Fort Campbell soldier’s husband and woman charged in brutal stabbing death of the 23-year-old in Tennessee

Two people have been charged in the death of Katia Dueñas Aguilar, a Fort Campbell soldier who was stabbed nearly 70 times last year, police said Saturday.

Sofia Rodas, 35, has been charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of U.S. Army Private First Class Katia Dueñas Aguilar, 23, the Clarksville Police Department said in a news release. Aguilar’s body was found in her home in the Tennessee city of Clarksville in May.

Reynaldo Salinas Cruz, Aguilar’s husband, has been charged with tampering with evidence in her death. Both Salinas Cruz, 40, and Rodas had been held on unrelated federal charges, and they were extradited to Clarksville on Friday, police said. Their lawyers in their federal cases did not immediately return calls on Saturday.

The details related to the charges were not immediately available.

Dueñas Aguilar, of Mesquite, Texas, enlisted in the Army in 2018, KTVT-TV reported. She had a 4-year-old son and was stationed at Fort Campbell on the Tennessee-Kentucky border. She was also a member of the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division.

An autopsy report from the Montgomery County Medical Examiner’s Office said Dueñas Aguilar suffered 68 stab wounds to her neck and upper body

The medical examiner ruled the cause of death a homicide as a result of sharp-force injuries of the neck.

Before she died, Dueñas Aguilar told her family she was planning on leaving the Army. Her sister told KTVT-TV that she decided to stay after she spoke with an Army counselor. 

“She would…tell me that she’s not happy over there and I wanted her to come back so we could make more memories,” Cecilia Ruiz-Aguilar said.