Houston personal injury attorney Tony Buzbee said Monday he and San Antonio’s Gamez Law Firm jointly filed a $1 million wrongful death lawsuit in Travis County over the puzzling November death of 19-year-old Texas A&M student Brianna Aguilera.
Buzbee and his colleagues filed the lawsuit against the Austin Blacks Rugby Club and the University of Texas Latin Economics and Business Association. The petition alleges both organizations illegally served Aguilera alcohol during a tailgate on the day she died, leading to her intoxication.
During a Monday press conference, Buzbee said the suit is necessary to obtain text messages of potential witnesses to Aguilera’s death that weren’t interviewed by the Austin Police Department.
“We believe even more today that this was not a suicide as has been suggested by the police,” Buzbee said. “This was either an accident or something much more sinister.”
During the press conference, Buzbee also brought out potential witness Dannah Rodriguez, who lived in the apartment across the hall from the apartment where police say Aguilera intentionally jumped to her death.
Rodriguez said she and her parents heard a loud argument coming from the apartment where Aguilera was staying. She also alleged they heard loud screaming coming from the apartment around the same time a bystander found Aguilera’s body on the pavement outside the 21 Rio Apartments near the UT campus on Nov. 29.
“It was the type of screaming like when you drop an heirloom that’s really important,” Rodriguez recalled.
Despite Rodriguez’s testimony and proximity to the incident, she said APD hasn’t returned her calls or emails about the investigation into Aguilera’s death.
APD last month determined that Aguilera died by suicide, citing a deleted note on her phone.
However, Buzbee and Aguilera’s family have pushed back at that explanation, arguing that APD’s investigation was rushed and insufficient.
“She had declared her major. She wanted to study abroad,” Buzbee said. “A review of her apartment confirmed that this woman did not intend to harm herself in any way.”
Other than not interviewing Rodriguez, Buzbee said APD also instructed the other students in the apartment at the time of Aguilera’s death not to talk to his law firm. However, he hopes that with the suit, attorneys can obtain text messages and phone calls from key witnesses via subpoena.
“[Brianna’s family] wants the truth, no matter what that truth turns out to be,” Buzbee said. “What we’ve gotten so far is a terrible and shoddy investigation.”
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