Shownotes Transcript
I'm no tech genius, but I knew if I wanted my business to crush it, I needed a website now. Thankfully, Bluehost made it easy. I customized, optimized, and monetized everything exactly how I wanted with AI. In minutes, my site was up. I couldn't believe it.
There's this photo at prom their senior year. Knowing how the story ends, it's really hard not to put really intense symbolism on it.
Today is April 16th, 2025. This is Brian Kramer, state attorney for the 8th Judicial Circuit. We are at the Alachua County Jail. State your name, please. I'm shocked by the complexity of it. The amount of lies and false evidence is beyond what we would ever see. Is he asking, "I want you to commit a very serious felony out of the goodness of your heart"?
Once a student is officially reported missing, all hell breaks loose. A forensic search. There was dogs, helicopters, horses, 4x4s. One of the largest in Florida history. How did he get damaged? How? How is that possible? Who did this mystery witness turn out to be? I told him, like, there's nothing else I can do. I have to come forward.
After I got the phone calls, it was clear. I just decided on my own, why not tell what happened next to me? I thought, okay, this is probably the connection I'm looking for. They know about you. They know everything. I've never seen anything like this before. He was going to not only murder, but he was going to get away with it. Are you ready for some Gator football? If you live in Florida, the University of Florida is the big dream school.
The academics are great, the partying is great, the atmosphere is intense. There is a ton of University of Florida pride. Gator Nation is everywhere. Gator Nation is something special. It's a sea of orange and blue. The place comes absolutely alive on Saturdays for football game days.
18-year-old freshman Christian Aguilar was new to the Swamp, but had already secured his tickets for the upcoming season. I think Chris was excited for a few things like football season. That might have been a part of why he chose Florida, but I do think academically is kind of what drove him the most.
For Christian Aguilar, this was such a big moment in his life. He had just started college and he was living on his own for the first time. Five hours from Miami, that made you a little bit afraid that he was going to be a little farther away. I was very proud, but at the same time, I was afraid because he was living far away from us.
We told them, "Every day you communicate with us. Every day." Did he communicate with you guys every single day? Yes, every single day. Latin families are very tight, especially in Miami. People don't necessarily move until they're married. So I can imagine Christian being nervous, but also feeling kind of relieved that a few of his friends were also going. Some familiar faces, you know, to see when you move, I think is comforting.
That comfort came in the form of a close high school friend, Erica Freeman, who was enrolled at a local community college. Shortly after Christian moved to Gainesville, he started hanging out with Erica again. She was a little buffer against all the homesickness he was starting to feel. And before long, that relationship blossomed into a romantic one. The way he looked at me, I don't know how to explain it. Someone just gives you that much just with their eyes. I don't need anyone else. I need you. And that's how he would describe it. And that's how I felt.
Christian is doing so well in school. He has a girlfriend. Everything seems like it's perfect. We were living in a bubble of happiness. Suddenly, you know, our life just changed forever. Everything was gone.
Really strange that he wasn't answering. It just wasn't like him. She called him and texted him over and over, and he never responded. I started asking all my friends, now have you seen Christian on campus? And all of them were like, no, no, no, I haven't seen him, I haven't seen him. And I'm getting, you know, more anxious.
Erica is getting increasingly desperate. She comes here, Christian's dorm. It's called the Springs. She knocks right on his window, hoping to find him at home.
His roommate comes out and I'm explaining to him, you know, like, Christian's not answering me. I'm really concerned. Like, I don't care what time he gets in. Just please can you ask him to call me? The previous day, Christian spent most of the day on campus with his best friend from high school, Pedro Bravo. Christian didn't touch base with Erica that night and she got worried. She started calling Pedro and at one point Pedro picked up.
First thing I asked him was like, where's Christian? And he's just like, you know, listen, you know, it's late. I'm sure he made it home. He just didn't call you. 4 a.m., you got a phone call from Erica. Tell me about that phone call and what happened next. She calls me worried about Christian, about where he's at. And I know I had just gotten in a fight with him. He hasn't showed up to his apartment. Now we have to report him missing. And now I really start to panic because I'm like, where was he all
So, I told her we should go to the University of Florida and at least try to report him there. Inside the station, Pedro's request for help is relayed to a dispatcher. You guys are concerned for his safety or something? Or are you just... Well, I don't know where he is right now. He's not answering his phone. What time of day was this? This was around 6 or 7. Okay, is the officer right down there? Is the officer right there?
I received a phone call in my work and was Erika almost screaming? What was she saying to you? She asked me, "When was the last time that you talked to Christian?" Because I'm trying to call him since yesterday, he's not answering. Carlos, what was it like getting that call from your wife telling you that his girlfriend can't find Christian? I immediately hung up with her, called Christian. No answer? No answer.
Christian Aguilar's parents were calling our communication center. Normally respond to his girlfriend right away. And if he's so concerned about it, we are concerned right now. This is not his normal behavior.
Kids get reported missing on college campuses all the time. Sometimes it's just as simple as going to the classroom where he's supposed to be, seeing that he's in there and saying, "Hey, can you please call home?" We have an officer that's coming there to do a well-being check on a student. We had checked his residence hall on campus. He wasn't there. We had checked his classes. He never showed up to them. I did advise the instructor that if he shows up to have him called, stay.
There's something really going on here. Christian's brother Alex is sitting in his AP English class when he gets the news that something is wrong. It was about 10, 11 o'clock in the morning and the PA system goes off. My father's there to pick me up.
When I finally got to my father who was waiting in the waiting area of the high school, he was in tears. Had you ever seen your father in that state before? No, I've never seen my father anywhere close to that. He didn't have the words to tell me anything. We just knew something had happened to Chris. We vaguely know that he's just missing. From there we picked up my mother at her work
and it was a straight shot from Doral Street to Gainesville. You spoke to Pedro on the way up to Gainesville. What did he tell you? They got into an argument, and Christian opened the door and got out of the car, and he left dead in there. So that made me feel, you know, peace. Say probably Christian got lost.
The minute Christian's parents heard that he was missing, they got in the car and they drove straight to Gainesville. Initially, they thought maybe their son who was new to the area was just lost. Did you start searching immediately? Immediately. Where did you go first? We started walking around the trails. Screaming Christian there. Christian, we are here. Where are you? Raise your hand.
Please answer. Your mom was here. We know Gainesville. Gainesville is full of swamps. It was a swamp. And we went inside, and it was an alligator nearby. And we were not scared at all. We just wanted to find Christine.
It's been three days since Christian Aguilar was last seen. After nine days, University of Florida freshman Christian Aguilar of Miami has not been found. I can't imagine a worse feeling as a parent than sending my child to college and having them disappear. Tonight authorities in Gainesville are searching for a missing University of Florida student who could be in danger. University of Florida student Christian Aguilar is still missing.
It's been three days since Christian Aguilar was last seen. After nine days, University of Florida freshman Christian Aguilar of Miami has not been found. I've covered Florida for ABC for years, spent my entire career here. This story always stuck with me. The sheer scale of the search, the throngs of people that descended on Gainesville was like nothing I'd seen before or since. In the first week after Christian Aguilar disappeared,
It was intense coverage on our part. It led our newscast every day for weeks. And it wasn't necessarily because of the mystery. It was more that we felt this great empathy towards the family and the friends and just the lives of these people who were touched by this, that something could go so wrong with a life that had so much promise. What was Christian like as a kid? He likes to read a lot.
study, play music, drawing. - He was very shy like me, but at the same time he was a very funny guy. - He used to make the family laugh? - A lot. He was pretty funny. - Christian was a very charismatic person. He loved to make people laugh, he loved to make people smile. - Carlos and Claudia Aguilar made their way to the United States from Cali, Colombia, and they made a life for themselves in Miami. Christian was born in 1993. A few years later, his younger brother Alexander was born.
As an older brother, would Christian protect you more? Would he pick on you a little bit? Combination of both? Yeah, Chris would definitely pick on me. But since you're brothers, you're allowed to kind of get away with it. The Aguilars wanted the best for their son, so they enrolled them in the Doral Academy. And Christian was part of a very close-knit group of friends. Christian, Pedro, and Erica. And these three did everything together.
Pedro had a similar childhood to Christian. His parents, also having emigrated to the U.S. from Latin America, they speak limited English. If you could describe Pedro for people who have never met him before. He was very smart. He learned how to play chess. Tell me about your friendship with Christian Aguilar.
What drew you guys to each other? I met Christian through classes that we had together. He liked to draw, I liked to draw, and just something that began to flow naturally. We began to talk and share ideas and thoughts. He was a really, really sweet guy, really charismatic. And he always made you feel like when he would laugh, you'd want to laugh with him.
Pedro was somebody that Chris thought was just hilarious and Pedro is a very funny person. In high school he was quick with the jokes, very kind. I put on this persona on the outside of telling jokes and smiling because on the inside I didn't know where I was going in life. I didn't know who I was and I always felt sad but I didn't want to show other people that I'm depressed or I'm feeling down because I don't want people to
leave me in my life. What was Erika's relationship to Christian in high school? They were just good friends. They participated in a lot of events together. Both Pedro and Christian saw in Erika a smart, sweet, shy, kind, and beautiful woman who had goals for herself and was a really good friend to everyone around her. We hung out a lot and Christian had the car so, you know, we would just hop in his car.
After graduation, all the friends went their separate ways and Christian had been accepted to the University of Florida.
He would have been one of the first cousins in our family to graduate from a university and he wanted to challenge himself. Did you ever get a sense early on with Christian that he was destined to do something great with his life? He told us that he wanted to become a biomedical engineer because he wanted to help people to rehabilitate and to accommodate them to have a better life.
After graduation, what was Pedro planning on doing? He was planning on going to the FIU. He was very, very smart. He had a good future. You got scholarship to FIU, but you decided to leave that behind, leave Miami and go to Gainesville. Why? Everywhere I turned to Miami just reminded me of my friends, reminded me of all the times we spent together. And it was a last minute decision to try and go up there, to try and see if I could
you know, reconnect a part of that feeling. In just a few short weeks after Pedro had moved up to Gainesville to be closer with his friends, Christian had disappeared. Pedro says he talks to police in the hopes he can help them find his missing friend. Let's see if we can locate Christian and figure out where he may have been. Please.
Pedro told police the day before he had been hanging out with his best friend. When I first met with Pedro, I asked him to take me through his last meeting with Christian. We went, he took his flu shots at campus.
The day before he got in contact with Claudia. It was a text message. He got a vaccine for the flu. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing. And then I'm like, "Oh, do you want to go get something to eat?" And he's like, "Oh, okay, sure." So we went to, we got in my car and we went to Zaxby's Chicken. And then he's like, "Oh, yeah, can we pull into the Best Buy?" And I was like, "Sure," because he wanted to get the new Kanye West CD. So we looked around and we found the new Kanye West CD and he got it.
And then we left. Pedro went on to tell me that as they were driving, he and Christian got into an argument. Pedro got upset with Christian, and Christian demanded to be let out of the vehicle. So I stopped the car, and I let him get off, and I drove away because I didn't want to deal with that anymore. But as I was driving away, I really regret it now because I wish I could have gone back. And then that's the last I heard of him.
My whole intent on interviewing Pedro was give me some indication that, you know, some lead that we can follow up on. What do you know about what Christian was thinking, what his plans were? Do you think Chris would have been upset enough yesterday to hurt himself about you guys having an argument? I really hope not. I don't think so. Police also interview Christian's girlfriend, Erica. Hey, Joe.
Let's close this case. Somebody walks by. I was telling them, no, no, no. We're doing just fine. We're doing great, actually. And he's not one to not even answer me. So it's been very strange. I don't know where he is. Scrambling for any clues, police learn from Pedro about an impulsive decision he says he and Christian made. They picked up a hitchhiker along this road. While they're in the course of driving around, Pedro tells me they pick up this hitchhiker.
It's two of us against one person. If anything happens, if anything, he'd be in the backseat. So we'd overpower him if anything bad happens. One couldn't help but wonder who was this mystery hitchhiker and what, if anything, did he have to do with the disappearance of Christian Aguilar? Once a student is officially reported missing, all hell breaks loose. If a student goes missing, the University of Florida has an alert system. They send out text messages, emails. They even put posts on social media.
We had multiple detectives respond, start checking information on telephones, on apartments, just where, if anybody's seen. Aguilar was last seen by a Miami native, Pedro Bravo, at a Best Buy in Gainesville. Let's go back to that day with Christian. What did you guys do? We met up together at the hub. We got something to eat. We got a Kanye West CD. We picked up a hitchhiker.
Pedro describes to police that they were hanging out, listening to music, and that they picked up a hitchhiker, something that Pedro says they've never done before. Yeah, I just thought, man, we're like, why not? Because it'd be an interesting experience to pick up someone like that on the road. He's never done that before. But this guy seemed, according to Pedro, seemed harmless. This guy just looked very tall and very, like, sort of a gentle giant sort of thing.
Do you remember anything about-- you said he had a hat? Yeah, cowboy hat. Pedro tells me they drove around, listened to this hitchhiker's story.
about what brought him to Gainesville for approximately 10 minutes. He's like, "Just drop me off right over there." And I pulled into like this storage place, what looks like a storage place, I remember seeing storage somewhere, and I'm like, I pull in there, he gets off, and I do a U and leave there. He sat in the back seat of Pedro's car, and according to Pedro, it was playing with a roll of duct tape. And I checked my car to see if there was, like if there was anything missing, because I had a bunch of my art supplies in the back. My duct tape is missing.
Police collect security video and they're able to piece together much of Pedro and Christian's day. Although it doesn't capture that hitchhiker Pedro claims they picked up, the footage largely matches Pedro's account. The police got security camera footage from all over the place. They were caught on security cameras in various stores around town just having a day together. Best Buy and some other places hanging out. Nothing odd about that footage. The next time security camera footage caught the two of them,
It was in Pedro Bravo's car inside a nearby Walmart parking lot. Security video at Walmart picked him up in a vehicle and departing the parking lot. And that was the last time that anybody saw Christian Aguilar. Christian disappeared outside the boundaries of the university, so the case was handed over to the Gainesville Police Department. I got a telephone call from our lieutenant.
and he said that the University of Florida Police Department had a missing student and asked if I would respond to University of Florida Police Department. University Police Department contacted us about a Christian missing. Yes. And we're going to be taking over the investigation. Pedro seemed to be a young man who was a little bit meek and mild. How long have you known
Christian. For four years, all of high school. He's been one of my really good friends. I brought him with me into our class. What high school told you? Durrell Academy Charter High School. After interviewing Pedro for 15, 20, 30 minutes, he explains the relationship between Erica Freeman, Christian Aguilar, and himself. What's your relationship with her? I dated her for two years.
and from then I just became friends. - What was that relationship like with Erica? How did it start? How did it end? - It was team love when I think about it. When you're young, you think you know what love is, you think you know what you want, but as you get older, you look back and you realize you were just excited that you had someone that wanted you in that type of way. We spent a lot of time together.
And what were your interactions with her like after your breakup? We stayed in touch for a very short while, but after that all my friends moved from Miami to all parts of Florida. Most people were following their dream and it just became the breakup of the relation became a symbol that everything was changing. Has Christian been seeing her? Christian's been dating her for, from what I know, for three weeks, a month I guess.
How do you know that? He's the one that told me. And how'd you handle that? At the beginning it was kind of rough. But then after that I'm like, I'm like, I'm the way I was glad it was Chris and not someone I didn't know because I like I knew Chris and I knew what type of person he is and I knew if anything happened he could take care of her sort of thing.
Pedro says he's happy for Erika and Christian. It's very like, soul proper like. But it turns out they've been keeping the relationship a secret. Erika shows me some text messages between her and Christian. All this chaos came forward and we didn't know how to handle it.
The world has never seen war like this before. I can use your face to call for genocide. New weapons. I think the new age of conflict is definitely going to be...
across ones and zeros, and it's not necessarily going to just impact warriors on the battleground. New conflicts. Nowadays, we receive nearly 3,000 patients on a daily basis. And new challenges.
A freeze on foreign aid continues to cause confusion and spread fear among humanitarian workers. Go to the front lines, behind closed doors, and explore the conflicts tearing the world apart and the projects keeping us together. Because you never know when war may reach your own borders. Only on Intercross, a podcast from the International Committee of the Red Cross. The
The world has never seen war like this before. I can use your face to call for genocide. New weapons. I think the new age of conflict is definitely going to be across ones and zeros, and it's not necessarily going to just impact warriors on the battleground. New conflicts. Nowadays, we receive nearly 3,000 patients on a daily basis. And new challenges.
A freeze on foreign aid continues to cause confusion and spread fear among humanitarian workers. Go to the front lines, behind closed doors, and explore the conflicts tearing the world apart and the projects keeping us together. Because you never know when war may reach your own borders. Only on Intercross, a podcast from the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The University of Florida is on high alert as 18-year-old Christian Aguilar is still missing. His friend Pedro is talking to police about what happened the day Christian disappeared and during that conversation it has come to light that Pedro and Erica Freeman dated in high school. Erica was now dating Christian. And your friends dating your ex-girlfriend? I don't know but I'm okay with that because I like
I know he's a good guy. You're okay with that? I didn't buy that at all. Just in the way that Pedro talked about it, you could tell that he was not real happy about it, but he was telling me he was happy. Okay. So, I understand that you and Pedro were dating all through high school.
Basically, yeah. It was going to be three years in October. So about three years, yeah. We would go out, we'd go on dates, we texted all the time. He was a little funny. He was very sarcastic. He was kind of a class clown a little bit. He was able to make me laugh so easily.
Christian, Erika and Pedro were part of a larger group at high school. In fact, they all went to prom together, but before graduation, Erika breaks up with Pedro. I started seeing problems in December of last year. It was simple things, but they kept adding up and I kept making up excuses for him and I just, I didn't like the fact that I had to keep making up excuses that, oh no, it's not his fault. Erika Freeman ended up breaking up with Pedro Bravo right before they graduated.
He was very emotional about it. He cried a lot. He was very, I mean, it was not what I was expecting at all when I broke up with him.
So now police want to know a lot more about Erika and Pedro's relationship in high school, so they brought in former classmates and friends to fill them in. Pedro couldn't accept their breakup. He couldn't accept that things were over.
And that culminated in him driving up to Gainesville and going to school there so he could be closer to her. He decided to move here two days before classes started because he was visiting and he was like, "Hey, Erica lives here. I might as well stay to see if she'll take me back." After moving to Gainesville, Erica Freeman runs into Christian and they develop a relationship.
But they were keeping it secret because they didn't want to hurt Pedro. Were you telling other people about this or were you hiding that fact? No, we were keeping it quiet. We were just trying to keep it between us. I mean, we didn't have a problem saying it. We would walk around campus holding hands and stuff. We didn't have a problem with it. We knew people in Miami would not...
be comfortable with the idea of us dating because again I had just broken up with Pedro. But Erika and Christian's relationship wouldn't stay quiet for long. Pedro found out about Erika and Christian through mutual friends. Christian was one of your best friends. You two knew each other very well. Were you mad that he was dating your ex-girlfriend and didn't tell you? At first I was, but at the same time I grew up with him and he's my best friend and we've shared countless moments together.
It sucked that he didn't tell me, but I understood his reasons why. And I was just mad that he couldn't have told me sooner. It's very like, soap opera-like. We don't, we don't, like me and Christian were very uncomfortable with all of it. We didn't want him to come to Gainesville. We were very happy, just the two of us. Everything was doing fine, and then all this chaos came forward, and it was just, it was surprising, and we didn't, we didn't know how to handle it. Once the rumors got out that Christian and Erica were seeing each other,
He would say that it would like that he was sad about it. This is the 34th Street wall. It's a local landmark here in Gainesville lined with graffiti. This is where Pedro and Erica met up where he confronted her about dating Christian.
He showed me a picture of me standing next to Christian and I was just like, "Listen, we're friends, you know, we're hanging out, we know we're not dating, we're just hanging out." But you lied to him. I did lie to him, yes. Why did you lie? I just felt like it wasn't the appropriate time to tell him that. You know, I don't want to push this kid at all. I don't want him to think anything, you know, that might throw him over the edge. He told me that he wanted to talk to Chris to like kind of clear the air. His motivation was to
get with Christian to talk to him about the relationship he started with Erica Freeman. So he had mutual friends call Christian to arrange this get together. Once Christian was with Pedro, I had not heard from him. The last thing he told me was have a great day in class and I'm going to go talk to Pedro and act like we're not dating. It's really traumatizing.
Yes, certainly. I understand that. Hoping to establish a timeline of his whereabouts after dropping off Christian, police speak with one of Pedro's roommates. He came in around 9. I was able to see the very last of his shoulder to his head leaving. He didn't look dirty. He didn't look sweaty. Was he carrying anything? I didn't.
I didn't notice him. I didn't notice anything in his hand. He stayed for-- he couldn't have been at home longer than five minutes before he left again. The location where Pedro Bravo was living had its own surveillance cameras at the very front. So we were able to see him come and go, which direction he turned. And when he left was the last time I've seen Pedro.
With little evidence to go on, police ask Pedro for permission to search his car. There were some suspicious items that were located in there. And what they find feeds the investigation.
The police was telling us that they're going to come over here for one or two days. But after that, we don't know if we're going to continue with the search. I told them, you can do whatever you want, but until I find my son, I'm not leaving. I think that created a very powerful statement for the community, and people felt compelled to help us out.
On the search, Christian's family was on the front lines. I remember seeing their interviews pleading for help. I'm looking for people's heart. They can come and help me. I'm looking for somebody that can walk with me.
That's the only thing that I ask. - You were never going to leave Gainesville without Christian? - No, I told my wife we're not leaving. We don't care if we lose the house, we don't care if we lose everything, you know, Christian is missing, we're gonna find Christian.
When Christian Aguilar's parents came up from South Florida, they became the face of the search. They became an embodiment of what we were all hoping for. And that was a successful recovery of Christian Aguilar. Christian, Alex, don't move.
to see their faces almost every day, actively out there asking for help, searching themselves, calling Christian's name, just touched our community's heart. University of Florida freshman Christian Aguilar of Miami has not been found dead or alive. The problem is we didn't know where to search. There was really no boundary of where our search was because we didn't know what we didn't know.
So we sat and looked at everything. Matt Geckel was our digital forensics expert detective at the Gainesville Police Department at the time. Pedro did consent to a search of his phone initially. It just seemed that he was very worried about Christian, where he might be, what might have happened. The initial review of the data was to reconcile the phone data with Pedro's statements to then hopefully be able to find where Christian may have been.
Matt Geckel was able to determine that the two of them were together for a long period of time, directions they went. As we continue our coverage of the missing 18-year-old University of Florida student, it's been days since Christian Aguilar was last seen.
The search for Christian was one of the biggest searches in Florida for any missing person. Hundreds of volunteers this weekend combing through the woods of Gainesville. Still no sign of the missing team. The area in and around Gainesville, it's unforgiving and incredibly hard to traverse with swamps and this thick underbrush.
Teaming with wildlife. There was dogs, helicopters, horses, 4x4s. There were law enforcement from all over the state helping to assist in the search. How involved was Erica in the search? And how was she holding up during this time? Erica was extremely involved. I do feel like we felt like we had to stick by each other. She is such a sweet person, so sincere. And she was with us from the very beginning.
We had been searching and searching and searching, you know, screaming out his name every forest we got to, every road we got to, every river we passed. I think the most difficult part for me was seeing every day the faces of my family completely in pain, crying with no hope. And I couldn't do anything about it. It was like suddenly he no longer existed.
He had disappeared and no one had seen anything of him. I asked Pedro at the time, "Would you mind if we went through your vehicle to see if Christian maybe left anything that might give us an indication of where he might be?" I'm left in a room at times for hours waiting for them to come back to ask me something else. I couldn't leave. So I wanted to give them whatever I needed to. So when police asked permission to search the vehicle,
What'd you say? I said yes. I gave them my car keys. Pedro's blue Chevy Blazer is a mess. It's got trash everywhere. Wrappers, bottles, paint cans. And in the back, there are a bunch of crumpled up receipts. One receipt is for a late night Big Mac. I ended up finding a McDonald's receipt that was dated when he had told Sergeant Wilder he was in bed, passed out because he had taken sleeping pills.
The night that Christian disappeared, where did Pedro Bravo tell investigators that he'd been? Pedro Bravo told the investigators that he was asleep in his apartment until the early morning hours of the next day when he was awoken by Erica calling, looking to him to tell her where Christian was. That kind of blows his alibi of being at home at that period out of the water. Why didn't you tell me that the first time?
I forgot. Honestly, I'm sorry, but I forgot. I might have been drowsy from the pills and I don't remember. So Pedro changed his version because of the receipt. And every time that we would ask him questions and go through, it seemed the version would change a little bit. They came back and they asked me about this McDonald's receipt and the timestamp on it. And the previous day, I'd just gotten in a fight with Christian. I haven't eaten. I've barely slept.
I feel completely destroyed in a sense that my whole life feels like it's falling apart. My parents said they're coming over to check on me and I just want to give them enough to go find Chris. They keep repeating the same things over and over again. It feels like I'm just answering things just to satisfy them. They find that receipt, it has the timestamp on it, and it shows that your story is not adding up all of a sudden, that it's changing. Why not be more forward with them from the beginning?
I'm not used to talking to law enforcement. And as time goes on, I'm worn down by the interrogation about the same questions over and over, and I tell them everything that happened. Pedro says he finally comes clean to detectives about what happened that day Christian disappeared. There's one thing that's bugging me that I have to tell you that if I don't tell you it's going to be good. You're right, I can't keep everything from you. And what started out as a missing persons case later becomes more complex than anyone could have imagined.
I've never seen anything like this before. Here's the preparation. Here's the planning. Here's the execution. Here's the cover-up.
He had been searching things like how many sleeping pills will it take to kill someone. At some point viewed a meme of someone asking Siri, "Where can I hide my roommate?" Asking Siri. Siri. The search for Christian Aguilar continues today. Christian Aguilar is still missing. Christian! Police say time may be running out. The University of Florida student has been missing since Thursday.
Tonight, the tale of two tapes. We know that he's not coming back. What he told police. I know when somebody's coming back when they ain't coming back. And what he told me in this exclusive interview. Do you understand how that looks? Everyone is looking for Christian. You were the last person with him. Remember, Chris has to disappear. Chris has to go missing. This is the plan.
The recordings never heard until now. What the did I get myself into? How twisted the plot really got. So he invented a fictitious attorney. It sounds like the mind of a sociopath. He wanted to orchestrate more murders of more students in Gainesville, make it seem like there was a serial killer. Have you ever come across a scheme like this one? That was an aha moment. Yeah. It's a story of love.
friendship, betrayal, and a secret recording you'll only hear on 2020. Tonight, authorities in Gainesville are searching for a missing University of Florida student who could be in danger. When Christian Aguilar was reported missing, it was like he no longer existed. This was one of the largest searches that I have ever seen in my career as a police officer. The problem is we didn't know where to search.
Pedro Bravo and Erica Freeman dated in high school. Erica was now dating Christian. When police realized the last person to see Christian was Pedro, they pulled him into an interrogation room and asked him what happened. The more I ask him questions, the more the story evolves and changes.
Throughout the day, as Pedro Bravo was being questioned in an interrogation room, his story wasn't adding up to police. Then a McDonald's receipt is found inside Pedro's vehicle that raises more questions about what exactly Pedro was doing late the night before. One of the other things that we located was some security footage from Scrubs car wash of Pedro at 1:00 in the morning power washing the underside of his Blazer.
I like a clean car like anybody, but I'm not sure that 1 o'clock in the morning is going to be the time that I'm going to get out and spend 10 minutes watching the underside of my Blazer. At some point, I had to confront him and say, look, this doesn't make any sense whatsoever. What really happened? There's one thing that's bugging me that I have to tell you that if I don't tell you, it's going to be... I don't know. It's one thing I have to tell you because it's, you're right, I can't keep everything from you, and I have to tell you one thing.
He said he didn't ask me to let him out. I told him to get out because he said something nasty to me. At one point, I made the comment about his-- the girl that he has a crush on, and he got angry at that. But then he came back with, maybe you should just-- like, maybe you should just kill yourself. And that's when I turned around and punched him straight in the face. And that's what I told-- like, he went-- like, he got out, but I told him to get out of the car.
You did not tell police that you punched Christian in the face initially. I just wanted Chris found. I didn't want to say that I got in a fight. If they could have found Chris and not have gone into too much detail about that, that's what I wanted to accomplish. Then it changed to, well, I got out and we had a fight and I beat him up and then I left him there. I stopped the car, I got out, and then I started a small fight with him and then I left.
That evolved to, well, I beat him there, but he was still alive. Was he breathing? Yeah, but barely. Pedro, what really happened to Christian? And then I finally confronted him. I was like, Christian's not coming back, is he? If that's all that happened, he would have gone somewhere and called the police to get his phone and to get his stuff. We know that he's not coming back, OK? I know he's not coming back. I've been doing this for too long.
I've been doing this for 30 years. I know when somebody's coming back, when they ain't coming back, he ain't coming back. You know he's not coming back. He just kind of moved his head. He didn't say anything. He didn't say no. He didn't say yes. Detective Roberts, he is almost pleading with him. What does he say?
He's telling him that he doesn't want his family to find a pile of bones. He wants Pedro Bravo to tell him where Christian Aguilar's body is. Why don't we do this, okay? Let me help this. Why don't me and you and somebody take a ride? Let's go see if he's still there. Okay. You're going to be honest? Yes. Show me exactly where he left. Yes, exactly where he was.
We drove the route with Pedro for him to show us where did you pick up the hitchhiker, where did you drop off the hitchhiker, where did you leave Christian. After hours of searching for Christian, we still didn't find anything. Police are desperately searching for Christian and there are just no signs of him. But they do find something in Pedro's apartment. During the search of your apartment, police uncovered your journal.
And there are a lot of vivid entries in it about Erica. Your relationship and your desire to get back together with her. Phaedra, were you obsessed with Erica? That journal covered two months after the breakup with Erica. And I started writing about how I was feeling to try and get it out of my system. I wanted to try and feel better somehow. Your friends dating your ex-girlfriend? I don't know, but I'm okay with that. Because I, like, I know he's a good guy.
He's telling me he's happy for Erica. He's happy for Christian. And this journal is completely the opposite. He was totally obsessed with her. At this point in the investigation, we're doing everything we can to try and find Christian. As part of that, I requested his cell site records. Unfortunately, his records stopped on the day that he disappeared.
One of the things that Detective Geckel was able to find is that Pedro's phone was put into airplane mode for quite a bit of time on the day that Christian went missing. That told us a lot of things. The other big piece of information that we discovered on the device was the app usage log. It's a log that an iOS device keeps that shows the amount of time that particular applications were used.
he was able to determine that the flashlight mode was used for 40 some odd minutes in the middle of the night.
Police said that running a forensic search of Pedro's computer hard drive yielded some chilling results. What did they find? The search of Pedro Bravo's hard drive revealed that he had been searching things like, where can I bury a body? What are the effects of sleeping pills? How many sleeping pills will it take to kill someone? He at some point viewed a meme of someone asking Siri, where can I hide my roommate?
Evidence is indicating that something bad has happened to Christian. He hasn't called, he hasn't been seen. How concerning was it when he learned that he'd purchased a shovel? When you hear "Lululemon," you probably think of Align yoga pants. Weightlessly soft, like you're wearing next to nothing. That's why you see them in class.
at the grocery store, and in the park. But did you know about skirts with built-in liner shorts so you can still jump for the frisbee? And tanks and body suits? With Align's iconic stretch, you won't want to take it off. And with endless style options, you don't have to. Shop in-store or online at lululemon.com.
Your payments are showing. But with Apple Cash, your payments are private by design. There are no public feeds, awkward reactions, or unnecessary payment drama. Apple Cash lets you send cash and messages right in the conversations you're already having. Or, with Tap to Cash, pay someone next to you without looking up a username or scanning a QR code. Just hold your iPhone near someone else's to send. Switch to Apple Cash and start sending privately. Apple Cash services are provided by Green Dot Bank member FDIC.
Now a South Florida family is searching for their loved one and police say time may be running out. The University of Florida student has been missing since Thursday. As the search continues for Christian, authorities are conducting a search of their own through Pedro's apartment. What is it that they find? When the authorities enter Pedro's bedroom, they go in and they look in his closet. And in his closet there is a travel suitcase.
Inside that suitcase is another suitcase, like a Russian nesting doll. And inside of that suitcase is a backpack. That backpack belongs to Christian Aguilar, and in that backpack is Christian Aguilar's identification. It's everything he would need if he were going to continue to live in this life.
The backpack wasn't the only thing that you guys found inside Pedro's apartment, right? Correct. We actually did three search forms at his apartment. We ended up finding a receipt from Lowe's. The accompanying security footage there of Pedro purchasing a shovel, some insecticide, and a bottle of Gatorade. How concerning was it when he learned that he'd purchased a shovel? Well, it was very concerning because I knew that he would probably only use that to hide evidence or a body.
One of the first charges that was brought against Pedro was the failure to render aid under his own admission. He got into a physical altercation with Christian, injured him, and left him on the side of the road. The evidence is indicating that something bad has happened to Christian. He hasn't called. He hasn't been seen. He's not where Pedro said he left him.
Erica wants to know what happened to Christian, so she goes to the jail and she questions Pedro. She begs him to tell her what happened to Christian. I need your help because we have nothing. Do you understand? Nothing. How? How is that possible? How did you just vanish? Erica, I don't know what happened after I left him.
Friends and former classmates, teachers all came out to Miami's North Trail Park. They were all praying and hoping that young man will be found safe soon. So far, absolutely no sign of him. About eight days into the search, we had enough evidence, we had enough reason to believe that this was making a turn from a missing persons investigation into a murder investigation.
The evidence continues to mount in the murder case of missing UF student, Christian Aguilar of Miami. His friend, Pedro Bravo, wearing the suicide protection vest while making his first court appearance Saturday on the charge now of first degree premeditated murder in the case. Pedro pleads not guilty to the charges. I think when Pedro was arrested, there is some level of disbelief like, no, this can't be Pedro because this is one of Chris's close friends.
In a very short amount of time, you go from reporting one of your best friends missing to being arrested and then charged with his murder. I don't think anyone's ever prepared for a situation like that. I mean, I'm used to school. I was the art kid and cracking jokes. Now I'm in a place where there's hardened criminals, people that have done serious things. And to add to all that, they're also calling me my best friend's killer.
As Christian's parents, how did you manage to cope with the stress, the uncertainty during the search? Only God can answer you that question. You see your family members crying and you cannot do nothing about it. Over a period of time, they came to realize that they may not get him back alive, but they were going to get him home. It's now been three weeks since Christian Aguilar disappeared.
A couple of hunters, just by sheer coincidence, happened to be out in this part of Levy County. And they came across what they initially thought was a dead deer. And on closer inspection, they found out it was not. It was human remains. It's hard to do a death notification for anybody. It's hard to tell them that their loved one's not coming home. So that conversation with Randy Roberts, where he tells you that they found a body. He just told me, I asked him, "Randy, in your experience,
you know, the body that you guys found in there matches the clothing, everything that Christian was wearing. And he says, "100%." So, you know, at that moment, we all start crying. Claudia, you wanted to go see the body after it was recovered? Why? Because I didn't believe that he was-- he was-- he passed. He was murdered. Even that Randy said that he found the Christian body, I didn't believe that. For me, it's been 30 years I've been doing it.
And that was the only time that I ever probably broke down with the family. That was the hardest one I ever did. You just spent more than three weeks searching for your son. You must have been exhausted physically and mentally. What was it like when you had to bury him? My brain was not there. My heart was not there. My physical presence, yes. But, you know, I don't remember everything clearly.
What touched me about the funeral was just seeing how many people loved him. Everyone was crying. Did your focus shift to now getting justice for Christian? Somebody has done a wrong doing and you know it, and it's really bad. That person needs to be brought to justice. We asked for justice. We didn't ask for revenge, which is different. Justice. What was it like when you finally saw Pedro walk into the courtroom? There's no words for it.
You're betrayed. I have to have this monster staring at me while I'm on the stand.
The investigation into Christian Aguilar's disappearance and murder only lasted a few weeks, but it would be almost two years before Pedro Bravo would finally go on trial here, charged with killing his best friend. With the case making national headlines, all eyes were on this courthouse in Gainesville. Jury selection is now underway in the trial of Santa Fe student Pedro Bravo. Bravo is charged with premeditated murder.
The trial itself was just such a huge deal in Gainesville. And every single day, Christian's parents were there, his brother was there. They sat right up in the front. For us, this was our way of representing Chris in all this, because he didn't have a voice anymore, so we had to be there for him. What was it like when you finally saw Pedro walk into the courtroom? There's no words for it. You're betrayed. I mean, this is somebody that's been to your house. This is somebody whose house you've been to.
It doesn't process as real. What do you remember about it? I remember cameras. I remember two weeks of watching my parents distraught, my mother in tears. My dad, who I've always seen as a giant broken down. Seeing Christian's dad and his mom over there trying to hold themselves together. And at the heart of it is me, labeled as this killer.
All right, you may proceed. What was your strategy in presenting all of this evidence to the jury? We start from the beginning. We give them, here's the relationship. Here's what happens with Christian and with Erica. Here's when Pedro comes to town. When you piece all of the evidence together, it gives a pretty good picture of what happened. Pedro was jealous of Christian and developed a plan to kill him.
We give them, here's the preparation, here's the planning, here's the execution, here's the cover up. This is security footage from a Walmart parking lot here in Gainesville, 2012. Walk us through what happened here. So this is the car that Christian Aguilar and Pedro Bravo are in.
He has come into the parking lot and he has stopped. And then he's going to wait here for about two and a half hours. And during that two and a half hours, he's waiting for the medication, sleeping pills that he's given to Christian Aguilar to take effect. When they take effect, he's falling asleep in the car. Mr. Bravo crawls into the backseat of the car. He gets a toe strap.
He loops it over the seat. He pulls it back with his hands. He braces his knees against the back of the car and he holds it there, choking Christian Aguilar to death. Police say that Pedro drove all the way out to the woods in Levy County, dug a shallow grave, and left his friend there with his body tied with duct tape. Remember, Chris has to disappear. Chris has to go missing. This is the plan. Can't get Erica back. Chris is here.
During opening statements, Pedro's attorney tells the jury, yes, Pedro and Christian got into a physical fight. Pedro hit him, but he did not kill him. He did hit his friend. They did get in a fight, and he left his friend. That is what he did not want to tell the police. A parade of witnesses was called to testify, and Erica Freeman was one of them. What was your strategy in calling her to the stand? Well, Erica is...
the linchpin to why this happens. So we called Erica to the stand to provide context in which would explain the relationship between all the parties, that she was boyfriend with Christian Aguilar and former boyfriend was Pedro Bravo. I don't know why you read this far. You're the greatest person on this bloody earth. I won't let you fall.
where he took down the time to write down his plan and his, you know, what he was thinking of me or what he was thinking of Chris. It sounds like the mind of a sociopath. She had to take multiple breaks, and at one point she had to identify items from Christian's backpack. She just couldn't hold it together and started crying, and they had to take it. And now I have to have this person, this monster, you know, staring at me while I'm on the stand.
I don't want him to look at me. I don't want him to see me ever again. I did lock eyes with Pedro once, and there was nothing there. It's just kind of a dark emptiness in his eyes. You know what was the worst part of that trial? Seeing Pedro sitting in front, seeing somebody so sarcastic, no regret, no remorse. Was there a particular testimony that was difficult for you to sit through? Michelangelo's.
And the story he tells, prosecutors say illustrates just how far Pedro Bravo would go to get away with murder. No one really knows what happened the night that Christian Aguilar disappeared. However, one witness testifies his side of the story as told to him by Pedro Bravo, the suspect in this case. Next witness.
Michelangelo is an inmate at the Alachua County Jail and Mr. Angelo has a series of conversations with Pedro Bravo where Pedro Bravo explains to him how, when, and where he killed Christian Aguilar. I think originally he said that he was gonna try to poison him with a mixture of sleeping pills and pesticide and mixed with soda or something like that. His main plan was to choke him with a moving strap.
According to Michelangelo, Pedro had another plan to cast suspicion elsewhere. What can you tell us about that plan? So one of the things that Pedro Bravo did was he solicited Michelangelo to use Michelangelo's gang connections on the outside to do additional murders similar to the murder of Christian Aguilar. Was it ever brought up about the shovel and what you would need to do with the shovel as part of the plan?
- Yes. - What was that? - I had somebody go get the shovel to, I guess, copycat that murder to make it look like somebody else had did it. - And in order for you to do that, would you have to know where the shovel was then currently located? - Yes, sir. - His impression checked out. We were able to find the shovel exactly where he said it was. Finding the shovel was a big deal principally because it verified what Michelangelo was saying.
On cross-examination, Pedro's lawyer argued that Michelangelo was getting a deal to testify and attacked his credibility. And the deal you are seeking is to get that life mandatory sentence off your back. That's the lease that you wanted then? Yes, sir. Stay with the rest.
The young man on trial for allegedly killing his best friend, driven by jealousy, taking the stand in his own defense. Today we're hearing what Pedro Bravo says happened the day his friend and UF student Christian Aguilar was last seen alive. You decide to take the stand in your own defense. That is an unusual, risky move. Why did you decide to do that? Because it didn't feel like there was anything else to do. It felt like it needed to be done.
Pedro testifies as to why he says he bought the Gatorade and Z-Quil. You bought all those things? Yes. For what purpose? It was to kill myself. And as for buying the shovel, Pedro had an answer for that as well. Tell the jury why you bought a shovel. It was going to be part of my idea to kill myself. In a way, I was going to go find the spot and I was going to mark my tomb and I was going to dig it. All right, thank you, Cross.
Mr. Bravo, I want to start by asking you about your timeline that you described to Mr. Rupert. Now, you're on your way to kill yourself, right? Correct. But you got to get gas first, right? Correct. Okay, because you can't kill yourself without a tank of gas, correct? Correct. I tried to question him about things that seemed inconsistent so that you could show the jury that their testimony is unreliable. Do you ever think about that last day that you spent with Christian? Every day.
I try to not think about it because I don't want that to be the last or the most important memory of me and him. But I wish I would have done things differently. I wish I wouldn't have gotten into an argument, gotten out the car. I wish it would have been me on the ground instead of him. All right, it'll be adjourned for the evening. Thank you. All rise. It was a two-week trial and only a few hours for the jury to come back with a verdict.
We, the jury, find as follows. This is the defendant Pedro Andres Bravo. In this case, the defendant is guilty of first degree murder, felony murder, first degree. What went through your mind when you heard the jury say guilty? I immediately turned back and I see my parents and I feel I failed them as a son. What was your reaction? As a mother, I cried. I was sad to see what was happening to him.
He destroyed two families, his and ours. Nobody won that day. You have to sit back and ask yourself why. It's just so senseless. What could possibly drive this young man to bend his abilities and his talent and his motivation in such a negative direction? Did you kill Christian Aguilar? No, I did not kill Christian.
Pedro was ultimately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Pedro had spent more than a decade behind bars, his appeals exhausted before a bombshell claim was alleged. It had the potential to turn this case upside down. Defense attorneys are attempting to overturn Pedro Bravo's conviction. An eyewitness has come forward who specifically supports
Pedro's version of what happened between him and Christian, the fight, and also most importantly verifies that Christian got up and walked away. According to an affidavit signed by this alleged witness, in 2012 she was in town trying to get tickets to a University of Florida football game and was supposed to meet someone in a parking lot.
While she's waiting, she says she saw two young men having a fight. She insisted it was Pedro and Christian. It felt vindicating to finally have someone that can corroborate what I said. And at the end of that fight, Pedro gets in the car and leaves Christian. And she goes to approach Christian, who basically tells her to move on. He's okay.
Pedro's lawyers also point to Michelangelo's recantation of his trial testimony as new evidence in the case. Michelangelo is still incarcerated. "We spoke with him in 2024. He called us from prison. We wanted to know what his motivation was to make this new claim."
We're here at the courthouse in Gainesville for a pivotal hearing with Michelangelo and the alleged eyewitness, Kelsey Edwards. What they say here inside this courtroom today could have a major impact on the case.
I told him, like, there's nothing else I can do. I have to come forward.
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milkey, host of ABC's daily news podcast, Start Here. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
It's the July 4th sale at Bray and Scarf. Going on now with huge savings throughout the store. Save up to 40% on GE profile and cafe appliances. Or step up to luxury with free installation on select monogram appliances. Special financing is available. Shop local and save this July 4th at Bray and Scarf. Visit any of our convenient locations or go to BrayandScarf.com where it doesn't cost more to get more.
Pedro Bravo is housed at a prison here in Okeechobee, Florida. He's serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. To date, all of his appeals have been denied. But there are new developments in the case. In 2024, I spoke to Pedro in his only interview. You've spent more than a decade now in prison, locked up. Did you ever imagine you'd be here?
Then this alleged witness came forward claiming that she had seen Christian get up and leave after this fight with Pedro.
It was a very surprising development to many, especially authorities, who then turned to Tom Mullins, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, to investigate these claims. It seemed somewhat convenient for Mr. Bravo to have this witness with all this information kind of all of a sudden. I thought that there had to be some kind of connection here. Who did this mystery witness turn out to be?
Kelsey Edwards is a woman who was sort of down on her luck. She has four kids. She doesn't have a lot of income. I started looking into who she associates with. Has she ever been to prison? What would be the connections? Tom Mullins was able to determine with that Kelsey Edwards was a person who had children with a man named Brandon Campbell. And he was incarcerated six beds away from Pedro Bravo. That was an aha moment.
Investigators have drawn a direct link between Pedro Bravo and Kelsey Edwards. They say this is a big step in debunking what she swore in her affidavit. Mullins and Kramer interview Campbell in prison. This is audio of their conversation. I'm here because I think you could help us. Mr. Campbell was quite surprised, had no idea why we were there at the prison. And initially denied even knowing who Pedro Bravo was, which is expected.
It wasn't until I showed him a picture of his children's mother that his eyes kind of opened. He told me this is my mother and my children in trouble because she's got two of my kids. And at that point, it seemed to click in his head exactly why we were there. He wanted to pay her, which I didn't know he was something serious about, was to be a witness?
- Did he go into any details about what he wanted her to do or say or whatever? - No, but he did tell that he was gonna pay her like 10 or 15 grand to do it. - After the visit, Brandon Campbell calls Kelsey, his former girlfriend. - You know, a state prosecutor from Gainesville came and talked to me. They know--they know about you getting a-- they know everything. - I didn't do anything. I didn't say anything. - I mean, what the did you do?
You were also able to go through some financial records.
What did you find that helped you connect all the dots? So once obtaining Ms. Edwards' cash app, I found payments to her in larger sums of money, hundreds, sometimes a thousand. So then my challenge was to figure out, well, who's sending those deposits? Well, was he charged with anything? No, Mr. Campbell operated fully in the investigation.
Investigators discovered transactions and messages confirming that Pedro Bravo, using the pseudonym Anthony Gibbons, arranged for more than $7,000 to be sent to Kelsey Edwards. How was it that Pedro Bravo was able to communicate so frequently with Kelsey Edwards? He always seemed to have actual regular cell phones.
One would get seized from him and then he'd seem to find another one. Did you determine that Kelsey Edwards was a willing participant in this plan? I don't know how to characterize her willingness. I think that Kelsey Edwards was a person who was desperate and she was a person who needed money and she made a decision to do something she knew was wrong.
The signed affidavit was just one part of Pedro's bigger plan to try and get a new trial. The other piece was to get Michelangelo to recant. Michelangelo's motivation for recanting his testimony was that he was going to receive money.
Pedro had gone so far to dupe Michelangelo that investigators discovered that he had actually posed as an attorney online and he was offering to represent Michelangelo. Mr. Angelo believed that that was a real attorney and there were some times where this attorney would send money for Mr. Angelo. And where was that money coming from? It was coming from Pedro Bravo. As you're learning all of this, what's going through your head?
I guess I'm shocked by the complexity of it. The amount of subterfuge lies and creation of false evidence is beyond what we would ever see. It's very unusual. Pedro Bravo serving a life sentence. Where was all of this money coming from? Mr. Bravo was actually sending money to these folks through his mom.
I reached out to Pedro's mom, who previously spoke to me for comment. My messages were not returned. Was Pedro Bravo's mother ultimately charged with anything? No, she was never charged. I never could prove that she was a willing participant in the sense that she had knowledge of the scheme.
As Pedro's plan started to unravel, Kelsey Edwards began to have second thoughts reflected in WhatsApp messages obtained by 2020. It was clear she was definitely scared and she was trying to back out at that point. But Mr. Bravo wasn't having that. And Mr. Bravo insisted that she had to go through with it. He even got to a point where he began threatening her.
Pedro Bravo, Michelangelo and Kelsey Edwards were ultimately indicted for their roles in Pedro's plan. Kelsey Edwards is arrested and while in prison explains what she knew to Brian Kramer. He wanted me to sign an affidavit saying that I had witnessed his fight with Christian.
and that Christian got up and walked away from the fight still breathing. Is he asking you to commit a very serious felony out of the goodness of your heart? He told me that he would pay me a lump sum when I signed it and that he would pay me weekly after that until trial. Kelsey explains that she and Pedro communicated for more than a year. Over time, she says they developed an emotional connection.
He was talking about like his struggles in prison, being lonely and stuff like that. He just had a way of talking to people that would make you feel bad for him. It doesn't seem like Pedro Bravo was ever going to quit here. He just became more desperate as the walls are just starting to close in on him and got to the point where eventually he only found one way out.
It is the last act in the long legal drama that began with the murder of UF student Christian Aguilar in 2012. All rise please. The hearing with Michelangelo and Kelsey Edwards just wrapped up and in yet another twist in this case, they both pled guilty for their roles in what prosecutors call a scheme orchestrated by Pedro Bravo to get out of prison.
At their court appearance, Michelangelo pled guilty to perjury for his false recantation. Kelsey Edwards pled guilty to fraud for the fake affidavit. Angelo was sentenced to seven years in prison while Edwards got five years probation. It doesn't seem like Pedro Bravo was ever going to quit here. He just kept on pushing this. He just became more desperate as the walls are just starting to close in on him.
got to the point where eventually he only found one way out. Pedro Bravo died in prison on Wednesday. We're told Bravo killed himself at the Okeechobee Correctional Institution where he was serving a life sentence. I think when Pedro Bravo realized that the testimonies of these two people wasn't probably going to work, it probably left him in a place where he just couldn't see himself staying behind bars for decades.
When sifting through the extensive correspondence between Pedro Bravo and Kelsey Edwards, authorities are surprised by one of the messages they find. For the first time, he admitted that he took Christian's life. He did? What did he say? He said that they fought and he left him there, like he'd said, in trial. But this time, he said he went back and picked him up and he drove around and that eventually Christian passed away in his car. He panicked.
and ultimately went out and buried him. To your knowledge, is that the first time he's ever come close to actually confessing to that murder? Other than the confession he made to Mr. Angelo, yes. We asked Pedro's lawyer about the alleged plot by Pedro to solicit false witness testimony. He said he couldn't comment on anything that occurred after his client died, which includes Edward's new assertions and guilty plea. Is Pedro Bravo's death the end of this saga?
more than anything else. My hope is that Christian Aguilar's family, that this is the end of the story for them. That they don't have to continue to think about him and what he did in the people's lives that he ruined. So what is this? This is Christian's sketchbook. That's Gator. That's a Florida Gator. We think this is Erica. We think that this is a drawing of Erica. Erica, yeah.
Christian's belongings, once collected by police as evidence in his murder investigation, now cherished by his parents. It belongs to my son, belongs to me. Those items are precious to us. Is it too painful to think about? It is too painful. What his future might have been? Yeah. Especially when I saw the pictures of Christian Fries having his life with the new careers, with the families, I prefer do not think too much about it.
How do you want Christian to be remembered? I want Christian to be remembered by how sweet and kind and genuine of a person he was. Although Christian was only a student for a couple of months, the University of Florida presented his family with a posthumous degree in biomedical engineering, symbolic of a promising future cut too short. I can't imagine where his life would have ended up kind of leading him to, but I know it would have been great things.
Why did you choose this photo? Because he looks so happy there. Was that on prom night? On prom night. Prom. We want him, but people to remember him smiling. One of the most beautiful things is his smile. A smile so many will never forget. And Christian's father posted a condolence note on Facebook to Pedro Bravo's parents saying no parent should go through the pain of losing a child. And the Aguilar family's younger son, Alex, actually followed in Christian's footsteps enrolling at the University of Florida.
That's our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Debra Roberts. And I'm David Muir from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night. The stakes do not get any higher. The two very best in the NBA. Pace. Thunder.
The NBA Finals, presented by YouTube TV. Continue on ABC.