Suvechha Sarkar
Christian S. Aguilar was a bright and passionate young man who had just begun a promising chapter of his life. However, it came to an unexpected halt when he suddenly vanished. The following weeks were filled with unanswered questions from his family and the community. The tragic discovery of his remains ultimately turned the case into a murder investigation. ABC’s ’20/20: Killer On Campus’ sheds light on the heartbreaking crime committed by one of the people he trusted most and the investigation that brought justice. It also features interviews with officials related to the case and his loved ones.
Christian Aguilar’s Remains Were Discovered in a Deeply Wooded Area
Christian S. Aguilar was born on November 16, 1993, in Miami-Dade County, in Doral, Florida. He arrived as a bundle of joy in the lives of his parents, Carlos and Claudia Aguilar, after they moved to Miami from Cali, Colombia, to make a life for themselves. Growing up, he was always surrounded by the love of his parents and his younger brother, Alexander. He was a kind and genuine person who always ensured to make others laugh. Christian enrolled at the Doral Academy Preparatory School for his early education. That was where he met Erika Friman and Pedro Bravo as a teenager, and they quickly became close friends. Christian decided to pursue his dream and enrolled at the University of Florida to study Biomedical Engineering.
By then, Christian and his close friends had gone their separate ways for studies. In mid-June 2012, he moved to Gainesville, where Erika was also studying at a nearby college. They began hanging out together, and the friendship blossomed into something more. In August, Pedro had also moved to Gainesville since his friends were there. Christian was living a fulfilled life when everything turned upside down on September 20, 2012. Unlike other days, Erika could not reach him on the call or texts. She even went to check at his apartment, only to find out from his roommate that he had not returned the previous night. Worried, she informed his parents about the situation and went with Pedro to the university police to report him missing. Since he had gone out with Pedro on September 20, police questioned him.
Pedro claimed that he and Christian were driving around that day before they got into an argument. He alleged that Christian had asked him to drop him off, and he did so before driving off. Shortly after, he changed his accounts and claimed that he had beaten up Christian after their argument and left him on the road. More than three weeks of search were in vain until October 12, 2012. Two hunters in a deeply wooded area one hour west of Gainesville made the horrific discovery of a human skull. When officials reached the scene, they found clothing items that matched Christian’s. His remains were bound by duct tape and laid in a shallow grave. The autopsy reportedly revealed that he had been given a laced drink before being strangled. It determined his cause of death to be strangulation.
Multiple Damning Evidence Led to the Arrest of Christian’s Killer
During the initial questioning, Pedro’s conflicting accounts of the fateful day raised questions in the detectives’ minds. Christian was last seen at a Walmart parking lot in his car around 7 pm. Officials discovered that Pedro dated Erika for almost three years before the latter broke up and moved to Gainesville. Erika informed the police that he had not taken the breakup quite well. However, it was contradicted when he claimed that he was happy for her and Christian. What raised red flags was that he had confronted Erika on September 12, 2012, about dating Christian. She had reportedly lied that they were just friends to ensure that they would not hurt Pedro. When experts checked his phone, they found out that he had put his phone in airplane mode for a longer period on the day Christian went missing.
Officials discovered Pedro had used the flashlight app on his mobile for 47 minutes that night. Upon searching his vehicle, they found a receipt for a Big Mac purchase at night, which negated his alibi, where he claimed that he had passed out from pills. Further investigation uncovered footage from a car wash service at 1 am, where he washed the underside of his clothes. The search of Pedro’s apartment reportedly revealed a backpack containing Christian’s driver’s license, identification card, and wallet. Investigators also found a journal where he had written down his plan to remove any obstacles to get Erika back. Since Pedro claimed to have left Christian in a dire state after beating him up, he was initially arrested and charged with failure to render aid. However, on September 28, 2012, he was charged with Christian’s first-degree murder despite his remains not being found.
Forensic Clues and Witness Testimonies Brought Christian’s Killer to Justice
When Christian’s remains were finally discovered, the soil at the scene reportedly matched the one found under Pedro’s tires. The duct tape used to bind him was the same as that found inside Pedro’s vehicle. Furthermore, detectives reportedly found that he had also bought a shovel before the incident. Pedro’s trial began on August 4, 2014, for the first-degree murder along with six other charges: kidnapping, poisoning, tampering with evidence, providing false information to law enforcement, providing false reports, and improper transportation of human remains. A witness testimony from his assigned cellmate, Michael Angelo, led the officials to the location of the shovel.
Ultimately, after a two-week trial, the jury found Pedro guilty on all seven charges on August 15, 2014. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole alongside six more consecutive terms for the other charges. In March 2024, he filed a motion for post-conviction relief on the grounds of a new witness and the recantation of testimony by Michael Angelo. In March 2025, Pedro filed another motion reasserting the same. The prosecution had brought new charges against him, and he was set to appear in court on March 23, 2025. However, Pedro was found deceased on March 12, 2025, at Okeechobee Correctional Institution in Okeechobee, Florida.
Read More: Erika Friman: Where is Christian Aguilar’s Girlfriend Now?
