In death, Guillen has become a kind of patron saint for all those who feel wronged by the U.S. military. Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just "took off." On the night of August 19, Wedel-Morales went out to Club Fuego, located in a desolate strip mall about 10 miles east of Fort Hood. Why had it taken forensics 72 days to conduct a search of the arms room? 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. They pointed glumly to past cases, some of which there were public records for and others I could find no traces of in the official files. February 26, 2023 (50 years old) View obituary. On November 5, 2009, 13 people are killed and more than 30 others are wounded, nearly all of them unarmed soldiers, when a U.S. Army officer goes on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood in central. Guillen's superior confirmed she was missing. (Penny says they met online.) Sgt. Photo: US Army. 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. Texas Death Records, 1890-1976 includes scanned copies of the death certificates Texas Death Records, 1977-1986 includes digitized copies of the death certificates; not yet complete. 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. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. Schuette's body was returned to his family "wrapped like a mummy." (Marine Lance Corporal Riley Schultz's death on March 15, 2019, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was also ruled a suicide, despite his hyoid being broken. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. 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. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. SHARE. 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 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. She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. PUBLISHED 10:53 AM CT Mar. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. "Is it possible Elder was murdered? 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. Casteel had told Rodriguez he was getting away from the abuse.. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillens murder in those 40 minutes? Had one of them stood in for Guillen during roll call? But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. On most nights, I had nightmares. Tributes.com is the online source for current local and national obituary news. He had messaged his sister beforehand to tell her something felt off. Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyers 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. Fort Hood might not even stand out were it not for a particularly bad year among many. Jef Rouner. When Ailina offered the Fort Hood authorities the contents of her sons car, including a laptop, iPad, and external hard drive, they declined to investigate further. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. 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. 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. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. I guess my point is, Rodriguez told me, if everything was fine, the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? Remains of soldiers have been turning up around the Texas military base with terrifying frequency. There, Wedel-Moraless remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. And how well will that look on your rsum?, Im 21 now, and let me tell you. Their minds both turned to Vanessa, whose hourly texts to family members had gone silent. He seemed weird, Rodriguez said. 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 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. Driving into Killeen last fall, what greeted me was a deer, roadkill, that had been severed in half, 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. She had also missed her standing noon call with her fianc, Juan Cruz. Why hadn't the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? The police too told Ailina that Fernandes was an adult and that they would not report him as missing. (He was found a day later.) The stories are gruesome, then heartbreaking, then beyond belief. Ive lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, Ive lost family, Ive lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. Amarillo - see the Potter County section below Arlington - see the Tarrant County section below Death Notices Famous Deaths Search Wednesday, March 01, 2023 Audrie Talmadge "A.T." Powell 10 hrs ago Services for Audrie Talmadge "A.T." Powell, 78, will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Salado. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. The very next day, a Fort Hood investigation concluded that Fernandess charges of sexual assault were unsubstantiated. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. 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. Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. Matthew Disney, 20, of Aberdeen, Maryland, were pronounced dead on the scene by emergency medical personnel at the North Carolina military. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). 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. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. Ad Choices. He got home around 2 p.m. and told his wife, Gloria, about the unusual aches. 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The suicides, which reportedly jumped by as much as 20 percent across the military last year, work out to a rate of one soldier a month. The first week I spent in Texas that October, 22-year-old Lucas Hicks-Mack went missing on base. Namely, the military. As many as 28 Fort Hood soldiers died in 2020, including in multiple homicides, suicides and other accidents. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. "She is now for the movement.". 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. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. At first, Aguilar told investigators, they cut her up using a machete. The Army's own investigation found "major flaws" at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Fernandes was dropped off at his friend's house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. Rodriguez sensed something was off. Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. The Times found 159 noncombat deaths of Fort Hood soldiers since the beginning of 2016, which included seven homicides and 71 suicides. Thirteen killed themselves. 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. Yes, simply click Add a photo located underneath the main photo of the obituary then upload the photos/videos you wish to share. "I guess my point is," Rodriguez told me, "if everything was 'fine,' the way Fort Hood officials would lead us to believe, then why would this soldier, out of character, leave base without permission, and [why] did he not feel comfortable enough to call his captain or anyone on that base once he was arrested for speeding? On Wednesday, April 22, 2020, Guillen reported for duty at Fort Hood. The suicides, which reportedly jumped by as much as 20 percent across the military last year, work out to a rate of one soldier a month. I've lost so much since I've been in. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims' families. Eventually Fernandes rang from the Army hospital. Dozens of people were killed, died by suicide, or went missing from the Texas military base last year alone. Rodriguez disputes this claim. Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. 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. I will tell you everything. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, August 17, never to be seen again. Maxwell Hockin. Thirteen people were determined to have committed suicide. New Market, Alabama. At the Dollhouse, he got to know Penny Morales, a dancer and mother of two. It was also an ancient Comanche Native American burial ground, discovered when construction workers unearthed more than 2,200 grave sites in 1998. 6 min read. So when, the following spring, Fort Hood offered a $15,000 reward for information about Guillen, then raised it to $25,000 in June, Kim called to demand the same. Ever since returning from a deployment to Iraq in February 2019shipped off two months after basic training for a nine-month tourRing had become withdrawn, developed a drinking problem, and had been arrested for drunk driving. Hazel Buck Blackwell, whose family lost their farm, homestead, barns, orchards, and adjoining land when the base took over, said the "closest thing might be the unexpected death of someone you loved very much." 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 carsknew to pull down their window shades to avoid a pelting with rocks by locals. And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. Fort Hood had refused to list him as missing, and it was only after his then fiance, Paradise Rodriguez, posted a video on Facebook that an officer at the parish jail saw it and got into contact. Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. Fort Hood was founded in January 1942 as a training ground for tank destroyers, selected for its varied terrain. On April 29, it was Private Joshua Barnwell, 19. 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. = Link to a nongovernmental site. I've lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, I've lost family, I've lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. The 20-year-old US Army soldier died in a Fort Hood, Texas,. 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. Reformers would say that the military had failed its men and women. Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. On May 11, however, Fernandes reported to Fort Hood "abusive sexual contact" from a staff sergeant, whom he alleged groped him in a supply room, according to the redacted military investigation report. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. Fernandes transferred to another unit where he was called a snitch and worse. By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillen's murder in those 40 minutes? Stump was going 82 mph in a 30-mph zone, the investigation report said, and had hit a tree on a mound. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). "I felt a bad vibe there," Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. ", "I'm 21 now, and let me tell you. Agamemnon demonstrates disrespect, vanity, and other lapses in judgment, the result of which is what clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay describes as "moral injury"a " (i) betrayal of what's right, (ii) by someone who holds legitimate authority, (iii) in a high stakes situation." (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. That is the opposite of what hes been consistently saying.. Fort Hood is now the largest active-duty armored post comprised of nearly 400,000 soldiers, civilian employees, families, and retirees in the Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metro area. 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. For nothing.. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. In fact, Casteel had been convinced that CIA agents were attacking him since last June. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillens other sister Yovana, and Yovanas boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. The circumstances are so strange and awful that fully understanding the events can be difficult. 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. Basic details of the incident kept changing. I felt a bad vibe there, Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. You can click this link to create an obituary. Ozempic is also used by adults with type 2 diabetes who have heart and blood vessel disease to reduce their risk of a stroke, heart attack, or death . Chee, like Yazzie, was a member of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation community, and was new to the base. 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. "From the age of 18, the only thing I knew how to do was kill people," Ring wrote on the website of his father's veterans' rights organization. Later Fort Hood confirmed it was for violating quarantine. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandess death a suicide. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. But advocates for. All this has been true since the founding of the American military, but a sense of disorientation has increased in recent years, as wars that were never good to begin with began to lose moral shine. Thomas Berg, whose son Private Brandon Rosecrans's Jeep was found burning in May, told me not to go out after dark. FORT HOOD, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - U.S. Army officials at Fort Hood have identified the soldier who was found dead Saturday, Oct. 13 behind his company barracks. (Marine Lance Corporal Riley Schultzs death on March 15, 2019, at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, was also ruled a suicide, despite his hyoid being broken. 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. After he returned to Fort Hood, Rodriguez managed to get Casteel on a video call. Toxic leadership is nothing new. The base might have continued to devour its soldiers had it not been for a missing soldier's family whose rage, love, and devotion would attract the attention of the media, celebrities, and later the White House, sparking congressional and military investigations. "I am astounded nobody is interested," the Fernandes family lawyer Lenny Kesten told me. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. 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. First came the British and Germans. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. Why hadnt the arms room been treated like the crime scene it was? As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home 1615 South Fort Hood Road, Killeen (254) 634-2638 . (The police opened an investigation on August 19.) Garrison Policies and Regulations. This was true of many I met at Fort Hood, including press officer Major Gabriela Thompson, my tour guide on base, who told me she joined to pay off her student loans: It was my ticket out, she said, echoing other soldiers sentiments about how the military had rescued them from hardscrabble existences. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. No skid marks were apparent, nor did anyone hear the crash. There were no Black residents in town until the early 1950s. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). 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. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). The numbers are distressing. After the public remonstrations began, Fort Hood launched something it called Operation Phantom Action, a weeklong retreat of sorts that was meant to rebuild trust between soldiers and the leadership. 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. "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.' III Corps Policies and Regulations . Fort Hood announced that Stump had crashed his car while driving under the influence, though a toxicology report proved inconclusive. Fernandes was dropped off at his friends house the next day, never to be seen again. A soft October wind carried the first chill of the season. As publication approached, it stopped responding to emails pertaining to both specific questions about individual cases as well as broader queries about the base.). Vanessa Guilln, who was missing for about two months before her remains were found. On June 30, a construction crew found shallow graves containing human remains that belonged to Guillen. The exact cause of Hockin's death remains unclear . Maxwell Hockin. American military bases, once established, seldom shutter, and Fort Hood, which started operating during World War II, has remained open for business, its 218,000 acres spreading across two counties in central Texas near an otherwise unremarkable town called Killeen. Killeen was named after another disappointing man: Frank Killeen, an assistant general manager to the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway. "She doesn't belong to the Army anymore," AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. 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. I have sponsored a a Change.org listing advocating renaming the post after Oveta . 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. In 2007, also in Iraq, Specialist Kamisha Block's 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. There, Wedel-Morales's remains had been found, long ago decomposed in the Texas heat. 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. 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. But at Fort Hood, it sometimes seemed like "mission first, equipment second," he said, highlighting the paradox of the military that in word puts the well-being of soldiers first but in deed must, by design, favor combat readiness over all else. In other battles, having lost the use of his arm and later a leg, Hood had to be strapped to a horse for combat. Women, who make up 17 percent of active-duty military, were doubly bereft, and the case files were awash with stories of the dead. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. On May 18, Brandon Rosecranss burning Jeep was discovered in a hilly suburb east of Fort Hood. As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. The tributaries that run through Fort Hood flow into the Leon River, where Guillens remains were later found. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just took off. (Killeen Police stated they have no knowledge of anyone declining to investigate.) Victoria a friend of Gregory Wedel-Morales at the site of his remains, Killeen TX. Rodriguez sensed something was off. The numbers are distressing. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. Guilln's death triggered a social media movement of former and current military service people speaking out about sexual assault and harassment on the base. 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. This memory now refreshed, Gloria began asking around for a name and soon learned it through Guillens friend: Aaron Robinson, the last person to have seen her daughter. (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) 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. -. (There was also literal toxicity on base in that some of the mold-infested barracks where soldiers lived were technically condemned, according to Maureen Elliott, a military spouse and a housing advocate.).