The family of Army Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar, a Fort Campbell, Ky., soldier who was found dead, has added $30,000 to an existing reward of $25,000 for information that could lead to an arrest. Local police have ruled the death a homicide. (U.S. Army)
The mother of a Fort Campbell soldier who was killed is pleading for someone with information about the death of her daughter to come forward, offering an additional $30,000 of her own money to the reward.
Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar, 23, was found dead inside a residence in Clarksville, Tenn., on May 18, and the Clarksville Police Department said it has ruled her death a homicide. Police said Tuesday that the department is working with the Army Criminal Investigation Division and is “actively following leads.” However, police have not provided any other details about the case.
“We’re not all good. We want to believe that it’s a nightmare, that we can wake up and she will still be there,” Cecilia Ruiz-Aguilar, the soldier’s sister, said Saturday during a news conference in Texas where the family lives.
She spoke alongside their mother Carmen Aguilar and representatives of the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Hispanic and Latin-American civil rights organization known commonly as LULAC.
Army Pfc. Katia Duenas-Aguilar, a 23-year-old information technology specialist, was found dead May 18 in a residence in Clarksville, Tenn., near her duty station with the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. Her death is under investigation as a homicide, and her family and the League of United Latin American Citizens are offering a $55,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. (League of United Latin American Citizens )
In addition to the family’s reward, LULAC has offered $25,000.
“We as LULAC stand with this family, and we want justice,” said AnaLuisa Carrillo-Tapia, LULAC national sergeant-at-arms. “This is a human being. This is a Latina. This is a young lady [who] signed on the dotted line to serve our country, and that is where our focus is at today. We want to know what happened, who did it and we want to make sure that person or people are brought to justice.”
Carmen Aguilar spoke to news reporters in Spanish, describing how her daughter had recently been weighing whether to reenlist, even going to a counselor for support in the decision.
Duenas-Aguilar had worked as an information technology specialist with the 101st Airborne Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Campbell in Kentucky since 2019. It was her first duty station after enlisting the previous year in her hometown of Mesquite, which is east of Dallas.
Duenas-Aguilar had a 4-year-old son, and her family said the soldier had become increasingly stressed and might have turned to using marijuana. They did not know whether it had gotten her in trouble with her unit.
A spokesperson for the division declined to comment on the soldier’s status with her unit and said it would be inappropriate to delve into a service member’s health records. The focus is on Duenas-Aguilar’s family, the division said.
This is not the first time that LULAC has offered reward money to seek justice for the family of a service member. The organization was active in raising awareness when Spc. Vanessa Guillen went missing in April 2020 from Fort Cavazos, Texas. Guillen’s body was found off the base about two months later. Investigators determined she had been killed by another soldier on base and then moved.
“LULAC will not rest until our service members who leave their families and homes to go defend our country are safe wherever they live,” Domingo Garcia, national president of LULAC, said in a statement. “Since the killing of U.S. Army Spc. Guillen, LULAC has been working with the Army and the Pentagon to pass and enforce legislation that protects Latino service members and others from military sexual trauma. While we do not yet know the circumstances surrounding Katia’s death, we call for a thorough and transparent investigation so that all facts about her killing are brought to light.”
