LULAC and mother offer $55,000 reward after North Texas soldier found dead in Tennessee home

A $55,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction in the killing of a North Texas soldier after the soldier’s mother more than doubled the amount on Saturday.

Katia Duenas-Aguilar, a 23-year-old from Mesquite, was found dead in a Tennessee home near Fort Campbell on May 18. Authorities said they are investigating the death as a homicide.

On Thursday, the League of United Latin American Citizens – the oldest civil rights group for Latinos in the United States – announced a $25,000 reward. On Saturday, LULAC announced that Carmen Aguilar, Duenas-Aguilar’s mother, would donate $30,000 to the fund and called on the public to help.

LULAC national president Domingo Garcia, a former Dallas City Council member, urged in a written statement anyone with information about Duenas-Aguilar’s death to come forward and speak to authorities.

“LULAC stands with Carmen Aguilar, the young woman’s mother, a soldier who served her country far from home and whose life was taken, and we need justice,” Garcia said. “The fact that this mother is investing not only money but her whole soul to find the perpetrator deserves our full and unconditional support.”

At a press conference with LULAC on Saturday, Carmen Aguilar called for justice in Spanish.

“I know I’m not going to see my daughter alive. There are a lot of things I still don’t understand because she told me her contract was up this month,” she said. “Now they’re actually telling me my daughter was ready to re-sign. I don’t understand that. I wonder what was going on in her head, what they made her believe, that she changed her mind so drastically. I don’t understand that.”

Garcia, who set the first reward, said in an earlier statement that as in the case of Vanessa Guillén, the organization is offering a reward that would bring national attention to the case.

“We will not rest nor allow the investigation into the killing of this army soldier to stall,” Garcia said.

Guillén, a 20-year-old Houston native, disappeared from Fort Hood — now Fort Cavazos — in central Texas in 2020 after telling her family she was sexually harassed at work. Her dismembered remains were found two months later.

Duenas-Aguilar’s body was discovered on May 18. Clarksville police responded to an ambulance call in the 900 block of Tiny Town Road around 8:30 p.m., police officials said in a social media post.

Officers found a dead woman in the house and homicide detectives became aware of the incident, officials said.

The body was later identified as that of Duenas-Aguilar, a soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, about 5 miles northwest of where police were stationed. In several social media posts, she is described as a nice person and good friend.

Duenas-Aguilar was assigned to the Army’s 101st Airborne Division as a member of its combat aviation brigade, division officials said in a news release Tuesday. According to the Army, the 101st Airborne Division is the armed forces’ only air assault division.

At the press conference, her mother expressed her frustration and shared her pain.

“I gave them my daughter alive and now they’re giving her back dead. It’s not fair. It’s not fair, I don’t have the words for it,” said Carmen Aguilar. “My daughter had dreams and so much she wanted to do. She told me, ‘Mom, I want to be a psychologist.’ And now she’s gone. … I just ask you to help me find justice for her and the other dead people. I never thought I would live to see this. And now it’s me and her siblings who want answers.”

LULAC, the organization offering the reward, said in a news release that Duenas-Aguilar grew up in North Texas. She joined the Army in 2018 and was an information technology specialist stationed at Fort Campbell since 2019.

Garcia, LULAC’s national president, said the organization had contacted Duenas-Aguilar’s family and expressed its condolences.

He added that sexual trauma in the military is a “persistent problem” if people don’t talk about it and disclose it.

“We want them and our community to know that LULAC is watching us and urging anyone with information to come forward and speak without fear,” Garcia said. “LULAC is here to work with the Army to ensure that a full and transparent investigation resolves the killing of this young soldier.”

Authorities in Clarksville have not released any further information about her death, including details about possible suspects. Anyone with information is asked to contact a Clarksville detective at 931-648-0656, extension 5720. Anonymous tips can also be shared with the Clarksville Montgomery County Crime Stoppers’ Tips Line at 931-645-8477 or https://P3tips.com/591.