Pfc. Jennifer Sewell, pictured, a soldier who had been missing has been found safe with relatives after going AWOL from the base since last Thursday
A female soldier based at Fort Hood in Texas who disappeared on Thursday has been found safe with relatives after going AWOL, officials said after making contact with her family members on Sunday.
Officials had initially asked for help from the public in an effort to find Jennifer Sewell, who was last seen around 4pm on Thursday leaving her barracks according to the Fort Hood Directorate of Emergency Services. She had not been seen since.
Sewell, a private first class soldier at the base, was reported missing Friday after she failed to show up to work.
Fort Hood put out a public alert asking for help finding the missing solider.
On Sunday, by around 7pm, officials from Fort Hood confirmed that leadership from Sewell’s chain of command spoke to her family.
Sewell’s family confirmed she is safe and with extended family after she did not respond to repeated calls by law enforcement or her superiors.
Fort Hood officials said they continue to remain in communication with Sewell’s family and friends, ‘to ensure she has access to resources she may need and to return her safely to Fort Hood,’ Fort Hood Press Center said in a statement on Sunday.
‘Pfc. Sewell is a valued member of our team, and our number one priority is ensuring her safe return. We are in regular contact with her family and will provide any assistance she and her family may need to return to Fort Hood,’ said Ltc. Octavia Davis, commander of Regimental Support Squadron, 3d Cavalry Regiment.
It is not clear if she will face disciplinary action for going AWOL.
Officials at the Texas Army base added that they are respecting the family’s privacy and will not provide any additional information until the appropriate time.
Sewell had been last seen leaving her barracks around 4pm on October 7 and also failed to report to work that day before officials were able to determine she was safe on Sunday
‘Initial investigation appears that Sewell left for unknown reasons on her own accord,’ a statement explained prior to the news of her safe whereabouts, which noted she does not own a vehicle.
At this stage, it is not known why she decided to leave the base.
While the ending to her search ended on a positive note, Sewell, whose age is currently unknown, was just the latest of many soldiers to disappear from the base over the past few years, the majority of which died after going missing.
39 Fort Hood soldiers died or went missing, including 13 who died by suicide in 2020.
The deaths have brought increased attention to the reports of toxic culture and abuse on the base just outside Killeen, Texas.
Spc. Guillen, 20, disappeared from the Killeen, Texas base in April 2020 and her dismembered and buried remains were found on June 30 that year near the Leon River
They include 20-year-old Spc. Vanessa Guillen, who disappeared in April 2020 and was later found to have been bludgeoned to death with a hammer in the armory where she worked.
The main suspect in her disappearance who was another soldier, killed himself when investigators confronted him.
The string of deaths led to an independent review of the climate and culture at Fort Hood and led to the punishment of 14 senior officers.
The Army later released a report on their findings, which revealed Guillen was sexually harassed and reported it two times.
It said Guillen’s leaders didn’t take appropriate action and the allegations were not moved up the chain of command.
Her family has continued to push for change leading to federal lawmakers introducing legislation on how to handle sexual assaults outside of the chain of command and to give them to independent military prosecutors.
Anyone with information about Jennifer Sewell might be is asked to contact Fort Hood Military Police on 254-288-1170.
Spc. Guillen, 20, (left) disappeared from the Killeen, Texas base in April 2020 and her dismembered and buried remains were found on June 30 near 2020 the Leon River. Officials said fellow soldier Aaron Robinson, 20, (right) was the main suspect in her killing. He shot and killed himself as police honed in on him on July 1 2020
Fort Hood’s grim death toll: 31 soldiers died in 2020 alone
It was Vanessa Guillen’s high-profile death that captured the attention of the nation and led to a reckoning within the Army in its handling of sexual harassment and assault.
Only after her death did the staggering number of deaths, disappearances, and issues at the Killeen, Texas base come to light.
In total, 31 soldiers have died.
In 2020 31 soldiers assigned to Fort Hood died. Some of them were accidents, five were homicides and 10 were suicides
February 1, 2020: PVT Eric Christopher Hogan and PFC Anthony Nevelle Peak Jr. die in a car crash
March 1, 2020: SPC Shelby Tyler Jones is shot dead at a convenience store in Killeen
March 5, 2020: Spc. Christopher Wayne Sawyer found dead at his home. Foul play is not suspected.
March 14, 2020: SPC Freddy Beningo Delacruz Jr. is killed in a triple murder
March 23, 2020: Fort Hood soldier Spc. Jovino Jamel Roy, 22, was charged with murder after allegedly shooting former Fort Hood soldier Michael Steven Wardrobe, 22
April 22, 2020: Vanessa Guillen goes missing and is last seen in the parking lot of the base. She disappeared after telling her family she was being sexually harassed by a sergeant on the base.
May 18, 2020: Body of Army Pfc. Brandon S. Rosecrans, 27, was discovered with gunshot wounds and his Jeep was found three miles away engulfed in flames.
Fort Hood soldier, Pfc. Gregory Morales was reported missing from the base a year ago in August 2019. The 24-year-old’s remains were found in June in a field in Killeen during the search for Guillen’s remains
June 19, 2020: Search teams discover the corpse of missing soldier Pvt. Gregory Wedel-Morales following a tip to Army base investigators. Remains were found in a field in Killeen, just over 10 miles from Stillhouse Hollow Lake, five miles from Fort Hood.
July 1, 2020: First parts of Giullen’s remains found about 20 miles east of Fort Hood.
Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, kills himself. Officials say he killed and dismembered Guillén and had the remains disposed of.
July 2, 2020: Army Specialist Miguel Yazzie, 33, died on July 2; Yazzie, of Window Rock, Arizona, was hospitalized for a medical condition the day before he died.
July 17, 2020: Pvt. Mejhor Morta, 26, of Pensacola, Florida was found dead July 17 in the vicinity of Stillhouse Hollow Lake, around 15 miles from the Fort Hood base.
Pvt. Mejhor Morta, 26, (left) of Florida was found unresponsive on July 17 near Stillhouse Hollow Lake. The body of Spc. Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas, 24, (right) was found August 2 after he died in a boating accident at the same lake over the weekend
August 2, 2020: The body of Spc. Francisco Gilberto Hernandezvargas, 24, is recovered from Stillhouse Hollow Lake following boating incident not far from where Morta was found.
August 12, 2020: Spc. Cole Jakob Aton, 22, of Kentucky died after he was hit by a car as he was assisting a minor accident scene
August 13, 2020: National Guard soldier, Sgt Bradley Moore dies during a training exercise at the base
August 19, 2020: Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, is reported missing after he was last seen on August 17.
Sgt. Elder Fernandes, 23, was found dead hanging from a tree on August 19. He had allegedly been hazed and ‘humiliated’ by peers after he reported he was sexually assaulted by a male superior, his family’s lawyer said
August 25, 2020: The body of Fernandes is believed to have been found about 30 miles from Fort Hood
August 28, 2020: Pvt. Corlton L. Chee, 25, collapsed during fitness training at Fort Hood on August 28. He died two days later.
November 3, 2020: Spc. Cory Grafton, 20, was arrested after a witness account and advanced DNA testing allegedly linked him to the murder of Chelsea Cheatham, 32, who was found dead in a Days Inn hotel, six minutes away from the Texas base, in June 2019.
