Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. Online Texas Death Indexes, Records & Obituaries Lenz was found dead at Fort Hood on Feb. 1. 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. "Is it possible Elder was murdered? Hockin was found dead behind his company barracks. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. "I asked him directly if he wasn't willing to speak because of position and he signaled yes, and he said, 'l'd rather tell you in person.' 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. He wondered if it was something he had eaten and carried on with his shift. Memorial that now stands at the site Vanessa Guillen's remains were found in Killen, Texas. Deaths of two female soldiers in Texas under investigation Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. Fort Hood is the Army's premier installation to train and deploy heavy forces. 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. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. The search party arrived at Fort Hood at 3 a.m. Guillen's staff sergeant told the group to come back in the morning. 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. Family of Fort Hood soldier demands answers after military refuses to It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. "I guess my point is," Rodriguez told me, "if everything was 'fine,' the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? If not, what explained the false accounting? Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half, Next I passed Club Dreams, where Specialist Shelby Jones was shot, bled out, and died last March; then Guns Galore, where Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan purchased a semiautomatic pistol that he would use to kill 13 people in 2009. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials say they do not suspect foul play in the death of 26-year-old SPC Maxwell Hockin. (On July 14, 2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. On the night of August 19, Wedel-Morales went out to Club Fuego, located in a desolate strip mall about 10 miles east of Fort Hood. Then they tried burning the body. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. 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. None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me, Rodriguez told me. Mayra wept during the journey, already fearing the worst. Site Gregory Wedel-Morales' remains were found in Killeen, Texas. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. "She is now for the movement.". 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. Schuettes body was returned to his family wrapped like a mummy. Later that year, Private Dakota Lee Stump left his barracks to report for work less than a mile away but never arrived for formation. A few days later, so did 21-year-old Specialist Trey Ring. THE MURDERS AT FORT HOOD Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. (On July 14,2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. "None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me," Rodriguez told me. 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.. In a press statement, Fort Hood officials said Hockin, 26, was initially found unresponsive outside of the barracks and was subsequently pronounced dead. Two days after Staff Sergeant Anthony Lovell, 40, disappeared in 2017, his body was found, eyes pecked clean, face split in half, in a creek off Killeen's seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. The very next day, a Fort Hood investigation concluded that Fernandes's charges of sexual assault were unsubstantiated. Texas Obituaries - Online Obituaries, Funeral Notices and Death Records That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. The rolling, semi-arid terrain is ideal for multifaceted training and testing of military units and troops. 20, 2021 FORT HOOD, Texas The death of Spc. Alvis Franklin Bentley. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. The shakeup comes after after a series of suspicious deaths and disappearances that have plagued Fort Hood. Linda Schweers, whose specialist son, Justin, died in a car crash in June while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, wanted me to be careful of cartels, which she said ran the area. Fernandes wouldnt share much, nothing about what had caused him to be hospitalized, and said that he was using an insecure base hospital line. Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. Green Beret NCO dies during physical fitness training at Fort Bragg Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. The Armys own investigation found major flaws at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. I've even lost myself." Even then, it was she who had to scare up the $3,500 in bail money, and after Fort Hood sent two officers to pick up Casteel, officials refused to share information with Rodriguez. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Ive lost so much since Ive been in. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Texan sentenced to 20 years following drug-related death of Fort Hood soldier. (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. (He was found a day later.) The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. But advocates for. 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. 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. Why hadn't the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? Radically transparent, low cost versions of high cost generic drugs. On most nights, I had nightmares. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. The U.S. Army on Tuesday announced the removal . Army major kills 13 people in Fort Hood shooting spree The next day, Wedel-Morales failed to show up for duty, and the day after that, he was classified as absent without leave, making him one of the thousand or so soldiers who go AWOL in any given year. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. Fort Hood Weather. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. He told his sister there were three white soldiers who did not like him. On August 28, Chee was called into a training run. Rodriguez disputes this claim. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. Dozens of people were killed, died by suicide, or went missing from the Texas military base last year alone. The vast emptiness that is most of the state can make you feel inconsequential, as if you could disappear and no one would know you ever lived. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? 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. First came the British and Germans. Schuette's body was returned to his family "wrapped like a mummy." 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. All rights reserved. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. Matthew Disney, 20, of Aberdeen, Maryland, were pronounced dead on the scene by emergency medical personnel at the North Carolina military. The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . Courtesy | Margie Taylor Spc.. (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. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Fort Hood soldier found dead outside barracks - American Military News (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) In the same week, Private Edward Casteel, who had been missing from Fort Hood since October 6, was found in a parish jail in Louisiana, arrested after a high-speed chase. Around the Guillen murals in Killeen and in Houston, I met people who had lost loved ones to the military, who felt harm done, who saw in Guillen a savior. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. 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. Frantic, she called around, to no avail. But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like mission first, equipment second, he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) Rosecrans, shot four times, was found three miles from his vehicle. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. Military bases are the last piece of the homeland that soldiers see before they are deployed to fight and the first glimpse of home when they return. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. 22.4 (births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age) Infant Mortality Rate. "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. The U.S. Army identified a soldier found dead behind his company barracks at Fort Hood last week as 26-year-old Spc. Specialist Vanessa Guillen's father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldn't carry a gun. "As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. Thirteen killed themselves. 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. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims' families. They checked into a nearby hotel and returned at 8 a.m. the next day. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Morales's body was found, Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died at Fort Hood after his repeated requests to see a doctor were denied, according to Carma Johnson, whose brother died at Fort Hood. Agamemnon demonstrates disrespect, vanity, and other lapses in judgment, the result of which is what clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay describes as moral injurya (i) betrayal of whats right, (ii) by someone who holds legitimate authority, (iii) in a high stakes situation. Such moral injury deteriorates social trust, which is then replaced by the settled expectancy of harm, exploitation, and humiliation from others, resulting in despair and violence to self and to others. Next I passed Club Dreams, where Specialist Shelby Jones was shot, bled out, and died last March; then Guns Galore, where Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan purchased a semiautomatic pistol that he would use to kill 13 people in 2009. The 20-year-old US Army soldier died in a Fort Hood, Texas,. 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. Army report finds Fort Hood soldier Vanessa - The Texas Tribune Fort Hood: What we know about 12 soldiers missing, slain or killed in The story appears in the July/August 2021 issue of Vanity Fair.I enthusiastically recommend this article. After 10 torturous weeks and growing. His wife, Christal, was denied her husband's mobile phone, the final investigation report, and even his corpse, until Texas Congressman Ron Wright stepped in on that front. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. Fort Hood is one of 800 United States military bases around the world, the third largest in the country. 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. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. The circumstances are so strange and awful that fully understanding the events can be difficult. 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. 16 Apr 2021 Military.com | By Matthew Cox The Army 's People First Task Force on Friday unveiled sweeping actions underway to transform the service's sexual harassment and assault prevention. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. The ancient Greeks wrote epic poems on the subject, the most famous of which is the Iliad. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. (According to Killeen police, no such vests were found at the scene of the crash. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. 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. Dominic Criqui, who served in Vanessa Guillen's unit, says that the training had come to feel "stupid" and "pointless." According to officials, the deaths include seven off-duty accidents; seven suicides; one combat-related death; four homicides, one of which was on the base; two of natural causes; one that was. Specialist Justen Ogden's death in July 2017 was ruled a suicide, but the suicide note Fort Hood produced as evidence did not match his handwriting, according to his mother, Toni. I guess my point is, Rodriguez told me, if everything was fine, the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? American military bases, once established, seldom shutter, and Fort Hood, which started operating during World War II, has remained open for business, its 218,000 acres spreading across two counties in central Texas near an otherwise unremarkable town called Killeen. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . Before Guillen, there had been Private LaVena Lynn Johnson, who was found dead in a tent in 2005 in Iraq. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. Five were murdered. Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. Army disciplines 21 at Fort Hood in probe of soldier's death 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. A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. The problem with Fort Hood: Violence, deaths and disappearances - MEAWW The Army's own investigation found "major flaws" at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case . That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptrollers office.). Thirteen killed themselves. Guilln's death triggered a social media movement of former and current military service people speaking out about sexual assault and harassment on the base. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Even then, it was she who had to scare up the $3,500 in bail money, and after Fort Hood sent two officers to pick up Casteel, officials refused to share information with Rodriguez. A sergeant from Guillens division called it mandatory fun days. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. Last December, an internal investigation found that Fort Hood's culture, environment, and leadership resulted in women feeling "vulnerable and preyed upon," with no reliable recourse for their very real sense of duress. You can click this link to create an obituary. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. 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. Two days after Staff Sergeant Anthony Lovell, 40, disappeared in 2017, his body was found, eyes pecked clean, face split in half, in a creek off Killeens seedy main corridor called Rancier, the same street where Specialist Freddy Delacruz, 23, was shot and killed last March. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillen's death remained a mystery. By. 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. This was true of many I met at Fort Hood, including press officer Major Gabriela Thompson, my tour guide on base, who told me she joined to pay off her student loans: It was my ticket out, she said, echoing other soldiers sentiments about how the military had rescued them from hardscrabble existences. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. The Lovell case was ruled an accident despite the fact that a rival club's biker vest, or kutte, was found hanging neatly from a tree near the crash site, while his motorcyclemirror, taillightswas found intact. Army Investigating How Fort Hood Soldier Found Unresponsive Behind Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. Jef Rouner. Creating an obituary on Echovita is free. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. = Link to a nongovernmental site. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. Police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death - Spectrum News In 1941, Private Felix Hall was lynched by fellow soldiers, at Fort Benning, Georgia. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. Then they tried burning the body. Fort Hood Press Center - The Official Government Press Center for Fort He ultimately murdered her when she was eight months pregnant, then set her on fire before fleeing to Mexico. (Penny says they met online.) On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). UPDATE: Foul play not suspected in death of Fort Hood soldier The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. The military, Rodriguez said, had known about this but had refused to treat him. Nelda Lee Edwards. Is it possible Elder killed himself ? Thirteen killed themselves. He joined the U.S. Army in March of 2017 as a combat engineer and had been assigned to . At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. That an overwhelming majority of the towns 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. She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinson's girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, changed her story and told Army investigators that Robinson had confessed to her that he killed Guillen in the arms room, beating her to death with a hammer. Congress launched an investigation of Fort Hood citing the deaths and other felonies that occurred on the fort between 2014-2019. . Casteel had told Rodriguez "he was getting away from the abuse.". 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. Radically transparent, low cost versions of high cost generic drugs. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. ), On July 3, a fortnight after Wedel-Moraless body was found, Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died at Fort Hood after his repeated requests to see a doctor were denied, according to Carma Johnson, whose brother died at Fort Hood. By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. In 2009, Nidal Hasan was an Army major when he killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. Toxic leadership is nothing new. Lenz's mother, Margie Taylor, said her son loved children and looked forward to having a family of his own one day. It was a "heartrending, searing experience," central Texas historian Gra'Delle Duncan said, "leaving lifetime marks on all, and actually killing some" from the psychic devastation that followed. 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. A young soldier found dead at Fort Hood has been identified, but his cause of death remains hidden. Everything we know about the 16 soldier deaths at Fort Hood this year Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.).
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