she was independent,
strong willed, and according to her friend Ashley Massias, and
listened in the army to prove herself and others that
she was capable of really anything.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Basically, it sounds like she was a badass. She was
a badass, I mean really Unfortunately, though, I think Vanessa
got a lot more than she signed up for. While
at Fort Hood, Vanessa told her mother that she didn't
feel safe there. She didn't feel safe at Fort Hood,
and she actually told her that one sergeant in particular
(07:38):
had been regularly sexually harassing her.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I remember reading that her mother, Gloria said that she
kept asking Vanessa to give her the name of that
particular sergeant, that Vanessa wouldn't do it. I mean, for me,
when I think about this story and just you know,
doing the research, I really feel like Vanessa was scared
to tell her mom because she if she would tell
her mom, like her mom was going to raise Hill right,
(08:03):
like she was going to find out what was going on,
what was happening to her daughter. I mean, what do
you guys think. Do you think she was embarrassed or
she didn't want to stir up trouble at the military.
What do you guys think?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
To me? I think she was intimidated by the sort
of military personnel and the sort of politics that happened
on military basis. I have a feeling she knew that
it probably wouldn't go well for her to rite out
a fellow soldier, especially somebody that was a superior. I
think Fort Hood was really good about creating a culture
(08:37):
of silence inside the base. You know, they didn't really
want any sort of drama. To me, I think she
was just kind of like, you know, why bother you know,
they're not going to really do anything about it anyways,
even if I speak up and say something.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
So I can totally see that, but it makes me
so sad that you know that she possibly felt that way.
You know, I was reading that Vanessa told her mom
that the base was quote unquote evil and that she
was actually having trouble sleeping at night, and she never had,
you know, trouble sleeping before. I'm sure all of everything
(09:11):
that you both said, you know, made it so that
she didn't want to come forward. But it's interesting to
me that, you know, she said that the base was evil.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
And I'll say somebody from Texas people talk about Fort
Hood in not so flattering terms. I think it's kind
of one of those places you know, you kind of avoid,
like the play Colleen especially, like.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Has it always had a bad rap?
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Yeah, it's just kind of like a small town with
not a lot going on other than the base, and
it's just like kind of joyless outside of the military base,
you know, and I doubt the military base provides much
joy either, So I don't know, Yeah, it's just kind
of has a weird reputation. I can't speak specifically because
I don't know anybody who's you know, been in the
(09:53):
military or gone there, but I do know that those
kind of bad vibes that you're describing are very much
like felt in the state of Texas.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, especially for you growing up there, well in Austin.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
But yeah, yeah, alrighty. So anyways, even though she wouldn't
tell her mom who he was, Vanessa did tell a friend,
and she told her friend, Sierra, that the man's name
was Aaron R. And that he most recently had walked
in on her in the shower. First of all, that's disgusting, yeah,
(10:27):
and he should have been reprimanded for.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That, oh immediately, and it could have stopped right there,
but it didn't.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Right, and then things just got even more tough for Vanessa.
In the fall of twenty nineteen, Vanessa returned home after
a brief combat training stint in the Mahabi Desert in California, Gloria.
Her mom said that her daughter was very withdrawn when
she came home, and when she asked her what the
matter was, Vanessa told her quote, I am very tired, Mommy.
(10:57):
I just want to get out of the military.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
That breaks my mind. I know.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
Yeah. Well, there was at least one good thing that
did happen in Vanessa's life, and this happened in March
of twenty twenty, and Vanessa became engaged to her longtime
boyfriend one Cruise, But that was, of course, just a
month or so before she went missing. And Cruise saw
Vanessa for the last time on April nineteen, twenty twenty,
(11:23):
when she had to go back to Fort Hood, and
that was just three days before she went missing.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
And we'll talk about what happened after we take a
quick break.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Okay, So let's talk about that fateful day, the day
that Vanessa goes missing. So on April twenty second of
twenty twenty, Vanessa is working in the arms room on
the base and she sent her last communication, which was
a text, at ten twenty three am. She sent a
text confirming the serial number of a machine gun. She
(12:00):
was then last seen around one pm in a parking
lot at Fort Hood. Her barracks room key, her car keys,
her wallet, and her ID were all left behind in
the arms room where she worked.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Right, And that's already suspicious. I mean, people don't just
leave their wallet and car keys behind right. Anyways, So
around six pm, a good friend of hers name Tay
high Tower says he went looking for her. Her roommate
didn't know where she was, and her jeep was still
parked in the parking lot. So high Tower, of course,
is starting to get suspicious. And then around ten pm,
(12:36):
High Tower found out that the last person she'd worked
with in the arms room was specialist Aaron Robinson. This
would appear to be the same Aaron R that Vanessa
had told her friend Sierra about. So Vanessa was a
private first class and that would mean that Aaron Robinson
was technically ranked above her as a specialist. High Tower
(12:56):
says that he called Robinson and Robinson acted like he
had just woke up, and he denied even talking to
Vanessa that day, which seems already incredibly unlikely.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
I mean, come on, like, we all know, like he's lying.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
I mean, at least be like, oh, the last time
I saw her was, you know, in the arms room.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
This is baffling. I mean, anyone with a brain, right,
it would be clear by now that this guy is
responsible for whatever he's already done to her, Right, Yeah, okay,
let me just calm down, You're okay. So we now
know that Vanessa was summoned in the late morning by
(13:36):
Robinson to the armory room. Okay, she read him serial numbers,
and he supposedly gave her orders to service some weapons.
So the whole thing about him not talking to her
or knowing where she was is boushit complete and utter bullshit.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
Keep in mind, you know documents that were reviewed later,
much later after the fact, about like where he was
that day, So at the time it's not confirmed that said, like,
there should have been some record of where he was working,
like on a call sheet or something.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
But you know, don't you think because it's a military base, right,
you would think everything's documented.
Speaker 3 (14:20):
But you would think there are cameras everywhere to know
who is coming and going from which area.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Right, Yeah, I have a hard time believing that an
arms room at Fort Hood doesn't have some CCTV on it,
I'm exactly.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
So, after High Tower was looking for Vanessa, her family
by this time knows that she's gone missing. So then
Vanessa's sisters and her fiance drove up together from Houston
that night. They arrived at Fort Hood at about two
thirty am in the morning and officials made them wait
(14:53):
until nine am to enter. So finally they met with
military police that day, but learned nothing, nada about what
had happened to Vanessa. So of course, you know, Vanessa's
family immediately thought her disappearance was suspicious. They didn't trust
(15:14):
the army's investigation efforts at all, and they felt like
they were being completely left in the dark, which they
were one hundred million percent.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Yeah, they weren't being super well taken care of. I mean,
being forced to wait until nine am to enter the
base that's just there for like seven hours, is yeah, unreasonable.
So one more thing to note here is that during
this time, there were actually two people, two witnesses, who
actually saw Robinson pulling a very large what they call
a tough box which is just like a big container
(15:45):
box on wheels, and it looked really heavy. So he
was coming out of the arms room, the same room
where he worked and where Vanessa was, with this box,
and then he loaded the box into his vehicle and
drove away, presumably off the base.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
So I mean, come on, guys like you me, Trevor,
we would all think that boom, slam dunk, this is
the guy, right.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
No, they don't. Instead, on April twenty fourth, the Army
officially declares Vanessa to be a wall, which is short
for absent without official leave. And at the time of
set announcement, there was also no active protocols in place
for missing soldiers at Fort Hood, and also, since this
was the very start of the COVID pandemic, the base
(16:31):
was running at a limited capacity and was far less
active than normal, basically meaning they're not really planning on
devoting any resources to Vanessa's disappearance.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Which is so heartbreaking and one of the many failures
in my humble opinion of Fort Hood. But they did
at least interview Robinson, who said that Vanessa actually left
the armed room that day without him, then he went
to spend the night with his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, off
the base. So investigators said that Aguilar backed up Robinson's
(17:05):
alibi and they took it at face value, and then
they just left Robinson alone. And then for a few
months nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Supposedly the investigations like ongoing, but there's not really any developments.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Right, So, yeah, this is about when I started hearing
about it on the news, and I remember it was
probably in mid June and I remember hearing that the
Army had raised the reward for info about Vanessa from
twenty five thousand to fifty thousand. And also there was
a rapper by the name of baby Bash, and I
remember that because he's from the Bay Area, Valeo born,
(17:43):
and he added another five thousand dollars to the reward.
And also the actress sel Mahayak posted about it. She
put up photos of Vanessa on her Instagram page every
single day.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
I think it's wonderful that people like Baby Bash and
Samahayak were using platform for good. And I have to
commend Vanessa's family because they created the hashtag find Vanessa
gain and I really think they're the ones that propelled
finding Vanessa forward. I'm one of the people that love
social media. Of course, you know there's times where you
(18:19):
do want to turn it off, but I think this
is one of the times where it was so impactful.
I think it's one of the reasons I think that
Vanessa eventually was found.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, I never really saw the celebrity stuff, but I
did see the hashtag going around.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:36):
You know, this is like not long after the George
Floyd Yep YEP incidents were going on. So I think
there was definitely a big rallying around social media as
a way to, you know, raise awareness of certain issues
at that time. So, as you mentioned, there was a
bit of tree shaking, and then it would be about
two months after she went missing that they would finally
(18:59):
find something. Of course, by then it was too late,
so we need to take another break real quick. But
when we come back, we'll talk about what happened after
they found Vanessa.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So on June twenty third of twenty twenty, two months
after Vanessa's disappearance, the Army finally announces that they believe
foul play is involved, like the Just a week later,
on June thirtieth, partial human remains were discovered along the
(19:37):
Leon River in Bell County, Texas. So apparently investigators had
already searched the Leon River but they didn't have any
luck at that time. But on this particular day, there
were contractors that were working on a fence when they
smelled a very horrible odor nearby, and so they reported it.
(19:59):
They called the police, and soon the Texas Rangers and
Fort Hood c ID, which are the Criminal Investigation Division
from Fort Hood, they were all soon on the scene.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Right and it's weird to me that it had to
be contractors, right, not even lawn right, I found this,
But anyways, you can probably guess what they found. They
found three different shallow graves of human remains that had
been buried and covered in concrete, and in one of
them there was a lock of hair that was sticking
(20:31):
out of the concrete.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
I can't even imagine, like you have this like horrible odor, right,
and then to discover that, like, I can't even imagine
being the person who found her.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Yeah, So with all of these developments, investigators start looking
again at Aaron Robinson, and they go to his girlfriend,
Cecily Aguilar, and then she, okay, get this, flat out
admits that Robinson told her that he did indeed kill
(21:06):
Vanessa Gean, and she also says she even saw Vanessa's
remains in the tough box that he carded out of
the arms room where he claimed to kill her.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
And she still stayed with him and.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
She's only been with him for two months. Oh that
I've only been in a relationship for two months.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
I totally forgot about that because she was married to
somebody else and dating him.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Yeah, but now you're going to someone you hardly even
know you're gonna be an accessory to murder.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
Yeah, so this gets weirder. Robinson also told her that
he struck Vanessa multiple times with a hammer in that
said arms room. Aguilar even said that she drove with
him to the Leon River to help him dispose of
the body. So she told investigators that they actively he
dismembered the body. They dug the three separate graves, and
(22:03):
then they came back two days later to bury them
and cover them with concrete.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Jesus, that's I mean, I'm like totally disgusted, of course,
but one good thing I can say that Aguilar did,
at least at this point, she actually starts working with
police and she makes a recorded phone call to her
boyfriend Robinson while police listen in. And although they don't
(22:30):
get much, he never actually denies anything that they did
to gienn So he didn't fully admit anything, but he
didn't deny it either.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
I mean, but you'd think after all this that they
would finally arrest him, right, But no, no they don't,
and for whatever reason, Robinson was still not arrested. Instead,
he was put underwatch at Fort Hood with an unarmed
guard that was keeping an eye on him, but he
(23:03):
was also left to keep his cell phone.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
That's just ridiculous, Trevor.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Why can you tell me why.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Why they would let him keep his cell phone. That's
unbelievable to me. I cannot believe that if they thought
he was responsible for murder, that they would give him
any form of communication to the outside world. And this
becomes a problem later because he kind of finds out
about this, right So, I mean, really, all you can
call what they're doing now is just lightly detaining him.
(23:31):
There were a couple officers who expressed concern that he
might run or flee, and you know, they texted a
few people amongst themselves at the base that should he
try to flee, that they should quote unquote tackle his
ass if he, you know, ran away. But in a
moment of again comedic incompetence, that order about tackling him
(23:52):
was not given to the person guarding Robinson at that time.
He was left out of the conversation, and so of
course Robinson kind of figures out what's going on and
he runs for it. He just runs out of the room,
he escapes and off he goats.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
They're holding him. That's in air quotes okay, and off
he goes.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, clearly not very hard.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
I loved what you said, Trevor, comedic incompetence.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Either it's comedic incompetent or somebody was helping him.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
I mean, I'd say it's totally plausible that they're actively
thinking of ways to cover up the situation in this time.
I do think that makes a lot of sense. I
think this, you know, Bass has already proven that they're
very risk averse and don't like bad pr and they
don't like anything getting off the base. You know, that's
like the whole culture that they've built around Fort Hood.
(24:47):
So I bet in this moment, what they're thinking is like, Okay,
clearly something bad happened here, how do we keep this
from getting out? Of course, do we keep you know,
Robinson under control and calm and safe and you know,
we'll make sure everything's taken care of. But then he
clearly has other ideas, right right, And they weren't prepared
for that.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
No, they were so not prepared that he got into
a car and he drove off the base. I know
at least one person I guess was chasing him, but
nobody caught him. So I mean I'll give them the
benefit of the doubt that they were in COVID, probably
had a skeleton crew, right, I.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Mean, yes, it definitely it was during COVID. But still right,
you're on a base, you are still on a military.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
And you're holding someone who may have murdered someone.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
To me, the weirdest thing is, regardless of how many
people you have working, there's still a line of communication
that has to be carried down through your ranks, especially
like the person most you know relevant to the situation,
which would be the person guarding him. You know, even
if you can only spare one person, that doesn't mean
that that one person should be like left out of
(25:57):
the sort of reality of the situation.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah, and what about the front gate? Like I've been
on an off military basis just to play softball, like
the typical lesbian that I am. But you can't just
drive off a military base like you have to check
in at a gate. Like they don't just be like,
oh here by, see you later.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Yeah, it doesn't. That little thing doesn't go up just
because you drive close, you know, and it opens up.
You have to get permission to come on and go
off the base. So that's what's so alarming.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
So his girlfriend Cecily Aguilar. After Robinson made it off
the base, she helped police to figure out where he
was actually hiding, and about two hours after he left
Fort Hood, in the middle of a street, authorities converged
on Robinson. Robinson then pulled out a gun and shot
(26:52):
and killed himself rather than be arrested for the murder
of Vanessa Giann.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
So, with Robinson now dead, we should probably tell you
very briefly what happened to his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar. So
on July thirteenth, twenty twenty one, Aguilar was indicted by
a federal grand jury on eleven counts related to Vanessa's murder.
So some of the charges that were listening in that
indictment involve Aguilar's role in being an accessory after the fact,
(27:22):
of course, including destroying the body of Vanessa as we
talked about, as well as some of the records are
documents and issuing false statements in the federal case. So,
on July fourteenth, Aguilar pleaded not guilty to the three
counts of conspiracy to tamper with evidence, which is bizarre,
but as of now, as of today, at the time
(27:43):
of this recording. She is still awaiting a trial date.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
I'd like to take a minute to talk about Fort
Hood and how they responded to this entire situation, and
of course, I think the broader conversation that needs to
be had about sexism in the military, because I think
Vanessa's story is an unfortunate reality for so many women
who serve in all branches of the military. We mentioned,
(28:10):
you know, some statistics at the beginning of the episode,
but it's clear that there is a long standing culture
of a patriarchy and of male dominance and sexism that
is prevalent in our United States Armed forces.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Absolutely rush and there are serious issues at Fort Hood.
In fact, there have been shocking number of crimes committed
there in many of which are still unsolved or under investigated.
For instance, like the death of Laurence Schrader in two
thousand and seven, where he died from dehydration and hypothermia.
(28:49):
And you know, in every case we go when we
research and I was looking up Lawrence's name and it
would not pop up, like I could not find it,
and how I mean, that's so sad. You know, There's
also been two mass shootings and a number of suicides
at Fort Hood.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
So I go back to what.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
Vanessa was feeling and what she told her mom about
how she felt that that base was evil, And to me,
it just feels like there's evil that is festering or
that has been festering on this particular land for a
long long time, and all of this needs to be
(29:34):
brought to the light.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
And it would appear that the numbers tend to back
up that claim. According to Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, Fort
Hood actually has one of the highest crime rates in
the Army of all the bases in the country. In fact,
Vanity Fair reported that in twenty twenty alone, at least
thirty nine Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing, which
(29:56):
means that Vanessa's case was just one of many that year.
So thirteen killed themselves, five were murdered, and eleven of
those deaths still are unsolved.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
And we've only heard about Vanessa.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like Avett was saying, you know,
Lawrence Trader is a case that somehow we just don't
know about and I can't find anything on and I'm
sure it's going to be just as hard for any
of those other thirty eight cases that we know little
about so sad.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
I mean, I just I think of the family like
it's just it's devastating to me.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
It's all just about the way that you know, military
bases work. I think they try to be really insular,
like we've been saying, and I think they want to
kind of keep all their problems contained on their borders.
And without that kind of transparency, there's not a lot
of accountability. And that lack of accountability paired with a
(30:53):
really like sort of toxic environment, you know, this really
male dominated environment that you were describing Russia, I think
that's like, yeah, like that's a horrible combination. That's the
kind of thing you need checks and balances on, and
the fact that they've created an environment where they don't
have to have those checks and balances is super dangerous.
As we're seeing.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
There have been, though, a few changes at Fort Hood
since Vanessa's murder, so a little bit of accountability, right, So,
on December eighth of twenty twenty one, the Army announced
that fourteen senior officers would face punishment in response to
quote unquote leadership failures related to Vanessa's death, as well
(31:34):
as the potential harassment that she had faced. So that's
some good news.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Right right. I also want to read this quote from
CNN that I found the decision marks one of the
largest disciplinary actions ever taken by the Service, underscoring the
seriousness of the problems at Fort Hood and broader concerns
related to how the military as a whole is grappling
with issues of sexual assault, harassment, and violence within its ranks.
(31:59):
And I think what that's really speaking to is how
this sort of toxic culture that we've been describing impacts
female soldiers at an alarming rate, like we were talking
about at the beginning of the episode.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Well, okay, I am I like to
be the bearer of good news. So there is some
good news that came from Vanessa's case and all of
the attention on Fort Hood. So on December fifteenth, the
I Am Vanessa Gee in Act was passed finally by
the US Senate. Trevor, can you please tell us about this?
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Yeah, So, the bill essentially strips the military's authority to
prosecute sexual assault cases if they've been accused of ignoring
complaints or sweeping them under the rug. So now soldiers
can report incidents of harassment to outside third party authorities
who can then take on the case themselves and investigate
them properly. So when the military is not doing their job,
(32:56):
there's now a separate agency who can receive these sorts
of complaints on issues and actually do something about it.
And that's great, Like, that's the accountability that we needed.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
I was just about to say accountability.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Yes, that's huge, that's huge.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
And the bill was signed into law by President Biden
and it took effect on January first of twenty twenty two.
And I have to say, I think it's so beautiful again.
You know me with my hashtags, the hashtag I am
Vanessa Gienne. People have been using that hashtag to report
their own sexual harassment, So even if they're not confident
(33:35):
enough to say it to authorities, they're at least doing
that on social media and they're inspired by Vanessa. So's
it's amazing. And then now there's actually a bill that's
signed into law that can help the Vanessas of the world, right,
who are too afraid to report the horrible things that
happened to them, and I love that right, or who
(33:58):
are afraid of any type of retail. Now they have
a place that they can go and people will hear them. Yes,
all right, it's time for our last segment of the day,
our emua, and that is right.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
We want to dedicate this emua to all our female
soldiers and service women who take great pride in serving
our country and protecting us. Our hope is that your
country will start to take great care and pride in you.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Absolutely, you deserve to be safe, to be respected, to
be honored, so we hope that more positive changes are
made soon to honor your needs. We want to pay
our respects to the soldiers who have been killed or
gone missing, like Vanessa. Onward and upward.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Emua emua.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
Well, that's our show for today. We'd love to hear
what you thought about today's discussion and if there's a
case that you'd like us to cover, find us on
social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
And to all our servicemen and women who serve with integrity, dignity,
and honesty, we salute you and we thank you. Until
next time.
Speaker 2 (35:29):
Aloha.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Pacquerero in a Vetchintile
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Donald
albright In Payne Lindsay our executive producers on behalf of
(36:07):
Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico.
Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on
social media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
(36:31):
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