Missing Fort Hood soldier, 23, reported sexual abuse before his disappearance from base which has reported 11 deaths this year
A missing Fort Hood soldier had reported sexual abuse before his disappearance from the Texas base Monday, officials have said.
Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, was reported missing on Wednesday. Killeen police said he hasn't been seen since Monday when his staff sergeant dropped him off at home.
'The unit sexual assault response coordinator has been working closely with Sgt. Fernandes, ensuring he was aware of all his reporting, care, and victim advocacy options,' Fort Hood public affairs officer Lt. Col. Chris Brautigam said in a statement.
Brautigam also stated that Fernandes had been transferred to another unit, 'to ensure he received the proper care and ensure there were no opportunities for reprisals.'
The disappearance of another Fort Hood soldier this week has shed light on the string of tragedies and deaths that have plagued the Texas Army base. Fernandes' disappearance follows the deaths of 11 Fort Hood soldiers this year alone. Of those 11 deaths, foul play is suspected in five of them.
The string of disappearances and deaths at the base led the US Army Secretary to launch an investigation into the base last month. At the time, Secretary Ryan McCarthy said that Fort Hood had one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army.
Fort Hood officials have issued a missing soldier alert for Sgt. Elder Fernandes. In the alert issued Thursday, officials said the soldier with the 1st Cavalry Division is the subject of an active search and that their 'primary concern is to ensure his safety and well-being'
Fort Hood soldier, Pfc. Gregory Morales (left), was reported missing from the base a year ago on August 20, 2019. The 24-year-old's remains were found on June 21 in a field in Killeen. Then on July 1, Army officials found human remains that were later identified as those 20-year-old Pfc. Vanessa Guillén (right) - a Fort Hood soldier who had been missing since April
Fernandes' disappearance comes a year after the disappearance of Pfc. Gregory Morales, 24, a Fort Hood soldier who was reported missing on August 20, 2019.
His remains were found June 21 in a field in Killeen, near Fort Hood. Killeen police and Army officials are still investigating his death and foul play is suspected.
Vanessa Guillén´s body was found a week later in July after her disappearance in April.
Fellow soldier Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, killed and dismembered Guillén and had the remains disposed of in nearby woods, federal and state investigators said.
Robinson killed himself July 1, the day Guillén's remains were found, officials said.
Cecily Aguilar, 22, of Killeen, has been accused of disposing of Guillén's remains for Robinson and has been charged with three federal conspiracy counts related to the soldier's death.
She has pleaded not guilty.
Guillén´s family has said she was sexually harassed by the soldier suspected of killing her, but the Army has said there is no evidence to support that. There is an ongoing investigation.
Fernandes was last seen on Monday afternoon when his staff sergeant dropped him off at his home in Killeen - just four miles from the Fort Hood base
His disappearance follows the deaths of 11 Fort Hood soldiers this year alone. Of the 11 deaths, foul play is suspected in five of those. An independent investigation is currently underway into the embattled army base (above) following the string of deaths and disappearance
The other soldiers to have died this year include: Pvt. Mejhor Morta; Spc. Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas; Pfc. Brandon Scott Rosecrans; Spc. Freddy Delacruz Jr; Spc. Christopher Wayne Sawyer; and Spc. Shelby Tyler Jones.
The two most recent deaths linked to the base include Sgt. Bradley Moore, 36, who died at the base during a training exercise last week. He was with the Texas Army National Guard.
Spc. Cole Jakob Aton, 22, was also killed last week while assisting at the scene of a car accident near the base. He had been standing on the road trying to direct traffic around the crash when he was hit by a car.
Aton had previously shared petitions and posts on social media demanding answers into the deaths and disappearances at the Fort Hood base.
Two Fort Hood soldiers were among the nine people arrested earlier this month in a massive child prostitution sting. Anthony Xavier Antwon, 25, (left) and Timmy Jones Jr., 30, (right) were allegedly caught trying to pay minors for sex over social media
Meanwhile, two Fort Hood soldiers were among the nine people arrested earlier this month in a massive child prostitution sting.
Anthony Xavier Antwon, 25, and Timmy Jones Jr., 30, were allegedly caught trying to pay minors for sex over social media.
They are accused of contacting police posing as 15 and 16-year-old girls on social media and arranging to meet them for sex.
Police allege the men were willing to pay the girls in cash, drugs or alcohol.
They were arrested when they arrived at the arranged locations to meet who they thought were the underage girls.
Fernandes' family and the U.S. Army are asking for the public´s help in finding the missing soldier.
'Help us find him,' said Isabel Fernandes, the aunt of Elder Fernandes, who lives in Massachusetts . 'We just want to find him alive soon. He needs to be home with his family.'
Natalie Khawam, a lawyer representing the Guillen family, said she will also be representing the Fernandes family. She echoed her calls for a congressional investigation of Fort Hood and said the soldiers at the Texas base and their families deserve to know the truth.
State representative Liz Miranda, D-Massachusets, said on social media that Fernandes' car had been found with all of his belongings and that he had recently signed a new apartment lease but never picked up the keys.
A Killeen police statement described Fernandes as 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 133 pounds (60.33 kilograms) and said he was last seen wearing black Army physical training shorts and a T-shirt with red athletic shoes.
Fort Hood identified Fernandes as a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist with the 1st Cavalry Division Sustainment Brigade.
Members of Congress have joined advocates for women demanding systemic shifts in military culture. Some have invoked the hashtag #NiUnaMas, meaning 'not one more woman dead,' a rallying cry in Mexico against the killing of women.
Back in April 2014, Iraq war veteran Spc. Ivan Lopez opened fire at the base killing three and wounding 16 others. He then shot himself dead
Last month, Guillen's family met with President Donald Trump to call for justice after rallying with several dozen supporters on Capitol Hill. Trump said it was a 'terrible story,' offered to pay for the funeral and helped expedite the process of returning Guillen's remains to the family for burial.
Army leaders have delayed the planned transfer of Maj. Gen. Scott Efflandt, the Fort Hood commander, to an assignment at Fort Bliss, Texas, while a team of independent investigators determines whether leadership failures contributed to the deaths and disappearances.
McCarthy said during a visit to Fort Hood earlier this month that the base has one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army.
Fort Hood has also been linked to two shooting massacres involving a soldier and a military psychiatrist.
Back in April 2014, Iraq war veteran Spc. Ivan Lopez opened fire at the base killing three and wounding 16 others.
He then shot himself dead.
Authorities, at the time, had suggested that Lopez had gotten into a verbal altercation with soldier in his unit just prior to him opening fire.
Five years earlier, psychiatrist Nidal Hasan slaughtered 13 of his comrades, as well as an unborn child, at the army base in 2009 in the name of Islam. The shooting massacre left 32 others injured.
He remains in prison on death row where he has been fighting his conviction.
Nidal Hasan remains in prison on death row where he has been fighting his conviction ever since the shooting massacre
