Texas officials have confirmed that the mysterious death of Texas A&M student Brianna Aguilera has been ruled a suicide, with evidence of a deleted suicide note on her phone, despite her family’s assertion that the college student’s death was “not accidental.”
Aguilera’s body was found at an Austin apartment mere hours after she attended a Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football tailgate at around 12:50 a.m. on Saturday, according to authorities. Officers initially responded to a 911 call regarding an unconscious individual, but when they arrived on scene they found Aguilera on the ground suffering injuries from an apparent fall from a high floor, police said.
“It is not common for a police department to speak publicly about a death by suicide,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said during a news conference Thursday. “But inaccurate information has circulated and been reported. And that has led to additional harm of innocent people, bullying included, and their families.”
During Thursday’s news conference, police revealed they had uncovered a deleted suicide note from earlier in the week on Aguilera’s phone, along with suicidal texts sent the evening of her death to friends. The investigation also found that Aguilera had previously made comments to friends indicating she may be suicidal, police said.
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Authorities quickly ruled out homicide as the cause of Aguilera’s death, despite pushback and speculation from her family.
“This was not accidental. Someone killed my Brie and gave all the group of friends a lot of time to come up with the same story,” Aguilera’s mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, wrote on Facebook. “My daughter would not jump 17 stories from a building, and to be labeling this as a suicide is insane.”
However, APD insisted that at no point did the investigation uncover any instances of criminal activity.
“Our investigation has revealed that unfortunately, Brianna had made suicidal comments previously to friends back in October of this year,” Austin Police Det. Robert 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 indicating the thought of suicide.”
Earlier in the day on Friday, Aguilera was celebrating at the university’s tailgate when she “became intoxicated to a point where she was asked to leave,” Marshall added.
Later in the evening, Aguilera told her friends she had lost her cellphone and asked to borrow someone’s phone to call her boyfriend. Witnesses reportedly heard the pair arguing, with the call ending at 12:44 a.m. — just two minutes before the 911 call was placed.
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Following her death, authorities subsequently performed a search of her phone, where they found a “deleted digital suicide note dated Tuesday, Nov. 25 of this year, which was written to specific people in her life,” Marshall said.
Marshall added that, “Every friend and witness during this investigation has been nothing but forthcoming and open,” while stressing that the investigation never yielded evidence suggesting a crime occurred.
“Brianna Aguilera had her whole life in front of her,” the family’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, said in a statement. “The circumstances surrounding her death are very suspicious. The Austin Police Department’s handling of this matter has created more questions than they have answers. As far as we are concerned, this is an open investigation and will continue to be open until these parents are satisfied they know what happened to their daughter.”
Aguilera’s family previously asserted that the college student “loved life” and “was excited to graduate and pursue her career in Law,” according to Rodriguez’s Facebook post.
However, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis defended the investigation’s findings at Thursday’s news conference, adding, “Sometimes, the truth doesn’t provide the answers we are hoping for.”
Fox News Digital’s Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
