The family of Texas A&M student Brianna Aguilera is pushing back against the Austin Police Department's conclusion that the 20-year-old died by suicide, with their attorney insisting investigators mishandled the case and overlooked key concerns.
APD formally ruled Aguilera's death a suicide after she was found early Saturday morning outside a downtown Austin apartment building with trauma consistent with a fall from a high floor. Police say she jumped from the 17th floor just hours after attending the Texas A&M vs. Texas football game. But attorney Tony Buzbee, representing Aguilera's family, tells TMZ the ruling is unacceptable.
"The Austin Police screwed things up royally," Buzbee said, adding that the family believes something more disturbing may have happened. He claims there is no credible evidence supporting the suicide determination.
Police, however, say their findings tell a different story.
According to APD, Aguilera lost her phone earlier in the day and borrowed a friend's phone around 12:43 AM to call her boyfriend. The call lasted about a minute. Shortly after, investigators say she jumped from the building. During their search, detectives located Aguilera's phone and discovered what they described as a typed-out suicide note written days before her death.
At a press conference, APD Detective Robert Marshall said Aguilera had expressed suicidal thoughts to friends in October, and that this continued the night she died. Marshall also said Aguilera engaged in self-harming behavior earlier that evening and sent a message to another friend indicating she was thinking about suicide.
Aguilera's mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, has strongly disputed the department's findings from the start. Rodriguez believes the note and APD's narrative do not match the daughter she knew. She says her daughter was excited about her future and insists she showed no signs of being suicidal.
