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The brutal murders of four Idaho college students shocked millions. This negates civic participation, as the state no longer needs to collect taxes and thus stops serving the people, who in turn have no need to pressure the government for anythingthe very dynamic that continues to play out in oil-rich Gulf states. ), 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. Namely, the military. 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. Maxwell Hockin, was found dead outside his company barracks on Saturday, October 9. The base was named after John Bell Hood, a Confederate general from a family that enslaved people in Kentucky, who made his name by breaking a Union line at Elthams Landing in Virginia and who, by todays standards, likely suffered from PTSD. What happened on that base and in the Army to cause this person who is normally very [kind] and responsive to all of a sudden leave and shut down?, When I asked soldiers at Fort Hood what they thought was the matter on base, they mentioned toxic leadership, a catholic term that seemed to encompass all: lack of care, general command climate, and so-called toxic masculinity. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Many complained specifically of being made to cut grass to ready for such official visits. Casteel had told Rodriguez "he was getting away from the abuse.". Thirteen killed themselves. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. At first, Aguilar told investigators, they cut her up using a machete. Congress launched an investigation of Fort Hood citing the deaths and other felonies that occurred on the fort between 2014-2019. . (Fort Hood) A soldier in the 1st Cavalry Division was found dead Saturday in his company area, according to a statement from. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. From this inauspicious start, Killeen grew into a proper military town and is now home to six strip clubs, 18 pawn shops, 35 dollar stores, and 38 tattoo parlors. A soft October wind carried the first chill of the season. Casteel had been stationed at Fort Hood since the end of June, where he'd been bullied for a spinal injury that consigned him to desk duties. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . On August 25, a rail worker in Temple, Texas, 26 miles east of Fort Hood, saw a body hanging from a tree across from a burned-out warehouse near the tracks. Before Fort Hood was built, the land was used for grazing by some 3,000 farmers and ranchers, according to Gerald D. Skidmore, a Killeen historian. Police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death Austin December 25, 2022 Weather View Your 7-Day Forecast Here MILITARY Family hopeful for answers after police reopen case into Fort Hood soldier's death By Olivia Levada Texas PUBLISHED 4:24 PM CT Apr. 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. A soldier stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, was found dead over the weekend behind a barracks, according to local media reports, adding to the rash of deaths and disappearances of soldiers. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. "What on earth are you training for?" Sergeant Brad Reynolds, 37, killed himself on May 16. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. On May 18, Brandon Rosecranss burning Jeep was discovered in a hilly suburb east of Fort Hood. 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. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. Maxwell Hockin. Staff Sergeant Devin Schuette was found dead in his pickup truck, fitted with a hose running from the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in January 2016. (The Boley case remains unsolved.) But the only among the victims may be the institution that them all to kill. The soldiers said that Guillens belongings had been found in the arms room, but otherwise she had left no trace. Barely a week later, Private Corlton Chee, 25, died during training. (His sons alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) Morta's death comes amid intense scrutiny of Fort Hood in recent weeks. One of the first times she stepped onto the base, a rosary she had been carrying in the palm of her hand tore apart, its beads scattering over the concrete ground. The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. His body was found nearly a month later, two miles from the barracks. (According to Killeen police, no such vests were found at the scene of the crash. Chris and Moses friends of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. After a chase along Rancier Avenue, the same street near which Lovell was found dead, Robinson shot himself and died. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillen's remains were later found. = Link to a nongovernmental site. 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. "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Vanessa Guillen and a number of other soldiers at Fort Hood sparked outrage across the country, leading to an independent review of the command climate and culture on the military post. Site Gregory Wedel-Morales' remains were found in Killeen, Texas. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. Four days later, an anonymous tip directed investigators to an urban prairie at the end of a residential street where Penny Morales used to live. Hood was an unsuccessful battle commander; 400 men of his Texas Brigade died in a single fight, some would argue through incautious direction. We believe that Every Life has a Story which should be told and preserved. I am astounded nobody is interested, the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. The small Texas frontier town was also a "hotbed of Klan activity," according to Texas historian Gene Preuss of the University of Houston, so much so that when trains stopped in Killeen, Black passengersrelegated to "colored cars"knew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. 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. The numbers are distressing. But the only among the victims may be the institution that them all to. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. The soldiers said that Guillen's belongings had been found in the arms room, but otherwise she had left no trace. Two more who had separated from. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. A small minority, which bikers call one percent groups, and which the Department of Justice calls by the regrettable acronym OMG, or outlaw motorcycle gangs, were the people Wedel-Morales had been hanging around with. Beyond the base, gas station attendants and restaurant servers, many of whom were veterans or had ties to the military, all seemed resigned to certain fates. 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. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, never to be seen again. 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. He had also gotten married without telling his family, been evicted from his apartment, and stopped showing up to work. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. Hockin was found dead behind his company barracks. He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. Fernandes had just been stationed at Fort Hood in January. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillens murder in those 40 minutes? 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. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. If he killed himself, dont they want to know why?. THE GREAT PLACE. 20, 2021 FORT HOOD, Texas The death of Spc. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. I will tell you everything." On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. Last December, an internal investigation found that Fort Hoods culture, environment, and leadership resulted in women feeling vulnerable and preyed upon, with no reliable recourse for their very real sense of duress. Specialist Vanessa Guillen's father, Rogelio, wondered if I shouldn't carry a gun. Not long after Fort Hood opened, soldiers began bringing home souvenirs in the form of war brides. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. Thirteen killed themselves. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims families. 2023 Cond Nast. The wave of pain went away as suddenly as it had come on but returned again, and again, and again, over the next hour. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandes's death a suicide. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. Fernandes wouldn't share much, nothing about what had caused him to be hospitalized, and said that he was using an insecure base hospital line. Garrison Policies and Regulations. She has become that complicated, indelible thing: a hero. 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. 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. Guillen confessed that she was being harassed by another soldier. Beyond the base, gas station attendants and restaurant servers, many of whom were veterans or had ties to the military, all seemed resigned to certain fates. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. (On July 14,2020, a federal grand injury indicted Aguilar on one count of conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. 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. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. Joel Leal 12:18 PM, Oct 11, 2022 . On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandes's mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? Fort Hood soldier found dead behind barracks, investigation underway Officials identified the soldier as 26-year-old Spc. [2] On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. Without any sense of purpose, the suffering at Fort Hood had started to lose its meaning. The deaths were caused by varying reasons -- gunshots, car accidents and illnesses and all the deaths were under probe. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself the Great Place may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. ", "I'm 21 now, and let me tell you. Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecranss Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. Basic details of the incident kept changing. On May 19, military investigators went through Robinsons phone and learned that he had called his girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, multiple times on the night of April 22, as late as 3:30 a.m., from a town 20 miles east of Fort Hooddespite his claim he had been with Aguilar that night. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Blocks death was ruled an accident by a single shot of friendly fire before the family received the body and saw that she had five gunshot wounds, including one to the head. Atop these sedimentary layers of desecration, displacement, and disorientation, the War Department set out to build a base that would go on to serve as a footnote to nearly every war in modern memoryKorea, Vietnam, Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but also Grenada, Panama, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. "Is it possible Elder was murdered? Nov. 30, 2022. Hoover, Alabama. 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. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. The very next day, a Fort Hood investigation concluded that Fernandess charges of sexual assault were unsubstantiated. 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. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. "He seemed weird," Rodriguez said. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. After a chase along Rancier Avenue, the same street near which Lovell was found dead, Robinson shot himself and died. A U.S. Army soldier, Spc. 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. Namely, the military. (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) The death was ruled a suicide despite the fact that the blanket stuffed around the window to hold the pipe in place had been doused in Schuettes own blood, and Schuette was found with nine stab wounds across his body, including his forearm and his left hand. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. Is it possible Elder killed himself? Fort Hood is one of 800 United States military bases around the world, the third largest in the country. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her son's car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. The wave of pain went away as suddenly as it had come on but returned again, and again, and again, over the next hour. (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers vanished or died, including 13. Those remains, it turned out, belonged to yet another soldier, Private Gregory Wedel-Morales, who had gone missing the previous summer. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. Alvis Franklin Bentley. 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. But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. These figures eclipse American casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq in the same year. Boots and hat at Vanessa Guillens memorial, Killeen TX, Jeffrey Epsteins Decades-Long Relationship. Through social media posts, court records, and other primary sources, author Kathleen Hale forensically reconstructs their lives before the crime, and the night they were killed. "She is now for the movement.". The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. One of the first times she stepped onto the base, a rosary she had been carrying in the palm of her hand tore apart, its beads scattering over the concrete ground. Memorial that now stands at the site Vanessa Guillen's remains were found in Killen, Texas. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. Joshua Diamond, 35, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Pfc. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). "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 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. 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. Two witnesses had seen Robinson roll a black cargo box out of the arms room and through the parking lot, where he loaded it into his car and drove away, contradicting an earlier affidavit from three soldiers who falsely claimed they had seen Guillen departing the arms room earlier. 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. Eric Christopher Hogan and Pfc. Nearly 200 miles away in Houston, Rogelio Guillen was entering his fourth hour of work at a nickel-plating factory when he felt a sharp spasm in his chest. These deaths confirm to many the issues reported at the post . It is unclear if Killeen even bothered to visit his namesake town, which, by the early 1880s, comprised 40 people living across 360 acres, mostly working in the two cotton gins, two gristmills, and two saloonsit had the most saloons, gamblers, and shootings per capita in Bell County, according to historian Martha Bowmer. In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. The deaths of Fort Hood soldiers have gained international attention in recent months after the slaying of Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old Army specialist the authorities say was killed on. The base might have continued to devour its soldiers had it not been for a missing soldiers family whose rage, love, and devotion would attract the attention of the media, celebrities, and later the White House, sparking congressional and military investigations. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillens death remained a mystery. 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.) He wondered if it was something he had eaten and carried on with his shift. It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. First came the British and Germans. Ad Choices. Later the same day, at 8:30 p.m., Aaron Robinsons 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. Fernandes transferred to another unit where he was called a snitch and worse. Why was Robinson not put under watch? The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. Fort Hood concluded Chee had died in training. The exact cause of Hockin's death remains unclear . Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. She pleaded not guilty. 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. So much of reporting is opening yourself up to chance, and there I was, compulsively locking and relocking the rental car door. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case . 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. 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. 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. March 1, 2023 (94 years old) View obituary. ARMY-WIDE IMPLEMENTATION STATUS. The dollhouse, strip club Gregory Wedel Morales frequented, Killeen Tx. It was also an ancient Comanche Native American burial ground, discovered when construction workers unearthed more than 2,200 grave sites in 1998. Later that year, Private Dakota Lee Stump left his barracks to report for work less than a mile away but never arrived for formation. The new family, like more than 70 percent of all Fort Hood service members, lived off post, but after two dead bodies were found on their street, they moved into base housing. Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. She pleaded not guilty. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people, Ring wrote on the website of his fathers veterans rights organization. He was assigned to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. During the day, though, it was still hot enough that if you dropped a beer bottle, the contents appeared to dry on contact. Specialist Justen Ogdens 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. If he killed himself, don't they want to know why?". At least 39 Fort Hood troops died or went missing last year.