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In the movie Aliens (1986), after the marines and Ellen Ripley landed on LV-426, they discovered Newt. Corporal Dietrich on the marine team checked Newt. This character only had a few lines. After that, Cpl. Dietrich was not seen in any other scene of the movie.

So my question is, was their any sign that Cpl. Dietrich was killed by Aliens? Is she dead or alive?

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Dietrich went in with all of the other marines to investigate the colonists' locator beacons, which we learn are all in one place under the reactor cooling tower in the alien "nest".

After the marines discover a cocooned colonist and kill the chestburster who kills that colonist, the aliens attack. Most of the marines die, but Ripley saves Hicks, Hudson, and Vasquez (Bishop and Gorman are in the APC during the battle, Farro and Spunkmeyer are on station in the dropship outside the complex).

After they escape the nest, Hudson looks at the command consoles in the APC:

HUDSON: The sarge and Dietrich aren't dead, man. Their signs are real low, but they ain't dead.

A brief argument ensues about whether to attempt a rescue, which Ripley ends:

RIPLEY: You can't help them! You can't. Right now they're being cocooned, just like the others.

So while we don't see Dietrich die, she was almost certainly killed by a chestburster after being cocooned and impregnated, along with Apone.

You can actually see Dietrich being taken by an alien in one shot:

Still of Dietrich being taken during the cooling towers fight.

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  • Excellent answer. Also, even if she was alive, she would have been wiped out when the base blew up. Commented Jul 19, 2018 at 15:17
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    During the fight scene, you actually do see Dietrich grabbed from above by an Alien. Of course no depth blow is actually shown.
    – ruffdove
    Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 20:06
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The film didn't show the death of every character. But at the end, on the Sulaco, the only living characters shown are Ripley, Newt, Hicks, and Bishop. It is implied that all other characters were killed during the fights on LV-426 or in the exploding base.

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