A female Fort Campbell soldier was found dead in her off-base residence, triggering a murder investigation.
Private First Class Katia Dueñas-Aguilar, 23, was found around 8:30 p.m. in a locked bedroom at the Tennessee residence on May 18. Detectives believe the young mother had been murdered.
An investigation is currently underway and the soldier’s family is offering a $55,000 reward. His murderer is still at large.
On Saturday, officials with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) said the organization stands in solidarity with the woman’s grieving mother, who suggested that someone within the military may have been responsible.
He joined the Army in 2018, completing basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Eisenhower. She was then assigned to the Combat Aviation Brigade (Air Assault) of the 101st Airborne Division, stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky for the past five years.
Private First Class Katia Dueñas-Aguilar, 23, was found around 8:30 p.m. in a locked room at the Tennessee residence on May 18, after which detectives discovered she had been murdered .
‘The problem is inside! The problem is within and you (the journalist I had been speaking to) know it too!’ She shouted an emotional Carmen Aguilar when she was asked if she thought someone within the Army could have killed her daughter.
‘Not all of us are good. We want to believe that it’s a nightmare, that we can wake up and that she will still be there,” added Dueñas-Aguilar’s younger sister, Cecilia Ruiz-Aguilar, as she and other family members addressed the crowd in the girl’s hometown. victim in Texas.
“We are not well at the moment.”
The family added in a further statement: “We want to know what happened, who did it and we want to make sure that person or people are brought to justice.”
Meanwhile, Ruiz-Aguilar hinted that her sister, a mother of one, was not so happy while stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, just across the border, telling her local CBS affiliate in Texas: “She’s already He told me that I’m not happy there.
“I wanted her to come back so we could make more memories.”
Without offering further details, he asked for help finding the person who killed Dueñas-Aguilar in his Clarksville apartment, a few miles from his base.
He joined the Army in 2018, completing basic training and advanced individual training at Fort Eisenhower.
She was then assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade (Air Assault), whose Lt. Col. Tony Hoefler issued a statement to Military.com in the wake of the discovery.
Pictured is the Clarksville apartment complex where the mother of one lived and was found, a 14-minute drive from Fort Campbell, across the border.
‘Not all of us are good. We want to believe that it’s a nightmare, that we can wake up and she will still be there,” said Dueñas-Aguilar’s sister, Cecilia Ruiz-Aguilar (left), as she and other family members addressed a crowd in Dueñas-Aguilar’s hometown. the victim. ‘We are not well at the moment’
‘We are stunned by the death of PFC. Dueñas-Aguilar,’ said the brigade spokesperson. “In the meantime, we will continue to cooperate with the military and local investigative authorities in this matter.”
The website he spoke with reported that Dueñas-Aguilar received two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Ribbon of Army service during his six years of service.
During that time, he also had a four-year-old son, but, as his sister mentioned, he may have also been planning to leave the military.
Reports indicate that she gave birth while still stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, located a 14-minute drive from Dueñas-Aguilar’s apartment on Tiny Town Road in Clarksville, Tennessee.
At the time of writing, it is unclear who the father is. Police have not yet issued a statement on any suspects.
Meanwhile, Carmen called on the Clarksville and Fort Campbell communities to help with the investigation, as she and others crowded around a podium for the news conference in Dallas, pleading with the public to provide any information they might. lead to an arrest. and conviction.
“We are destroyed,” the tearful mother said, almost crying at times. ‘My heart broke.’
‘I ask for justice. As everyone knows, this is not the first, there have been several more,’ Carmen said on Saturday in reference to other high-profile cases of Latina soldiers who have lost their lives, such as Vanessa Guillén, who was murdered at Fort Cavazos, formerly known as Fort Hood, near Killeen, Texas, in 2020.
There, in addition to his position in the brigade, he worked as an information technology specialist, positions he held for the past five years, the family said.
Reports indicate she gave birth while still stationed in Kentucky, at the base six miles from the apartment where she was found. The child’s father has not been identified nor has any suspect. The boy was not a victim of murder, police confirmed.
“She’s not the first.”
Meanwhile, his daughter was originally from Mesquite, Texas, he revealed, indicating that she had been stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky since 2019.
There, in addition to his position in the brigade, he worked as an information technology specialist, positions he held for the past five years, the family said.
A friend found her in her apartment six miles away, and local police offered very little additional information.
The girl’s younger sister added that after the victim told her he was thinking about retiring, he suddenly changed his mind, citing a meeting with a counselor at the base.
The family did not go into detail about why she was unhappy and considering leaving, nor did they say whether these feelings were in any way related to the case.
Meanwhile, police confirmed that her son was not a crime victim, nor did they offer any insight into where he was at the time of his mother’s murder.
They determined the death was a homicide, but refused to say how she was killed.
A $55,000 reward was later announced by the family and LULAC for any information that could help the Clarksville Police Department solve the case, as military law enforcement is also assisting.
Analuisa Carrillo-Tapia of LULAC’s National Military and Veterans Committee said Saturday: ‘This is a human being. This is a Latina. This is a young woman who signed on the dotted line to serve our country.
“We want to know what happened, who did it and we want the person or people who did it to be brought to justice.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the Clarksville Police Department for comment.
