Houston family asking for FBI to investigate missing soldier from Fort Hood
HOUSTON - The family of a missing soldier from Houston is pleading for the public's help to find their loved one whose been missing since April.
Today marks 50 days since 20-year-old Vanessa Guillen disappeared without a trace from Fort Hood military base. Her family spoke in a press conference earlier today to raise awareness that Vanessa is still out there, and they want her found.
“It happened inside of a federal building, military base, and we still don’t get answers as to who, what, where exactly, and why?” says Mayra Guillen, Vanessa’s older sister.
RELATED: Houston family waiting and hoping as search continues for missing Ft. Hood soldier
Private First Class Vanessa Guillen went missing on April 22nd. The family says Vanessa claims she was being sexually harassed by one of her sergeants but didn’t give much information.
Her sister Mayra says they last spoke the day before about helping to purchase a car for Vanessa’s 21st birthday, and that Vanessa was excited about their plans. The next day was the last time anyone would hear from Vanessa.
“She had actually texted her boyfriend that she was going to go into work, and she will text back as soon as she could, and that text never came back,” Myra said.
The family claims all of Vanessa’s belongings were found at Fort Hood, except her cellphone. They also claim they have received little help from authorities at the military base.
Myra tells FOX 26, "I haven’t seen proof as to what they claim that there’s been search is going on. I haven’t seen a flight log where it shows that they have done over 100 hours a flight. I haven’t seen anything that proves to me that they are actually searching."
With little to go on, they are requesting more transparency in Vanessa’s investigation among other things. Cesar Espinosa, the Executive Director of FIEL Houston, Inc. is helping the Guillen family during this time.
“We ask for a federal investigation of what’s happening, and number two is that we ask the public that if they have any knowledge of any credible leads as to what happened to Vanessa that they come forward, and number three we also ask for public support,” says Espinosa.
The Guillen family also wanted to call attention to another soldier from Fort Hood, Gregory Wedel-Morales, whose been missing since August. They are hoping that by raising awareness they can find them both.
“Because I have faith in God that we’re going to find her and it’s going to be soon, and I don’t want this to keep happening. If it already happened to one soldier, my sister was the next one, who is going to be the third one?” says Mayra Guillen.
The Guillen family is planning a peaceful protest on Friday and on Saturday they are planning a Mass for Vanessa in Killeen.
You can find all the details on those events at https://findvanessaguillen.com/