Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - TAILGATE PARTY SHOCK: GLAM TEXAS A&M HONOR SOPH DEAD, 'FRIENDS' CLAM UP

Episode Date: December 3, 2025

Brianna Aguilera is a huge Texas football fan. Growing up in Laredo, ‘Brie’ cheers for the United High School Longhorns. As she heads to college, Brie trades burnt orange for maroon and white at Texas A&M. Brianna spends most of her time at the Bush School in pursuit of a political science degree. She’s looking forward to ordering her Aggie ring and prepping for the LSAT next year. Brie’s planning to head straight to law school after graduation and is well on her way with a 4.0 GPA. At 12:47 a.m., Austin Police respond to a good Samaritan’s report of an unconscious woman outside the 21 Rio high-rise. The woman is pronounced dead at 12:57 a.m., with officers believing she fell from the building. Meanwhile, a mother's intuition leads Stephanie to be suspicious as soon as her daughter's phone goes to "do not disturb," especially after she communicates with her daughter that she made it ok to the tailgate party and to keep her phone and location on for safety. Repeated calls to her daughter's phone, the police, and surrounding hospitals continue to turn up no word on her daughter's whereabouts. This is unlike the behavior the honor student has always shown her family; that is why the family starts to panic. It’s not until 4 p.m. that afternoon that Stephanie Rodriguez is told her 19-year-old daughter, Brianna Aguilera, is dead. Officers first tell her Brie jumped, then say her friends don’t know how Brie ended up 17 stories below them. Austin PD recovers Brianna’s phone, though they haven’t said where, returning the device to her grieving mother. Stephanie says her daughter’s texts indicate she got in a fight with one of the other girls staying at the Rio 21 apartment Friday night. When she highlights the texts to an officer, he tells her they are not investigating Brianna’s death as a homicide, and the texts does not change the course of the investigation. Stephanie Rodriguez does not accept Austin PD’s assumption. Brianna committed suicide. Stephanie, a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, insists Brianna was excited to attend the tailgate and had a long list of future plans. Her daughter was also so afraid of heights, she wouldn’t ride roller coasters on her cheer team’s senior trip to Disney World. Stephanie believes one of the 14 “friends” Brianna was with that night knows what happened to her daughter. Joining Nancy Grace today: Stephanie Rodriguez - Brianna Aguilera's Mother Josephine Nava - Grandmother of Brianna Aguilera Kenneth “Tray” Gober - Managing Partner of Lee, Gober & Reyna, Instagram & Facebook: LeeGoberReynaLawFirm Dr. Bethany Marshall -  Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker," and featured in hit show "Paris in Love" on Peacock; Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, X: @DrBethanyLive Fil Waters - Former Homicide Detective for the Houston Police Department, President & CEO of Kindred Spirits Investigations & Security, Inc. Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author of "Blood Beneath My Feet," and Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;" X @JoScottForensicc Alex Cano - Assistant News Director at KGNS-TV in Laredo, Texas; Facebook: Alex Cano News Sydney Sumner - Investigative Reporter, "Crime Stories" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A tailgate party shock. A gorgeous young Texas A&M honor student, a sophomore, is dead. Her friends clam up, although they apparently were all together at a party before a stranger, a passer-by finds her dead. I'm Missy Grace.

This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. 19-year-old Brianna Aguilera is top of her class at Texas A&M University on track to shine at law school. She attends a tailgate with her friends, celebrating the big game, unaware of the tragedy soon to follow. There's so much to this case, but I can tell you this much. Brianna Aguilar's mother does not. buy what the Austin PD is selling. And neither am I. Too many coincidences. Why is she with her friends at the tailgate, yet none of them report her missing? Why is she found, found dead

outside the Rio apartment high rise where her friend has a place, and they didn't notice she wasn't there? Why did they all clam up? Why was her phone found by a creek? Why did mom call the police and they refused to do nothing? She says my daughter's phone is pinging beside a creek. She's not answering the phone. She's not supposed to be by a creek in the middle of nowhere. They did nothing.

Now they're claiming there's no foul play. Are you kidding me? I mean, Joe Scott Morgan, first to you, we're now a death investigator joining us. He's done thousands of death scene. a professor of Jacksonville State University, Professor Forensics, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon,

Star of a Hit podcast, Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan. Okay, Joe Scott, the morgue, the ME, hasn't even given us a COD cause of death. So how can Austin PD say, no foul play? That's total BS.

Yeah, I think that it is, Nancy. I think that what they're going on is probably the circumstantial evidence. outside of what could be generated in the morgue because they have no answers there definitively. I can tell you, yeah. So, Scott, what circumstantial evidence? Well, whoever they are getting this data from that she was surrounded by, they might be just running with that.

Because I got to tell you, Nancy, falls from height, are one of the most difficult death cases to investigate, particularly from the height that we're talking about. She is going to be brutally traumatized as a result of what happened if this is an impact injury where she did in fact fall. Again, that's speculative as far as I'm concerned. They're just saying that she fell from that height. Joe, yes, ma'am. Joe, look at your screen.

Let me see Brianna Aguilar. Let me see her right now. Look at this girl. Does she look suicidal to you? Okay, I know Dr. Bethany Marshall have a field day with what I just said. But wait a minute. It's not just her looking happy. Dr. Bethany, she was already a sophomore, but was just 19 because she's so smart.

She's taking all these honor classes and moved ahead. She was looking forward to taking her LSAT. She couldn't wait to get into law school. She and her mother had planned ordering her Aggie ring. You know, Texas A&M die hard. She was so excited. She was just with the family for Thanksgiving. She soaks in a bunch of family time, takes her little brothers to see the new wicked movie.

She's thrilled about going to a tailgate party, big rivalry there in the Lone Star State. She's happy. She calls her mom. When she gets there, everything's fine. Now, she suddenly says, I'm killing myself. Look at this. Look at this, Bethany. Control room.

Show me the railing. On the 17th floor, what? Who is she? Nadia Cominici, Simone, Biles. She's going to do what? A vault over that? That's B.S. According to one of the students who was interviewed, you would have to get on a chair to jump over that railing. So this was a young woman who was very future-minded. There doesn't appear to be any psychiatric history. She appears to be able to concentrate, to restrain her impulse. enough to go through a very rigorous academic program, that's not likely somebody who's going to kill themselves. On the other hand, Nancy, most psychiatric illnesses reveal themselves between the ages of 18 and 21. So if somebody is going to become schizophrenic, bipolar, OCD,

it would reveal itself at that age. You know where you are right now? Look around. You think you're in a studio. You know where you really are? you're out in the weeds. There is no indication that Brianna had

bipolar, suicidal, depression, self-harm. None of that. She's happy. And the mom gets a call and says your daughter's in the morgue. I'm not, you know, Bethany, I'm not going to stand by

and allow this to be said about Brianna Aguiletta. I'm not. She was not depressed. She was not suicidal, but, but, but, but what? But I actually happened to agree with you. However, if she was bipolar, she could have been subtly going into a manic episode. She could have been hypomaniac.

Where are you? Have you read a single shred of evidence that says, this little girl, 19 years old, honor student, cheerleader, the whole shebang, thrilled about a tailgate. Was bipolar or did you just like make that up? I just think it should be examined as a possibility. I would want to look at her medical records. I don't know. No, no. That's a yes, no question. She was on. Do you have any evidence to say she was bipolar? No. I expect a lot more from you, Dr. Bethany Marshall. You don't have a D.R. in front of your name for nothing. Okay. I'm going to let you sit there and think about what you just said for a minute. Joe Scott is just chopping it in the bit. Joe Scott, I'm beside myself. Joe Scott, how old is my little girl, Lucy? Well, she's right on the verge of attending college, Nancy.

She's in this age range. She and John David just turned 18. And it's going to be a cold day. And H.E.S. Scott, somebody calls me and says, your daughter's in the morgue and people start fabricating mental illnesses. This girl was not suicidal. She was just with her family thrilled.

Couldn't wait to go to the game. Couldn't wait to go to the tailgate party. Now, she's dead. Her friends all vanish. They go to the four corners. Her cell phone is found in a completely different area by a creek in one of the friend's purses. What about that?

That's not waving a red flag in front of your face? Well, I'll tell you what. Far be it from me to tell you what to do, but if you could be so kind as to put that image up, something struck me, the image of the rail. again, just from a forensic standpoint, Nancy, I hope that whoever is in charge of this investigation, they locked down and secured that apartment pretty quickly or this space. And the reason is, is that just looking at the surface of that rail, I want to know if she has fingerprints that had been left behind on there.

I want to know if there are palm prints on there. And as Bethany had mentioned just a moment ago about a chair, I want to know if there was a chair. adjacent to that railing as well because those are points of contact i have to rely on the science here to try to understand yeah we'll we'll find out information about her body and what they found as far as the trauma goes and maybe at some point time we're going to hear something about toxicology i believe that's going to take some time but i want to know about the interior of this place i want to know who has access to it i want to know are there any latent prints did they even because you know Nancy, they really jumped to suicide, accident, that sort of thing really, really quickly here.

So did they secure the scene where you can go back in Dust for Prints and look for trace evidence? I can tell you this, Joe Scott. If your body, God forbid, is found out on the street by a stranger, I guarantee you, I will not disappear while your beautiful wife, Kim, looks for answers. Why have their friends disappeared? Mommy has been trying to call all of them. They won't return calls. They will tell her nothing.

Why is that? Nobody thinks that's odd except me. Not only that, you stated, did they secure the apartment? I can tell you this, Joe Scott. They did not even speak to the. friends until a whole day had passed, plenty of time for them to get a story together. And speaking of the friends, Joe Scott, your job as a death investigator, it's not just to look at the body itself and whatever intrinsic evidence it may contain. Your job as a death investigator is to

investigate the circumstances surrounding the death. Is it not? Yes, yes it is. And that means And you don't think it's unusual that the friends don't report her missing. She's with them. They're 14 people sleeping over in that 17th floor apartment that night. 14. And not one person said, hey, where's Bree? You don't find that odd? Yes, it's very odd.

As a matter of fact, I think that in most investigations, the authorities would be compelled to march every single one of them down to headquarters. and they're going to take written statements from each and every one of these people and get them on record so that they can cover every jot and tittle in this case, Nancy, because they're in is going to rest the answers, because they're going to know what was going on prior to this, okay? We know how this ended. So tragically, I want to know what happened the night before. I want to know what happened at that tailgate. So many inconsistency swirling, and I got to tell you this, after we started calling the Austin PD yesterday, nonstop trying to get a statement from them, suddenly, after they've been saying, nothing to see here, everybody go home, this was an accident or suicide, no foul play,

without even having a COD, I don't know how they can say that. They haven't looked for subcutaneous bruising under the neck. haven't looked for broken fingernails? How can they jump up and say, no foul play and call the mom and say, oh yeah, your daughter's turned up at the morgue? Really?

After we call them non-stop, they suddenly say, we're rededicating ourselves to the investigation. Oh, okay, that's reassuring. Let's start at the beginning. When you don't know which way to turn, start over at the beginning.

Brianna makes the five-hour trip from Bryan College Station home to Laredo to spend Thanksgiving with her mom, Stephanie, and two younger brothers, Armani and Giovanni, taking her siblings to see Wicked before she makes the drive back to Central Texas for the U-T-A-N-M game. Brianna plans to tailgate with friends and spend the night in Austin at a friend's apartment in the 21 Rio high rise just off the west side of campus. We know that her mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, and she, Brianna, her daughter, Brianna Aguilar, very, very close. They texted, they called all day long. This is the woman that has steered her daughter from birth all the way to a Texas A&M honor student. At age 19, she's already getting set to take her LSA. The law school SAT test. She's about to graduate at this young age because she's so smart, an honor student plus cheerleader at United High School. But suddenly, out of the blue, for the first time ever when mom tries to call, she can't get through. Someone also put her phone on, do not disturb, which my daughter never does unless she's in class or is. voting for an exam. Stephanie expects Brianna to have her location on and answer text when she's out.

But hours into the tailgate, Stephanie has to push through, do not disturb, to reach Brianna, and texts go unanswered. Brianna's location shows her near a creek. Stephanie calls Austin PD to report Brianna missing, asking them to look for her at the phone location, but officers say they won't investigate until 24 hours have passed. Stephanie spends the rest of the night trying to get a hold of Brianna and her friends. Can you imagine the panic that mom felt first time ever? Her daughter will not answer the phone, will not answer text, nothing? Joining me right now, a very special guest.

It's Josephine Nava. This is Brianna's grandma. Ms. Nava, thank you for being with us. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Nava, I do not believe that Brianna had an accident. I do not believe Brianna committed suicide. I don't believe it.

Tell me, when you first learned that nobody could find Brianna, she was not answering the phone. We started looking for her. Brianna was raised with us, with an younger daughter and myself due to the fact that my daughter, Stephanie, her mom, Brianna's mom, at a very early age, she was continuing with her education and having to work to raise her child, being a single mother. So how are we not going to care about Brianna? Brianna was very smart, talented, a good girl, never had any problems with her. We spent a Thanksgiving together before she left the following morning to Austin. She was really happy.

She was really excited. She was going to go have fun with her friends over there at the tailgate. We encouraged her not to go. She insisted that she wanted to go. She wanted to go have fun. But Stephanie had doubts about two of her friends that she never liked those two friends because probably maybe Stephanie in her heart she felt something but then again Brianna wanted to be with her with them too so then I told her please Janita

drive safely like I would always and I would always give her my blessings and you know give her a lot of good advice and all of this but she was a happy girl she had a lot of future she had everything she did not need any more she had anything that she wanted I would never say no to no to none her mother gave her pay for her rent bills I mean she she was very happy about it she would never commit suicide never had intentions of are doing such a thing she was very happy she was succeeding she was happy because she was gonna get a ring in May and graduate in December and move towards law school in New York we were

giving her all the support that she needed so no we do not believe that this was an accident now let a lot of things are coming out. Like this morning, I heard a passer by saying that he was passing by and he heard loud, loud, like somebody was fighting, loud voices. So there was a fight and I always said there was a fight and somebody had to push her. And those girls had a lot of envy. They would always envy Brianna because she had a nice car. She would dress up with expensive clothes. She had everything. She had no No thoughts of committing suicide, no, that is not true. And yes, we need answers and we want answers.

Ms. Nava? Yes. Ms. Nava, I found the same thing that you heard, and we have it to play for you. I want you to hear what this witness says he heard that night. From what I heard, it sounded like somebody was being taken advantage of, and there was a party going on around her and like nobody cared i walk around the corner i get on rio grande i hear a girl saying get the fuck off me get the fuck off of me get the and then it was like it was like a muffled like scream at the top of her lungs it was like almost as if like you know that

sound when like somebody put a a pillow or something over your mouth That's what I heard. We found that. It's from Jay Pizzle on TikTok, and I believe that is what Mrs. Nava is referring to. You know, I want to go very quickly to a special guest in addition to Brianna's grandma joining as Ms. Nava. Phil Waters is with me,

former homicide detective in Texas with Houston PD, President's CEO, Kindred Spirits, Investigations and Security. Phil, thank you for being with us. when I judge a witness's credibility, whether I'm going to put them under oath on the stand in the case I am prosecuting. In the case I believe in, I look at their credibility. I judge their veracity, their demeanor. Because I want to know that I believe them before I ask a jury to believe them. And what I found interesting here is the way he described in rich detail, the scream that he heard, he compares it, he quotes it, he even gives his address when I turned

on to Rio Grande. It's extremely rich in detail and his demeanor as if he is reliving what he heard that night. I would just say, regarding to the witness here, and I'm looking at this to the eyes of an objective homicide cop. The witness appears to be from what he is saying, certainly sincere about what he is saying, but I don't know the context in which he's talking about. I don't even know if he's talking about this particular incident.

So, you know, to take this. Okay, you know what? Let's narrow that down then. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Alex Cano is joining us out of Laredo, which is taking center stage here. She's the assistant news director, KGNS TV. Alex, that witness is talking about what he heard the night before her body was found when she would have been at that party after that tailgate in that location.

Alex, why is Austin PD saying, there's no foul place? when they don't even have a COD. And what happened to all the friends? And why did Austin PD wait a full day before they interviewed the friends? We actually spoke to Brianna's mother, Stephanie, and she had met eye to eye with the detective or the investigator in the case. And they couldn't give her answers at that time. She said there was a group of people that witnessed seeing her daughter going into that building

and those same people went out without her daughter. So she is still looking for answers. They basically told her there was a geometric system that wasn't working that day. They were eyeballing, quote, and quote. That's what she told us on the record, the distance of where her daughter fell, quote, unquote. So there was just a lot of uncertainty with this case.

And she is from Laredo, so everyone on social media here is talking about it. She is very well known. Her family is getting a lot of support. We also got a word from Congressman Hendrik Guaya. He's looking into it. He's keeping an eye on what's the developments of this case. So that's what we know as of now,

and I know that Brianna's mother, Stephanie, is just doing what everyone is doing right now, which is trying to get answers for her daughter. A detective called me telling me that my daughter had been found in a more disease. I was in disbelief. I yelled. I shouted. I told the officer that it wasn't true,

that he was lying to me. It was just devastation to the max. My daughter was not suicidal. She loved life. She wanted to graduate. She wanted to become an attorney. Like there was never one ounce of her that was ever sad in that manner.

Stephanie does not accept Austin PD's assumption Brianna committed suicide. Stephanie, a psychic. Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner insists Brianna was excited to attend the tailgate and had a long list of future plans. Her daughter was also so afraid of heights, she wouldn't ride roller coasters on the cheer team's senior trip to Disney World. Stephanie believes one of her 14 friends Brianna was with that night knows what happened to her. She would not jump off a 17-story building. She wouldn't.

She was afraid of heights, and the measurements don't add up. So I need, I need someone to take accountability. That from our friends at W-O-A-I and ABC 7, straight back out to Alex Cano, joining us, Director K-G-N-S-TV in Texas. Tell me about the tailgate party. What happened after the tailgate party ended? How did 14 people end up back at the Rio apartments? And no one noticed

Brie was missing. Well, I can just tell you what Stephanie told us, which is Brianna's mother. She said that she was trying to contact her daughter. And she said, hey, how's it going? What's going on? All she knows is that she was waiting for her to answer her back. This was before 6 p.m.

This was on that Friday. Then afterwards, she was waiting after the game. This is Stephanie's mom. again, didn't hear from her. All she knows is that she saw her daughter, or witnesses saw her daughter going into this building, and those same individuals came out without her daughter. That's what she told us at that time. There was a geometric system that was broken and they were eyeballing the distance when her daughter fell from the 17th floor. Jessica Morgan, what is the geometric system Austin PD seemingly is talking about? Yeah, I'm thinking that they're probably referring to potentially

something that's referred to as a pharaoh system F-A-R-O which actually maps a scene and it can do high-end calculations we're talking and when you're talking about a fall particularly from this height we're talking about higher-level math here specifically trigonometry the idea where you have to calculate the distance that she would fall also the angle that she would fall and there are specific points that you have to measure relative to that it strikes me as odd that Austin, Austin PD, would actually say something like their system is down. They have to actually use tools like this on a daily basis. They have very high-end complex crimes.

Well, you know, I mean, I think that the headline there, Joe Scott, is I don't need to know how quickly she fell or how far she fell, because I already know she was in the apartment on the 17th floor at 21 Rio Highrise. I know that. I don't need a geometric system that's on the blink to tell me that. I need to find out why she went over that rail and who, if anyone pushed her or threw her over. I really don't think she took a running leap and jumped over based on what grandma is telling me. Josephine Nava is with us. Ms. Nava, when did her mother, Stephanie, learn that Brianna is dead?

On Saturday, she tried to get a hold of the friend. I did too as well. She tried the police to help her find her daughter. No, there was no help, no response. She found out about her daughters, about my granddaughter's death like around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. She begged the police officers to go and check the scene. And she had been calling police for over 24 hours, right, trying to find her daughter. And they would not help.

No. They said that she had to wait a period of 24 hours. And then she kept an insist and she never gave up. She kept an insisting calling and because she had Brianna's location on the phone. And she kept on saying, Mom, Brianna's location is showing me that she said that the phone is in a creek. That's when we started raising concerns and it got worse between us, the family. Stephanie and I kept on reporting to each other as to words. We wanted to find where Brianna was.

We knew that there was a lot of friends with her. No one was answering the phone call. And it was such a coincidence that then after they found out, they knew. They had to know because they were all together. Why didn't they call Brianna's mom, my daughter, Stephanie? Why? It was a big group and everybody knew each other. Everybody knew Brianna.

Why did they did not call my daughter? let her know that Brianna was missing that Brianna had jumped or that Brianna had been pushed. Everybody had it as a hush-hush and no one was answering the phone calls. Now, there was a rumor. Someone said that they had promised each other

that no one was going to say nothing and that that's why they were not answering the phones. No one was answering the phones. And they knew that had happened. Did you just say that one of them told the others not to answer the phone? Nobody said,

anything? Yes, that they promised each other that no one was going to say nothing. And that's why no one was answering the phone calls. Kenneth Trey Gober joining us, managing partner Lee Gober and Raina.

He graduated Texas A&M. He is joining us from the Austin jurisdiction. I've got a lot of problems right now, and I've always been a big supporter of the Austin PD. But not to night, how can they say no foul play when they don't even have a COD? And also, what about friends that agree not to pick up the phone when the mom calls? Yeah, there's a lesson here

in the way that Austin Police Department, and again, I've generally very impressed with Austin Police Department, there's a lesson that, you know, there's something to be considered for mother's intuition. And when Bree's mom is calling, expressing these concerns, she's doing her due diligence, she's noting that the phone's on do not disturb. We should have taken it much more seriously, much sooner. And unfortunately, that's, that wasn't the case. I'm glad to hear that they're re-uping their interest in the investigation now. Listen. 12.47 a.m. Austin police respond to a good Samaritans report of an unconscious woman outside of

the 21 Rio high rise. The woman is pronounced dead at 1257 a.m. It's not until 4 p.m. that afternoon that Stephanie Rodriguez has told her daughter, Brianna Aguilera, is dead. Officers first tell her Bree jumped, then say her friends don't know how Brie ended up 17 stories below. There's a lot of inconsistencies. with the story. He told me that they said she jumped. And then he told me that the friends said that they didn't know her whereabouts. I would like to see every one of the friends hooked up to a polygraph if they've got the backbone to do it. That last sound was from KSAT 12. And back to Josephine Nava, Brianna's grandmother, joining us tonight. That's inconsistent.

First they say, well, she jumped. Then they go, we didn't know where she was. We didn't know what happened. She jumped, what? That's clearly inconsistent. That's a nice way of saying, a lie, Mrs. Nava. Yes. And then after that, what a coincidence

that they cleaned up the apartment really quick. They were gone. Everyone was gone. What do you mean they cleaned up the apartment really quickly? Yes, that's what my daughter was told. That's what Stephanie was told that the following day, the apartment was cleaned up. That's what they said. And as a matter of fact, one of the people that live there just leaves.

They leave. Yes. Yes. Yes. And there were like 15 or more than 15 partying in that same apartment, that same place. We had, she, Brianna got to send us pictures with some of them in the balcony when she was happy. She did not kill her self. She did not commit suicide.

She did not throw herself. Some, there was a fight because someone, some of those girls, one of those girls was jealous because she thought that the guy that she was dating or the boyfriend or whatever was after Brianna. And there was a fight there. Okay, hold on just a moment. Ms. Nava. I want to follow up with Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us.

The same Dr. Bethany Marshall that started talking about Brianna, maybe being bipolar, which she's not. are you getting a clearer picture of what we've been talking about and why I am so distraught tonight? I mean, I am Nancy. Hey, Bethany, listen to this. Listen to this. Okay. Now, there was a fight that happened between my daughter and another girl, and they were all seeing in the same apartment that I have actual text messages of, and the detective just, he disregarded them. Brianna's friends are questioned for the first time at 1 p.m. Saturday, more than 12 hours after she was found dead.

The friends were allowed to come and go from the apartment as they pleased and had plenty of time to get their story straight. Stephanie says the group of 14 refuses to speak to her, and the person who lives there has now vacated the apartment. From our friends at KSAT 12, Dr. Bethany Marshall, you don't find it odd that one of the people that live there, the one that lived there, the one that lived there, just leaves, packs up in leaves? Reminds me of Shankella Robinson. Remember, her friends lured her to Cabo San Lucas, and then she ended up dying. You know, Nancy, jealousy and envy

are two of the strongest motivators for homicide. So you think of Brianna, they were probably envious of her because she's beautiful. She has a family who supports her. She's way ahead in her academics. And also jealous. What's coming out with the grandmother is saying that one of the girls there thought that her boyfriend was attracted to Brianna.

So you have envy and jealousy, which are very strong motivators. And just like Shankalo Robinson, if you remember that story, remember the mother's intuition? She knew something had happened to her daughter. And she started to call and call. Those friends got on a plane, came home, and refused to take the mother's call. It's the same pattern all over again. And the fact that these girls, she entered the apartment with these girls, Brianna did, but then the girls left without her.

Kind girls do not act that way. Kind girls, they watch out for their girlfriends. If the girlfriend disappears, they go after them, they look for them. They want to be in touch with the mother. In this case, the girls left without her. So I'm thinking that this might be a luring her in kind of case again, especially since the mother, her mother, really Stephanie did not want Brianna to go with these friends. Stephanie knew that something was amiss, so maybe the friends were luring her there for

some foul purpose. Austin PD recovers Brianna's phone, though they haven't said where, returning the device to her grieving mother. Stephanie says her daughter's texts indicate she got into a fight with one of the other girls staying at Rio 21 Friday night. When she highlights the texts to an officer, he tells her they are not investigating Brianna's death as a homicide. I just want them to stop saying, that they're not treating this as a homicide case. Someone did something to my daughter. From W.O.A.I. Dr. Bathany Marshall is exactly correct.

This reminds us all of the horrific, the brutal debt of Chancilla Robinson. This is what her mother told me. I told them just keep me informed, and they did call back, but they still saying it was alcohol poison. Later on that evening, they called and said that Chancola had passed.

And at that point, my heart crumbled up, you know, just knowing my child was done, and I couldn't get there to her, could not do anything. They said the medics came, three medics came, and no one couldn't do anything, couldn't save her. I don't know which way to believe, you know, I believe the autopsy, but the so-called friend, I just don't know what to say about them. I just think it was just terrible the way they've done her. That was Salamandra Robinson speaking with me after the death. of her daughter, Schenquila. And you saw the video of Schenquilla being beaten by her friends

till she's dead. And then when the mom tries to reach the friends, they're gone. Some of them even moving sounds familiar, doesn't it, Sidney Sumner? Absolutely. It sounds extremely familiar. We don't know how this beautiful poet ended up 17 floors below. And none of her friends knew that she was gone. They first tell police she jumped, then they say they don't know what happened to her. A bystander had to find her body and alert the police. It's horrible that we're seeing this happen again and again and again with people who are supposed to be friends. It doesn't make any sense. And we already are hearing, Sidney, that they, quote, promised each other, no one would pick up the phone when the mom calls. Can you imagine what that

mom is living through right now? And here's another case where the parents of a murder girl desperately seeking answers and nobody will pick up the phone. Does the name Gabby Petito ring a bell? Because I will never forget it. I'm asking for help everyone at home. I'm asking for help from the parents of Brian and I'm asking for help of the family members and friends of the laundry family as well. We were having these issues of trying to get her reported missing. We tried to call the laundries. We had a friend in insurance kind of got in trouble who gave us their phone numbers because

we did not have their phone numbers. We were having these issue of trying to get her reported missing. And for the laundry's silence, the laundries did not help us find Gabby. They sure is not going to help us find Brian. Does it bother you that Gabby was strangled? Was your son involved in strangling Gabby? That from Fox 5, Fox 10, Fox Digital, and you also heard Mrs. Petito speaking to us at CrimeCon.

They begged and begged and begged. They couldn't even get a return phone call, a text and email from the laundry family, as they searched for Gabby and searched for answers to Kenneth Trey Gober. Trey, you're a high-profile lawyer out of this jurisdiction. Why won't the friends pick up the phone when Brianna's mother is desperately calling, looking for answers? Yeah, we could speculate on that. I mean, obviously, if they feel exposure that they could have some criminal culpability, that would be a reason why they wouldn't want to talk about it. You know, hopefully they are talking with law enforcement, and law enforcement is just protecting the quality of the investigation on releasing a lot of information.

Unfortunately, we don't have any reason or way to know one way or the other. other, other than initially the report that police were treating this as no, no suspicious circumstances of foul play. Dr. Bethany Marshall, it looks like a rat. It smells like a rat. It squeaks like a rat. I smell a rat. Everything is wrong here, and I'm extremely disappointed in the Austin PD for blurting out no suspicious circumstances. You know, that was so premature because they have no way to know. You know, remember with the Coburger quadruple homicide that Bethany and Dylan, the surviving roommates, were desperate to talk to the police when they got there. They had all kinds of

information they wanted to tell them. They wanted to debrief from the traumatic experience. And you contrast that with these so-called friends, a Brianna, who clam up and decide they're not going to return the mother's calls and are sort of seemed like they're getting their story together. I hold my theories lightly. I don't make up my mind right away about what's going on. And I would hope that the PD there does the same, that they would maybe have a theory about what happens, but hold it lightly until they have a chance to investigate and get to the bottom of this. To Joe Scott Morgan, death investigator, star of body bags of Joe Scott Morgan, Joe Scott, throw me a bone. What is our best hope, is there anything that can be learned from the autopsy at this juncture? What's the problem?

Oh, yeah. There's plenty to be learned from the autopsy, Nancy. Hopefully, layer by layer, they can begin to try to understand what kind of trauma she may have undergone prior to going over that rail. Now, that's a very delicate process, and it does take time. The other piece to this is, I want to make sure that they do a very thorough job on toxicology. One of the things that I'm very concerned about in this case is that if there was alcohol involved, was there anything that had been slipped to her to facilitate this? As you stated earlier, the odds of her throwing herself over that rail are kind of small, right? So would she have been inebriated or compromised in some way that someone could have gotten their hands on her?

We need to explore every single ever. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Josephine Nova joining us, this is Brianna's grandmother. You stated that she was happy. She was looking forward to the tailgate party. forward to the game, had her clothes all picked out that she was going to wear. That's a lot of future planning. People that want to commit suicide are not planning a future. They're planning a way to commit suicide. I'm not buying it. Tell me her state of mind,

Mrs. Nova, when she left for that tailgate party. She did not jump. Someone pushed her. It had to be someone within those two. girls. One of them, I don't know which one was it, but she was jealous of her. And she took one of them took pictures of Brianna when a guy had his arm around Brianna's shoulder and sent those pictures to Brianna's boyfriend in Laredo. That's how the fight started. And as a matter of fact, that night, Brianna was texting her mom telling her about the argument with the so-called friends. She was upset about the argument how mean they were being to her.

Yes. Yes. The mom had a premonition for Brianna not to go with these friends to the tailgate. Why won't Austin PD listen to the mom? Because

we are Field Waters. What should Austin PD be doing right now? I'm sure what they are doing is they're continuing the investigation. Look, this is only four days after this incident occurred, and I think it's a big presumption, the information we're getting now is from the mother. I understand it.

But, again, I'm looking at this from a homicide topic view, and I'm telling you, these detectives are going to have to finish the investigation, and a big part of it, one of your other panel members has already alluded to is that the tox test that come back are going to be, I think you're going to clarify a lot of things in terms of the, her state at the time that this occurred. I've worked a case very similar to this. A young lady went over a railing at a hotel and there were certain circumstances that was very suspicious, later determined that it was an accident.

So I think part of the problem here is we're attaching this term suicide to this, which makes it more painful for the family. Anytime that kind of a term is attached to an investigation like this, right now it's a suspicious death investigation and they're trying to determine what happened. You are comparing Brianna's death to a case you once investigated. You stated that in your case that you investigated, it was an accident. In that case, was the rail over four feet high? Yes.

And how was there an accident? She certainly, the victim certainly didn't trip over it. If it's that tall, how was there an accident? Well, in this particular case, she was highly intoxicated. She'd gone back to the room with a co-worker. He was highly intoxicated. They were in the midst of what they were doing in an intimate way. And at some point in time, she said,

sat on the railing. Okay, there you go. So you're telling me that that victim was having sex on a balcony rail and fell off. I think it's what you're communicating. Is that right? That's what the evidence showed. Okay. That has no similarity to Brianna's case at all.

So comparing those is dangerous. My concern is now, no one has been charged, no one has been named a person of interest or a suspect. But because the Austin PD went on record and stated, there's no suspicious circumstances. If this ever does go to trial, that's going to be defense exhibit number one. Can't you just hear it? Isn't it true, officer, that you yourself stated, there's nothing suspicious here. Didn't you say that? But yet now you want a jury to believe it was a homicide?

That's going to be state. That's going to be defense exhibit number one, isn't it? it feel? Well, I think we're making a big leap there, Nancy, with all due respect. But I will tell you that it is as similar as the comparison to these other cases that you've just put up here. So I just think each case is unique to itself. And while there are similarities to other cases, I think we need to concentrate on this one. We need to let the evidence lead us to where we need to be. And it's always a journey for the truth. But yet you brought up a girl having sex on a railing.

The cases we brought up are examples of sons refusing to speak to moms. What I'm trying to get across here is that I've worked a similar case where you had a young lady who went over a rail. And it was an accident. Those were the circumstances under which it occurred. Now, what we have here in this case is we've got at least 14 or 15 people in an apartment celebrating, or actually, I guess, They're A&M people, so they're not celebrating the loss to Texas. You've got 103,000 people attending that particular game. They've all been partying.

We don't know what the level of intoxication was among all these people. There's a lot of things we don't know. And the information that we're getting is mainly from the mother. And she is trying to communicate what she was told by Austin PD. Now, we all know that the more of these stories get told, the more convoluted they get. So I'm not trying to criticize anybody here except for the fact that I think we need to wait.

Well, it sounds like you're criticizing another name. And let's see what the investigation comes. Well, that may appear to be. I mean, I already know what Austin PD said. They've come out and said there's nothing suspicious. Well, I found a lot suspicious. Has Austin PD made a press release, a formal statement saying that? Or is this what the mother is saying that Austin PD told?

To Sidney summary joining us, crime stories investigative reporter, where is that coming from that Austin PD says, we're not investigating this as a homicide? Multiple statements from the department. They even updated a statement after all of this outrage confirming that they are still not investigating this as a homicide. They say there are no suspicious circumstances and that this is a simple death investigation, which just makes no sense.

Oh, okay. Okay. So, Phil, it is from the Austin PD. It's not the mom, Brianna's mom, having some hysterical fit and making up something. It's from Austin PD. They are the ones that said there's no suspicious circumstances. All right. Then Austin PD is telling you what they are investigating, which is what we call it a suspicious death investigation or a death investigation. That's what they are doing. Now, if the end of this investigation, something, a piece of evidence occurred, then you know this, that changes direction of the investigation, then that will reveal it and that will send that that way. But at this point in time, the detectives are telling everyone that what they have right now is a death investigation, and they're going to continue that way. It doesn't mean that they're not going to go, oh, wow, we've got a piece of evidence here that now sending. us in a murder investigation. That's not what they're saying. They're saying at this point in time the evidence that they have is not leading them to a murder. It's leading them to a death

investigation and they want to find out why and how she ended up on the pavement on the 29th of November. And Sidney, what exactly were the words from Austin PD? What exactly did they say? Because it doesn't sound like what he just said. They say there is no indication of suspicious circumstances. And they update that to say there is no evidence to suggest or support any suspicious or criminal circumstances. That is the language of their statement. They do not believe anyone else was involved in Brianna's death. New York Control Room, could you please send a copy of tonight's program to Austin PD? I'm hearing a yes. So maybe we can help them find the same suspicious circumstances that we have found and that her grandmother has found and that her mother has found.

You know what? It is a sad state when the mother can't grieve for her daughter because she is trying to solve her death. If you know or think you know anything about the death of this beautiful young Texas A&M co-ed, Brianna Aguiletta, please call Texas Crime Stoppers 512-472-8477. Tonight, please join us in our prayers for Brianna's family as they search for the truth. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an I-heart podcast, Guaranteed Human.