Netflix, the popular streaming service, is about to release another real crime documentary. The documentary, titled I Am Vanessa Guillen, will tell the tale of dead US Army soldier Vanessa Guillen. Vanessa, 20, was bludgeoned to death at an Army camp in 2020 by a fellow soldier. Her family, unwilling to allow her murderer to go free, strives for justice and gives her death the significance it deserves by seeking to bring about change. I Am Vanessa Guillen will be available on Netflix on Thursday, November 17th.
What can we anticipate from I Am Vanessa Guillen?
I Am Vanessa Guillen, directed by Christy Wegener, will explore how the Texan’s ambition of entering the military came reality in 2018, only to be cut short a few years later. Guillen joined the Army and began training as a 91F, Small Arms and Artillery Repairer. She was stationed at Fort Hood when she was brutally murdered by E4 Specialist Aaron David Robinson (20). Robinson brutally clubbed Guillen to death with a hammer. Fearing arrest, he escaped Fort Hood and committed himself in Killeen, Texas, before law enforcement agents could catch him.
Wegener described I Am Vanessa Guillen’s narrative as “David vs. Goliath on steroids,” saying:
“At its heart, this is a narrative about overcoming impossible odds in the cause of family, love, and justice.” Taking against the United States military, one of the biggest and most powerful organizations in the country is no simple task. It was remarkable to observe a family, in the most devastating time of their life, put their sorrow aside, come out into the public arena, and fight for the greater good while creating the film.”
Rather than retreating, Guillen’s family showed tenacity, taking the matter all the way to then-US President Donald Trump. He told the bereaved family that the matter would be reviewed independently.
Meet the I Am Vanessa Guillen creators.
Wegener is also co-producing I Am Vanessa Guillen alongside Isabel Castro, Lindsey Cordero, and Armando Croda. Andrea Berman serves as co-executive producer with executive producers Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, and Nell Constantinople under their Story Syndicate label.
Story Syndicate, a film-TV production firm located in New York, is recognized for projects such as Netflix’s three-part docuseries Eat The Rich: The GameStop Saga, ABC-Murders Hulu’s Before the Marathon, National Geographic’s Becoming Cousteau, and Netflix’s Britney versus Spears, among others.
Vanessa Guillen’s Bio
Guillen was born in Houston, Texas, on September 30, 1999, to Mexican parents Rogelio and Gloria Guillen. She joined the Army in June 2018 after graduating from César E. Chávez High School. She liked athletic activities such as soccer and running. According to reports, Guillen had told her mother Gloria that a sergeant at Fort Hood had been sexually molesting her. She didn’t identify him, but she assured her mother that she could handle the situation alone. According to investigators, Robinson became concerned when Guillen saw a photograph of one Cecily Anne Aguilar (22) on his phone. Robinson was concerned since Aguilar was still married to another soldier at the time, Keon Aguilar.
According to a court document:
“He (Robinson) informed her (Aguilar) he was afraid of getting in jail for breaking the Army’s fraternization standards since Aguilar was still married to another soldier, and he whacked Guillen in the head with a hammer.”
While Robinson committed himself, Aguilar is being held on allegations of dismembering Guillen’s corpse and burying the pieces near the Leon River. On July 13, last year, a federal grand jury indicted her on 11 charges. Her trial will begin on January 2, 2023.