Photo: Basaldua Family / EFE
The parents of Ana Basaldua Ruiz, a young woman belonging to the US Army who died on a military base in Texas, are asking for answers after officials from that institution said there were no suspicions about her death.
Basaldua Ruiz, a combat engineer from 20 years featured at the base of Fort Hood He died on Monday, March 13.
The Telemundo network reported that army officers told Basaldua Ruiz’s parents that the young woman had committed suicide.
The parents assured that their daughter had told them that she had been sexually harassed.
The US military said Thursday that an investigation into the incident was still underway.
According to the authorities, “officials from the Army Criminal Investigation Department (CID) have confirmed that at this point in the investigation into the death of Ana Basaldua Ruiz, there is no evidence of any crime and it will remain under investigation.”
“Army CID will continue to conduct a thorough investigation and gather all the evidence and facts to make sure we find out exactly what happened.”
Harassment and advances
Basaldua Ruiz, who was from Long Beach, California, had served in the 1st Cavalry Division for the past 15 months, Fort Hood officials said.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Ana Basaldua Ruiz, and We extend our condolences to his father, mother and sisterLt. Col. Patrick Sullivan, commander of the 91st Engineer Battalion, said in a statement.
Basaldua Ruiz’s mother, Alejandra Ruiz Zarco, who lives in Michoacán, Mexico, where she raised her daughter; She told Telemundo News that her daughter had told her that her superior was harassing her and that she received constant sexual advances from other people on the base.
Her father, Baldo Basaldua, recounted that his daughter told him shortly before her death that “her whole life was going wrong and that she wanted to die.”
Army officials have been providing inconsistent responses to Basaldua Ruiz’s family about her death, said Stephanie Gattas, a spokeswoman for the family and who founded a nonprofit that works with women in the military struggling with trauma in Texas. .
“They don’t get what they ask for in terms of information,” he said. “We are trying to get to the truth.”
Other cases in Texas
The Fort Hood base has been at the center of controversy over a series of deaths there, including that of 20-year-old Vanessa Guillén, who was killed on Fort Hood in 2020. Her family alleged that a supervisor sexually harassed her earlier of being killed.
Authorities maintain that a soldier, Army Specialist Aaron Robinson, killed Guillén and committed suicide as they were about to arrest him.
Cecily Aguilar, who authorities say was Robinson’s girlfriend, also pleaded guilty last November to helping him dispose of the victim’s body.
Following Guillén’s death, an investigation into the US military base was launched, leading to more than a dozen leaders being removed from their duties.
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