Cecily Aguilar is the only person charged in the brutal 2020 killing of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén. Aguilar received the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison this week after pleading guilty in November.
Cecily Aguilar, the lone person charged in the killing of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén, was sentenced this week to 30 years in federal prison. Guillén's brutal 2020 slaying on a Texas base launched a social movement to reform the military's pervasive mishandling of sex crimes against U.S. female service members.
Aguilar, 25, received the maximum sentence for helping her then-boyfriend, Army Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, dismember and bury Guillén's remains at several sites in a neighboring county, according to federal prosecutors.
Guillén, 20, was beaten to death on base in April 2020 at Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood. It is the Army's third-largest installation and the site of training for soldiers heading for deployment.
Aguilar acknowledged helping Robinson get rid of Guillén's body by helping him to cut up and burn the soldier's corpse, and then bury the pieces in multiple locations and cover them in concrete, authorities said.
“Our hope is that today’s sentence brings a sense of relief and justice to the Guillén family, who have endured such pain throughout these past few years,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas said Monday.
Aguilar's "actions were indefensible, and she will now face the maximum penalty for the choices she made," Esparza said.
Monday's sentencing hearing, which included new details from the disturbing case, was especially hard on Guillén's relatives, who were in the courtroom.
"Today was a very hard day for my family," the victim's sister, Mayra Guillén, told reporters afterward.
On April 22, 2020, Guillén went to Robinson’s office to conduct a weapons accountability check, according to authorities. Robinson bludgeoned her to death with a hammer, then stuffed her body into a storage bin and drove off the base, prosecutors said.
Previously, the young woman had confided to her family that she was being sexually harassed on base, but was afraid to report it because she feared retribution.
Her family reported her missing in April, after not being able to reach her. She had vanished in broad daylight, while working on base, investigators would later say.
The vanishing of a young woman from a massive military base went largely unreported in the national media until her relatives, and their attorney, began holding press conferences, accusing Army officials of dragging their feet and deliberately misleading them.
National marches and demonstrations followed. Politicians, celebrities and women's advocates took up her cause. They demanded she be found.
Two months went by before the woman's remains were found.
Aguilar was the only one held accountable for the death of Vanessa Guillén. Robinson shot himself to death on June 30, 2020, as authorities tried to arrest him.
Guillén’s case ultimately revealed pervasive sexual harassment and assaults at the base, military leaders would later acknowledge.
The public spotlight grew so bright, U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy held a press conference in December 2020 to acknowledge Fort Hood had the highest number of sexual assaults and harassment in the entire branch of the military. He apologized to Guillén's family.
The chain of command had allowed a system of "permissive of sexual harassment and sexual assault" to fester on base, he said.
The #IAmVanessaGuillén movement was credited with helping overhaul how the military investigates sex crimes and cares for its survivors.
Attorney Natalie Khawam, who represents the Guillén family, spoke Monday before Aguilar's sentence was announced. The defendant's punishment “needs to set the example for anyone that will ever contemplate mutilating, destroying, and/or concealing a body,” Khawam told the court.
“Your honor, Vanessa Guillén served this country,” the attorney said. “It’s imperative that you set the appropriate precedent today so heinous acts like this will never occur on our turf again.”
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