American woman Cecily Ann Aguilar of Texas sentenced to 30 years for helping dispose of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén's body

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Source: CNN

Cecily Aguilar, the white  woman charged in connection with the 2020 killing of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.

Aguilar pleaded guilty last year to one count of accessory after the fact, and three counts of making a false statement. Aguilar’s boyfriend at the time, Spc. Aaron Robinson, is accused of killing and dismembering Guillen, and then recruiting Aguilar to assist in disposing her body near Fort Cavazos, Texas, formerly known as Fort Hood.

Robinson died by suicide as authorities closed in on him in 2020, making Aguilar the only person charged in connection to Guillen’s death.

“Our hope is that today’s sentence brings a sense of relief and justice to the Guillen family, who have endured such pain throughout these past few years,” US Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas said in a news release Monday. “Ms. Aguilar’s actions were indefensible, and she will now face the maximum penalty for the choices she made.”

In a news conference after Aguilar’s sentencing, Mayra Guillen, Vanessa’s sister, said it was “a very hard day for my family.”

“There’s relief today, as Cecily will finally be held accountable for her actions,” she said. “I’m happy to say that we can, in a sense, close this chapter and keep moving forward.”

A news release from federal prosecutors in Texas last year said from April 22, 2020, to July 1, 2020, Aguilar assisted Robinson “in corruptly altering, destroying, mutilating and concealing evidence—that is, the body of Vanessa Guillen—in order to prevent Robinson from being charged with and prosecuted for any crime.

The release went on to say Aguilar “altered and destroyed information” from Robinson’s Google account and made four “materially false statements” to federal investigators.

She received the maximum sentence for her role in the crimes – 30 years, prosecutors said.

Guillen, who was a 20-year-old private first class at the time of her death, went missing in April 2020. Her family, investigators and civilian volunteers searched the area surrounding Fort Cavazos for weeks before discovering her body in a shallow grave on June 30.

It was later revealed that Robinson had killed Guillen in an armory room by bludgeoning her with a hammer. According to court documents, Robinson then put Guillen’s body in a box and drove her to the Leon River, roughly 20 miles from base.