The household of Texas A&M sophomore Brianna Aguilera is now urging Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Rangers to take over the probe into the 19-year-old’s demise, escalating their battle with Austin police.
The push got here at a Houston press convention Friday, the place attorneys Tony Buzbee and Javier Gamez tore into the Austin Police Division’s dealing with of the case.
Buzbee additionally accused APD of sharing particulars they weren’t licensed to publicly launch.
The division stated earlier this week that they discovered a deleted suicide be aware on the teenager’s cellphone, whereas her household argues the missive was written as an project for a inventive writing class.
Aguilera was discovered useless early Saturday exterior a West Campus high-rise after a fall from a Seventeenth-floor balcony, in line with Austin police. Investigators stated she had used a pal’s cellphone to put a name to her boyfriend minutes earlier, and witnesses heard them argue.
Austin police have beforehand stated she borrowed that cellphone shortly earlier than the autumn, a element her grieving mom has publicly disputed.
Aguilera’s cellphone was present in don’t disturb mode by a creek close to the residence constructing. Her mother stated her daughter all the time shared her location whereas out with pals, and would by no means go darkish.
APD stated this week their assessment pointed to suicide, although the post-mortem remains to be pending. The household says that early conclusion by no means matched the information they’ve uncovered about her ultimate hours.
The demand highlights the household’s rising mistrust of Austin police, who they are saying rushed to label the demise a suicide whereas overlooking primary investigative steps. The attorneys argue the case now wants contemporary eyes from state authorities.
Buzbee and Gamez informed reporters they’re assembling a 30- to 40-page proof packet for the governor, full with witness statements and different knowledge they declare APD by no means reviewed.
Buzbee argued that one detective “decided instantly” about what occurred after which constructed the case round it.
He additionally questioned why the division publicly prompt suicide when, he stated, they didn’t but have authority to make that willpower.
Aguilera’s mom, Stephanie Rodriguez, stated she referred to as the division time and again after her daughter’s demise and felt shut out at each flip.
She stated officers spoke to her arrogantly and even informed her daughter’s pals to not discuss to her, as if she had been “some type of legal.”
Rodriguez stated she final spoke to Aguilera the morning she died and insisted her daughter was not suicidal.
Aguilera grew up as an all-star cheerleader and honor pupil, in line with her household.
Buzbee described her as a sophomore with “huge plans and massive desires” who “had the world at her ft.”
She was finding out political science and legal justice at Texas A&M and “dreamt of attending regulation faculty in New York” to turn into a legal protection lawyer.
Buzbee stated one witness reported listening to “get off of me” and screaming exterior the West Campus constructing, whereas one other recalled working and noise contained in the residence.
He claims APD by no means interviewed both particular person.
The proof packet will embrace these accounts and different knowledge the household says conflict with the division’s early public statements.
Austin police preserve the case stays open and stress that solely the medical expert — whose post-mortem remains to be pending — can rule on Aguilera’s method of demise.
Rodriguez stated she’s going to preserve urgent till one other company evaluations the file.
“I can’t cope with you leaping to conclusions and never performing an precise investigation,” she stated. “Do your job.”
