Criminology - Vanessa Guillen and The Fort Hood Mysteries

Episode Date: July 18, 2020

In April 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, a beautiful young soldier named Vanessa Guillen disappeared from the U.S. Army base, Fort Hood. Vanessa was found murdered two months later. But, while searching, authorities found the remains of another soldier named Gregory Morales. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the cases of Vanessa Guillen and Gregory Morales. We also cover a number of Fort Hood soldier deaths over the years. The base has also been levied with complaints of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Are there any connections to these cases? You can support the show at patreon.com/criminology   An Emash Digital Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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For best seats at best prices, go to Shawfest.com. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 120 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, how are you today? I'm doing good.

How about you? I'm doing great. I'm doing really well. You know, a lot of things have changed just within the last week since the last time that we recorded. I know the county that I live in has made masks a requirement. You know, there's all this talk about kind of tightening, shutting things down again. It's just all scary stuff, man. Yeah, I'm just totally looking forward to when things get back to normal.

We can just go out and have fun and not think twice about what we do. Well, obviously, you know, that's something that we all took for granted, right? I mean, nobody was expecting for this to happen. And it just kind of changed everything that we do, basically. Hopefully life gets back to normal for everyone as soon as possible. Yeah, yeah, whatever that normal is, I'm ready for it. More if we have some new Patreon supporters. So let's give shoutouts to Ali Richards, Loretta Myers, Liza Mooney, Monica Cates,

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That's where you can find all of the criminology episodes that are older than six months. All right, buddy, we have to jump right into this episode. And today we're talking about mysterious going. on at a well-known army base, Fort Hood in the state of Texas. It's here that amid the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, a beautiful young soldier disappeared in April. Before her disappearance, Vanessa Gien told family members that a superior was sexually harassing her. Sadly, Vanessa's remains were found two months later, but it was while searching for Vanessa. that authorities found the remains of another soldier who disappeared in August of 2019.

The murders of private first class, Vanessa Gehan, and specialist Gregory Morales, have brought attention to other disappearances, suspicious deaths, and unsolved murders revolving around the army base. This all leads to the question, what is going on at Fort Hood? When we think of a military base, I think many of us get the impression of a guarded, often gated zone where military personnel live and work. Perhaps that kind of community gives the false impression that military bases are immune to crime. And unfortunately, that's not the case. Fort Hood has been a part of Central Texas for more than 75 years. It's located in southwestern Bell and southeastern Coral counties.

The U.S. Army base sits on 218,000 acres of land. with most of it in Correale County, Fort Hood covers roughly 340 square miles. It's located about 64 miles southwest of Waco and 70 miles directly north of Austin. Established in 1942 during World War II, Fort Hood first became a tank destroyer tactical and firing center. The Army Post expanded in the 1950s and 1960s to include three core headquarters and the second division when the Fourth Armored Division joined the newly reactivated first armored division. Families of soldiers began moving on to the base in the 60s and 70s. So more housing, a commissary, and a new hospital was added to help support the families. More facilities were built

in the late 70s and 80s, including St. Elijah modern operations on urban terrain. Fort Hood's first such site. It was built as a mock European village for training. In the early 1990s, Fort Hood soldiers were deployed overseas and played an active role in Desert Storm and Desert Shield. According to Fort Hood's website, this was the Army's age of digitalization, first with the M1-A2 Abrams Tank and later on with the Bradley fighting vehicle. After the horrific events of September 11, 2001, Fort Hood soldiers and their family is running. immediately affected. The soldiers left their motor pools and training areas behind and prepared for deployment to the Middle East. Today, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored posts in the U.S. Armed Forces, with nearly 40,000 soldiers who work on the base. It's a city within a city.

Restaurants and shops line the streets of Fort Hood, as well as shopettes or convenience stores to civilians, and banks and auto repair businesses, to name a few. There have been numerous deaths related to the base over the past several decades. And sadly, the base was the scene of a terrorist attack in 2009 when Nadal Hassan, a U.S. Army major and psychiatrist, fatally shot 13 people and injured more than 30 others. The attack made international headlines. It's the most recent death of Vanessa again, which has once again thrusted the base into the spotlight and has brought attention to other issues like sexual assault and sexual harassment on the base. Vanessa Gien was born on September 30th, 1999 to Roelio and Gloria Gien.

She was one of six children. Vanessa graduated in 2018 from Caesar Chavez High School in Houston, Texas, in the top 15% of her class. Vanessa was athletic and she loved to play soccer and go jogging. She had dreams of becoming a soldier. And in June 2018, she enlisted in the U.S. Army as a small arms repairer and wound up being stationed at Fort Hood, less than 200 miles from her hometown. In the spring of this year, the COVID-19 pandemic fiercely hit the United States, forcing the entire country into quarantine. Military bases weren't spared. On April 3rd, Fort Hood

closed and altered its operating hours at select access points. 19 days later, private first class Vanessa Gien vanished. Vanessa was last seen on April 22nd between 1130 a.m. and 1230 p.m. in the parking lot of her regimental engineer squadron headquarters on Fort Hood. When she was last seen, she was wearing civilian clothes, including a black t-shirt, purple leggings, and black athletic shoes. Vanessa's car keys, apartment keys, ID card, and wallet were later found in the armory where she had been working before her disappearance. Her cell phone was missing. By 9 p.m., hours after she was last seen, Vanessa had not responded to text messages from family members or phone calls from her boyfriend. Everyone became worried, so worried,

in fact, that her family made the three-hour drive from Houston to see what was. was going on and to inform Ford Hood officials that Vanessa was missing. Vanessa's family sensed something just wasn't right and it wasn't like Vanessa to cut off contact with everyone for several hours. Vanessa's older sister had communicated with Vanessa through text messages the night before she went missing. To her, there was nothing suspicious about those texts. Vanessa said she was planning on buying a new car, but a search would later find her old car still parked on the base. After Vanessa's family arrived at the base, they contacted military police, who in turn tried to see if they could find Vanessa, wondering if it was possible that she was working on the base somewhere.

But the military police determined that Vanessa's superiors and friends on the base had no idea where she was. Shortly after her disappearance, both military and civilian law enforcement conducted extensive searches for Vanessa, both on the base and in areas outside of it. Authorities released few details about these searches to the public or to Vanessa's family. What is known is that on April 24, 2020, two days after Vanessa was last seen, the Belton Police Department, the Belton Fire Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety searched an area along the Leon River and FM 317 after Ford Hood authorities requested their help. They informed them that Vanessa's phone might have pinged in that area.

The search produced no results. On April 27th, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command Office announced a $15,000 reward, which was quickly raised to $25,000 for any information leading to the whereabouts of Vanessa Gien to bring awareness to her disappearance and the reward. The find Vanessa Gian Facebook page was set up. But despite the publicity, three weeks went by and the Gian family still had not received any information regarding Vanessa's disappearance. And understandably, they were growing frustrated.

But they knew one thing for sure. Vanessa did not disappear on her own. They also said she did not exhibit suicidal behaviors, nor did she have any conflicts with family or friends. In mid-May, her family stated publicly that Vanessa was very loyal to the Army's chain of command. If someone abducted her, it might have been a supervisor who she trusted. The Geian family wasn't allowed on base to search for Vanessa, so they handed out flyers in the surrounding communities and waited for answers. While Vanessa's family searched outside the base itself, Fort Hood officials searched inside the base as well. The Fort Hood Public Affairs Director Tom E. Rainlanders told local news outlets, quote,

At one point, more than 500 soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Division searched daily on foot and in training areas, barracks, and across the post. He added additional targeted searches with smaller groups of soldiers continued. an aircraft from the 1st Cavalry Division provided more than 100 hours of flight time dedicated to the search, both on and off base. But despite all of the manpower and all of the searching, they didn't find any sign of Vanessa. On June 10th, the Gie and family held a press conference and told the media that one of Vanessa's superiors had been sexually harassing her. Vanessa did not report the harassment for fear of retaliation.

The family also wanted army officials to prove to them that they were really searching for Vanessa. Two days later, they held a peaceful rally outside of Fort Hood and demanded answers about Vanessa's disappearance. The event was organized by the League of United Latin American citizens. Dozens of protesters, many from Houston, gathered at the intersection of North Fort Hood Street and West Rancere Avenue. as they chanted, we want Vanessa while holding signs with pictures of her. Mexican American film actress Salma Hayek posted a picture of herself holding a sign with Vanessa's photo on it that read, bring back Vanessa to bring awareness to her disappearance. Salma Hayek has over 15 million followers.

And this post alone received over 350,000 likes. The social media post brought much needed attention to Vanessa's case. But despite this new attention, Vanessa's family was getting for her case. The Gian family was growing frustrated and felt that more could be done to find their loved one. They petitioned the White House to hold the army accountable for Vanessa's disappearance and the investigation. They were hoping to get 100,000 signatures on the petition. but by July 8th they had received over 180,000. In a strange turn of events, on June 19th, acting on its hip, Army criminal investigators and local authorities

located skeletal remains in a field on Florence Road in Colleen, Texas. But to the investigator's surprise, the remains were not Vanessa's. Two days later, the remains were identified through dental records as 24-year-old private Gregory Waddell Morales. Gregor Marales, who was stationed at Ford Hood, disappeared in August 2019. When he went missing, he was just two weeks shy of being discharged from a six-year stint with the Army. Gregory Morales was last seen off base on August 19, 2019. Driving a 2018 Kia Rio with temporary tags, a car, his mother, Kim Waddell, said that he had just bought. She talked to him the day he disappeared.

He had sent her a text message asking for gas money and she teased him back. How could he afford a new car but not the gas to put in it? The next day, September 20th, someone else heard from Morales. But after that, he went missing. On September 19th, the army listed Gregory as AWOL or absent without leave and later as a deserter. Gregory's family dismissed the possibility that he was a deserter. After all, why would a guy that was just days away... In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered.

I wonder what's emergency. We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio and... 20, blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Way from an official discharge, go AWOL. And more if it's really hard to argue with that logic. I mean, this is a guy, Gregory Morales, two weeks shy of being discharged, nobody's going to go AWOL and become a deserter when you only have two weeks to go. He's been in the military for all. He's been in the military for

almost six years. I think he can make it the last two weeks. And that's a very good point because if he is truly a deserter and he gets kicked out of the military, then that's not going to look good on his resume going forward. So you think that no matter what, he's going to stick that time out. Well, there's a whole bunch that goes into it, right? Benefits. I mean, you name it. There's a big difference between getting your honorable discharge, doing your service, getting all the benefits that come from that, and going AWOL and being labeled a deserter. After Gregory's remains were found, his family fought the army to have his active status reinstated so he could be buried with military rights in a military cemetery.

And if his status wasn't changed, all funeral costs fell on the family. Gregory's cousin, Abigail Wimberley, started an online petition to protest the injustice. In a matter of days, it received 18,000 signatures. The Army told Gregory's family that they had to wait for the autopsy report, shown Gregory had been dead for at least 10 months, which the report later did show. Finally, on July 15, 2020, the Army announced that Gregory Morales would be buried with full military honors, although the deserter tag still has to be officially removed. Although foul play is suspected in Gregory Morales' death,

no official cause of death has been released. But his family has stated that based on things that they have been told, that Gregory may have been shot in the face. Since the army never thought Gregor's disappearance was suspicious, and in their eyes he was a deserterter, they never searched for him. Now it remains to be seen where the investigation into his death will lead. And I think that makes it very tough, morph, right? I mean, everyone knows that when you,

looking into a murder, the sooner that you start the investigation, the more likely you are to uncover the clues you need to solve it. So from the Army standpoint, you know, with them thinking that this guy had gone AWOL, well, I'm assuming they, they look for people that have gone AWOL, but they're not doing a search as you would do if you thought somebody was missing or especially if somebody had been murdered. You're not following the same type of investigative protocols, I wouldn't think. And I think you hit the nail right on the head when you said that time is of the essence with some of these crimes, if there's a crime involved, that the more time that passes, it's difficult to piece together what happened. And for them to just label him a deserer

without the benefit of doing some kind of official search for him that may hurt the case in the long run. As Gregory Morales's family dealt with the aftermath of his remains being found, Vanessa Gion's family continued to look for her. Tim Miller, who we've talked about before on this show, the owner of Equusurge and the father of a murdered daughter himself, said that three dozen volunteers using sonar and other devices had scoured lakes around Fort Hood that are about a quarter of a mile from where Vanessa vanished. More than 500 soldiers per day, searched barracks, training areas, and other sections of Fort Hood for Vanessa. Additionally, helicopters from Fort Hood's first cavalry division flew 100 hours on and off the post. On June 30th, 2020, Colonel Ralph Overland

appointed a team to investigate the sexual harassment allegations involving Vanessa Gien and another soldier. That same day, someone building a fence on property near the intersection of FM 436 and Hartrick Bluff Spur called the Belk County Sheriff's Office after they found what they believed were human remains. Two detectives went to the scene and verified the remains were human, believing that the remains might be those of Vanessa Gean. They alerted Fort Hood officials. Sadly, the remains were later identified as Vanessa Geans. For her family, the discovery was better. sweet. They were hoping that Vanessa would be found alive, but the not known where she was was unbearable. Investigators didn't immediately release many of the details surrounding the discovery

of Vanessa's body, but eventually they would. And it was only then that the real horror of what Vanessa Gien went through was revealed. What the Geyan family and the public didn't know is that investigators already had a suspect in her disappearance. His name was Aaron Robinson, a soul. and Vanessa's supervisor. They interviewed him on April 28th, just six days after Vanessa vanished. Robinson told investigators that after he finished his work on April 22nd, that's the day that Vanessa disappeared. He went to the off-post residence that he shared with his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, who was the estranged wife of a former Fort Hood soldier. Robinson said that he left home at 6.30 p.m. to return to the base to sign on to a government computer to enroll in

some training after he returned home. He claimed he did not leave for the rest of the night. On May 18th, investigators interviewed two witnesses who said that on April 22nd, they saw Robinson pulling a large storage box with wheels out of the arms room where he worked. the witnesses said that this storage box appeared very heavy. They saw Robinson load the box into his vehicle and drive off. The day after investigators interviewed these two witnesses, Robinson consented to a search of his cell phone, which showed that he had made multiple calls to his girlfriend, Cecily, the night of April 22nd, and as early as 305 a.m. on April 22nd,

On June 21st, the U.S. Army CID, along with the Bell County Sheriff's Office, and the Texas Rangers, searched the Leon River at Belton. Location data from Robinson's phone indicated the phone was near the intersection of Farm to Market Road, 436, and West Main Street in Belton. This data put Robinson on or around a bridge at 159 a.m. on April 23rd, before moving north and remaining in that area for about two hours. authorities found the burn remains of what appeared to be the same storage box. The two witnesses described. The investigators also smelled something decomposing, but didn't see any human remains. On the day Vanessa's remains were found, June 30th, investigators listened in on a phone call between Aguilar and Robinson. During the call, Robinson never denied involvement in the disappearance and death of Vanessa.

again, Robinson had sent Aguilar picture messages of news articles about human remains being found. He reportedly said during the call, baby, they found the pieces. They found the pieces. At 1220 a.m. on July 1st, police officials confronted Robinson in the 4,700 block of East Ransier Avenue in Colleen. But before they could question him, Robinson shot himself to death. Robinson's girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, was later arrested. So obviously, Mor, if there are some things here that, you know, they're not making Robinson look very good, right?

In this case, the phone calls are strange. Now, I won't say any of it is damning on its own. I do think there are many people that will look at him taking his own. life as a sign of his possible involvement in Vanessa's death. The following day, a chilling affidavit was released detailing how Robinson beat Vanessa Gian with a hammer and later dismembered her body with Aguilar's help. The affidavit stated that Vanessa left the room where she was working to visit the arms room that Robinson controlled.

She wanted to confirm serial numbers of weapons and equipment. According to the affidavit, Robinson told investigators Vanessa checked several serial numbers. And then he gave her the paperwork and serial number for a 50 caliber machine gun that needed repairs. The affidavit stated Robinson told authorities that Vanessa left the arm's room, and quote, he believed she would have gone next to the motor pool. Soldiers there said she never arrived. According to the affidavit, at first, Cecily Aguilar told investigators that she was with Robinson all night on April 22nd, but then she later admitted. on June 30th that Robinson said he struck a female soldier in the head with a hammer

multiple times in the arms room, killing her on Fort Hood. According to Aguilar, Robinson was already inside the arms room. When Vanessa arrived for work, Vanessa reportedly saw Aguilar's photos on Robinson's cell phone and confronted him about having an affair with someone married to a former soldier. The two got into an argument and Robinson allegedly told Vanessa that he would not let her ruin his military career. According to Aguilar, Robinson grabbed a hammer and beat Vanessa to death. From there, Robinson then placed Vanessa's body into the storage box and moved it to location near the Leon River. Then late on April 22nd or early on April 23rd, Robinson picked up

Aguilar at a gas station and took her to the site near the river. Robinson walked Aguilar over to the woods and opened up a box for her. Inside the box, she saw a dead female. Aguilar later identified the victim as Vanessa Gien. The affidavit further declared, to more easily dispose of and conceal the body of the dead female, Specialist Robinson and Aguilar proceeded to dismember Vanessa's body. They used a hatchet or axe and a machete-type knife. They removed Vanessa's limbs and her head from the rest of her body. The pair then attempted to burn Vanessa's body, but it wouldn't burn completely. They placed Vanessa's remains into three separate holes and then covered them up. Robinson and Aguilar returned to the site on April 26th, uncovered Vanessa's remains,

and continued trying to break them down. They attempted to... burn them again. Cell phone records revealed that both Robinson and Aguilar were near the Leon River together on April 23rd and then again on April 26th. On July 6th, one week after officials launched an investigation into Vanessa's sexual harassment allegations, Special Agent Damon Phelps of the U.S. Army CID said the Army found no evidence that Robinson was involved in the sexual harassment against Vanessa. Vanessa's family had also previously mentioned another soldier who had walked in on Vanessa

while she was showering, but Phelps claimed the army found no evidence of that either. The day after she was arrested, Cecilie Aguilar was held without bond after an initial court appearance before a federal magistrate judge. She's charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence. with intent to impair a human corpse. According to KWTX.com, the charge carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Vanessa again was posthumously advanced from private first class to the rank of specialist. In the aftermath of Vanessa's brutal murder, her sister has taken a closer look at Fort Hood's past, a past which, according to her, is shrouded with mysteries of all kinds. She stated publicly that 200 soldiers had gone missing at Fort Hood, although she didn't give the source of her information.

But Army officials have reported that 74 GIs have gone AWOL. Out of those, 53 had returned to duty. Whatever the true numbers are, there have been numerous accidental drownings, car and motorcycle accidents, suicides, and disappearances at Fort Hood over the last several decades. Many people believe some of these cases were covered up by the army and were actually murders. The earliest death of a Fort Hood soldier that we found occurred in October 1962 when 25-year-old Wayland Thompson with Company B. First Battalion 46th Infantry First Armored Division disappeared while boating on a Fort Hood reservation portion of Belton Lake. Fort Hood's military personnel eventually

located his body and his death was ruled as an accidental drowning. Thompson was last seen at 7.30 a.m. on Monday, October 8th, 1962. Two hours later, someone found his motorboat running wild on the lake and Thompson had vanished. Witnesses claimed they saw Thompson suddenly stand up in the boat, start the motor, and then fall overboard. A few years later on January 10th, 1968, 21-year-old Corporal Gary Comer was shot to death. Another Fort Hood soldier found his body in a deserted section of Killeen. The serviceman was searching the area for empty bottles to use in a dark room he was building. Police said Comer was killed elsewhere.

Two suspects, a man and a woman, took polygraph test. But as far as we can tell, no one was ever charged in Comer's murder. On September 21st, 1977, a 19-year-old soldier from Indiana named Richard McCullough disappeared from Fort Hood. He was last seen at 5.50 a.m. when he returned a mailroom key. Army officials said he was, quote, an exemplary soldier.

And right away, they suspected foul play. Now, Richard's fate is unknown. There were just a few articles from Indiana on his disappearance. And we really couldn't find any further information about his case. 15 years later, 25-year-old teacher Marie Teresa Cherry disappeared on October 10, 1992. She was last seen at 10.30 p.m. in the front yard of her family's home in the Walker Village area of Fort Hood. According to the Charlie Project, Marie Cherry was the victim of domestic violence before her disappearance. She left behind two children. Few details are available in her case, but failed play is suspected.

A few months later, another female Fort Hood's source. soldier disappeared. 27-year-old Elena Marie Walden was last seen on April 8, 1993 on Fort Hood. Elena was a second armored division soldier at the Army Post. On April 9th, a fisherman found her body partially submerged in the Leon River about eight miles northwest of Gatesville in a remote area with no public roads leading directly to that section of the river. She was found fully clothed except for one athletic shoe. There were no physical signs of trauma on her body. On April 15th, police found Elena's car, a red 1987 Ugo in a remote part of Gatesville. Medical examiners from the Dallas Forensic Lab ruled to death as drowning, but found the search.

circumstances surrounding her death questionable and changed the role into homicide. A month later, authorities determined that the cause of death was accidental, after what they said was an extensive investigation. They claimed Walden had severe mental problems, but they failed to explain how her car ended up miles from where her body was found, or what Walden may have been doing 35 miles north of Fort Hood. Justice of the Peace, Jimmy Wood, ruled the manner of death as accidental, and authorities closed the case. In more recent years, there have been several unsolved crimes involving Fort Hood soldiers. In the early morning hours of April 26, 2015, 29-year-old Army Sergeant Derek Pagan, who was stationed at Fort Hood, was killed in a hit-and-run crash as he walked along the southbound lanes of U.S.

183 South at East Riverside Drive in Austin. A woman named Veronica Carmone, her boyfriend and her children were driving home from a wedding when they saw something lying in the middle of the highway. It was dark out, but they soon realized it was a body. They turned around and parked their car to prevent anyone from hitting the body. Police later found car parks at the site and believe that three different kinds of white vehicles hit Pagan. Derek's mother said that her son had been out with one of his military friends. and somehow the two became separated. Derek started walking back to his hotel

in an area of Austin that he knew well. At the time, Derek was actively texting other friends in the Austin area, trying to find a ride when he was struck by a southbound vehicle while waiting at the center of divide across the street. To date, no arrests have been made in his death. 19-year-old private Dakota Stump of Indianapolis had dreamed of being an army soldier since he was seven years old.

He joined the army in April 2016 and graduated from basic training on July 15th. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Dakota's time as a soldier was short-lived. On October 10th, 2016, he vanished without a trace. He had been at the tail end of a 4-hour refit during a field exercise. with his outfit. According to witness statements and cell phone records, Dakota had driven with two other soldiers to an on-post shop at around 6.30 p.m. where he withdrew money for one of the over-21 soldiers to buy him a bottle, a pinnacle vodka. They took the alcohol back to their barracks to drink it.

Dakota had until 9.50 p.m. to return back to his troops' motor pool and head back into the field. At around 9 p.m., he sent a text to his girlfriend saying he was, quote, drunk as far. Fuck. Dakota was already three minutes late when one of his friends heard tires squealing and saw Dakota's Ford Mustang tearing out of the barracks parking lot. Other witnesses later saw him run at red light. Dakota was reported missing to Fort Hood's military police when he didn't show up to his unit and he didn't respond to phone calls the next day. At first, investigators thought that he may have taken his own life. This was based on community. from his mother, she had expressed concerns to the MPs that her son might have taken his own life.

A month and a half before his disappearance, he had posted on Facebook that he was going to disappear and no one was ever going to find him. In a text message to his girlfriend, he wrote, sometimes I wish I would have went through with what I was going to do five years ago. Dakota explained he had tried to take his life once before. He then wrote, I'm tired, mad, pissed off, want to kill somebody, want to kill myself, sexually frustrated in my feelings all at the same time. L.O.L. Dakota also joked about wishing one of his own mortars would blow him up. Despite the appearance that Dakota might want to harm himself, his mother suspected he was a victim of foul play because he was excited about the

army and getting into ranger school. But according to others, Dakota had been unhappy with his army experience to that point. Three days after Dakota vanished, MPs ran a check to see the last place his cell phone had pinged off a cell tower. Strangely enough, the record showed that his phone was in Indianapolis. And upon learning that, they listed him as AWOL. But apparently, the soldier who ran the cell phone number had copied it down wrong. Three weeks after he vanished, troops conducting land navigation training on Fort Hood found Dakota's body around 1150 a.m. on November 3rd, 2016, near Turkey Run Road. The remains dressed in a military uniform were found next to a flipped vehicle. The vehicle was registered to Dakota stump. The area was wooded and about 100 yards from the roadway

near Building 43028 on Fort Hood. The vehicle was not visible from the road. Dakota's mother retained a forensic expert to look over her son's autopsy report. While he agreed with the fatal car accident finding, he said that major points of the investigation left questions he could not answer. CID reconstructed Dakota's accident

and determined he was traveling at around 62 miles per hour when he missed a sharp left bend in the road and drove straight into some trees at a 20% incline. Based on the CID findings, his car hit a mound of dirt and went airborne for about 100 feet. It then hit the ground again and launched 50 more feet before hitting a tree stump. From there, it rolled another 70 feet before coming to rest on its side. Dakota wasn't wearing a seatbelt and had died from blunt force injuries.

In the last year alone, five Ford Hood soldiers have died violent dead, violent deaths. On May 18, 2020, Harker Heights police found the body of 27-year-old Brandon Scott Rosencranes on a road near Fort Hood. Harker Heights sits adjacent to Killeen. The case is currently being investigated as a homicide because Brandon had been shot. His 2016 orange Jeep Renegade was found in flames, not far from his body. Brandon worked as a quartermaster and chemical equipment repairment. He had been with his unit since November 2018. Brandon had received the National Defense Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon. He joined the Army in May 2018. On March 14th of this year, Colleen police officers

responded to a call of gunshots at an apartment complex. When they arrived, they found three people dead from gunshot wounds. One of them was Fort Hood soldier Freddie Delacruz Jr., who was only 23 years old. The other victim was also a 23-year-old soldier named Chiquan Markell Alred. This is an ongoing joint investigation between the Army CID and the Killeen Police Department. At 3.45am on March 1, 2020, 20-year-old specialist Shelby Tyler Jones was found by law enforcement. with a gunshot wound outside of Mickey's convenience store. The store is located at 3200 South Fort Hood Street. Police determined he was killed 40 minutes before at a nearby strip club called Club

Dreams and then dumped at the store a half mile away. The Louisiana native had entered the army in May 2017 as a cavalry scout. He joined Fort Hood's third cavalry regiment in August 2018 and deployed to Iraq to support Operation Inherent Resolve from May 2018. through January 2019. On September 5th, 2019, 22-year-old private first class, Mason Weber,

who was from Marion, Iowa, died from injury sustained while he was conducting maintenance on a Bradley fighting vehicle at Fort Hood. He had entered the Army in March 2018 as a Bradley fighting vehicle system mechanic. Army officials did not detail how Weber's death occurred, but said the incident

was under investigation by the Army Combat Readiness Center. As we mentioned, Vanessa Gehan's murder brought attention to the other Fort Hood deaths and raised awareness of sexual assault and sexual harassment within the U.S. Army and at Fort Hood. Several victims have since come forward to share their stories of how they were sexually harassed or raped while at Fort Hood and on other military bases. One of Vanessa Gean's best friends, Krista Martinez, died in early July, 2020 in a car accident. She had become active in the search for Vanessa,

and now her death is under investigation. Krista had also been sexually harassed at Fort Hood. The following is a post about Krista on the find Vanessa Gion page. Krista Martinez was also a soldier at the Fort Hood Army base. Krista was a retired soldier who also suffered sexual harassment by a superior. Krista was one of the brave ones, one of the first ones, to speak out about her case with the family. Krista was helping with shirts, flyers, protests, and with anything that had to do with Vanessa. Because she once said, I feel that Vanessa is my sister, and I will also do anything in my hands for her.

The Gien family and their attorney are planning the I Am Vanessa Gian bill, as well as a protest to take place on July 30th in Washington, D.C. They will meet with President Donald Trump on July 29th. According to KWTX.com, the I.M. Vanessa Gian bill would create an independent avenue for military members to report sexual harassment and assault. Cecily Aguilar appeared in federal court in Waco, Texas on Tuesday, July 14th, where she pleaded not guilty to the charges against her in Vanessa Gien's murder. She was denied bond and more if this is one that will have to kind of follow to see what else comes out about the case and what sentence Cecily Aguilar faces if she is indeed found guilty for her. role in Vanessa's murder. And I think that's not the only thing for us to kind of follow in this case. I mean, for one thing, this is very different than most of the cases that you and I do, right? Most of the ones that we handle, especially solved cases, they are finalized, right? We know all the details

because they're older, most of them, and those details have come out in court documents, and it's kind of all written in stone for the lack of a better term. This episode is much different. It's very new. It's very fresh. Yeah, I think we can definitely agree this case is still evolving. It remains to be seen where the case will go from here. And as it relates to the murder,

of Vanessa Gien, you know, we can only follow what happens to Cecily Aguilar. I don't know how much will come out about Aaron Robinson. I'm assuming there will be some information that comes out with Cecily's trial. Obviously, nothing will come from him directly. He took his own life. so specific knowledge that he had, if he didn't share that with her, that that knowledge is gone, it's lost. But I think it's very hard not to believe that he played a major role in the death of Vanessa Gein. I mean, would you agree with that more? The affidavits that they've released definitely seem to point to a lot of details that implicate him in Vanessa's murder. But unfortunately, there's not going to be a trial.

He's not going to face a jury of his peers to render a verdict. And for me, that's always tough. You lose some of the finality, I think, when you have this type of situation. I think at a trial, after all the details and facts and witnesses and experts come forward and lay everything out, it definitely, hopefully, soes everything together. leads to a clear-cut decision of innocent or guilty, and that the family is perhaps robbed of that and robbed of some of the answers they might get in that process.

And then when we talk about, you know, the death of Gregory Morales, that one is intriguing from the standpoint of, they're not even 100% sure, as far as I know, how he died. Now, we mentioned that the family believes that he was shot in the face, obviously that denotes murder to me if that's how it happened.

But then you have that that whole strange kind of, you know, the army thinking that he's gone AWOL when he's got, you know, two weeks left in his, his stent. You know, that just didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I know we talked about it during the episode. And then, you know, there's one thing that kind of popped into my head, which is the contrast. between how the disappearance of Gregory Morales was handled versus the disappearance of Vanessa Guillen. To me, more if it seemed like they were handled completely differently.

You have to wonder if that's because the family came to the base early on and sort of made noise and brought attention to it immediately if that was the cause for the sudden searching. And we don't know the service records of both Vanessa and Gregory. If there's details in there about them ever going, missing at different points, perhaps Vanessa had a squeaky, clean record, and Gregory had a history of going, leaving at different points. We don't know what's in those files that might have swayed the powers that be at the base to pursue or not pursue them as missing persons. Yeah, you're right. I mean, there are things always, right, in these situations that we don't know, but a lot of questions to be asked,

right? We just don't have the answers to all the questions. And then, you know, you have to touch on the allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault at Fort Hood. And I don't think it's just limited to Fort Hood, right? We're doing the story about Fort Hood, but I'm sure you have that happen at bases all around the country. With so many people, you know, coming out, I think it's pretty safe to say that there was definitely things going on that shouldn't have been going on. And I think we expect our military people to be upstanding citizens. And I think we'd all agree that for the most part they are, but as in any other field of work, there's always going to be people that have bad intentions or just simply bad people.

Yeah, and that's why I was kind of saying, I don't want to cast a bad light on, on Fort Hood. You could be talking about a major corporation. Well, there's going to be sexual harassment claims. There's going to be sexual assault perpetrated by one coworker on another. It's just, it's going to happen. And then, you know, especially when you have so many people grouped together, when we kind of talked about that in the beginning of the episode. That's what you have at Fort Hood.

It's a lot of people. And then I think lastly, you have quite a few deaths that have occurred over the years at Fort Hood. I won't call them all mysteries. Some of them seem pretty straightforward. I think there are some aspects to some of them that people question. But again, over a number of years with that many people, you would expect a certain number of deaths. Hopefully going forward, things like the I am Vanessa Gian bill will help protect soldiers at every base and allow them to come forward if they are experiencing anything that they need to report without fear for their life or their job. Yeah, no doubt. Thanks goes out to Debbie Buck at TruecrimeDiva.com for writing and research assistance in this episode. If you love the show

and you haven't done so yet, go out. Give us a five-star rating. You can leave a review if you want, but keep telling your friends. You know you have friends that love true crime. Make sure you tell them about criminology. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. We're also on Facebook. You can just search for criminology podcast or you can join our Facebook discussion group, which is Criminology Podcast, Discussion and Fans. All right. That's it for another episode of Criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you. next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So for Mike, Dan Morph.

We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.