Transcript
A (0:02)
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B (0:29)
On the evening of June 30, 2020, just hours after authorities recover Vanessa Guillen's remains, Specialist Aaron Robinson is being held in a conference room on Fort Hood. Remember, Robinson isn't under arrest. Authorities tell him he's being confined for breaking COVID 19 quarantine protocol. Elsewhere, investigators are interviewing Robinson's girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar. And what investigators say Cecily tells them is quite incriminating for her boyfriend. Around 10pm There in that conference room on Fort Hood, Robinson is pacing back and forth. Sometimes leaning against the conference room door, a soldier tells him to sit down. Robinson complies, if only for a moment, because a minute or so later, Robinson rushes out of that conference room. Then Major General Donna Martin, the guard.
A (1:33)
Gives chase, but he gets in a vehicle and he flees and he leaves Fort Hood.
B (1:38)
Robinson vanishes into the dark. Colleen night With Robinson on the run, investigators turned back to his girlfriend, Cecily. Remember, earlier that evening, authorities say Cecily had told them something big that Robinson had confided in in her, that he killed Vanessa. And Cecily told investigators she helped hide the remains. Cecily had also agreed to call Robinson and let investigators listen in on their conversation. She now tells authorities that she thinks Robinson is going to their apartment to get a gun. With that in mind, investigators move to monitor the apartment and Cecily continues talking to Robinson. Here's Steve Campion, then a reporter at the ABC News OWN station in Houston, ktrk.
C (2:35)
Aguilar is trying to help investigators locate him. He's somewhere in Killeen, Texas, and Aguilar at that point is trying to pinpoint his location, trying to meet with him so investigators can move in and arrest him.
B (2:48)
Authorities begin pinging Robinson's cell phone. They know that he fled the base by car.
A (2:55)
But.
B (2:55)
But as authorities listen to Cecily's calls with Robinson, it sounds to them like he's walking, not driving. And indeed, the car he was suspected of driving is found abandoned in Killeen. Meanwhile, Robinson is asking Cecily where she is. Of course, the truth is she's with law enforcement in an interrogation room, but she tells Robinson that she's walking to the base to turn herself in. Investigators actually have her go outside and send a selfie to Robinson as proof. Remember, by this time, Robinson knows that human remains have been found near the Leon River. It's all over the local news. According to investigators, he tells Cecily, baby they found pieces. Eventually, Robinson tells Cecily he will turn himself in too, if she meets with him first. He asks her to come to a gas station near the base. Authorities coordinate for officers to be waiting nearby. But that gas station meeting never happens, according to a police report. Sometime after midnight, police spot a figure, a male on foot in shorts and a hoodie. A cell phone in his left hand illuminates his face. Around 12:33am an officer approaches him. He draws his gun and tells him to get on the ground. Instead, the man stops walking and reaches into his pockets. According to the police report, the officer orders him to show his hand. When the man pulls his right hand out, he's holding a black pistol and he raises it toward the officer. The officer yells, gun. And takes cover. The man points the pistol at the officer and then at his own head. A single shot rings out, and Specialist Aaron Robinson falls slowly to the ground. Soon, authorities descend on the area. They cordon off that stretch of road, now aglow with squad cars, red and blue lights. Yellow police tape is strung five lanes wide. A small crowd of onlookers forms, and a bystander films some video. In it, you see a white body bag on a stretcher being loaded into a white minivan. Earlier that day, Vanessa's remains had been found. They were found near where authorities determined Aaron Robinson's cell phone pinged the night she disappeared. Vanessa's remains discovered where Robinson apparently was. It was damning evidence. Later, some critics would say there was enough evidence to place Robinson under arrest there in that conference room on Fort Hood. But that didn't happen. And now Aaron Robinson is dead. Potentially so close to accountability. The man authority suspected of murdering Vanessa Guillen is lost forever. Just hours earlier, Myra Guillen learned that her sister's remains had been found. It was a moment Myra described as when everything came to an end.