Fort Hood soldiers reveal how they were sexually harassed and assaulted at the embattled base - but say they were discouraged from filing reports and never received justice
Several Fort Hood soldiers are speaking out to claim they were sexually harassed and assaulted at the base and demand justice during the military's #MeToo movement.
The embattled Killeen, Texas base came under scrutiny following the April disappearance of soldier Vanessa Guillen, 20, who vanished after she told her family she was being sexually harassed at the base.
Her remains were found on June 30. Her killer, soldier Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, took his own life as police honed in on him on July 1, according to a federal complaint.
Since then, several investigations have been opened into the base, the deaths and disappearances there, and how command handles reports of sexual harassment.
Maria Valentine said she was just months into her training at Fort Hood in 2006 when a sergeant with a history of alleged harassment wrote her up after she complained that she didn't want him touching her during body mass measurements.
Fort Hood victims of sexual harassment and assault are speaking out, demanding justice in the military's #MeToo movement following the death of soldier Vanessa Guillen, 20. She disappeared in April after she told her family she was being sexually harassed at the base. Her remains were found June 30
Supporters of the family of slain Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen march to the White House along the National Mall as Capitol Hill to demand justice in her death on July 30
Authorities promised that the disciplinary report would be wiped from her record if she didn't make a formal complaint, she said.
But Valentine's decision to not file one haunted her years later when she learned another woman had accused the same sergeant of rape.
Then came Guillen's high-profile case, but Valentine said it wasn't as a shock.
'I wasn't surprised,' Valentine said to Associated Press. 'That was the environment. I live with the regret that I did not go through with the complaint.'
Maj. Gabriela Thompson, a Fort Hood spokeswoman, said she had no information about Valentine's allegation.
Valentine is one of five women — two active duty soldiers, two veterans and one civilian — who spoke to the Associated Press about experiencing harassment and assault at the base.
Two of those women went on the record with AP to reveal they were sexually assaulted by soldiers at Fort Hood, describing a disturbing culture at the base.
Deborah Urquidez said she was raped by Staff Sgt. Roberto Jimenez, the same sergeant Valentine said harassed her more than a decade earlier.
Guillen and Fernandes are among 28 soldiers at the Killeen, Texas base to have died this year, including five homicides and six suicides, according to Army data
Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, (left and right) was reported missing after he was last seen on August 17 and his body found August 25. He was found dead after reporting sexual harassment at the base.
Urquidez said her relationship with Jimenez in 2014 began consensually, but that later he raped her while a friend desperately tried to break into the room to stop him.
Then came months of stalking, threatening messages and a lengthy battle in military court in which he was found not guilty, according to court documents.
Urquidez was ultimately given a temporary military protective order against the sergeant for an 'alleged sexual assault'.
The Department of Veterans Affairs considers her permanently disabled after she reported the rape and the trauma, which included multiple suicide attempts, according to documents.
The Army classifies veterans as having permanent or total disability based on physical evidence to clarify the level of impairment that will continue for the rest of their lives. This is used in determining veteran benefits and care.
'There was never justice for me. In any other world, what more evidence do you need?' Urquidez said.
Jimenez later filed for a protective order against Urquidez.
A Fort Hood spokesperson said the Army's Criminal Investigation Command investigated and Jimenez was acquitted of all charges following a military court martial in 2017.
Today he remains on active duty at Fort Bliss. Officials from Fort Bliss did not provide comment from Jimenez but said the base holds the same standards against sexual harassment and sexual assault as the US Army and takes all reports seriously and investigates them quickly.
Maria Valentine, who was stationed at the Fort Hood base, said she wasn't surprised to hear of Guillen's sexual harassment claim and death. She said: 'I wasn't surprised. That was the environment'. Guillen pictured left and right above
Lupe Guillén, left, and Gloria Guillén, Vanessa Guillén's sister and mother, speak during a news conference about the I Am Vanessa Guillén Act' on September 16
Kaitlyn Buxton, a civilian, said her partner, Brandon Espindola, then stationed at Fort Hood beat her numerous times and raped her in 2018 at their off-base apartment in Killeen.
On one occasion at the barracks, he pinned her down and repeatedly punched her in the face while she screamed for help, Buxton said.
A Fort Hood officer went with his wife to their apartment during one altercation after Buxton called for help. Buxton said members of Espindola's chain of command saw her body bruised on more than one occasion.
Timeline of Fort Hood disappearances/deaths
February 1, 2020: PVT Eric Christopher Hogan and PFC Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. die in a car crash
March 1, 2020: SPC Shelby Tyler Jones is shot dead at a convenience store in Killeen
March 5, 2020: Spc. Christopher Wayne Sawyer found dead at his home. Foul play is not suspected.
March 14, 2020: SPC Freddy Beningo Delacruz Jr. is killed in a triple murder
March 23, 2020: Fort Hood soldier Spc. Jovino Jamel Roy, 22, was charged with murder after allegedly shooting former Fort Hood soldier Michael Steven Wardrobe, 22
April 22, 2020: Vanessa Guillen goes missing and is last seen in the parking lot of the base. She disappeared after telling her family she was being sexually harassed by a sergeant on the base.
May 18, 2020: Body of Army Pfc. Brandon S. Rosecrans, 27, was discovered with gunshot wounds and his Jeep was found three miles away engulfed in flames.
June 19, 2020: Search teams discover the corpse of missing soldier Pvt. Gregory Wedel-Morales following a tip to Army base investigators. Remains were found in a field in Killeen, just over 10 miles from Stillhouse Hollow Lake, five miles from Fort Hood.
July 1, 2020: First parts of Giullen's remains found about 20 miles east of Fort Hood.
Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, kills himself. Officials say he killed and dismembered Guillén and had the remains disposed of.
July 2, 2020: Army Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died on July 2; Yazzie, of Window Rock, Arizona, was hospitalized for a medical condition the day before he died.
July 17, 2020: Pvt. Mejhor Morta, 26, of Pensacola, Florida was found dead July 17 in the vicinity of Stillhouse Hollow Lake, around 15 miles from the Fort Hood base.
August 2, 2020: The body of Spc. Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas, 24, is recovered from Stillhouse Hollow Lake following boating incident not far from where Morta was found.
August 12, 2020: Spc. Cole Jakob Aton, 22, of Kentucky died after he was hit by a car as he was assisting a minor accident scene
August 13, 2020: National Guard soldier, Sgt Bradley Moore dies during a training exercise at the base
August 19, 2020: Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, is reported missing after he was last seen on August 17.
August 25, 2020: The body of Fernandes is believed to have been found about 30 miles from Fort Hood
August 28, 2020: Pvt. Corlton L. Chee, 25, collapsed during fitness training at Fort Hood on August 28. He died two days later.
The Killeen Police Department eventually granted Buxton a protective order and charged Espindola with assault with bodily injury and assault by strangulation, but records show he bonded out and the case was closed.
Buxton said military police have taken no action on a separate case she filed in 2018, which was briefly closed and then reopened this past August.
'The whole process has been a constant victimization. No matter what I do, my voice is not being heard,' Buxton said.
Espindola has since been discharged from the Army on unrelated matters.
Sean Timmons, Espindola's attorney, said his client 'maintains his innocence to all allegations and charges and believes they are fabricated.'
The Killeen Police Department did not respond to a request for comment. A Fort Hood spokesperson said they had no information on this allegation.
Following Guillen's disappearance many victims of sexual harassment and assault have come together to share their harrowing experiences on social media using the hashtag #IAmVanessaGuillen.
He was found dead months after reporting sexual harassment at the base.
Guillen and Fernandes are among 28 soldiers at the base to have died this year, including five homicides and six suicides, according to Army data.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy says that based on Fort Hood's average of 129 violent crimes between 2015 and 2019, it has one of the highest violent crime rates among Army installations.
In Guillen's case her family's attorney Natalie Khawam said that Aaron Robinson, her accused killer, Guillen shared with family members that a soldier of superior rank walked in and watched her when she was showering.
Khawam said Guillen was too scared to file a report.
McCarthy said though it is believed Guillen faced other kinds of harassment at Fort Hood, officials have found no report or evidence that she was sexually harassed.
Since then, an independent inquiry of command climate has been ordered at the Texas base, in addition to the ongoing investigation into the command response to Guillen's disappearance and death.
Following Fernandes' death Lupe Guillen, the younger sister of Vanessa Guillen, said Fernandes was an example of why her sister did not report the harassment she experienced.
'How many more must die at Fort Hood for them to be held accountable?' Lupe Guillen said. 'How many more have to be sexually harassed?'
On September 16 over 100 Congress members introduced the bipartisam I Am Vanessa Guillen Act.
The act aims to expand measures aimed at preventing sexual assault and harassment involving US military personnel, including codifying sexual harassment as a crime in military law and removing decisions on whether to prosecute sexual assault and harassment out of the chain of command.
'The voices of those survivors have never been louder or more clear. This is the military's #MeToo moment,' Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who is among the members of Congress investigating Fort Hood, said.