WACO, Texas — On Thursday, a judge denied the motion to throw out the indictment of Cecily Aguilar, the woman accused of helping dismember and dispose the body of Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen in 2020.
Last July, a grand jury indicted Aguilar with 11 counts, including charges of tampering with documents or proceedings and conspiracy to tamper with documents or proceedings for her role in Guillen's death and disappearance in April 2020.
Her defense filed the motion to have her indictment dismissed altogether last April, saying the indictment lacks specificity, fails to state an offense and charges the same offense in more than one count. Aguilar’s defense also argues the indictment includes no other alleged factual basis or allegations.
In court Thursday, Judge Alan D. Albright denied the motion, but did not explain why.
Aguilar's trial date is still pending.
Albright also denied a second motion filed by Aguilar's defense team last March. The motion argued to have Aguilar's confession in regards to Guillen's death be thrown out. Her attorney, Lewis Gainor, said her Fourth Amendment rights were violated as she was illegally detained. Gainor also said officers failed to advise Aguilar of her Miranda Rights.
However, Albright decided to deny this motion because of a video that was played in court regarding Aguilar in police custody. In the video, she admitted multiple times on camera that she was not being held against her will and reportedly confessed because she thought it would help her case and allow her to go home.
"That's why I thought I was doing all of this," Aguilar said in the video. "I've been helping all night long and I'm still going to jail tonight?"
Per a criminal complaint in the case filed July 2, 2020, Aguilar helped her boyfriend Spc. Aaron Robinson dismember and bury Guillen's remains near the Leon River in April 2020 after Robinson reportedly killed Guillen on Fort Hood with a hammer in an armory room on Fort Hood on April 22.
Guillen’s remains were found months later on June 30. Robinson shot and killed himself early July 1 as Killeen police closed in on him after he left Fort Hood.