Who Was Aaron Robinson and What Happened to Him?

I Am Vanessa Guillen is the moving documentary on Netflix about the murder of 20-year-old soldier Vanessa Guillén and her family's fight for justice and reform of the U.S. Army.

On April 22, 2020, Guillén disappeared from the army base Ford Hood, near Killeen in Texas, at around lunchtime. She remained missing for two months, with her family kept in the dark about any developments or investigations in the case, as heard in I Am Vanessa Guillen.

Two months later, on June 30, 2020, Vanessa Guillén's remains were found buried along the Leon River. Aaron Robinson, the last person to see her alive, became the main suspect in her murder.

Newsweek has everything you need to know about Robinson.

Who Was Aaron Robinson?

Aaron David Robinson was a 20-year-old soldier from Calumet City, Illinois. He joined the Army in October 2017, training as a 12B, Combat Engineer. In 2020, he had risen to the rank of E4 Specialist.

Fellow soldier Vanessa Guillén trained as 91F, Small Arms and Artillery Repairer.

As a result of their positions in military engineering, Robinson and Guillén worked together on occasion at Fort Hood, as heard in I Am Vanessa Guillen.

Robinson was one of the last known people to see Vanessa Guillén on the day she disappeared and had been interviewed by investigators at the time, but was ruled out as a suspect.

It remains unknown if Robinson had made unwarranted sexual advances on Guillén on the day she died. As heard in I Am Vanessa Guillen on Netflix, her family and friends suspect Guillén was sexually assaulted before her murder.

As heard in I Am Vanessa Guillen, Robinson had been accused of sexual harassment in the past, unrelated to Guillén.

As heard in the documentary, Guillén's family alerted the army and the Criminal Investigation Command (CID). The soldier had spoken of being sexually harassed on two occasions by a superior while stationed at Fort Hood and that other complaints by other women against the sergeant had been dismissed.

However, the army publicly dismissed these allegations due to a lack of evidence when they were brought to the media attention during Guillén's disappearance.

What Happened to Aaron Robinson?

When Vanessa Guillén's dismembered remains were found buried along the Leon River on June 30, 2020, Robinson was being held at his unit for violating COVID-19 quarantine rules.

As heard in I Am Vanessa Guillen, Robinson texted his alleged then-girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, 22, "Baby, they found pieces."

On the day Guillén's remains were discovered, Aguilar was interviewed again by the authorities. She told police Robinson had said that he had killed a female soldier with a hammer inside the armory at Fort Hood.

Aguilar would go on to be suspected of assisting Robinson in dismembering, burning and burying Guillén's body.

Aguilar has been charged on 11 counts: one count of conspiracy to tamper with documents or proceedings; two counts of tampering with documents or proceedings; three counts of accessory after the fact; one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation; and four counts of false statement or representation.

Speaking to ABC 7 Chicago, Natalie Khawam, the Guillén family lawyer, said investigators from the U.S. Army CID told her that Robinson had cleaned up where Guillén was killed, placed her body in a container, and wheeled her out to his car.

On the evening of June 30, Robinson escaped the custody of an unarmed guard from his unit and traveled six miles from his base. In the early hours of July 1, 2020, Killeen police located Robinson but, before they could arrest him, he shot himself dead.

On May 24, 2022, the Texas Department of Public Safety released a report revealing a possible motive for Robinson's crime.

It read: "Aguilar later explained [during her confession in 2021] why Robinson killed Guillén saying Guillén saw Robinson's cellphone lock screen, which contained a picture of Aguilar.

"(Robinson) told her he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer."

Guillén's mother has said that she had been told by witnesses of Robinson's death that they had heard two gunshots and believes that he was killed by police as part of an army coverup, according to National World.

Unfortunately, as a result of Robinson taking his own life, he was never tried for Vanessa Guillén's murder, and the true extent of what happened will never be known.

On December 8, 2020, after an investigation by Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy, 14 U.S. commanders and other leaders at Fort Hood were disciplined for multiple "leadership failures."

Guillén's sister Lupe told Newsweek: "The sister relationship that I had with Vanessa was very tremendous as any other sister relationship.

"From her, as you can see, in a documentary, I've learned so much even in the living, she was a person to never give up.

"She was a person to be strong and from those two criteria, I've learned till this day, and especially during her disappearance and death, to not give up to fight and to be brave enough to speak up, because she wasn't given the right to speak up.

"The passion that she had for sports and the passion she had for us as a family is the same passion that I would like to share with the world because no one deserves to die the way she did," her sister added.

"No one deserves to live the way she did at that military base, and the only thing I have left is to leave her legacy because she deserves it more than anyone else."

With the help of lawyer Khawam, Guillén's sisters, Mayra and Lupe, succeeded in having provisions from the I Am Vanessa Guillen bill passed in the $770 billion National Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Joe Biden in December 2021. This made it possible to criminally prosecute sexual assault and sexual harassment outside the armed-service chain of command and for victims to be given protection.

Despite their huge achievement, Mayra Guillén told Newsweek it was "very sad" change had to come at the cost of her sister's life.

She said: "The fact that we were able to make something positive out of the tragedy is something that I still find hard to believe. Usually, the military covers most of the injustices that would make them look bad and, in this case, we weren't taking no for an answer."

She added: "I'm excited that the film is going to be released, but also, it can be very sad to think my sister had to be the catalyst for this."

I Am Vanessa Guillen is streaming on Netflix now.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jqJkmqVdq66vsdKsmGafpZ65rbHNZpiaqp%2BjerO7waKlrKeeYriquMueqWamlamzrbXXZpuom6Wisq%2FAwKuwZmlna310fJA%3D