Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - SPECIAL WEEKEND CRIME STORIES UPDATE: Motive Revealed in Vanessa Guillen's murder?

Episode Date: August 27, 2022

Soldier Vanessa Guillen was brutally murdered at a Texas military base by fellow soldier Spc. Aaron Robinson.  A document from the Texas Department of Public Safety reveals that Robinson killed Guilllen was because she saw a photo of a woman on Robinson's phone. That photo was of Cecily Aguilar, the wife of another soldier, with whom Robinson was having an affair.  According to Aguilar, who is also charged in Guillen's death, Robinson was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules.     A $35 million dollar lawsuit against the Army has been filed in Guillen's death by her family. The lawsuit is seeking damages for wrongful death but that's not all. The family is suing on the basis of sexual harassment, abuse, assault, rape, sodomy as well.  A military investigation found that 20-year-old Guillen was also sexually harassed and that leaders failed to take appropriate action. The lawsuit describes two instances in which Guillén was harassed. Guillen told family that she did not report the harrassment for fear of retaliation.    Joining Nancy Grace today: Myra Guillen - Vaness Guillen's sister Natalie Kwahan - attorney for Vanessa Guillen family Tim Miller, Texas Equusearch Dr Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, Beverly Hills, ww.drbethanymarshall.com Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author,"Blood Beneath My Feet" Olivia Levada KXXV TV   Jasmine Caldwell, KCEN  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Does the name Vanessa Guillen ring a bell? I certainly hope so because it's a name and a face I will never forget. Vanessa Guillen, absolutely beautiful on the inside and out. I have met with her family and they are devastated. She was murdered at a U.S. Army base, Fort Hood. Her body found buried and dismembered about 30 miles away. But why? I'm Nancy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. The dismemberment of her body, the attempts to burn her body were so gruesome. And as it turns out, we are now learning motive as to why a fellow officer, Aaron Robinson, and his married girlfriend, Aguilar, why they did what they did. Now, remember, the state never has to prove a motive. It's not up to prosecutors to go inside the mind of a killer and determine why. The prosecutor's role, their duty, is to prove who did it, where, what jurisdiction, and generally when, and that that action violated the criminal code. But why is much more murky,

although in the last days we are now learning exact motive for the murder of Vanessa Guillen. Also, in the last days, Vanessa Guillen's family has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit, a $35 million lawsuit for damages the suit filed against the army. The suit claims Vanessa Gaines suffered mental anguish, fear, emotional distress, physical injury, and death as a result of repeated sex harassments, rape, sodomy, and physical assault. Oh, what this girl lived through. And it always hurts me because I know that as a little girl, she dreamed of going in the Army. She wanted to be a G.I. Jane.

Now, the Army's not commenting on this lawsuit, but the lawsuit filed by the family and her mother and sister are two of the nicest people I have ever met. The lawsuit details how Vanessa was sex harassed by higher ranking soldiers and how the Army initially failed to address her repeat reports of sex harassment. And FYI, for your information, it's the first lawsuit filed under this new Ninth Circuit decision to allow other victims of sex assault to have hope, but to also find the military accountable for what seems to be a sex harassment epidemic. When I think back on Vanessa Guillen joining the Army back in 2018, she was fresh out of high school and so excited to start a career with the Army, and she said she wanted to protect, quote, our nation and her family. The court documents, which are very upsetting, outline how by 2020, that's just two years later, her behavior had changed.

She would call her older sister crying, telling her she wanted to commit suicide, but she wouldn't explain why. The sister says the family couldn't understand why Vanessa was not the happy young person we all knew. And it wasn't until weeks later, Ginn opened up about her life with the Army. She told her mom she was being sex harassed by higher ups in the chain of command, and she was afraid to speak out. Oh, man. Then during a field training exercise back in September 2019, the soldier spent a weekend in battle simulations. She was, I believe, taking a shower when a higher up conducting the platoon's perimeter check, trained the lights on her to watch her taking a shower. Those encounters were not by any means an accident. Now here is a young woman trying to protect her country

and fulfill her lifelong dream, and she has to be sex harassed. In the end, she ends up being murdered. For those of you that don't recall the facts of the case, take a listen. This is a sad update from Texas EquiSearch. They tell us they are suspending their search efforts for the missing soldier from Houston after what was discovered there near the Leon River in Bell County. Tim Miller described it as a shallow grave. It's, you know, believed to be her pending positive identification, which I have to search for Vanessa's now over.

Here's as old as a shallow grave. The rocks covered the grave and stuff. And then, you know, for the three days after she disappeared, it rained. So everything just looked natural. You're hearing the voice of our longtime friend and colleague, Tim Miller of EquiSearch, who is with us now, along with an all-star panel of guests, including crime victim turned crusader, Tim Miller. Tim, tell us in as much detail as you can what happened. Well, Nancy, you know what we've found?

You know, I've been saying we found some evidence and we knew it was evidence connected to Vanessa's disappearance. And the evidence was burned, but there was some of it that did not burn. And we knew immediately it was evidence. We actually dug, believe it or not, Nancy, it was only three feet away. And where the shallow grave was at, we were actually standing on top of little Vanessa's body. The Texas Rangers were there, the military CID cadaver dogs, and what a job they did on concealing her little body. And what had happened, and we actually were starting to search again this morning,

so we had members up here yesterday, and we was out there at the scene until well after dark. And I was actually right at that scene just three days ago and really looking at some things, and I just knew she had to be somewhere close. What was it a gut instinct? What led you? You've been telling me that for days but what led you to say that? We got a lot a lot of information and a witness came forward and talked about something that he saw. We found what this witness saw. Tim can you tell us what he thought he saw? Well, you know what?

I get my hands slapped. I don't care at this point in time as far as I'm concerned to solve it with. Somebody actually seen somebody in one of them big pelican cases, about three foot by three foot, one of them big plastic cases. And he was really struggling to go ahead and get this into his vehicle after witness came forward they had enough information to go ahead and go to a judge and so we actually got the phone records and went how long he was there and everything hold on just a moment i want to tell everybody what you're talking about a pelican case i i have four of them and on the front is a name nancy john david lucy and david usually really heavy plastic containers and you

can close it with a you know a lot that you just pull up to open and open it up and you can stock it full of stuff. And they come in really big, like plastic storage chests that you open and close and can latch to keep it secure. A witness exists that saw a man struggling to lift a Pelican case into his vehicle. And then we actually found it. Was that a yes? Yes, ma'am. And then we actually found a burn pile when we was out there,

and probably about 40% of the lid of that pelican case did not burn. So when we found that, it was like, oh, my God, she has to be in this area. Where was the burn pit tim miller uh right beside the leon river where we was concentrating on searching and uh and i was my biggest fear nancy was that he threw her in the river that maybe she would never ever been found so um when you saw that half burnedican case, what went through your mind? We knew that it was going to take far more than a miracle for her to be found alive and returned home. Do you believe, Tim, that based on the evidence that we're learning now,

let me ask a couple of pointed questions. The witness, if the witness is accurate, sees a man struggling to lift a Pelican case, a dark, a black, heavy duty plastic container with a lid into his vehicle. Where did he, the witness, see that? On the base. On the base. On Fort Hood. How could the Army not figure that out? At the armory.

At the armory. In the parking lot? In the armory. Outside of where she came out of the armory, where she was working, that armory? Yes, ma'am. So she had to be either killed or kidnapped on the base. She was extremely physically fit.

Isn't that true? Natalie Kwan, the attorney for Vanessa Guillen's family, she was in top shape. She's a private first class in the Army. She runs all the time and her superior sergeant called her in off her day off so i think she would have had to have been dead when she was put in that container she could she unless she was drugged i don't think he could overpower her without making such a ruckus everybody around him could hear what What was the state of her physical fitness, Natalie? Well, she was super fit.

You know, like we said, she was a big runner. She played soccer. She was working out in the gym all the time. I have videos of her just lifting some serious weights. She was going to go for a hike that afternoon, too. You really have to, that has to be either a struggle or like you said, some kind of a weapon

or some kind of drug. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The family of this incredible woman, Army Specialist Vanessa Ginn, will never have peace after $35 million lawsuit against the U.S. Army for the sex harassment, the rape, and ultimately the murder of their girl, their sister, Vanessa Guillen. What really happened? A beautiful 20-year-old, private first class class out of Fort Hood, Vanessa Guillen. Her allegations that she had been sex harassed by her superior, the Army says they don't have any credible evidence of that. Well, you know what?

I'm sitting here a thousand miles away, and I know about multiple statements she gave regarding that. To you, Natalie Kawan, you're the lawyer for Vanessa's family who is grief stricken. I spoke to her sister earlier and her sister so distraught in the search for Vanessa. How can they say they didn't know about the sex harassment? How can they send out a piece of paper as a press release i i don't get it well let me just tell you i spoke to my client and i spoke to i contacted the base the attorneys there and i had it out with them i said how is it that i find out and my client finds out information from the media before they find out from the cid and then

from the from the base itself. It is so pathetic that you have kept us in the dark this whole time. And it's funny how you guys have loose lips on the base, but you don't have the dignity to call my client and give them the information that they begged for for months. And I said, this is definitely, we are demanding a congressional investigation. I want everyone to be held accountable for this mishandling of a case and a soldier's life. Natalie, I'm so taken aback right now by what I think you just said, because that was a lot of information. Am I understanding that Vanessa's family found out that her remains had been found through the media? That's correct.

Nancy, could I break in for one minute? Tim Miller, I just can't believe that. Before Crime Online or any of us reported it, we asked before we report this, does the family know? And we were told by an unnamed source, yes, the family knows. Tim Miller, I cannot believe the way the family, I mean, I'm going to circle back with you, Tim, about all the evidence, but I just, you know, know Tim I was getting chills right now because I remember how I found out my fiance was in fact dead that he had been murdered

and it was not over the six o'clock news I was told in person. And, you know, Tim, you've been there. You lost your daughter. God rest her soul. This is just the way this family has been treated from the beginning, having to beg for answers. The sister driving to Fort Hood trying to get answers and being stonewalled. I'm just sick about it, Tim. I mean, I know you.

You are a crime victim. Can you imagine what this family has gone through with all the BS they've been getting from Hood? Nancy, I was driving up here yesterday, and Mayra called me up. The sister called me up and she said mr. Miller what have you heard and I said Mayra has anybody called you and she said no please tell me what's going on I'm choked up now is one of the saddest calls I've ever made in my life and I said I I can't tell you exactly all the remains out to me to ask me no military nobody

had called her she called and said Mr. Millett please tell me what is going on I'm hearing stuff from the media why was her life worth nothing to Fort Hood why is that because she's a woman and they're just not as important I don't know is it because um she's Hispanic woman and they're just not as important? I don't know. Is it because she's Hispanic? Is it because they thought she may file a sex harassment claim? Why? Why have they acted like this from the get-go? You know what? That's a whole nother can of worms for us to figure out. And it's a can of stinking fish. I want to get back to what we know now.

I am getting information right now, Olivia LaVada, KXXV TV, that a member of the military at Fort Hood has just died by pulling a gun and shooting himself. Now, police are not specifying what case this guy is connected to, but I mean, I'm not a rocket scientist, but I know that two and two equals four. What do you know, Olivia LaVada? In the last hours, we learn a potential suspect has shot himself dead. Olivia? Yes.

So, Nancy, this is everything we've been told so far. We know that U.S. Marshals and the Killeen Police Department, which is the city just outside of Fort Hood attempted to make contact with the suspect and he displayed that weapon and discharged it towards himself. As you said, at this point, we have not been told if this criminal case was in reference to Vanessa. Also to Natalie Kawan, the lawyer for the Vanessa Guillen family. Natalie, I think you may have information on the shooting as well. What do you know? Yeah, sure.

I just got word that it is the suspect, Tim, that we suspected that shot himself. They have video of him shooting himself. And what happened was they called a bolo last night uh he was seen running off the base i mean this is breaking news right now as we speak seen running off base uh with shorts you know his army shorts on um and they chased him and then he shot himself in the parking lot i wonder if it was the same parking lot where he apparently kidnapped or put a dead body of vanessa guillem in a storage container. Joseph Scott Morgan with me, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon,

and Tim Miller, Texas EquiSearch, who actually sees the evidence, is there on the scene when this young girl's body is found buried in a shallow grave covered with rocks. And that tells me somebody took a lot of time to cover up her body. How did they get away with that? How did they get away with putting her dead or unconscious body in a plastic storage container? Tim Miller, Texas EquiSearch, who has been searching for Vanessa from the beginning. Please describe what you saw. Well, when we found the evidence, again, Nancy, that Pelican case, we knew it was evidence. We dug under it and he tried to burn it

because it's one of the trees that burned branches and leaves off the tree 15 foot high. Why nobody saw that. Wait, wait, wait, Tim, will you say that again? That's really interesting to me. Yeah, we found the burn pile and leaves and branches were burnt about 15 feet up in the tree. So why nobody's seen it? That was some big bonfire. That's a big question. Tim, how far away from Fort Hood is this? 26 miles. 26 miles.

Okay, go ahead. And they mixed concrete. They actually had concrete. They mixed mixed concrete. They actually had concrete. They mixed up concrete. They dug the grave. They put some lime in the grave. They went ahead and poured concrete over top of it, put dirt over that, put rocks over top of that. No, they spent time.

They spent time. And I notice that you're saying they. Natalie Kawan, the lawyer for Vanessa Gaines' family. Isn't it true there's more than one suspect? That's correct. Sorry, that's correct. There's one in custody right now, and the other one just shot himself last night running on foot. Amazing to me, which is a whole other can of worms for our our shrink dr bethany marshall to go into i mean

as much as i love jackie here in the studio she said hey can you help me get rid of a body oh no but that aside back to the evidence joe scott they the suspects came prepared with lime to decompose the body even more quickly to concrete, gravel. Go ahead. Yeah, and that they're going to prepare this and create almost like a vault, you know, kind of a hastily made vault. And why would you do that? Well, if anybody knows anything about digging a grave or digging a hole in the ground, one

of the things that happens is when you disrupt that soil, you create a natural, well, an unnatural depression and otherwise tightly compressed soil. Let's think and remind that soil out at Fort Hood, that area out there, it's kind of a clay based sand and it's very, very firm, tightly compact. And so it's going to leave a hole. It'll be noticeable. So my thought is they had an awareness of this Nancy. They're going to mix up concrete out there and try to form this over her body to encapsulate her body. But this is, this is the thing that's kind of key to me because this is something that has been coming up over and over and over again is the word shallow.

If you're going to go to all this trouble, why dig a shallow grave in order to facilitate? Were they rushed, you know, in this? Were they just trying to get out of there? My experience in having worked thousands of cases is that the lion's share of people in general public are not used to dealing with dead bodies. And so they get in the middle of this thing and they realize, hey, you know. I guess you haven't lifted a dead body. It's so hard to lift a dead body. No wonder the perp was struggling right there in the parking lot in front of God and everybody

to put the Pelican case Tim Miller's telling us about into the vehicle. And I want you to hear this because this is going to affect your analysis. Take a listen to our friends at ABC. DPS Sergeant Brian Washko spoke earlier about what led investigators back to this location that they searched on June 22nd. Throughout the investigation, throughout the course of the investigation, more information was received, which led the Texas Rangers, who were assisting the U.S. Army CID.

Well, yeah, the CID was there, but as you hear from Tim Miller, a civilian spotted one of the perps struggling to get a black plastic container in a car, in a vehicle. That container was found half burned. Tim Miller saw it and is there at the time of the discovery of Vanessa's body. But a civilian smells a foul odor. According to our friends, you were just hearing Nikki Latterulo at KCEN-TV. What about it, Joe Scott? Continue your analysis. Hey, yeah. You know, they showed up prepped and they're going to dig a shallow grave. And what Tim was talking about is curious as well.

After her body is deposited here, I don't want to call her her. I want to say Vanessa. After Vanessa's body was buried in this, you know, throw together that they had, then they're going to go and, you know, Tim talked about a burn pile. They're going to try to burn this Pelican case. I've got a Pelican case as well. These things are robust, Nancy, as you well know. And they're meant, they're sealed in order to, you know, prevent water and moisture to get in there. So that, again, goes to the mindset of these people. They know that they're using this case in order to transport a body. Well,

what are you going to leave behind the case? Well, you're going to leave behind trace evidence. So they have an awareness of this. Why are you going to go to all this trouble to burn this valuable case? Well, because you know that it's two and two together. If you show up with this thing in your possession, you know, the cops are going to examine it. So that, again, goes to motive. But getting the body off post. Now, I'm an old soldier, Nancy, and I do know this about the Army. And I learned this when I first went in at 18 years of age.

Right way, wrong way, Army way. and the army has a way of doing things and they are a closed society now our closed culture like you know vanessa worked what we commonly refer to as an armorer that means that she repaired small arms and this is not you know if you go into the armory at a post, this is a highly secured area. That's what's so striking to me about this. It's a highly secured area because, look, you keep small arms in there. You know, contrary to what people think, soldiers don't just walk around with their firearms or with their weapons.

They have to take them and store them in the armory, all right? And then you come out and you take them from the armory. And there's very little people who are allowed, as we used to say, on the other side of the counter in the armory, because you've got deadly weapons in there. So that means to me, particularly in this day and age, that there's security on that area. The Army knows what's going on. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they had CCTV that is going to account for her location, those moments immediately when she entered the armory and then when she left.

Well, yeah, what about Colin Muster? When they said she absolutely was there and she was accounted she wasn't she was gone it's just it's striking to me that you can miss this young soldier like this that she is allowed her remains and this is the key as well i don't know if she was alive or deceased when she rolled off of Fort Hood? Did they kill her on post or did they take her off? Let's circle back to Tim Miller joining us from Texas EquiSearch. First, Tim, if you could, based on what you know now, answer that question. Was she dead when she was surreptitiously taken off Fort Hood. And if you could describe for those just joining us, what you observed at the discovery of Vanessa's body. Well, my theory is, and I think everybody's is she was killed inside the armory. I think she

was killed earlier that morning inside the armory came He came back about 8.30 that night. That's when somebody spotted him with that Pelican case. So she apparently could have been in that Pelican case for 10 hours inside the armory somewhere. One of the sad things yesterday out on the site, Nancy, is when they did get Vanessa's little body out there, she was still covered in concrete. It was a mold. So what they did is they put the concrete, her little body that was still molded in the concrete, in the body bag. Tim, I'm just trying to take in what you just said. So the killer poured wet cement directly onto Vanessa. She was molded in the concrete. They had to take the concrete with her little body in the concrete. You know what, I'm going to say something that was never allowed for me to say to juries, you can never under the law put a juror in the place, in

the shoes of the crime victim. But think about it. Do you have a mom, a daughter, a sister? Vanessa was just 20 years old, and now her body is found in a shallow grave with concrete literally poured onto her skin to conceal her identity crime stories with nancy grace in addition to a 35 million dollar lawsuit being filed by vanessa ginn's family against the army for all that she endured in her years in the Army, we now are hearing about the exact motive, motive behind Vanessa Ginn's murder. Now, this is what we're learning, and we're getting it from the horse's mouth.

Now, this is from the Texas Department of Public Safety, and it was filed in federal court. We learned that the married girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, remember, she was married and was sleeping around with another officer, Aaron Robinson. This is what we learned. We learned that Ginn saw Robinson's iPhone and that on the phone was a photo of Cecily Aguilar. I don't know if she had her clothes on or not, but as soon as Aaron Robinson realized Vanessa saw the photo, he totally nutted up. He was afraid Vanessa would turn him in for violating the army fraternization rule. In other words, don't sleep around with your fellow military officers, wives and husbands.

That should go without saying. But because he was afraid Vanessa would rat him out. He took a hammer and murdered her. That is what we're learning. Now, we're also learning that Aguilar claims Aaron Robinson would go into moods where he would not be his normal self and would, quote, have a tick. You know what? I don't care what his moods were. He committed murder. More information we're learning from the married girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar. She told authorities, quote, Robinson killed the girl. She went on to tell authorities about how Robinson took her out to the Leon River and showed me her. Her words, not mine. In other words, showed the dead body of Vanessa Guillen to Cecily Aguilar. You know, that's the point where Cecily Aguilar had the chance to put a stop to all that,

to not dismember and try to burn her. But no, she helped dispose of Guillen's body right then and there. She bought two bags. She went on Facebook Market from the army-issued tote bag Robinson was carrying her in because Robinson, quote, didn't want to remove the body. I mean, she certainly did not have a problem disposing of Vanessa's dead body. And then she sat there and let the family go through pure hell looking for Vanessa. What more do we know about Cecily Aguilar? Take a listen to our friend Steve Campion, ABC 13, KTRK, Houston. Cecily Aguilar and her public defenders asked a judge to throw out her 2020 confession, in which she told investigators she helped Aaron Robinson dismember and dispose of Guillen's body.

In fact, we saw for the first time today video of Aguilar's conversation with investigators. She's seen on camera saying, quote, I'm ready to get this expletive over with. Stop that sound right there, please. I'm ready to get this S-H-I-T over with? Did she actually say that? Cecily Aguilar, co-defendant to killer Aaron Robinson, actually says, I'm ready to get this S-H-I-T over? Really? She wants it over? Well, what about Vanessa's mother and her sister and her family? Don't you think they want it over? But it will never have the ending that they want to see Vanessa, to hold her again, to love her, to talk to her, to be with her. There is no happy ending. And this woman, this demon from hell says she wants this S-H-I-T over. Who is Cecily Aguilar? Why do we care about this woman, this married woman dating

the killer, Erin Robinson? Well, I'll tell you why. Take a listen to our friends at CrimeOnline.com. In her first interview with police, Aguilar provided an alibi for Robinson for the night Vanessa Guillen went missing April 22nd. Aguilar told investigators that she was with Robinson the entire night and that they didn't leave the house. When investigators got phone records, they re-interviewed Aguilar and asked her why there were so many calls between her and Robinson on the night of April 22nd up until 3.30 a.m. on the 23rd if they were together in the house. At first, she claimed she couldn't find her phone and Robinson was calling it to help her find it. But it was the length of the calls that made that impossible to believe, so investigators pressed Aguilar until she changed her story. In a follow-up interview with investigators on June 19th, Aguilar suddenly remembered that Robinson wanted to take her to a park by the water where they

could look at the stars. Checking phone location data, investigators were able to find the exact location where Aguilar and Robinson were on April 23rd and 26th and found a partially burned tough box and other evidence that led to the remains of Vanessa Guillen. Cecily Aguilar was arrested at 4 a.m. on July 1st, three hours after her boyfriend, Aaron Robinson, committed suicide. She was charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence in relation to the disappearance of Vanessa Guillen. Lies, lies, lies. Every time they catch Cecily Aguilar, the married lover, the mistress of the killer,

she lies, lies, lies, comes up with another story. This is the woman who dismembered Vanessa's body, who burned it, who buried it. And now she says they were out sitting on a bench looking at the stars. Natalie Quam, a special guest joining us. This is the lawyer that has been to H-E-L-L and back, representing Vanessa's family. And you can find her at Whistleblower Law Firm. And I want to go right now to who I consider now to be a friend along with Natalie

Kwame, Myra Guillen. This is Vanessa's sister. And I truly believe if it had not been for Myra Guillen, this case would be unsolved right now and Vanessa's family would have no idea what had become of Vanessa. Myra, when you hear Cecily Aguilar lying through her teeth time after time after time, how does that make you feel? You know, that only brings so much hate and anger

that I don't want to have towards any individual. But it's amazing how even after everything that she's done, she's still trying to continue to fight with us. You know what? You're so much of a better person than me.

I've never claimed to be anything but a crime fighter. Myra, you don't want to harbor hate and anger. That's incredible to me, after what you and your mother have been through. You driving through the night. Remember you told me you drove through the night? Hours and hours. I think it was raining to get to Fort Hood. You get there and get to the guard post and they won't even let you in. And there, let me just say, misinformation begins. Lies is what I call it about where's Vanessa? What have they done to try to find Vanessa.

They wouldn't even let you speak to anybody until the next morning, go to some motel, spend the night. And still, the lies keep coming about where your sister is. And now you've got Cecily Aguilar lying through her teeth, trying to get her confession thrown out of court? Now, why is her statement so important? And her defense team is trying every trick in the book to try to get this statement thrown out. And now you're going to find out why. Take a listen to our friends at ABC 2020. After finding human remains by the Leon River,

Army investigators hauled Cecily Aguilar, Robinson's girlfriend, back in for questioning, and this time they say she's ready to talk. According to court documents, as Aguilar's interview with investigators continues, she allegedly tells them that Aaron Robinson confessed to her that he had bludgeoned a female soldier to death in an armory room on base. Aguilar states that Robinson further told her that he placed Vanessa in a tough box and drove her off the base. Now at the river, authorities say Cecily Aguilar agrees to help Robinson get rid of the body. Straight out to Jasmine Caldwell, news anchor reporter KCEN Channel 6.

Jasmine, what are the claims? Why did Cecily Aguilar's lawyers argue to the judge that her statement should be thrown out? Well, her lawyers argued to the judge that her statement should be thrown out because apparently Aguilar was not advised of her Miranda rights, which gave her the right to remain silent and act for attorney. And they also said that, you know, she was not told anything, that anything that she said would be used against her in a court of law. Now, the state says, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You have to be under arrest.

You have to be detained before Miranda kicks in, Miranda writes. And what happened was that she was speaking voluntarily. That's why she didn't get Miranda. Well, there's more. There's more as to why we need this confession in evidence. Take a listen to John Quinones, 2020. They allegedly decide to use some type of tool, reportedly a machete of sorts, to then dismember the body. Then investigators say that Aguilar told them they attempted to burn the body, but that didn't work. Then they allegedly

dig three separate holes to bury her remains. According to investigators, after covering up the remains, Robinson and Aguilar leave. But then three days later, on April 26th, they allegedly come back again, bringing hairnets, gloves and concrete that investigators say Cecily Aguilar got from someone on Facebook Messenger. She's in it just as deeply as he is. She doesn't have to go back over there. She didn't have to do that, but she did. Will this $35 million lawsuit against the Army bring any kind of peace? Will it teach all of our military branches any sort of lesson? I can only hope so. Is it worth the cost of Vanessa Ginn's life? Absolutely not.

We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.