The family of 19‑year‑old Texas A&M sophomore Brianna Aguil era is now asking Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Rangers to step in and re‑examine the circumstances surrounding her death, adding new pressure on the Austin Police Department.
At a Houston press briefing on Friday, attorney Tony Buzbee and his partner Javier Gamez blasted the police’s handling of the case. They also accused the department of disclosing information it wasn’t cleared to release. When the police said they had found a deleted suicide note on the teen’s phone, Aguil era’s relatives countered that the message was actually an assignment from a class at campus.
Aguil era was discovered at the foot of a 17‑story building on West Campus on Saturday morning after falling from a balcony on the 17th floor. Police say she had borrowed a friend’s phone just before the jump, called her boyfriend moments earlier, and that witnesses heard the two arguing. Her mother disagrees with that account, saying the phone was found in “do‑not‑disturb” mode near a creek and that Brianna would never have gone silent – she always shared her location with friends.
Austin police maintain that the early investigation pointed to suicide, although an autopsy remains pending. The family, however, believes the department rushed to that conclusion and overlooked key investigative steps. They feel the investigators were quick to label an outcome rather than examine all evidence, and now they want state officials to conduct a fresh review.
Buzbee and Gamez have promised to compile a 30‑ to 40‑page packet for Governor Abbott that includes witness statements and other evidence they say the police have not considered. One detective, according to the attorneys, “made a decision immediately” about what happened and then built the case around that decision. Buzbee also questioned why the department publicly suggested suicide when it hadn’t yet confirmed that fact.
Aguil era’s mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, said she called the police repeatedly after her daughter’s death and felt consistently shut out. She described officers as speaking to her with an arrogant tone and even telling her daughter’s friends not to talk to her, treating her as if she were “some sort of criminal.” Rodriguez recalls that the last time she spoke to Brianna was the morning she died and insists the teenager was not suicidal. According to her, Brianna was an all‑star cheerleader and honor student, a sophomore who “had the world at her feet” and “dreamed of attending law school in New York” to become a criminal defense lawyer.
The family claims that witnesses heard a woman cry “get off of me” outside the West Campus building, and that someone else heard loud noises inside Brianna’s apartment, but the police have not interviewed either person. Those accounts will be part of the evidence file they are putting together, which they argue contradicts the police’s earlier statements.
Austin police say the case remains open and that only the medical examiner, whose autopsy is still pending, can determine the manner of death. Rodriguez pledges to keep pressing for a second review, demanding “you do your job.”
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