Netflix is the place for crime documentaries – the next to drop is I Am Vanessa Guillen and there’s a chilling true story behind it.
The documentary, which drops on the streaming site on November 17, is directed by Christy Wegener and tells the story of the life of the soldier brutally murdered, and then buried in rural Bell County.
Netflix’s I am Vanessa Guillen
Netflix’s next crime doc, I Am Vanessa Guillen, is described as a “candid” film that follows the family of Vanessa as they fight for historic military reform, a journey that takes them all the way to Congress and the Oval Office.
It was always U.S Army soldier Vanessa Guillen’s dream to join the military, but once she was stationed at Fort Hood, everything shattered.
In 2020, she told her mother she was being sexually harassed on base and ultimately was murdered by a fellow soldier. Her story sparked an international movement of assault victims demanding justice.
Wegener is also a producer on the project alongside Isabel Castro, Andrea Berman, Lindsey Cordero and Armando Croda.
I am Vanessa Guillen true story
Vanessa always dreamed of going into the military and when she was 18 years old she joined the United States Army in June 2018 and trained as a 91F, Small Arms and Artillery Repairer, straight after graduating from César E. Chávez High School, in the top 15% of her class.
By the time she was 20 she was stationed at Fort Hood, in Texas (Vanessa’s home state), but on April 22, 2020, she was reported missing.
However, in the time leading up to her disappearance she had told her family, she was being sexually harassed by another at Fort Hood but said any complaints by other female soldiers made against the sergeant had been dismissed. Vanessa did report she was sexually harassed twice, it was later revealed in an investigation.
Unfortunately, Vanessa wouldn’t see or speak to her family again, as her body was found on June 30, 2020, along the Leon River in Belton. She’d been murdered.
Vanessa was murdered by a fellow soldier, Spc. Aaron Robinson and her body was moved with the assistance of his girlfriend Cecily Aguilar.
On May 24, 2022 the Texas Department of Public Safety released a report stating: ‘Aguilar later explained why Robinson killed Guillen, saying Guillen saw Robinson’s cellphone lock screen, which contained a picture of Aguilar
‘(Robinson) told her he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army’s fraternisation rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer.’