Family of soldier Vanessa Guillén seeks $35 million after her brutal murder

• The family of soldier Vanessa Guillén filed a lawsuit against the US Army.
• They seek $35 million in damages.
• Private Vanessa Guillén was harassed and brutally murdered by a fellow soldier in Texas.

The family of soldier Vanessa Guillén, who was sexually harassed and brutally murdered at a military base near Killeen, Texas, in 2020, has filed a lawsuit seeking $35 million in compensation from the United States government.

According to the New York Post, the family of Vanessa Guillen, who was 20 at the time of the tragedy, is seeking compensation for sexual harassment, abuse, assault, rape, sodomy and wrongful death in the lawsuit filed Friday.

Vanessa Guillén’s family seeks $35 million in compensation

An investigation by military officials into the death of Vanessa Guillen, who was killed by a fellow soldier at the US Army base at Fort Hood, found that she was also sexually harassed and that leaders failed to take appropriate action in that regard.

According to the NY Post, the lawsuit describes two cases in which Vanessa Guillén was harassed during her time as a soldier. The harassment lead to suicidal thoughts which she even confessed to her family. However, she did not report the incidents for fear of retaliation.

Why Vanessa Guillen’s family filed the lawsuit

«This will be an opportunity for all victims to feel that they not only have a voice, but that they can recover,» said attorney Natalie Khawam, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Vanessa Guillén’s family, according to the NY Post.

“Why would anyone think, ‘Let me go sign up and serve our country, fight for our country, take bullets, be maimed, die for our country,’ yet when it comes to something as a horrible as sexual assault or something, they don’t have any recourse?” Natalie Khawam said, according to the Texas Tribune.

Other action the family could take

If the military denies the claim, Natalie Khawam said she plans to file a federal lawsuit in California because Vanessa Guillen told her mother she was sexually harassed in 2019 at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, where she was conducting field training exercises in San Bernardino County. An Army investigation confirmed those details, the Texas Tribune reported.

The lawsuit follows a decision Thursday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that an Army colonel could proceed with a lawsuit against a former Air Force general for an allegation of sexual assault, the newspaper explained. The court found that a law that prohibited service members from seeking damages for injuries while on duty did not apply.

Vanessa Guillen’s tragic death

The NY Post recalled that Vanessa Guillén was declared missing in April 2020 and her remains were found in July, when soldier Aaron Robinson, who was accused of killing her, committed suicide after a confrontation with officers. A civilian faced charges for allegedly helping Robinson dispose of her remains.

The death of Vanessa Guillén and claims by her family that she was harassed and assaulted at the Texas base sparked a social media movement of former active duty service members who spoke about their own experiences in the military using the hashtag #IAmVaessaGuillén. Since then, state and federal lawmakers have passed legislation honoring the soldier that removed some of the authority of commanders and gave survivors more options to come forward.