“If you’re gonna cry like a snowflake about it, you’re gonna pay the price.”
A female Air Force Lt. Col. has been slammed for suggesting murdered soldier Vanessa Guillen deserved to be sexually abused.
According to Betsy Schoeller, that was ‘the price for admission’ for women in the army, Daily Mail reports.
Schoeller, a female Air Force Lt. Col., expressed her shocking opinion while commenting on a Facebook thread following a shared article. The piece stated that Vanessa Guillen, the missing soldier, was bludgeoned to death shortly after telling family and friends she was being sexually harassed by a superior.
The military veteran stunned the other social media users by commenting:
“You guys are kidding, right? Sexual harassment is the price of admission for women into the good ole boy club. If you’re gonna cry like a snowflake about it, you’re gonna pay the price.”
These horrific comments, coming from the now-senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, came just hours after Vanessa’s devastated family’s attorney revealed that the 20-year-old Fort Hood soldier was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in the armory room where she worked.
The now-deleted post sparked severe outrage amongst social media users.
Furthermore, Change.org petition was created, demanding Schoeller should be fired from her position at the Wisconsin university.
While slamming the veteran for her highly immoral words, people pointed out she was a part of the problem of sexual abuse of women in the armed forces. Others claimed leaders like her protected the ‘predators’ who tend to harras female soldiers.
The last time the 20-year-old victim was seen alive was at the Fort Hood Army Base in Killeen, Texas, on April 22. It was right after she reportedly told her family she was being abused by a sergeant. Vanessa was missing for months until her partial remains were finally found last week near the Leon River in Bell County.
On Thursday, July 2, an FBI criminal complaint was released, identifying the 20-year-old US Army Specialist Aaron Robinson murdered Gullien by striking her in the head with a hammer on Fort Hood on April 22.
On Wednesday, only a few hours after Vanessa’s body was discovered, Robinson committed suicide. He shot himself as Army criminal investigators and officials tried to confront him.
Killeen Police Department stated:
“As officers attempted to make contact with the suspect, the suspect displayed a weapon and discharged it toward himself. The suspect succumbed from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.”
Following Robinson’s death, his 22-year-old wife, Cecily Aguilar, was arrested and charged with helping her husband dismember and dispose of Guillen’s body.
She could now face 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine, as she was charged with one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence.
Additionally, the FBI complaint states that Robinson told Aguilar he killed Guillen and moved her body off to a remote site in Bell County. After confessing his crime, he and his wife then disposed of Vanessa’s body.
According to CID Senior Special Agent Damon Phelps, officials are now investigating Robinson’s connection with Guillen. Although Robinson was stationed in the building adjacent to Guillen on the Texas base, they still cannot confirm any interactions between the two soldiers.
Natalie Khawam, Guillen’s family lawyer, claimed she had planned to file a sexual harassment complaint against Robinson the day after Vanessa was killed. She insisted Guillen was working in the armory with Robinson when she told him she was going to report him.
Khawam also claimed the abuser then grabbed a hammer and began ‘bludgeoning her head over and over’. She was allegedly told by officials that Robinson cleaned up the area where Vanessa was murdered, placed her body in a container, and wheeled her out to his car.
Army officials said they hadn’t come across evidence of the female soldier being sexually abused.
However, they encouraged anyone with information on the allegation, or on her disappearance, to come forward.
According to the family lawyer, Robinson then picked his wife up, and they both took the victim’s body to a river nearby. Then, the couple tried to burn the body, but they later cut it into pieces with a machete. After this, they put cement on the dismembered body and buried the remains.
Horrifically, medical officials were unable to use Guillen’s face or skull for bone recognition or dental record confirmations, as her remains were brutally damaged.
Guillen’s remains were found by the volunteer group Texas EquuSearch. They came across the terrifying finding in a confidential area in Coryell County. The undisclosed location was near the place where last month the remains of missing soldier Gregory Wedel-Morales were found.
Morales and Guillen’s cases are not thought to be linked.
Recently, the female Air Force Lt. Col. Betsy Schoeller wrote a Facebook post, claiming she did not mean to offend Guillen’s family.
In the post, she wrote:
“I did not mean to imply that this is how I feel. I was giving voice to the messaging that women hear in the culture of sexual harassment.”
Furthermore, Schoeller shares she was ‘shocked and saddened’ her comment was interpreted out of context.
