The mother of a 19-year-old Texas A&M university student is pleading for answers after her daughter was found dead outside an Austin apartment complex, hours after attending a college football tailgate. Police are investigating the incident, but the family says crucial details are being overlooked.
A Night Out Ends in Tragedy
Brianna Aguilera was a 19-year-old student at The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M, with ambitions of becoming a lawyer. On Friday, 28 November 2025, she attended a tailgate in Austin for the football game between the University of Texas and Texas A&M with friends.
Early the next morning, around 1 a.m. on Saturday, 29 November, Aguilera was found deceased outside the 21 Rio Apartments at 2101 Rio Grande Street. The Austin Police Department has indicated they believe she fell from the 17th floor and are not investigating the death as a homicide, suggesting it may have been a suicide.
Family Challenges Official Narrative
Brianna's mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, has publicly rejected the suggestion her daughter was suicidal. She describes Brianna as "full of ambition" and excited about her future, having been a year away from earning her coveted Aggie ring.
Rodriguez told local news outlet KSAT that she has received inconsistent information from the Austin Police Department. She also claims detectives have disregarded text messages from her daughter that indicated a fight had occurred between Brianna and another woman in the apartment where she was last seen.
"There was a fight that happened between my daughter and another girl... and the detective just disregarded them," Rodriguez stated. She believes that some of the approximately 15 people present in the apartment at the time hold key information.
Questions Over Police Response and Ongoing Investigation
Further concerns have been raised about the police response in the hours leading up to the discovery of Brianna's body. Rodriguez says she contacted police when her daughter stopped answering her phone after the game, but was told she had to wait 24 hours to file a missing person report.
Although Aguilera's body was located at 1 a.m. Saturday, her mother says she was not informed her daughter was in the morgue until 4 p.m. that afternoon. Aguilera's phone was found later on Saturday.
In a statement to The Independent, the Austin Police Department reiterated that the incident is not being investigated as a homicide and "there are no indications of suspicious circumstances." They confirmed the cause of death will be determined by the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office and that the investigation remains ongoing.
A GoFundMe campaign set up by Brianna's cousin, Amabelii Fernandez, has raised over $31,000, far surpassing its $12,000 goal. The page remembers Brianna as a "seasoned cheerleader" and a Magna Cum Laude graduate from United High School in Texas.
Texas A&M University has been contacted for comment regarding the loss of one of its students.
