FUNERAL SERVICE

Houston Police Confirmed Fort Hood Soldier’s Remains Because Family Doesn’t Trust Army

Army Specialist Vanessa Guillen will be farewelled in a private ceremony in Houston on Saturday.

The remains of U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen, who disappeared in April from Fort Hood, were verified by the Houston Police Department because the family did not trust the military investigators. Guillen was allegedly murdered and dismembered by a fellow Fort Hood soldier and his girlfriend, who was the estranged wife of another soldier. She had confided to her family that she’d been sexually harassed at Fort Hood but investigators don’t believe that was a motive in the killing.

Guillen will be farewelled in a private ceremony in Houston on Saturday. The Army confirmed the burned remains found in late June were Guillen’s but HPD detectives also sent samples to a private lab, police chief Art Acevedo said. “As a mother, I think you always hold on to a little bit of hope,” he said. “But there was great relief knowing that an independent lab had confirmed that it was Vanessa’s remains.”