Two witnesses had seen Robinson roll a black cargo box out of the arms room and through the parking lot, where he loaded it into his car and drove away, contradicting an earlier affidavit from three soldiers who falsely claimed they had seen Guillen departing the arms room earlier. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. But advocates for. By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. 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. Killeen was named after another disappointing man: Frank Killeen, an assistant general manager to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. After the public remonstrations began, Fort Hood launched something it called Operation Phantom Action, a weeklong retreat of sorts that was meant to rebuild trust between soldiers and the leadership. 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. Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. It was a "heartrending, searing experience," central Texas historian Gra'Delle Duncan said, "leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some" from the psychic devastation that followed. Shelby Tyler Jones, 20, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound at 3:45 a.m. Sunday, March 1, 2020, outside of a convenience store on Fort Hood Street. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. Four days later, an anonymous tip directed investigators to an urban prairie at the end of a residential street where Penny Morales used to live. Through social media posts, court records, and other primary sources, author Kathleen Hale forensically reconstructs their lives before the crime, and the night they were killed. Texas Death Records, 1890-1976 includes scanned copies of the death certificates Texas Death Records, 1977-1986 includes digitized copies of the death certificates; not yet complete. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. = Link to a CAC-required sites . I will tell you everything, he told his mother. (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . Maxwell Hockin, 26, joined the U.S. Army in 2017. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. Most of the groups were aboveboard, even as they were ruled by certain strictures for meeting attendance, dress code, and how to appropriately signal respect. PUBLISHED 10:53 AM CT Mar. This was true of many I met at Fort Hood, including press officer Major Gabriela Thompson, my tour guide on base, who told me she joined to pay off her student loans: "It was my ticket out," she said, echoing other soldiers' sentiments about how the military had rescued them from hardscrabble existences. After 10 torturous weeks and growing. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. He died the evening of September 2. If not, what explained the false accounting? (There was also literal toxicity on base in that some of the mold-infested barracks where soldiers lived were technically condemned, according to Maureen Elliott, a military spouse and a housing advocate.). In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me, Rodriguez told me. Just before noon, Guillen left her keys, Army ID, and bank cards in one arms room and entered another adjacent arms room, separated by a hallway. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillen's other sister Yovana, and Yovana's boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. Next I passed Club Dreams, where Specialist Shelby Jones was shot, bled out, and died last March; then Guns Galore, where Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan purchased a semiautomatic pistol that he would use to kill 13 people in 2009. More than 90 lawmakers earlier this month called for an independent review of how the Army handled the disappearance of Spc. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. That an overwhelming majority of the town's economy comes from Fort Hood makes Killeen a kind of rentier state, in that most of its revenue comes through a foreign entity, which historically has led to the collapse of domestic industries, leading to increased dependence on a single source of income. More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecranss Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. Why hadn't the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? 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 Killeen's seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. Escorts should be arranged in advance to allow for coordination with the organization receiving coverage. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. The back-to-back deaths come just four months after two congressional committees launched probes into the high number of deaths at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, in 2020, highlighted by the . On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). Ever since returning from a deployment to Iraq in February 2019shipped off two months after basic training for a nine-month tourRing had become withdrawn, developed a drinking problem, and had been arrested for drunk driving. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. March 1, 2023 (94 years old) View obituary. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. I guess my point is, Rodriguez told me, if everything was fine, the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . After the public remonstrations began, Fort Hood launched something it called Operation Phantom Action, a weeklong retreat of sorts that was meant to rebuild trust between soldiers and the leadership. February 26, 2023 (50 years old) View obituary. 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. That psychological trauma among veterans vastly exceeds physical wounds. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillens murder in those 40 minutes? By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. Just before noon, Guillen left her keys, Army ID, and bank cards in one arms room and entered another adjacent arms room, separated by a hallway. And being mission-ready, the perpetual vigilance it requires, ensures a kind of endless possibility of war, which in turn justifies the $740 billion annual defense budget. "For nothing.". The figures coming out of the deaths at Fort Hood are depressing, as reported in Vanity Fair. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. Hockin was found dead behind his company barracks. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. All are former soldiers. These figures eclipse American casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same year. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. THE MURDERS AT FORT HOOD Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. They are part of Killeens population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. Maxwell Hockin, the Central . 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. "And how well will that look on your resume? 22.4 (births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age) Infant Mortality Rate. Is it possible Elder killed himself? In January 2017, Fox News cited reports to say the Army and local police were probing deaths of 11 Fort Hood soldiers who died on and off the base in the months before under mysterious circumstances, as per reports. Creating an obituary on Echovita is free. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillen's remains were later found. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. He had then driven the body to the Leon River and had come back to pick Aguilar up from the gas station where she worked on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, five miles east of Fort Hood. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood? The new family, like more than 70 percent of all Fort Hood service members, lived off post, but after two dead bodies were found on their street, they moved into base housing. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? Alvis Franklin Bentley. Vanessa Guillen. There, Wedel-Morales's remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. October 14, 2021 Ryan Morgan. First came the British and Germans. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. After a chase along Rancier Avenue, the same street near which Lovell was found dead, Robinson shot himself and died. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? Garrison Policies and Regulations. Oct 13, 2021 An official Army photo of Spc.
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