The exact cause of Hockin's death remains unclear . A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. 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. Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. III Corps Inspector General. 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. 20, 2021 FORT HOOD, Texas The death of Spc. For nothing.. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. That morning, Guillen had left her third-floor barracks and headed downstairs to her work station at the motor pool, a vast garage for military vehicles. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillen's death remained a mystery. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. You can click this link to create an obituary. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. I've lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, I've lost family, I've lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). After hours, media should call the Emergency Operations Center at (254) 287-2054 and ask for the on-call PAO. On most nights, I had nightmares. Joel Leal 12:18 PM, Oct 11, 2022 . "From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people," Ring wrote on the website of his father's veterans' rights organization. Joshua Diamond, 35, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Pfc. She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. Highway renamed & dedicated to late Fort Hood soldier . The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. Rodriguez sensed something was off. Washington CNN The Army announced Tuesday that 14 senior officers will be punished following a probe that was initiated after the murder of a soldier and several other deaths at the Army's. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. "You can find Osama bin Laden, but you can't find a soldier that went missing on your own base?" The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. (Marine Lance Corporal Riley Schultz's death on March 15, 2019, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was also ruled a suicide, despite his hyoid being broken. More than 2,200 trials over land rights commenced. 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. Maxwell Hockin, the Central . The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. Last December, an internal investigation found that Fort Hoods culture, environment, and leadership resulted in women feeling vulnerable and preyed upon, with no reliable recourse for their very real sense of duress. The soldiers said that Guillens belongings had been found in the arms room, but otherwise she had left no trace. 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. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. A sergeant from Guillen's division called it "mandatory fun days." Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. Jef Rouner. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. 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. Amarillo - see the Potter County section below Arlington - see the Tarrant County section below Spc. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillen's murder in those 40 minutes? Thirteen killed themselves. But then certain details start illuminating the mystery: that one out of three women soldiers have experienced sexual harassment, according to a recent survey. Here are some of the tragic deaths that have plagued the base in recent months: Pvt. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. 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. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. 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. My caution wasnt entirely unfounded. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptroller's office.). Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. There, Wedel-Moraless remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. (Marine Lance Corporal Riley Schultzs death on March 15, 2019, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was also ruled a suicide, despite his hyoid being broken. Five were murdered. The family began posting online about Guillen's disappearance and distributing "Missing" fliers. Toxic leadership is nothing new. I will tell you everything, he told his mother. Namely, the military. She pleaded not guilty. I've even lost myself." Ozempic is also used by adults with type 2 diabetes who have heart and blood vessel disease to reduce their risk of a stroke, heart attack, or death . None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. He also wanted an education, and "joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that," his sister Carma Johnson says. But advocates for. 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. Mayra wept during the journey, already fearing the worst. What is behind the violence and tragedy at Fort Hood? Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. If he killed himself, don't they want to know why?". 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Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. 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. July 2, 2022 (86 years old) View obituary Chong Thigpen November 12, 2021 (66 years old) View obituary Jaylen Tristian Bush April 3, 2021 View obituary Cecil Earl Garrison February 21, 2021 (87 years old) View obituary Daniel John Hunt January 29, 2021 (79 years old) View obituary Aage John Hoffman January 26, 2021 (86 years old) View obituary Oct 13, 2021 An official Army photo of Spc. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. Is it possible Elder was murdered? 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. Yes, flower arrangements are fulfilled and delivered by local florists from Fort Hood. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. 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." Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. 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. 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. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. How had he managed to escapeand where had he gotten his gun? Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillens death remained a mystery. 2023 Cond Nast. More than 90 lawmakers earlier this month called for an independent review of how the Army handled the disappearance of Spc. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. 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. 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. By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. 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. 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. Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. 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. "Is it possible Elder was murdered? His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. On most nights, I had nightmares. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. From here, wars are launched. The Idaho Murders, Part 1: How 4 College Kids Lived and Loved. He told his sister there were three white soldiers who did not like him. On August 28, Chee was called into a training run. The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. Lenz's mother, Margie Taylor, said her son loved children and looked forward to having a family of his own one day. These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. The military, Rodriguez said, had known about this but had refused to treat him. The Army's own investigation found "major flaws" at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. Maxwell Hockin. He told his sister there were three white soldiers who "did not like him." 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. These figures eclipse American casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same year. She doesnt belong to the Army anymore, AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillens other sister Yovana, and Yovanas boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. (He was found a day later.) Atop these sedimentary layers of desecration, displacement, and disorientation, the U.S. War Department set out to build a base that would go on to serve as a footnote to nearly every war in modern memory. (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) 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. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillen's unit, says that the training had come to feel "stupid" and "pointless." And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. Chris and Moses friends of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. October 14, 2021 Ryan Morgan. When Kim called Fort Hood inquiring after her son, she was told the case was the remit of the Killeen Police Department as Wedel-Morales had gone missing off base. First came the British and Germans. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinsons phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. 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. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) Nearly 200 miles away in Houston, Rogelio Guillen was entering his fourth hour of work at a nickel-plating factory when he felt a sharp spasm in his chest. The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillen's staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. 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?, When I asked soldiers at Fort Hood what they thought was the matter on base, they mentioned toxic leadership, a catholic term that seemed to encompass all: lack of care, general command climate, and so-called toxic masculinity. = Link to a CAC-required sites . Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. The family began posting online about Guillens disappearance and distributing Missing fliers. CID and Homeland security believe the NVGs were stolen from shipping . Fort Bragg; which has nearly double the soldier population as Fort Hood, is reporting 24 deaths so far this year, with five of them happening in accidents, one homicide, seven from illness,. Fort Hood is the Army's premier installation to train and deploy heavy forces. It installed 35 firing ranges, 18 chapels, three bowling alleys, and 1,384 barracks that would house, at its peak, 95,000 soldiers, the most densely populated military base, at a cost of $35 million. 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. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. Garrison Policies and Regulations. Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. 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. On May 11, however, Fernandes reported to Fort Hood abusive sexual contact from a staff sergeant, whom he alleged groped him in a supply room, according to the redacted military investigation report. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyer's five-year-old daughter found her father, Specialist Christopher Sawyer, 29, after he had shot himself dead in the bedroom of their Fort Hood housing. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillens murder in those 40 minutes? He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. Oct 29, 2021. By. "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. Bill to attend technical school in Houston to work on wind turbines or oil rigs off the coast of Louisiana. And how well will that look on your rsum?, Im 21 now, and let me tell you. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) 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. Sgt. 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. ", "I'm 21 now, and let me tell you. The deaths were caused by varying reasons -- gunshots, car accidents and illnesses and all the deaths were under probe. The Army said Friday, April 30, 2021, that it has taken disciplinary action against 21 officers and non-commissioned officers at Fort Hood, Texas, in connection with death last year of Spc.. All this has been true since the founding of the American military, but a sense of disorientation has increased in recent years, as wars that were never good to begin with began to lose moral shine. It is unclear if Killeen even bothered to visit his namesake town, which, by the early 1880s, comprised 40 people living across 360 acres, mostly working in the two cotton gins, two gristmills, and two saloonsit had the most saloons, gamblers, and shootings per capita in Bell County, according to historian Martha Bowmer. The numbers are distressing. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case . There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. (Penny says they met online.) Basic details of the incident kept changing. 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. 6 min read. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. The base was named after John Bell Hood, a Confederate general from a family that enslaved people in Kentucky, who made his name by breaking a Union line at Eltham's Landing in Virginia and who, by today's standards, likely suffered from PTSD. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . 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. (Penny says they met online.) I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. When Kim called Fort Hood inquiring after her son, she was told the case was the remit of the Killeen Police Department as Wedel-Morales had gone missing off base. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandess mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims families. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. 22.4 (births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age) Infant Mortality Rate. It was also an ancient Comanche Native American burial ground, discovered when construction workers unearthed more than 2,200 grave sites in 1998. Later that year, Private Dakota Lee Stump left his barracks to report for work less than a mile away but never arrived for formation. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillen's friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. 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. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. They are part of Killeens population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) 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. It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. . Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. 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. First it was a five-mile run, then it was a two-mile run. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. If she wanted to pursue things further, they advised, she would have to file a missing persons report with the local police. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. Specialist Vanessa Guillens father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldnt carry a gun. When Elisabeth Finch met Jennifer Beyer in 2019, the two women forged a fiercely loyal friendship, and eventually got married. 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. In 2018, a soldier was allegedly shot and killed in her front yard by her husband at Fort Campbell, in Kentucky, which also has one of the highest rates of suicide in the Army. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. Dont they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where hed been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. Dozens of people were killed, died by suicide, or went missing from the Texas military base last year alone. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. The area, east of Killeen, was built on 109,000 acres of high bluffs, ridges, sharp slopes, and mesa-like hills covered with mesquite and chaparral. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. The pursuit of happiness, or simply stability, will invariably lure people to the American military, which may be why the undocumented, the indigent, or those with a criminal record are overrepresented in its ranks. Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. Then they tried burning the body. Within days of arriving at Fort Hood, Chees clothes were stolen. The discovery in 2020 of the dismembered and burned remains of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier who disappeared on April 22, 2020, sparked outrage from central Texas to .
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