Katia Dueñas Aguilar, the soldier from Mesquite who was killed earlier this month in Tennessee, was buried Friday with military honors.
More than 80 people gathered under the sun at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas to bid her a final farewell. A female mariachi sang the iconic ballad “Amor Eterno,” which speaks of love and sorrow.
Dueñas Aguilar was remembered as joyful and willing to help others and serve her country.
Her friends and family members wore white T-shirts with Dueñas Aguilar’s photo and her dates of birth and death during the open casket service.
Dueñas Aguilar was found dead May 18 in a Tennessee home near Fort Campbell, Ky., where she was stationed. Authorities have said they are investigating the death as a homicide.
The League of United Latin American Citizens and her mother are offering a combined $55,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Her mother, Carmen Aguilar, has called on the community to help find her killer as her family struggles to understand why she’s gone.
“¿Quién la mato? Quién le hizo esto?” Dueñas Aguilar’s younger brother screamed in Spanish, with tears flowing down his face as the casket was lowered.
“Who killed her? Who did this to her?”
Dueñas Aguilar enlisted in the Army as an information technology specialist in 2018. The following year, she completed basic training at Fort Eisenhower, Ga., before reporting to Fort Campbell just north of the Kentucky-Tennessee border.
Dueñas Aguilar was assigned to the Army’s 101st Airborne Division as a member of its combat aviation brigade, division officials said in a May 21 news release. According to the Army, the 101st Airborne Division is its only air assault division.
Her awards and recognitions included two Army Achievement Medals, an Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Army Service Ribbon, according to the 101st Airborne Division.
At the service Friday, Aguilar, originally from Honduras, sat in the front, clutching on her lap her daughter’s 4-year-old son. Most of the time, she was silent, at other times sobbing and crying.
In a bilingual ceremony, John Madrid, a military chaplain, spoke about Dueñas Aguilar’s personality and how she would be remembered and then prayed for her eternal rest.
“I have heard the stories about how cheerful Katia was, how good a friend she was, her generosity and how she lit up every place she arrived,” said Madrid in Spanish.
The military funeral included a three gun salute and a U.S. flag draped over the casket. Seven military members carried Dueñas Aguilar’s casket, folded the flag and gave it to her mother.
Dueñas Aguilar’s mother collapsed at the end of the ceremony, unable to get up from her chair. Friends and relatives carried her to the car.
During the visitation, a slideshow of photos of Dueñas Aguilar, from when she was a baby to photos with her son and friends, played while Spanish songs, such as “Mariposa de Barrio” from Jenni Rivera and “Nadie es Eterno” from Antonio Aguilar serenaded mourners.
At the end of the service, small cards with a prayer in Spanish and the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on one side and a photo of Dueñas Aguilar in her military uniform with the U.S. flag in the background on the other were given to friends and family members as a final remembrance.
Anyone with information about Dueñas Aguilar’s death is asked to contact a Clarksville police detective at 931-648-0656, ext. 5720. Anonymous tips may also be shared with the Clarksville Montgomery County Crime Stoppers’ Tips Line at 931-645-8477 or https://P3tips.com/591.
