The mother of a Texas A&M University student who was discovered dead after a tailgating event has revealed new details, claiming her daughter’s phone was found discarded in a wooded area.
Brianna Aguilera, a 19-year-old student, was tragically found dead early Saturday morning at the 21 Rio Apartments in Austin, Texas, shortly after attending the Texas A&M University versus University of Texas football game. Although Austin police have stated that her death is not being treated as a homicide and that there are no signs of foul play, Aguilera’s mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, is challenging this narrative. She reports that detectives informed her that her daughter had fallen 17 floors, suggesting the incident was either an accident or suicide, a notion she firmly disputes.
In an interview with Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” Rodriguez disclosed that her daughter’s phone was recovered from her friend’s purse, which had been tossed into a wooded area.
“They eventually found my daughter’s phone inside her friend’s purse, which was thrown into the woods,” Rodriguez explained.
The family shared an image of Brianna Aguilera, the Texas A&M student who was found deceased in Austin over the weekend. The image was circulated along with a GoFundMe campaign.
Rodriguez also mentioned that attempts to contact individuals within the apartment complex were met with silence, as none of them responded to her calls.
“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,” Rodriguez wrote on Facebook. “My daughter would not jump 17 stories from a building and to be labeling this as a suicide is insane.”
Rodriguez told KSAT that there was a fight between Aguilera and another girl before her daughter’s death.
“There was a fight that happened between my daughter and another girl, and they were all staying in the same apartment that I have actual text messages of, and the detective just disregarded them,” Rodriguez said.
“How is it that certain friends left immediately and the person who was living at the apartment complex vacated her apartment ASAP?” the mother wrote on Facebook.
The mother told KGNS she became suspicious after she saw her daughter’s phone was on “Do Not Disturb.”
Brianna Aguilera was found dead in an apartment hours after attending a tailgate party. (FACEBOOK/Brie Aguilera)
“No one reached out to me, I was the one who had to place several calls to Austin PD because I couldn’t locate her,” Rodriguez said. “What was weird to me and skeptical was her phone was on Do Not Disturb. We always had this rule that if she was going to go out, she had to have her phone on ‘location on’ and answer her text to at least let me know she was OK. That stopped happening around 6 p.m.”
Rodriguez told People she thinks someone threw her over the balcony.
“I’m thinking either someone shoved her over the balcony, or when my daughter does drink, she has the tendency [to fall asleep], and she’s so thin and frail, she cannot handle alcohol,” Rodriguez said. “And I think that maybe either it might’ve been that, and they probably got scared and threw her over the balcony, or they shoved her off.”
In another statement shared with Fox News Digital on Monday afternoon, the Austin Police Department said “there is no evidence to suggest or support any suspicious or criminal circumstances surrounding Ms. Aguilera’s passing.”
Brianna Aguilera holds a sign congratulating her on her acceptance to Texas A&M. (INSTAGRAM/brie.aguilera)
“Every loss in our community is taken seriously, and every life is deserving of care, dignity, and a complete investigative process. Austin Police extends our heartfelt condolences to Brianna Aguilera’s family, friends, and all who are grieving her loss,” the Austin Police Department wrote.
The death investigation regarding Aguilera remains open, police said. A staffer at the Travis County Medical Examiners office, where her body was sent, told Fox News Digital that an autopsy takes 90 days or longer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Austin Police Department for comment.
