More than a year after she was killed, the Army confirmed Friday that Vanessa Guillén was sexually harassed by a supervisor, but not by the soldier who the Army believes killed her.While Guillén’s family maintained that she was being harassed at work, the Army previously said it found no evidence of that claim. The 271-page report released Friday found those claims to be true, and detailed additional findings related to her death and the culture of sexual harassment at the installation, including command failures.

Guillén, a 20-year-old Houston native, went missing from Fort Hood on April 22, 2020. Her body was found dismembered two months later. Her family said in the months before her death, Guillén was acting differently, and when pressed, said she was being harassed at work, but she didn’t feel like she could report it, according to Task and Purpose, a military-focused website.

The botched handling of Guillén’s case, the toxic climate that helped lead to it and the continuing public and political fallout have shaken the Army, eroded confidence in command and launched a national movement to unveil sexual misconduct in the military.

Members of Congress said they remain committed to investigating and acting on the problems being exposed in the case.

The report, compiled by Gen. John M. Murray, commander of the U.S. Army Futures Command, confirms that Guillén and other soldiers had reported several incidents in which she was sexually harassed to leadership, but officers failed to launch an investigation.

Gen. Michael X. Garrett, commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command, said 13 officers and noncommissioned officers will be disciplined as a result of the report.

“SPC Guillén was sexually harassed by a supervisor,” the executive summary of the report states. “This supervisor created an intimidating, hostile environment. The unit leadership was informed of the harassment as well as the supervisor’s counterproductive leadership, and failed to take appropriate action.”

The report also found that the Army detained the man accused of killing Guillén, Aaron Robinson, hours after her body was found. But due to poor communication, Robinson was able to “flee” and fatally shoot himself, according to the report.

Robinson’s escape is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation, Maj. Gen. Gene LeBoeuf told reporters in a phone call Friday, according to The New York Times.

The report found “no credible evidence to conclude” that Robinson sexually harassed Guillén, but he did sexually harass a different soldier.

‘The biggest gut punch’

“It was devastating to all of us,” LeBoeuf said. “We as an Army failed to protect Vanessa Guillén.”

The investigation found that the incidents of sexual harassment Guillén experienced were unrelated to her death, but AnaLuisa Tapia, the Killeen district director of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) who has worked with Guillén’s family since she first went missing, said the report was “the biggest gut punch.”

“Had things been acted upon, had they looked into it, and they had done their due diligence, one can only think that we would have Vanessa with us right now,” Tapia said.

Crystal Romero, legislative chair of the LULAC National Committee on Military and Veteran Affairs, said the military’s failure to act on the incidents where Guillén was harassed is evident of a climate of sexual misconduct that the chain of command allowed.

“The Army continues to care more about their image than the safety of their soldiers,” Romero said, “and the lack of confidence that soldiers have in their leadership due to situations like this is the weak link in our military, and toxic leadership is killing our service members.”

Guillén’s death inspired a social media movement akin to the #MeTooMovement, where people across the country told their stories of military sexual harassment and assault using the hashtag #IamVanessaGuillén.

‘It is unacceptable’

Since her death, Guillén’s family and advocates have called for the I am Vanessa Guillén Act to be passed, a law that would reform several aspects of the way the military deals with sexual harassment and assault.

“We need better laws,” Tapia said. “We need to make sure that our soldiers are treated as American citizens. We have a right to be protected. We have a right to pursue justice when something is wrong, and without fear, retaliation.”

The I am Vanessa Guillén Act would make sexual harassment a crime in the Uniform Code of Military Justice, allow service members to report incidents of sexual harassment confidentially and give independent prosecutors the power to decide whether a case of sexual misconduct should go to trial, instead of a service member’s commander.

Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, an original co-sponsor of the bill, said in a tweet that she will continue to work in Congress to make sure these changes are made.

Another bill in the Senate, co-sponsored by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, the Military Justice Improvement and Increase Prevention Act, would also take the decision to prosecute an instance of sexual harassment or assault outside of the chain of command, a spokesperson for Cruz said the report’s ”findings about the conditions at Fort Hood and the harassment faced by Vanessa Guillén further underscore the need to pass the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act.”

“Our daughters and sons sign up to defend this nation knowing that they will face risk, knowing that they face the risk of being killed by our enemies, but none of our daughters and sons should face the risk of assault from their fellow servicemen and women,” Cruz said at a press conference introducing the bill Thursday. “It is horrific. It is unacceptable that sexual assault is as prevalent as it is today in the military.”

Guillén’s death has put the military under increasing pressure to make reforms. Fort Hood has instituted People First initiatives to hold leaders accountable for sexual assault and harassment, and the Army is also restructuring its U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program.

“I directed this investigation to identify what happened and to find areas where we needed to improve across our command,” Garrett said in a statement. “We can and must hold ourselves accountable, learn and improve across all our Army units. To do any less breaks trust with our people and the American public.”