Accomplice tied to Vanessa Guillén’s slaying given 30-year prison term

Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced a Texas woman to 30 years in prison for her role in the brutal slaying of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén, the Justice Department announced, bringing closure to a case that exposed the military’s pervasive mishandling of sex crimes and inspired sweeping reforms.

Cecily Aguilar, 25, pleaded guilty last year to helping her boyfriend, Spc. Aaron Robinson, dismember and bury the remains after Robinson bludgeoned 20-year-old Guillén to death in April 2020.

In a statement, Jaime Esparza, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, said Aguilar received the maximum possible penalty. He called her actions “indefensible.”

“Our hope,” Esparza said, “is that today’s sentence brings a sense of relief and justice to the Guillén family, who have endured such pain throughout these past few years.”

Aguilar’s attorneys did not immediately return requests for comment.

Aguilar is the only person tied to Guillén’s murder to answer for the crime. Robinson fatally shot himself as police sought to apprehend him following discovery of Guillén’s remains in a shallow grave in Belton, about 25 miles east of at Fort Hood, the Army post where he and Guillén were stationed. He was 20.

Guillén’s case — from her grisly murder and revelations about the workplace sexual harassment she faced to the myriad leadership failures that fostered the culture of misogyny she endured — triggered a massive social movement now credited with helping transform how the military cares for survivors of sex crimes and investigates its own for such offenses.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

The full program is now LIVE for the 2023 Texas Tribune Festival, happening Sept. 21-23 in Austin. Explore the program featuring more than 100 unforgettable conversations coming to TribFest. Panel topics include the biggest 2024 races and what’s ahead, how big cities in Texas and around the country are changing, the integrity of upcoming elections and so much more. See the full program.