What time will I Am Vanessa Guillen air on Netflix? Release date, plot and more about the documentary

Popular streaming platform Netflix is all set to air yet another true crime documentary. Titled I Am Vanessa Guillen, the documentary will narrate the story of slain US Army soldier Vanessa Guillen. In 2020, a 20-year-old Vanessa was bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier at an Army base. Not willing to let her killer go scot free, her family relentlessly fights for justice and gives her death the meaning it deserves by attempting to bring reform.

I Am Vanessa Guillen is set to hit Netflix on Thursday, 17 November.

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What to expect from I Am Vanessa Guillen

Directed by Christy Wegener, I Am Vanessa Guillen will focus on how the Texan’s dream of joining the military came true in 2018 only to meet a brutal end a couple of years later. After getting recruited in the Army, Guillen started training as a 91F, Small Arms and Artillery Repairer and was stationed at Fort Hood where she met a terrible fate and was brutally killed by E4 Specialist Aaron David Robinson (20).

Inhumanly, Robinson used a hammer to club Guillen to death. He fled Fort Hood fearing arrest and took his own life before law enforcement officers could apprehend him in Killeen, Texas.

Describing the story of I Am Vanessa Guillen as “David vs. Goliath on steroids,” Wegener said:

“At the core, this is a story about overcoming the greatest odds imaginable in the name of family, love and justice. Taking on the U.S. military, one of the largest, most powerful institutions in America is no easy feat. In making the film, it was incredible to witness a family, in the most tragic moment of their lives, put their grief aside, step out into the public arena and fight for the greater good.”

Rather than cowering down, Guillen’s family showed utmost grit, which took the case all the way to then-US President Donald Trump. He assured the grief-stricken family an independent review of the case.

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Meet the creators of I Am Vanessa Guillen

Apart from directing, Wegener is also producing I Am Vanessa Guillen along with Isabel Castro, Lindsey Cordero, and Armando Croda. Andrea Berman is the co-executive producer along with executive producers Dan Cogan, Liz Garbus, Jon Bardin, and Nell Constantinople under their Story Syndicate banner.

Story Syndicate, a New York-based film-TV production company, is known for projects like Netflix’s three-part docuseries Eat The Rich: The GameStop Saga, ABC-Hulu’s Murders Before the Marathon, National Geographic’s Becoming Cousteau, and Netflix’s Britney vs Spears, among others.

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About Vanessa Guillen

Guillen was born on September 30, 1999, in Houston, Texas, to Mexican parents Rogelio and Gloria Guillen. A César E. Chávez High School graduate, she was inducted into the Army in June 2018. She loved playing soccer, jogging, and enjoyed sports activities.

Reports said that before she went missing, Guillen had shared with her mother Gloria that a sergeant had been sexually harassing her at Fort Hood. She didn’t name him but told her mother that she could take care of the issue herself. Investigators revealed that Robinson got scared when Guillen found a picture of one Cecily Anne Aguilar (22) on his phone. Robinson was fearful because Aguilar was still married to fellow soldier Keon Aguilar at the time.

Vanessa Guillén was killed in 2020. (Image via YouTube/Netflix)

A court document revealed:

“He (Robinson) told her (Aguilar) he was worried about getting in trouble for violating the Army's fraternization rules since Aguilar was still married to another soldier and he hit Guillen in the head with a hammer.”

While Robinson killed himself, Aguilar is currently behind bars on charges of dismembering Guillen’s body and burying the parts along the Leon River. A federal grand jury indicted her on 11 counts on July 13 last year. Her trial starts on January 2, 2023.