6/23/20
The Army is now convinced there was “foul play” involved in the two-month-old disappearance of Fort Hood Soldier Vanessa Guillen, Rep. Sylvia García, D-Texas, said Tuesday. “They have now used the words foul play. They are convinced now that there is foul play involved and they are following all the leads they can,” the congresswoman said at a Fort Hood press conference that was live streamed on social media. After weeks of protests, Guillen’s father, sisters, García and their attorney Natalie Khawam met with military investigators and officials at Fort Hood, Texas, where Guillen was serving and last seen. Her mother, Gloria Guillen, was also invited, but she said at the press conference that after she saw images of soldiers searching for her daughter in a river, she felt too ill to attend. Guillen, a 20-year-old private first class in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, was last seen April 22, at a Fort Hood parking lot. Her car and barracks room keys, identification card and wallet were found in the armory room where she was working the day she disappeared, Fort Hood officials have said. García said the military has pulled phone records and reviewed credit card and security records. Information on when she was last seen is based on interviews with people, however no camera video exists, which the family and their attorney said they found odd.
The military confirmed Guillen was last heard from at 11:30 a.m. based on phone records. The family's attorney Natalie Khawam said that a text was sent from Guillen’s phone on the day she was last heard from, notifying a supervisor of a serial number of one of the weapons she had to review. Khawam questioned why such important military information would be texted and whether the text actually came from Guillen or someone using her phone. Guillen’s phone has not been found, Rep. Garcia said. There continue to be discrepancies between the family’s timeline and what the investigators have detailed. One has emerged regarding whether Guillen was in her barracks when routine head counts took place. “In at least one, it was admitted the supervisor or sergeant who actually is supposed to account for everyone in the barrack submitted a report that everyone was accounted for when, in fact, now he’s admitted that he did not see Vanessa,” said Garcia. Khawam said the family shared with military officials that Guillen had told them as well as friends that a sergeant had followed her into a shower while she was naked. “We suspect that person was her supervisor the same day after she was missing,” the attorney said. The family also said she was not supposed to work on the day of her disappearance, but was called in to work and they want to know who called her in.