fort hood deaths 2021 list

The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. In a press statement, Fort Hood officials said Hockin, 26, was initially found unresponsive outside of the barracks and was subsequently pronounced dead. Highway renamed & dedicated to late Fort Hood soldier . A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. IMCOM is not responsible for the content of links outside home.army.mil. At first blush, such violence at a base that calls itself "the Great Place" may seem extraordinary, inexplicable even. She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. FORT HOOD, Texas - Fort Hood officials say they do not suspect foul play in the death of 26-year-old SPC Maxwell Hockin. [2] Schuette's body was returned to his family "wrapped like a mummy." The Times found 159 noncombat deaths of Fort Hood soldiers since the beginning of 2016, which included seven homicides and 71 suicides. It rained that night, and the drive, which should have taken three hours, was slow going. Far from itthe military was operating as it had been intended. And yet: The data is not really out of the ordinary for U.S. military bases. Chee had joined the military in part to support the young family he was starting with his high school sweetheart turned fiance. Subscribers have complete access to the archive. Because what the military asks of its men and women is so antisocial, it must co-opt the rhetoric of the family. You can find Osama bin Laden, but you cant find a soldier that went missing on your own base? Guillens youngest sister, Lupe, says. Nov. 30, 2022. Five were murdered. None of the grunts I spoke to was surprised by the number of casualties. They married in May 2017, and he took her name with hyphenation. Fort Hood also stated that it had completed an exhaustive search for Fernandes, and that it had interviewed all relevant parties, including the family. 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. A few days later, they spoke again, for the last time. = Link to a nongovernmental site. (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.). If not, what explained the false accounting? By Marlene Lenthang October 13, 2021, 9:15 AM 2:25 On Location: February 24, 2023 Catch up on the developing stories making headlines. Don't they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). Ive even lost myself. (Ring returned to base of his own accord later that day.). The U.S. Army announced Saturday that a soldier was found dead in the . 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 . The Lovell case was ruled an accident despite the fact that a rival club's biker vest, or kutte, was found hanging neatly from a tree near the crash site, while his motorcyclemirror, taillightswas found intact. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. 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. ", When I asked soldiers at Fort Hood what they thought was the matter on base, they mentioned "toxic leadership," a catholic term that seemed to encompass all: lack of care, general command climate, and so-called toxic masculinity. By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. Thirteen killed themselves. His body was mostly intact but for his hyoid, which was never found. Creating an obituary on Echovita is free. 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 Schuette's own blood, and Schuette was found with nine stab wounds across his body, including his forearm and his left hand. In death, she is no longer a daughter or a sister or a partner. (The Boley case remains unsolved.) Ive lost so much since Ive been in. Namely, the military. Maxwell Hockin, 26, joined the U.S. Army in 2017. Today, Reform Austin is attempting to put the entire chain of events into a concise timeline for our readers. Jennifer Anthony Lovells sister, Temple Tx. Give me the name and I will report the bastard, Gloria told her daughter, who refused to tell her mother more for fear of worrying her, and also, Gloria later suspected, for fear of reprisal. "That is the opposite of what he's been consistently saying.". By then, the Army, it seemed, had stopped providing Wedel-Morales with a sense of purpose, and he had turned to alternate sources of meaning, namely car and motorcycle clubs, and life beyond the base. Casteel had told Rodriguez "he was getting away from the abuse.". Army investigating after soldier, 26, found dead in latest in string of unexplained deaths at Fort Hood barracks Fort Hood officials have not released the cause of death for Maxwell. Casteel had told Rodriguez he was getting away from the abuse.. (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. Morta's death comes amid intense scrutiny of Fort Hood in recent weeks. Traveling in the time of plague, trying to build rapport with people from six feet away, was enervating. On August 11, a higher-up called Fernandes's mother, Ailina, to tell her that her son had not shown up for work for two days. He died in 1879, leaving a troubled legacy that is only now beginning to be questioned. WASHINGTON (AP) The Army said Friday that it has taken disciplinary action against 21 officers and non-commissioned officers at Fort Hood, Texas, in connection with death last year of Spc. By then Wedel-Morales had grown distant from his family in Oklahoma, who had not been told of the marriage. Two more who had separated from. Toxic leadership is nothing new. The 20-year-old small arms specialist, then a private first class, was supposed to be off that day, so she showed up in civilian clothesblack tee, purple leggings, and a fanny pack. He had been happy enough there that in February he reenlisted for an additional four years. (Fort Hood refused all official interview requests for this story, citing ongoing investigations. Fernandes's family told me they have never been interviewed. At 9:30 p.m., Mayra, Cruz, Guillen's other sister Yovana, and Yovana's boyfriend set out for Fort Hood. He died the evening of September 2. 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. Later came Koreans, Japanese, and Vietnamese, who still run sushi and pho restaurants in Killeen. There was a deep cut above his left eye, and cuts all over his legs. He also wanted an education, and "joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that," his sister Carma Johnson says. Dont they care as to what happened to Elder Fernandes? May Jeong has written an in-depth analysis of the rash of unexplained deaths at Fort Hood. There she encountered Specialist Aaron Robinson, also 20 years old but a rank above. 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. "As soon as I get out of the hospital, I will call you. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpses hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. SHARE. We believe that Every Life has a Story which should be told and preserved. Four days later, an anonymous tip directed investigators to an urban prairie at the end of a residential street where Penny Morales used to live. Fort Hood has been the center of a bizarre and horrific set of tragedies in 2020. He had then driven the body to the Leon River and had come back to pick Aguilar up from the gas station where she worked on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, five miles east of Fort Hood. Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt. The day after Guillen disappeared, Private Gavin Chambers, 21, died on base. 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. It's possible. When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) 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. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers vanished or died, including 13. Killeen itself sits on an especially brutal stretch of central Texas, along the Balcones Fault, which separates the high plains of the Hill Country to the west from the grand prairies and limestone plains of the east, and along which runs Interstate 35. Martinez joined the Army in April 2018 as a cannoneer, according to base officials. The vast emptiness that is most of the state can make you feel inconsequential, as if you could disappear and no one would know you ever lived. From here, wars are launched. Why was Robinson not put under watch? Fort Hood informed Rodriguez that he had asked for this. Who were the soldiers who had testified to seeing Guillen leave the arms room the day she disappeared? His body was found nearly a month later, two miles from the barracks. Photo: US Army. 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. 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. If he killed himself, dont they want to know why?. Maxwell Hockin, was found dead outside his company barracks on Saturday, October 9. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our. Soon after, the Temple police, who led the investigation, ruled Fernandes's death a suicide. That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. Red White and Blue via The US Army is licensed with CC BY-ND 2.0. Yet instead of being taken into custody, Robinson was placed in a conference room on base, initially, it was said, for committing adultery, which is against the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The sense of dehumanizing alienation soldiers complained about was not a symptom of a malfunctioning system, it was its original design. (According to Killeen police, no such vests were found at the scene of the crash. That September, Wedel-Morales, who was from rural Oklahoma, was due to be honorably discharged from the military. 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. 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. During the run, Chee, who had no preexisting health conditions, collapsed. On August 28, Chee was called into a training run. Amarillo - see the Potter County section below Arlington - see the Tarrant County section below Texan sentenced to 20 years following drug-related death of Fort Hood soldier. Fernandess family told me they have never been interviewed. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. Ive lost brothers and sisters in arms, a marriage, Ive lost family, Ive lost friendships that were supposed to be forever. 6 min read. What happened on that base and in the Army to cause this person who is normally very [kind] and responsive to all of a sudden leave and shut down?, When I asked soldiers at Fort Hood what they thought was the matter on base, they mentioned toxic leadership, a catholic term that seemed to encompass all: lack of care, general command climate, and so-called toxic masculinity. Visit this link to create a free obituary then read the advantages of creating an obituary on Echovita and either click Start now or Create an obituary for your loved to begin. The Armys own investigation found major flaws at Fort Hood, leading to the firing or suspending of 14 officials. (According to Killeen police, no such vests were found at the scene of the crash. Fort Hood hurriedly put up a $25,000 reward for Wedel-Morales as well. Robinson gave Guillen the serial number for a .50 caliber machine gun that needed servicing. He refused to send a selfie or get on a video chat and began using a strange and unfamiliar speech pattern. Failure to comply could incur fines of hundreds of dollars or other, more severe social censure. 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. A few days later, so did 21-year-old Specialist Trey Ring. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. They are part of Killeen's population of 151,000, many transient and very young, two thirds of whom have military ties. (Facebook) Two weeks later, Delacruz . But with each encounter, it was becoming clear that the military had not failed its soldiers at all. The rolling, semi-arid terrain is ideal for multifaceted training and testing of military units and troops. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. When the family exhumed his body in November 2020 for want of a second opinion, the independent autopsy revealed that the bone had in fact gone missing.) 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? Then they tried burning the body. Shelby Tyler Jones, 20, was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound at 3:45 a.m. Sunday, March 1, 2020, outside of a convenience store on Fort Hood Street. After 8 p.m., Guillen's sister Mayra called the base. 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. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 12 Fort Hood soldiers who have vanished, died, or, in one case, turned up dead after going missing last year. As distressing as the remains in shallow graves or the missing hyoid bone is the fatalism from soldiers and locals alike. Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. (Among 1.29 million members of the U.S. military, 65,000 are immigrants, according to The Washington Post.) Texas as of 9 July 2021; some devices had already been sold and shipped. And how well will that look on your rsum?, Im 21 now, and let me tell you. 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. But when Kim called the police, they dismissed her, telling Kim that her son probably just "took off." And on June 19, skeletal remains were found in a field behind a cul-de-sac of a residential neighborhood in Killeen. On March 5, 2020, Destanie Sawyer's 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 Worth (817) 293-8477 Laurel Land Funeral Home and Cemetery 7100 Crowley Road, Fort Worth . From here, wars are launched. (Fort Hood contributed nearly $30 billion to the Texas economy in 2019, according to the Texas comptroller's office.). Eleven of the deaths remain unresolvedsome legally; others for the victims' families. It was unclear, in 2020, what American soldiers were fighting for. Five were murdered. "She doesn't belong to the Army anymore," AnaLuisa Tapia, a local organizer, told me. ), Wedel-Moraless death was not the first from the base that may have involved bike gangs. Guillen's youngest sister, Lupe, made me promise to stay at the Marriott, a hotel she considered safer than the rest. Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, . They returned several days later to pour concrete over the remains. Last December, a Special Forces soldier and an Army veteran were found dead at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where another soldier disappeared in May and was later found murdered. When Kim called Fort Hood inquiring after her son, she was told the case was the remit of the Killeen Police Department as Wedel-Morales had gone missing off base. Then they tried burning the body. A few hours later, Robinson, who had mostly been playing video games, escaped Fort Hood by car. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. There had been a few people, then it was a group run of 11. He also wanted an education, and joining the Army he knew he could take care of all of that, his sister Carma Johnson says. His killers were never looked for properly and thus never found. The plan, Wedel-Morales told anyone who would listen, was to use the G.I. Radically transparent, low cost versions of high cost generic drugs. Back in Houston, Gloria recalled a conversation with her daughter not long before, when Guillen had been home for the weekend. (Fort Hood does not count Moore in its official casualty list, as he was a member of the National Guard.). And being mission-ready, the perpetual vigilance it requires, ensures a kind of endless possibility of war, which in turn justifies the $740 billion annual defense budget. Matthew Disney, 20, of Aberdeen, Maryland, were pronounced dead on the scene by emergency medical personnel at the North Carolina military. His mother, Kim, only heard from her son when he needed money. Oct 13, 2021 An official Army photo of Spc. CID and Homeland security believe the NVGs were stolen from shipping . Linda Schweers, whose specialist son, Justin, died in a car crash in June while suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, wanted me to be careful of cartels, which she said ran the area. I felt a bad vibe there, Lupe says, referring to Fort Hood. 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. The coming months brought the suicides of Staff Sergeant Richard Harrington, 45, and then Specialist James Green, 23. (His son's alleged killer is in custody awaiting trial.) Gloria had noticed her losing weight and pressed her for why. 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. That gun safety is a distant concern in a community where the Second Amendment tops the Maslow charts. 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. Curiously, a few hours after the officers picked up Casteel, he went silent online. The Montreal Mafia Murders: Blood, Gore, Cannolis, and Hockey Bags, Scene Stealer: The True Lies of Elisabeth Finch, Part 2. Call (254) 287-9993 or (254) 287-0106 to request a PAO escort. "Is it possible Elder was murdered? The corpse had been dead for a while, though it was impossible to determine exactly how long. In 2020 alone, 31. A sergeant from Guillens division called it mandatory fun days. The additional scrutinythe congressional delegation visit, press toursmeant that soldiers had to work harder. Since being stationed at Fort Hood in November 2016, Wedel-Morales had frequented the Dollhouse, a strip club not far from where his remains would eventually be found. She filled out the paperwork that is the lifeblood of the Army before heading toward the arms room, a few paces away. "You can find Osama bin Laden, but you can't find a soldier that went missing on your own base?" That most soldiers enlist when they are still teenagers, their yet-unformed minds taught to kill. The 2020 numbers add to ongoing mysteries, including a 2016 case where a corpse's hyoid, the U-shaped neck bone typically examined to determine whether strangulation has occurred, was missing. III Corps Policies and Regulations . And so his disappearance was no surprise, his father told me. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. The U.S. Army identified a soldier found dead behind his company barracks at Fort Hood last week as 26-year-old Spc. The author knocks on the doors bearing the darkest symbols, behind which lie guns, ammo, antisemitism, antiabortion dogmaand a belief in the coming civil war. Last December, an internal investigation found that Fort Hoods culture, environment, and leadership resulted in women feeling vulnerable and preyed upon, with no reliable recourse for their very real sense of duress. He died the evening of September 2. Terrie Boley, whose daughter Candance became addicted to crack cocaine while serving at Fort Hood and was murdered in a motel room in 2011, told me not to drink the water. Club Fuego where Gregory Wedel-Morales was last seen, Killeen Tx. Despite 10,000 hours of investigation and 300 interviews, much about Guillens death remained a mystery. Fertility Rate. 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. That American imperialism is imploding, and the blast force radiates inward. Memorial that now stands at the site Vanessa Guillen's remains were found in Killen, Texas. On August 17, Sergeant Elder Fernandes, 23, disappeared. ", Several days later, Rodriguez learned that Casteel had been committed to a hospital on base. 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. 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. Fort Hood is one of 800 United States military bases around the world, the third largest in the country. On August 13, Staff Sergeant Bradley Moore died during a land navigation exercise on the base. Nearly 200 miles away in Houston, Rogelio Guillen was entering his fourth hour of work at a nickel-plating factory when he felt a sharp spasm in his chest. On April 30, 2021, Fort Hood found that Guillen had indeed been sexually harassed by a soldier, but not Robinson.). Last year, at least 39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing. (The person who called in with the tip declined to collect the reward. "He seemed weird," Rodriguez said. 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. Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. Hogan, 19, and Peak Jr., 21, were both killed in a. Maxwell Hockin. he asks, then answers. Had anyone helped Robinson clean up Guillen's murder in those 40 minutes? 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. "None of the messages added up, nor were they how he usually speaks to me," Rodriguez told me. The area, east of Killeen, was built on 109,000 acres of high bluffs, ridges, sharp slopes, and mesa-like hills covered with mesquite and chaparral. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. According to officials, the deaths include seven off-duty accidents; seven suicides; one combat-related death; four homicides, one of which was on the base; two of natural causes; one that was. When Ailina contacted the military police at Fort Hood, they told her that Fernandes was an adult, and that if he was missing, he likely didnt want to be found. It was ruled a suicide until her father noticed her broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, and burns on her genitals. 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.