Found Deceased TX - PFC Vanessa Guillen, 20, Fort Hood military base, items left behind, 22 Apr 2020

[hey-Debbie]

I'm married to a career Marine and served in the Air Force myself. IMO, if a family member contacts your command, they are very, very concerned!!

Yes, I guess that's my idea. So like if my son doesn't answer my texts right away I don't freak out. He's in Italy. He sometimes forgets to text me back because he works 2nd shift. He works and sometimes picks up extra shifts or may be busy at the gym, etc. If I don't hear from him in a while I get real sterm with my texts and say he needs to communicate with me that he's okay. He's 23 but still...I'm his Mom. He'll usually text back fairly quickly and apologize. Being that when you involve a command like that it's serious. You don't contact them for your sister or boyfriend/girlfriend didn't text you back quick enough.

This leads me to believe that maybe her sister had alternate or other conversations that aren't public knowledge as to why she was so quick to contact her sister's command to ask where she was.

 

[MassGuy]

BBM:

Put more words to this, please.

I'm not following your meaning.

If some guy walked on base to kidnap her, then it’s even harder to walk off base with her.

 

[GordianKnot]

If some guy walked on base to kidnap her, then it’s even harder to walk off base with her.

Gotcha, thanks.

Here's how my brain was tracking when I posed the question:

• How difficult would it have been for her to leave the base herself on foot?
• How difficult would it have been for a predator to enter the base unseen, attack her, then leave?

I'm not yet convinced she's off the base.

JMO.

 

[MassGuy]

Gotcha, thanks.

Here's how my brain was tracking when I posed the question:

• How difficult would it have been VG her to leave the base herself on foot?
• How difficult would it have been for a predator to enter the base unseen, attack her, then leave?

I'm not yet convinced she's off the base.

JMO.

Difficult/difficult.

I think if this is foul play, the perpetrator has a legitimate reason for being on base.

 

[hey-Debbie]

Anyone remember the Ashanti Billie case that went missing off of the Navy base in Norfolk, VA? That's how you can be removed off of base without anyone seeing or knowing. She could have gone voluntarily in the passenger seat as well. I'm sure cameras do not capture all angles of a car leaving base.

 

[GordianKnot]

Difficult/difficult.

I think if this is foul play, the perpetrator has a legitimate reason for being on base.

Roger that.

The good news there is that this helps narrow the field of likely suspects for investigators.

The bad news is that it narrows the suspect pool down to around 71,000 people, according to this article:

Here Is an Overview of Fort Hood, Texas, Lodging, Directions, and More

VG's digital footprints are going to be absolutely critical in this case.

JMO.

 

[Falling Down]

If some guy walked on base to kidnap her, then it’s even harder to walk off base with her.

Good point, or impossible to do so, really.

Another quickie I'd like to share is Hood being a "closed base", as I call it, meaning the gates are guarded 24/7, means that if she left the base on foot for a run, which to me seems unlikely, she would have been seen at one of the gates and there would be video.

JMO

 

[California Sunset]

<modsnip: personalizing>

If any weapons were missing from that armory the entire base would have been shut down.

Are you saying if anything was missing it would be found instantaneously? BTW, someone once stole an M16 on a base where I was. They did not shut the base down. All the vehicles were thoroughly searched as they left the base. In the end, the weapon was off base, which made stealing the weapon worse because he removed it from the installation.

Why would anyone carry a handgun on a base while running?

People do that all the time on certain military installations under particular conditions. Like MPs, which is what I thought they were saying she is. I did not know her job description. I did not know she was running, at the time all I understood was she had been working in the armory all morning. I don't even know what exactly that 'armory' is.

I served in a different branch.

Thank you for your service.

When I asked the question, I didn't know she was running. And we had to run in basic training in formation while carrying a backpack (whatever) and a rifle. I was throwing out questions, I wasn't fully aware of the situation, and obviously not thinking too clearly. Besides, I didn't know if the base was 'shut down'. I checked in here, was trying to go through all the posts, but I was trying to keep up with everyone, so I'd know what happened. Someone mentioned COVID19 and I didn't even think of that consideration. Even though I served in the army, each base, each unit, is different.
My work in the military was nothing like this young lady's, but that doesn't make her job any less or any more important than someone else's. She's a person, with a job to do, and she was doing her best to get it done.
I ask questions because I'm trying to understand as much as I can about what is occurring. Fortunately, most people are really nice about answering them. We're new here, perhaps you can tell. I haven't participated in much, this is a learning experience and the patience of these good people has been greatly appreciated. I'm the first person to admit I'm not perfect. Unlike you, I make mistakes.

 

[hey-Debbie]

When I asked the question, I didn't know she was running. We don't know she was running. People are just assuming that because of the clothes she was wearing. She was last seen in a parking lot. And we know she didn't have her own car keys so was she meeting someone in that parking lot? Did someone pick her up to go somewhere?

Thank you for your service.

When I asked the question, I didn't know she was running. And we had to run in basic training in formation while carrying a backpack (whatever) and a rifle. I was throwing out questions, I wasn't fully aware of the situation, and obviously not thinking too clearly. Besides, I didn't know if the base was 'shut down'. I checked in here, was trying to go through all the posts, but I was trying to keep up with everyone, so I'd know what happened. Someone mentioned COVID19 and I didn't even think of that consideration. Even though I served in the army, each base, each unit, is different.
My work in the military was nothing like this young lady's, but that doesn't make her job any less or any more important than someone else's. She's a person, with a job to do, and she was doing her best to get it done.
I ask questions because I'm trying to understand as much as I can about what is occurring. Fortunately, most people are really nice about answering them. We're new here, perhaps you can tell. I haven't participated in much, this is a learning experience and the patience of these good people has been greatly appreciated. I'm the first person to admit I'm not perfect. Unlike you, I make mistakes.

 

[Boxer]

For reference, when someone is listed as "deserter" in the U.S. armed forces it means they've been missing for more then thirty days.

Desertion - Wikipedia

When I was in someone missing for, say, 28 days would be given some form of non-judicial punishment, and the time they were gone would be added to the active duty part of their contract. They would also have to do jail time, would lose a bunch of pay, may get barracks restriction and extra duty after confinement, etc. Deserters, on the other hand, are automatically processed out or are supposed to be. Deserters often times have to do military jail time, and often times they are caught because someone tipped LE, they applied for a job, a loan, or credit, or U.S. Marshalls find and arrest them.

When someone would go missing from our unit, usually it was a simple wait-and-see type of deal, military people just up and missing from a military installation or for that matter off-base just doesn't happen very often, that is nothing nefarious is involved. Usually they would pop up within the 30 day period, that way they didn't get hit with desertion. Desertion carries much heavier penalties and usually automatic discharge, might be a Bad Conduct Discharge (BCD) as a general rule, I don't remember.

Desertion is usually what triggers alerts to U.S. Marshalls. AWOL/UA wouldn't trigger an arrest warrant, far as I know.

I would say that with this missing persons deal, it's a wait-and-see deal. I just have a hard time with her last seen in that base parking lot, and then not being seen and there being foul play involved, with no witnesses around lunch time to witness anything. On a "closed base", that is guards at all the gates.

JMO

The military investigators offering a reward is unusual. MOO they don't think its a regular AWOL.

 

[California Sunset]

Do you know if she was armed? Did she carry a handgun? Does anyone know if there are any weapons missing/unaccounted for?

When I asked if she was armed, I meant was she a person who carried a weapon as part of her job. I also wondered if she signed the weapons in/out that others carried. But I also wondered, because I know it's possible, records could be fudged and a gun could be 'misplaced' without someone realizing it, depending on who was doing the fudging. Stuff happens.

 

[Paulas88]

The military investigators offering a reward is unusual. MOO they don't think its a regular AWOL.

Agree!

 

[California Sunset]

When I asked the question, I didn't know she was running. We don't know she was running. People are just assuming that because of the clothes she was wearing. She was last seen in a parking lot. And we know she didn't have her own car keys so was she meeting someone in that parking lot? Did someone pick her up to go somewhere?

But if she was going anywhere, she should have had her ID on her. When I was in, you could get in trouble for not having your ID on you. So maybe she didn't have her ID because she wasn't planning to go anywhere, but someone else had other plans. And that, to me, is ominous.

 

[California Sunset]

We know from her sister that she needed a car would someone under false pretenses just say she/he was selling a car just to get her into the vehicle while they drive it? She was last seen in a parking lot...there is no scene then pulling someone in a vehicle.

That's been known to happen.

 

[California Sunset]

Reward is offered in search for missing Fort Hood soldier

SABBM:
Guillen, a small arms repairer from Houston, is of Hispanic descent, five feet, two inches tall, 126 pounds with black hair and brown eyes, according to the news release.

According to this article, her job is small arms repair, so I'm assuming she regularly worked out of the armory.

I ain't military or ex-military, though, so I honestly don't have a clue what I'm talking about now.

JMO.

I am ex-military and I see it pretty much the same way you do. I'm just confused about the size of the armory and what all is kept there.

 

[GuyfromCanada]

Investigators say the 20-year-old soldier was last seen April 22 at 1 p.m. wearing a black T-shirt in the parking lot of her regimental engineer squadron headquarters on Fort Hood. The family is from Houston and said it's not like the soldier to simply disappear.

"She was a family-oriented girl,” Guillen said. "She would come home instead of going to party in nearby cities like Austin or Dallas. It would be easier for her choose another route, but no, she would come home every weekend to us."

"Something isn't right" | Missing Fort Hood solider's sister speaks about disappearance

 

[GordianKnot]

When I asked if she was armed, I meant was she a person who carried a weapon as part of her job. I also wondered if she signed the weapons in/out that others carried. But I also wondered, because I know it's possible, records could be fudged and a gun could be 'misplaced' without someone realizing it, depending on who was doing the fudging. Stuff happens.

For what it's worth, her job on base is as a small arms repairer.

So, presumably, she would have access to small firearms, but I have no idea whether her job duties in that position would include signing weapons in/out or having permission to carry them outside of the armory.

Anyone? Anyone?

JMO.

 

[GordianKnot]

I am ex-military and I see it pretty much the same way you do. I'm just confused about the size of the armory and what all is kept there.

Thank you for your service, Cali Sunset!

 

[MassGuy]

For what it's worth, her job on base is as a small arms repairer.

So, presumably, she would have access to small firearms, but I have no idea whether her job duties in that position would include signing weapons in/out or having permission to carry them outside of the armory.

Anyone? Anyone?

JMO.

There are few things taken more seriously than a missing weapon in the military. They have strict protocols in place to prevent that.

I don’t think she was armed, nor do I think armory weapons factor in at all.

 

[Falling Down]

The military investigators offering a reward is unusual. MOO they don't think its a regular AWOL.

That's what I'm wondering about, I'm sure others are, too.

Which now makes me wonder what base security knows that we don't. If they know much. The reward could very well be a sign that base PMO think foul play is involved or presumed to be involved. Could be they're offering it because they think people on base have information.

I've never seen a reward offered for a missing military member, at least not in recent memory. Weird too that she went missing on the base, that's really rare.