COLLEGE STATION, Texas (LEX 18) — A Laredo family is demanding answers after their 19-year-old daughter was found dead following a tailgate party for the Texas A&M versus UT game on Nov. 28, KGNS News reported.
KGNS detailed that Brianna Aguilera, a Texas A&M student and United High School graduate, was discovered by a bystander after her mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, spent hours trying to locate her daughter and pressuring Austin police to search for her.
Rodriguez told Laredo NBC affiliate KGNS that she became concerned when her daughter stopped responding to text messages and her phone was set to "Do Not Disturb" mode, which violated their safety agreement.
"We always had this rule that if she was going to go out, she had to have her phone on 'location on' and she was going to answer her text to at least let me know she was okay. And so that stopped happening," Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez reportedly contacted Austin police on Nov. 28, she was told 24 hours had to pass before filing a missing persons report. The next morning, her daughter's phone was still pinging at the same location near a creek, KGNS noted.
"Her phone was pinging by a creek, which scared me the most, which made me more scared. That's when I started putting pressure on Austin PD into having a search team go in to the area and search for her because I couldn't locate her and none of her friends were answering," Rodriguez said.
At 4 p.m. on Nov. 29, Rodriguez received devastating news from Austin police.
"So finally, at 4 p.m. I get a call from an officer from Austin PD telling me that my daughter was found in the morgue," Rodriguez said.
After meeting with Austin police, Rodriguez said investigators believe Aguilera fell intentionally, suggesting either suicide or accidental death. Rodriguez strongly disputes this theory, according to KGNS.
"They were thinking that it was a suicide attempt or it was an accidental death. And that's what enraged me because I know my daughter. My daughter loved life. She was so close to graduating. We were going to order her Aggie ring this next semester. She was really looking forward to taking her LSAT's. She was looking forward to applying to law school. She had a 4.0 GPA at A&M. She was very studious," Rodriguez said.
The aspiring lawyer was preparing for her future, making her mother's grief even more profound.
"Setting up for the hardest day that is probably going to be in my life... to put my daughter to rest," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez is asking anyone with information about what happened to her daughter to come forward.
"To see her gone so soon and not have answers and not have anyone take accountability for what happened that night," Rodriguez expressed to KGNS.
According to Austin police, Aguilera's death is not currently being investigated as a homicide since the investigation has not revealed any suspicious details.
The family of Aguilera has created a GoFundMe page in her memory.
