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Vanessa Guillen’s Disappearance Opened Floodgates of Harassment Accusations Against U.S. Army

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PFC. Vanessa Guillen no credit

Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old soldier, went missing from the Fort Hood Army Base in Killeen, Texas, on April 22, 2020. 

In the weeks leading up to her disappearance, Guillen told  her mother that she was sexually assaulted and was being stalked by a sergeant on the base. While her mother encouraged her to report the incident and was willing to do so on her daughter’s behalf, Guillen did did not disclose the sergeant’s name out of fear. 

Since Guillen’s disappearance, former soldiers who were also victims of sexual assault and harassment in the Army, turned to social media to tell their stories with the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen.

Fort Hood allowed Texas Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia to meet with officials at the base. Guillen’s parents were also invited but Guillen’s mother was unable to participate because she felt too “sickened” to attend.

On Tuesday, Garcia revealed that while foul play was suspected in connection to Guillen’s disappearance, the base was vague with  the information it was willing to relay. They did not disclose why foul play was suspected and they did not reveal the sergeant’s name who was on duty with Guillen at the time of her disappearance. 

Natalie Khawam, who is currently representing the family, noted that there were “a lot of gaps in their stories or their interviews or their information that they provided us,” after she visited Fort Hood.

Officials confirmed that Guillen’s was last seen at 11:30 a.m. at the parking lot of the Fort Hood base on April 22. Her belongings, which included her wallet, keys, and I.D., were found in the armory room where she was stationed that day. 

Chris Grey, an Army CID spokesman said that Fort Hood is, “completely committed to finding Vanessa and aggressively going after every single piece of credible information and every lead in this investigation” in a press release on Monday.

“We will not stop until we find Vanessa,” he added.

The Army pledged a $25,000 reward for information leading to Guillen’s whereabouts. The League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latinx civil rights organization, matched the amount on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Rapper Baby Bash vowed to contribute an additional $5,000 to the reward, and actress Salma Hayek chose to contribute by posting a picture of Guillen every day until she was found.

Other organizations, including the  non-profit Texas Equusearch, have suspended its search for the missing soldier. The non-profit’s search began on Sunday, June 21, and ended earlier this week. 

The hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen on Twitter was instrumental in increasing the visibility of Guillen’s disappearance, as missing Black and Brown bodies frequently receive less coverage. Mainstream media’s concentrated focus on “endangered or missing” white women was coined the “missing white woman syndrome” by PBS journalist Gwen Ifill. Although Black and Latinx women go missing at higher rates relative to their population in the United States, high-profile stories often focus on white women and girls.

Guillen has yet to be found.

 

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