A female soldier assigned to Texas’ Fort Hood was found dead in March on the same day a female private was found dead at the installation after reportedly facing sexual harassment.
Spc. Katerina Weikel was found dead on March 13, one day after her 29th birthday, Military.com reported. Initially reported as an off-base suicide, Weikel’s death remains under investigation, a source familiar with the case told the outlet.
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Weikel enlisted in the Army in 2019 and deployed to Poland and Germany in 2020, according to an obituary. She rose to the rank of specialist assigned to the 64th Military Police Company at Fort Hood.
Weikel’s obituary states that she loved bike-riding and “would greet [neighbors] all with sincerity and enthusiasm as she rode by.” She was interred with full military honors March 23 at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.
Her death came the same day as the apparent suicide of 20-year-old Pvt. Ana Basaldua Ruiz at Fort Hood. However, unlike Basaldua Ruiz, the death of Weikel was not initially made public by base officials.
The pair of deaths came three years after 20-year-old Spc. Vanessa Guillén was murdered at Fort Hood after reporting sexual harassment. Guillén’s killing prompted an investigation of Fort Hood’s culture that resulted in 14 commanders and other leaders being fired or suspended, as reported by the Texas Tribune.
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Multiple anonymous officials at the base told Military.com that the investigation’s fallout resulted in a virtual lockdown on information relating to incidents. A spokesperson, Lt. Col. Tania Donovan, said it is “case by case” whether Fort Hood discloses the death of a soldier assigned to the base.
Donovan said that because Weikel’s death was “off-post,” there is a joint investigation between the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division and police from Killeen, the city outside the base. No Army policy prohibits the service from commenting on deaths outside military property, according to Military.com.
