Slain Fort Campbell Latina soldier's mom wants answers as group offers reward for info

Carmen Aguilar, the mother of slain Fort Campbell Pfc. Katia Dueñas-Aguilar, is pleading for "justice for my daughter," as authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the soldier's death nearly a week ago.

Dueñas-Aguilar, who was 23, is survived by her mother and a 4-year-old son.

“We are destroyed,” the tearful mother said in Spanish to "Noticias Telemundo Ahora" on Friday morning. “My heart breaks.”

First responders found Dueñas-Aguilar’s body inside her home in Clarksville, Tennessee, on May 18. The local police department said in a news release it ruled the incident as "a homicide and is being actively investigated,” WSMV, NBC's affiliate in Nashville reported.

Dueñas-Aguilar was originally from Mesquite, Texas, and had been stationed at Fort Campbell in Kentucky since 2019. There, she worked as an information technology specialist and was a member of the 101st Airborne Division's Combat Aviation Brigade.

“There is something strange about my daughter’s death,” Aguilar said.

“I ask for justice. As everyone knows, this is not the first [case], there have been several others,” Aguilar said in reference to other high-profile cases of Latina soldiers who have lost their lives in recent years.

Lt. Col. Tony Hoefler, a spokesperson for the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, told NBC News on Friday that a group of soldiers are getting ready to bring Dueñas-Aguilar’s body to her family in Mesquite, Texas "to render honors to the fallen soldier" on May 31.

A spokesperson for the Army Criminal Investigation Division on Friday told NBC News it was still investigating Dueñas-Aguilar’s death alongside Clarksville Police.

There were no new updates on the case as of Friday, Scott Beaubien, a public information officer at Clarksville Police, told NBC News.

A reward for information

The League of United Latin American Citizens, the nation’s oldest Latino civil rights organization, announced it is offering a $25,000 reward “for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the death of another Latina soldier," LULAC National President Domingo Garcia said in a statement.

LULAC, the nation's oldest Latino civil rights organization, offered a similar reward back in 2020 when authorities were investigating the disappearance and killing of Vanessa Guillén, a soldier in Fort Cavazo, formerly known as Fort Hood.

Guillén’s killing garnered widespread national attention when her family came forward saying that the soldier had told relatives and colleagues at Fort Cavazos, which has some of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army, that she had been sexually harassed. The family's advocacy helped bring historic military reforms, and a law in Guillén's name was passed in 2022 to help and protect victims of sexual violence in the military.

Last year, another Latina soldier, Pvt. Ana Basaldua Ruiz, died in the same military base by suicide after expressing she faced sexual harassment, according to her family.

“LULAC continues to advocate for the safety and rights of Latino military personnel and calls for comprehensive measures to protect service members from violence and misconduct,” said Roman Palomares, LULAC's military and veterans affairs national committee chair.

Hoefler, spokesperson at Fort Campbell, said they are continuing to "cooperate with Army and local investigative authorities on this matter.”

During her time as a soldier, Dueñas-Aguilar received two Army Achievement Medals, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Army Service Ribbon.

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