What happened to Vanessa Guillen? Family of deceased Fort Hood soldier seeks $35 million in damages

Vanessa Guillen, a 20-year-old Texas soldier, vanished in April 2020 for an unexplained reason. For a few months, no one was aware of her location.

After the guy who had killed Guillen committed suicide, her bones were found in July 2020. Further inquiry indicated that she experienced serious mental health issues as a result of sexual harassment while working at the American Army base in Fort Hood, Texas.

On Friday, August 12, 2022, more than two years after Vanessa Guillen’s death, her family filed a lawsuit against the United States of America, claiming $35 million in damages. The lawsuit was brought about by the decision made in San Francisco on Thursday, August 11, by a three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that an Army colonel could move on with a lawsuit against a former Air Force General over a sexual assault claim.

The Guillen family is suing the army for their daughter’s sexual assault, harassment, abuse, rape, sodomy, and wrongful death.

 

Vanessa Guillen’s case is a massive step forward for sexual assault victims in the military

Female assault and harassment victims are suppressed every day in a field that has long been dominated by men. Victims who are pressured to remain silent or risk the wrath of such institutions are plagued by fear of reprisal.

Guillen was likewise compelled to remain silent out of fear of the repercussions. At least two instances of sexual harassment suffered by the young soldier at her base camp are mentioned in the lawsuit brought by the Guillen family.

Guillen’s mental health was badly harmed by these incidents, to the point where she frequently considered suicide. Her brutal murder brought to light the dangerous working conditions experienced by female troops. Several military members and former troops used the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen to convey their personal accounts of experiencing harassment in the base camps.

The Military Justice Reform Bill, which will remove all authority from military commanders and give independent prosecutors agency when claims of sexual assault and other major crimes are made, was motivated by the terrible death of the Fort Hood soldier.