Woman Connected to Murder of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen Pleads Guilty to Accessory Charges

More than two years after the brutal murder of Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen, the only person to be charged in connection to her death has pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact and three other charges.

Guillen, who was 20 at the time, disappeared from Fort Hood Army base in Texas on April 22, 2020. Her remains were discovered on June 30, and investigators determined she’d been bludgeoned to death on the base by another soldier, Aaron David Robinson, who then dismembered and hid her body elsewhere. Robinson, who was in custody at the time, escaped and fled, and later killed himself with a handgun when law enforcement attempted to capture him.

Cecily Aguilar was Robinson’s girlfriend and investigators accused her of helping Robinson dismember Guillen and hide her remains. Aguilar was arrested on July 2 and told investigators that Robinson murdered Guillen to conceal his relationship with Aguilar.

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On Tuesday, Aguilar pleaded guilty to accessory to murder after the fact, and three counts of making false statements. According to federal prosecutors, she engaged in “corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating and concealing evidence.”

Complicating the matter, Guillen told her mother before her murder that she had been sexually harassed by an Army sergeant and that complaints had been dismissed by her superiors in the Army. The investigation into her death exposed deep problems in the military regarding sexual harassment and led directly to President Joe Biden declaring sexual harassment as specific crime under the uniform code of military justice.

The case was detailed in the Netflix documentary “I Am Vanessa Guillen,” which tracks her family’s efforts to achieve justice for Guillen. It debuted on Nov. 17.