Family Demands Texas Rangers Investigate TAMU Student’s Death | Image by Brie Aguilera/Facebook; Texas A&M Background | Image by Texas A&M University/Facebook
The family of a Texas A&M student, who police insist committed suicide, is demanding that the Texas Rangers investigate.
Brianna Aguilera, a 19-year-old A&M student, was visiting Austin when she turned up dead on November 29.
Detectives with the Austin Police Department held a press conference on December 4, insisting she committed suicide. However, her family has retained a lawyer – and they are calling the Texas Rangers to take over the investigation.
“There are serious and disturbing questions raised with regard to the Austin Police Department’s handling of the investigation surrounding the death of Brianna Aguilera,” said the family’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, in a press conference. “The Texas Rangers have now been called to intervene.”
Aguilera’s mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, and Buzbee laid out their concerns in a press conference at 1 p.m. December 5. They posed numerous questions and pointed to key witnesses that investigators allegedly failed to question. Buzbee said he asked Austin police to reopen the investigation with a new detective, but doubted officials would.
The day before, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis held a press conference, insisting Aguilera’s death was a suicide, according to KCEN.
“I understand how grief and the need for answers can raise intense emotions and many questions, but sometimes the truth doesn’t provide the answers we are hoping for,” Davis said. “That is this case.”
Then Detective Robert Marshall – assigned to her case – dismissed concerns of foul play.
“At no time did any evidence point to this being anything of a criminal nature,” he said.
After the Austin police conference, Rodriguez dissented.
“Please don’t believe this lazy investigator and Investigation,” she posted in response. “Tony Buzbee will get us the justice we need.”
Aguilera was studying political science and criminal justice at Texas A&M, according to Rodriguez. As Fox 7 reported, she was in Austin with friends for the Texas A&M/University of Texas football game. Just before 1 a.m. November 29, someone found her dead outside the 21 Rio Apartments.
The Official Story
When opening the Austin police conference on December 4, Davis denounced what she called “inaccurate information.”
“It is not common for a police department to speak publicly about a death like this one, but inaccurate information has circulated and been reported, and that has led to additional harm of innocent people, bullying included, and their families,” she said. “There have also been statements suggesting the police have failed to do our jobs. Those statements are not accurate.”
Investigations take time, requiring witness interviews and evidence collection, according to Davis.
“Releasing partial information too early could jeopardize the integrity of that case,” she said. “I want to assure everyone that our team worked around the clock; these guys do not sleep.”
A witness found Aguilera lying on the ground outside the 21 Rio Apartments in Austin at 12:46 a.m. November 29, according to Marshall. Officers responded, finding her with “trauma consistent with having fallen from a higher floor.” She was pronounced dead at 12:56 a.m.
“I, along with crime scene specialists, responded to process the scene and interview witnesses,” Marshall said.
Responders initially did not know Aguilera’s identity, but later identified her. They also did not know from what floor she had fallen.
Investigators accessed the building’s camera systems by 10 a.m. This showed that Aguilera had arrived at the complex just after 11 p.m. on November 28 and went into an apartment on the 17th floor.
A “large group of friends” reportedly left the same apartment at 12:30 a.m. November 29, leaving behind just Aguilera and three friends, according to Marshall.
Marshall said he spoke with three different female witnesses at the scene, plus another witness who had left, who all said Aguilera was at a tailgate party earlier that day and became “intoxicated to the point where she was asked to leave.”
Investigators found Aguilera had attended a tailgate on November 28 at the Austin Rugby Club, on the east side of Austin. She reportedly arrived between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m., and left around 10 p.m.
“Witnesses stated that after Brianna was asked to leave the tailgate, she repeatedly dropped her phone and staggered into a nearby wooded area where her phone and other items were later located,” Marshall said.
Aguilera reportedly told her friends she lost her phone, and they all returned to the apartment. There, she borrowed a friend’s phone to call a boyfriend from out of town.
Witnesses reportedly heard Aguilera arguing on the phone, according to Marshall. Investigators reviewed call logs, showing she had called her boyfriend for one minute, from 12:43 a.m. to 12:44 a.m., two minutes before the 911 caller reported her body.
Rodriguez called the Austin police just before 1 p.m. that day, trying to find Aguilera and providing the location of her missing phone, according to Marshall.
“The phone was located by Austin police officers in a wooded area by 3:30 p.m. that afternoon near Walnut Creek in a field by the Austin Rugby Club,” he said.
Investigators reviewed Aguilera’s phone, finding a deleted digital suicide note from November 25, written to specific people.
“Unfortunately, Brianna had made suicidal comments previously to friends back in October of this year,” Marshall said. “This continued through the evening of her death, with some self harming actions earlier in the evening and a text message to another friend.”
Davis said investigators used “every available resource” to find what happened to Aguilera.
“We too want to understand what happened to Brianna, who is clearly loved by so many,” she said.
‘My Daughter Was Not Suicidal’
Aguilera was not suicidal, according to Rodriguez, who suggested there may have been foul play.
“I considered her my best friend, not just a mother-daughter relationship… I know my daughter better than anyone. We spoke every day,” Rodriguez said in the conference. “She was not suicidal.”
Austin police were reportedly “annoyed” and “arrogant” when they spoke to Rodriguez, but she said she could tolerate this.
“I can deal with you telling my daughter’s friends not to talk to me like I am some sort of criminal,” she said. “But I cannot deal with you doing a news conference and saying false things about my child without a thorough investigation. I cannot deal with you jumping to conclusions and not performing an actual investigation. I cannot deal with your failure to do your job.”
Buzbee said he felt the detective initially concluded Aguilera had committed suicide, then carried out an investigation to prove that.
“The Austin Police Department formed a conclusion within hours of this tragedy, that this was a suicide, without any investigation,” Buzbee said.
The autopsy will not be completed for 60 to 90 days, and the results of the toxicology report have not yet returned, according to Buzbee. He also said that if police perform a rape kit, they do not know where to send it.
“This investigator stood in front of all of you and said he had concluded this was a suicide even though, by law, he doesn’t have the authority,” he said. “Only the medical examiner has that authority.”
When The Dallas Express requested the autopsy report from the Travis County Medical Examiner, a staff member replied that the report was not yet available and that the process would take 90 days or longer.
“The medical examiner report will not be complete until: standard toxicology results are returned, microscopic slides (if needed) are prepared and reviewed, and additional toxicology testing (if needed) is completed,” the staff member wrote. “As soon as all of the underlying documents are assembled, the case file can be finalized.”
Buzbee said he felt investigators were lazy in their approach to this case.
“The detective went on camera in front of millions of people and told everybody that this young lady committed suicide – ironically, the same thing he told Stephanie, the mother, within a few minutes of talking to her without any investigation,” he said. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to be done.”
Buzbee also condemned legacy media outlets for failing to question the official narrative from the Austin police during the press conference.
“You just bought everything that he said, hook, line, and sinker,” he said. “Most of the things that I saw on Instagram and the newspaper were, ‘Cause of death determined, young lady committed suicide.’ That’s irresponsible.”
Open Questions
Buzbee, when Aguilera was at the Austin Rugby Club earlier that day, said she got into a fight with a woman.
“No investigation of that,” Buzbee said. “Turns out that other female was in the apartment with her that night.”
They all went back to the apartment. It was a small space, with a small balcony and windows, so Buzbee said the others inside would have seen her. They were allegedly sleeping at the time, and didn’t call 911 to report her missing until 12:15 p.m. the next day.
“Why are her friends leaving her out on the balcony by herself?” Buzbee asked.
Aguilera had also dropped her phone earlier that day, so she borrowed a friend’s phone to make a one-minute call at 12:43 a.m. – three minutes before the 911 call, according to Buzbee.
He asked Austin police what she did with the phone, and quoted the department’s response.
“‘Miss Aguilera returned the phone to its owner before she was seen going on to the balcony,’” investigators reportedly explained, per Buzbee.
“Whoever’s phone she was using was standing right next to her as she went over the balcony,” he said.
Aguilera also stood 5 feet 2 inches tall, and the railing was 44 inches tall, according to Buzbee, so he said she could not climb the railing herself.
One witness posted a viral TikTok, claiming he was on Rio Grande Avenue below the building just minutes before Aguilera’s death – when he heard fighting, screaming, and a muffled sound. He reportedly spoke to Buzbee and Rodriguez the morning of December 5.
Another young woman and her family were across the hall at the time and reportedly heard running and screaming, and were worried “something bad had happened,” according to Buzbee.
“Why not question all the witnesses?” he asked.
Buzbee also refuted the suggestion she left a suicide note on November 25, calling it “total malarkey.” Rodriguez and her boyfriend reportedly spoke to her that day.
“We see pictures of her having fun, we see pictures of her partying,” he said. “Total baloney, what they’re trying to sell to you.”
Aguilera was a driven, disciplined, and caring person, according to Rodriguez. She was a devoted daughter, sister, and granddaughter, and acted like a “second mom” to her two younger brothers.
“She made everyone around her feel loved and supported,” she said.
Aguilera was academically successful, according to Rodriguez. She enjoyed writing more than TV, and hoped to become a criminal defense lawyer in New York City.
“She was so smart and had such a bright future,” Rodriguez said. “She dreamt of a life where she could make a difference.”
Her mother left Austin police with a final message – “Do your job.”