The family of a missing Fort Hood, Texas, soldier named Vanessa Guillen is pleading for help after one month with no answers. The 20-year-old US Army soldier's mom, Gloria Guillen, is pleading for the public to help her find her missing daughter, who has not been seen since April, when she was working at the Fort Hood military base in Texas.
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Vanessa's family is urging the public to sign petitions, speak out, and join their search parties, and they are concerned about the soldier's well-being after her mom says her daughter claimed she was being sexually harassed inside the military base by a sergeant. She also said someone from inside the base told her that her daughter had been "kidnapped." Tom Rheinlander, the spokesperson for Fort Hood, released a statement about Vanessa's disappearance and said the Army is doing its own investigation and search by sending 500 soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Regiment to search for her on foot in and around the area.
Vanessa was last seen on April 22.
It's been more than a month since Vanessa was seen or heard from. The Stars and Stripes newspaper reported that an investigation done by Fort Hood officials and an Army Criminal Investigation Command, known as CID, revealed that the 20-year-old was last seen at 1 p.m. on April 22 in the parking lot of the Regimental Engineer Squadron Headquarters for the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at the base. Vanessa's car keys, the keys to her room, her identification card, and wallet were later found in the armory room where she was working earlier that day.
Her mom shared the details of the phone call she had with her daughter.
Her mom tearfully shared the story of a phone call she said she had with her daughter prior to her disappearance in which Vanessa claimed she was being harassed by one of the sergeants at the military base. Her mom told her to report him. "Mom, others have reported him but they don't believe them," the mom claims her daughter said, and then asked her not to get involved for fear that she would be retaliated against.
The mom spoke about the corruption and said someone inside said her daughter was 'kidnapped.'
The mom shared a conversation she had with a sergeant about her daughter's disappearance. "A sergeant talked to me anonymously, and I can't say his name because he said 'If you say it, they'll kill me.' He said, 'They kidnapped your daughter inside. And the corruption is horrible and there's tunnels.'" She is asking for this situation to be investigated and is looking for a lawyer to help their case.
Her family has been having search parties.
The family and members of the community have taken matters into their own hands and have launched their own search parties. More than 60 family members and friends came together at Miller Springs Park in Temple, Texas, to search for her on May 30. "I am hoping we can cross a big area off the map. It's a huge area we need to search," Vanessa's older sister, Mayra Guillen, told 6News at the gathering. "I feel that she is still with all of us, and that hopefully someone confesses," the sister said. "Or we can somehow find her ourselves before the authorities because its been over a month we need to keep pushing."
She added, "We aren't going to stay quiet. For as long as this goes on we are going to keep it going."
They are offering a reward for any information about Vanessa.
While the Army has taken its own measures to help locate the woman, like sending out troops to search for her, it is also offering a $15,000 reward to anyone with credible information regarding the soldier's whereabouts. The CDI agents are asking anyone who might have information to contact them at 254-495-7767.
