and, newly in love. the whole world ahead of them. >> he grabs my chin. and pulls me up. and he just gives me this measurable kiss. >> but their romance would lead to something shattering when christian vanished. >> oh god. my young life went out the window. >> it was tense. we were nervous. we were scared. >> i'm starting to believe that there might be more to this than just a missing person. >> where was he? did someone have something to hide? >> there was notes under the car. >> a lover's triangle, a circle of friends. was one of them a killer? >> this was planned. this was on purpose. >> how could you do something so horrific? ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hello, and welcome to dateline. highschoolers erika freeman, pedro, and christina aguilera we're like three peas in a pod. after graduation, they even picked colleges in the same city. then, one of them went missing. last seen in a dangerous area of town. as the hours passed, the mystery deepened. then, investigators uncovered a hidden truth. one they believed might be a motive for murder. here is dennis murphy with circle of friends. >> remember going away to college? maybe your first time away from home, there were new friends waiting to be made, the tingling of possibilities. >> oh god, the first case was amazing. >> sometimes disappointments when things did not work out. >> i thought he was just depressed, we just did not take that seriously and, you know, maybe we should have. >> for three florida teenagers, the decisions they made as they started campus life had terrifyingly, consequences. >> it all seemed so surreal when we talked about it, we were like this can't possibly happen. >> the story of our three begins at a high school near miami, not quite hogwarts but erika, pedro, and christian were inseparable as harry, ron, and hermione. a trio of friends, laughing and wrestling through adolescence together after the academy, a charter school for high achieving smart kids. >> i went there in 2006 for the sixth grade. >> for erica freeman, the academy was a special place. >> i met people from all over the world actually, it's really interesting, and they had a lot of opportunities academically but i don't think you would get an average high school. >> erica was smart, upbeat, and pretty. she loved everything from skydiving to shakespeare and in her sophomore year, she caught the eye of a cute guy in class. pedro. >> he was a big clown, a kind of a funny guy around people. he was making jokes. >> the act out and glass kind of guy? >> not act out in class. but he would go as soon as class was over, and it was just to get a cold laughing and isn't that. >> pedro was a fellow rock solid student with an artistic flair. his journals were full of artistic totals that friends thought had real talent. >> he could draw anything you wanted. >> robert lopez was a friend and classmate. >> so anything from graphic comments up until picture art? >> yeah. he was very gifted in that sense. >> erica and pedro quickly became an item. teenage lovers. but with adult dreams. >> we were a pretty serious relationship, we were a little bit more mature than the average, we didn't go out and drink we were just very focused on school and each other. >> another sharply focused classmate in their circle was pedro's good buddy, christian. >> i met him through pedro, he was awesome, he was funny and he was nice and we instantly were good friends. >> christian was a soccer player who hit the books the son of colombian immigrants became the all american boy, video games, kanye west rap in his ears, and plans to become a doctor. >> it sounds as though to understand christian you have to realize how academically motivated he was? >> oh yeah. he was very driven. and it wasn't like his family was pushing him it was just that he wanted to make them proud. >> these three high achieving musketeers, christian, erica and pedro all went to prom to gather. and post there for this snapshot in the waning days of high school. >> do you guys do a limo in the whole thing? we >> did do a limo. we all showed up and we took plenty of pictures and it was fun. >> for a lot of american kids, it was for these three. graduation from high school is one of those big crossing the woods. a lot of that what are you gonna do next? let's stay friends forever kind of bodies. >> mr. christian aguilar. >> christian, scholar that he was and intent on pursuing premed got admitted to the selective university of florida, in gainesville. >> was he happy when his acceptance came through? >> he was so happy. he was ecstatic. >> and although all three friends wanted to be gators, having it as a top school, only christian got in. erica headed to a different college in gainesville, santa fe. while pedro planned to take classes near his home in miami. and, as graduation neared. more life decisions. erica broke it off with pedro. she didn't want a long distance relationship. after all, they were just 18 years old. the big wide world was ahead of them both. >> i wanted him to find someone and fall in love with them, and live a normal life. i just didn't think he was the one for me. >> they were barely unpacked. classes just starting, when a sudden change of plans. pedro didn't want to be left behind in miami after all. as the fall semester started, he showed up in gainesville as his friend robert remembered. >> he just visited and ended up signing the lease and enrolling for classes at santa fe college. >> maybe there was life after hogwarts, for pedro, erica, and christian. could the friendship be renewed? survive a five hour move up the interstate from miami? if that was indeed the hope, it was dashed with some awful news on september 21, 2012. >> we were tense, we were nervous, we were scared. what could've happened? >> christian never showed up at his dorm that night. he wasn't answering his phone. >> it is not like christian to not answer or disappear. there was something wrong. >> christian aguilar had vanished. >> coming up, what could be behind christian's sudden disappearance. retracing his last steps. a rough neighborhood, and a curious stranger. >> he tells me at some point they stop and pick up a hitchhiker. >> when dateline continues. unlike air fresheners, only new lysol air sanitizer kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. because scent can't sanitize. lysol can. to 50 years with my best friend and my soulmate. [sfx: spilling sound] [sfx: family gasp] nooo... aya... quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty absorbs spills like a sponge. and bounty is 2x more absorbent so you can use less and get the job done with one. you've got a bit of your face on your face. bounty, the quicker picker upper. >> three teenagers, all college freshman in gainesville, florida. long term friends. but now one of them, christian, was a no-show from meeting with his circle of friends. didn't pick up the phone, not so much as the text. >> and it got, later and later, and i started calling our friends. and i was like, hey i would just wanted to make sure. have you seen christian? >> when used not getting tests back. when do you go from worried to freaked out. >> all that night. i couldn't sleep. i had passed by his dorm room to see if possibly his phone died. and he couldn't answer. his phone got wet. i was thinking of all of these different scenarios. he wasn't in this dorm, where was he all night? where was he staying? where was he sleeping? where is he? >> the next morning, still nothing from christian. he had not come back to his dorm. so erica and pedro, her ex boyfriend, together went to the gainesville police. >> so we go to the window and we start explaining our situation. and the lady pretty much laughs at me. >> so they're pulling you off? >> yeah. and i was just like, this lady better hope nothing is wrong here. i was so upset, because i wanted someone to pay attention. this was a serious thing. >> but after all, christian would not be the first college freshman to go off the grid. maybe taking a break from his studies. and crushing in another dorm. but his friends were worried. and the cops told him to go see if the campus police could help. >> the biggest thing that i want to find out is has anybody been in contact? when was the last time they contacted him. when was the last time anyone was in contact with him? >> officer tim talked to the concerned pair found out the paper was the last one to see him the previous day. >> and he walks me through, once he meets christian. they go to the pharmacy because christian needs a flu shot. then they go back to pedro's car which is parked on campus. then at that point they go to best buy. >> a pretty routine afternoon. until, pedro told him, they decided to do something a little impulsive. >> he tells me at one point they stop to pick up a hitchhiker. >> pedro told officer that they drove around for a bit. >> eventually the hitchhiker was like, i want to get out of the car. and christian was like, i want to get on the car too. just pull over. >> and that's where they did, near this auto body shop. a few miles off campus. that body shop raised alarms for officer peck. it had some rough spots. >> some of the area is known to be a high drug area. has some gang activity as well. so that kind of concerned me. where they up there specifically for that reason? or, in the process of christian getting dropped off. did he run into something or wander into that area? >> i know there was a large homeless community in gainesville, there still is, so i was a little concerned about that, if he was in the woods somewhere, and he stumbled into a campground of homeless people, and, you know, they decided to do something to him, you know that with some of the options that i had thought of. >> a gang area? homeless camps? and a mysterious hitchhiker? there seemed reason enough to be worried. erica called christian's parents, carlos and claudia aguilar down to miami. and told them christian was missing. >> what did you think? >> i knew that something was wrong. >> was that worrying for you? his behavior was not at all. >> not at all christian. that was not christian. >> along with christian's younger brother, alex, they jumped in the car to make that long drive up to gainesville. >> i could say that that car was the most silent car ride we've ever had. we didn't talk, we did know what to say to one another. >> what were they missing in? >> miss saying. maybe trying to be positive. it was just him, maybe he went out to a party. maybe got injured, maybe got into a car accident. we couldn't tell. because we don't know who he hangs out with. >> and once they arrived, police had questions for alex and his parents too. >> he brings us into the small little room and we have an officer who gave us a few questions, asking what type of person is christian, is he normally like this, what are usually go out. does he drink. does he do any drugs. >> what were you seeing in christian's parents in this period? >> confused. pain. there was just pain in their eyes. >> but erica says that they were all about to channel that pain into determination. with more friends heading up from miami. >> i had a whole group of individuals who are now just as concerned as i was. just as focused as i was, just as driven to find christian. and it feels so alone once they got here i felt like we could use this. >> christians friends or hope or he would turn up. and soon. and for the officer, the case of the missing students got more baffled got when he got caught of -- christian had been trying to hide something. was his secret the key to finding him? >> there is something else going on here i'm not aware of. what exactly that is? i am not sure. coming up! >> do you know christian? >> yeah. yeah. >> how do you know him? >> i was just concerned i was gonna push him off the edge. >> when dateline continues! ♪(uplifting music)♪ along with significantly clearer skin... skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi 90% clearer skin and less joint pain are possible. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to skyrizi, there's nothing like clearer skin and better movement... and that means everything. ♪nothing is everything♪ now's the time to ask your doctor about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. >> erica freeman and pedro were at the uf police station trying to help the cops track down their friend christian. surveillance cameras were rolling as they made the report to officer tim peck. then his team quickly went to work, tracing the missing student with the usual technological tools, they paint his cell phone and it was off. check the university computers and he had not loved on. >> we checked with the hospitals, local hospitals to see if he was in there and we also checked with our notes from the previous night with his name, to see if he had any contact with us, check with the city and the county their main dispatched to see if they had any contact with him. >> no sign of christian anywhere. >> you're still calling, still texting? >> i'm still calling. still testing. sending messages like we are going to find you. i love you so much. can't wait to see you again. everything is gonna be okay, trying to calm myself down. >> it was in those hours inside the campus police station that erica disclosed a secret that christian had been keeping. it was her secret too. since high school graduation, the breakup with pedro, she and christian had become more than friends. >> it was very exciting. we thought it was great, we thought this is us learning how to get used to gainesville, and it was like i had my best friend with me, and it was somebody who i could always turn to, someone i did always turned to. and somebody now who is gonna be there for me. >> who made the move for the first embrace? >> he did. i, he drove to my house. and i seen him. and instantly, we hugged. and i'm there, and i was just nervous, i had all these butterflies. i hadn't been these nervous. and he grabbed my chin and he pulls me up and he gives me this magical kiss. >> you became a couple that moment? >> oh yeah. it just felt like, is this really happening? is this still really happening? i just kept pinching myself. like god, this is crazy. i can't believe this. >> and in a matter of weeks, their young lives, she and christian had changed completely. they were madly, deeply in love. >> what do you think the two of you had? >> something very rare. something you don't find every day, something amazing. something, i don't even know how to explain what we had. it was like not a care in the world because you are so happy to be with that person. >> young girls are in love sometimes of being in love but this doesn't sound like that. >> oh no, no, this is someone where you clicked on every level. >> but out of friendship and respect they kept the new romance a secret from pedro, erica's ex. yet his friends knew that something was eating away at pedro ever since he graduated from high school, he had been in a kind of funk. >> did he change at all? >> yes as a matter of fact as time went on, he was kind of a little bit more withdrawn, he was starting to keep up with himself more. i thought he was just depressed, you know. we all go through it. >> buddy, robert lopez, had noticed some odd, alarming behavior. >> we all went out to this restaurant, this one. it's well-known in gainesville, it's well next to the stadium. our tab ran over $70. he picked up the whole tab. and we asked, why would you pay for the hold? have you're paying for your classes out of pocket. he said don't worry about, it i will need this money soon. >> that was when we realized, you, know he's not doing okay. >> was pedro suicidal? all the more reason for erica and christian to keep their happy romance quiet. >> i was just concerned that i was gonna push him off the edge. i didn't want him to go home that night knowing i was dating one of our mutual friends. and you know, i'm just gonna end my life right now. >> but now with christian's disappearance, the cat was out of the bag. at the university police station that day, erica blurted it out. with pedro right there in the room. >> do you know christian? >> yeah. yeah. >> how do you know him? >> i'm his girlfriend. >> your his girlfriend? >> yeah. >> okay. >> and she goes on to tell me that her and christian had started dating but they did not think that pedro knew it about them dating. >> how would pedro react to hearing that? the officer sensed that something seems to be brewing in the circle of friends. but what that was was not clear. for now, everyone is focused on finding christian. >> they were all feeling that we were all in this together, we were all worried about christian. he is our friend. we're trying to find out and do whatever we can to help locate him. >> officer peck could see erika was becoming increasingly agitated. so, as the campus cop was checking out the stories these two told him. he decided it was time to bring in investigators from the gainesville pd. the first thing they could do was talk to pedro bravo. >> coming up, a dramatic new clue. >> we find christians backpack. >> where with this discovery lead? 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absolutely. can we provide health care virtually anywhere? we can help with that. is it possible to use predictive monitoring to address operations issues? we can help with that, too. with the advanced connectivity and intelligence of global secure networking from comcast business. >> i am katie phang. it's not just possible. it's happening. here is what is happening. the u.s. government is just hours away from shutting down after house republicans failed to pass a funding bill. hard-liners within speaker kevin mccarthy's lone party seems unwilling to compromise and are even threatening terminating his job. former president donald trump is expected to appear in court on monday for his 250 million dollar civil fraud trial. the lawsuit brought by new york attorney general james alleges that trump and his adult sons exaggerated their business assets for years. now, back to dateline. w, back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. where was christian agular? pedro bravo told campus police that he left his friend in the sketchy part of town after dropping off a hit hitchhiker. but was he telling the whole story? as investigators turned up the heat, pedro would make an intriguing admission. once again, here's dennis murphy with circle of friends! >> college kids in a college town. that first whiff of freedom can lead to irresponsible behavior. but in the case of missing freshman, christian agular, campus police had begun to suspect something sinister may have happened. so they called in a veteran detective from the gainesville pd. >> when i first walked in, there was two girls in the lobby. erika and her sister. there was a male, which later i found out was pedro bravo in an interview room. >> are you pedro. >> since he was the last one to see christian, he topped the list of people that the detective want to speak to. >> i wanted to hear mr. bravo story from beginning to end exactly what he told the, pdco i could get a feel for what was going on. >> he's not missing for long. >> me too, so in the last 48 hours. when have you seen christian? >> yesterday. >> pedro repeated the account of the last day that he had seen his friend. after they ran some errands, grab a bite to eat and swung over to best buy so christian could pick up the latest kanye west cd. that's them around 3 pm, smiling as they walk through the store. >> christian's shirt was tattered. >> and they told the story about how they picked up a rig hitchhiker in a rough part of town. >> how old will you say he was? >> i'd say mid 50s. because he had a big bushy beard with himself. i'd say mid 50s. around that. >> how else was he dressed? >> he had a cowboy hat. >> detective roberts then pressed pedro about how and why he and christian parted ways that night. pedro revealed after dropping off the hitchhiker, he and christian got into an argument about a girl but he had nothing to do with erica. remember, christian and america had tried to keep their new relationship with secrets. this was about another girl in high school. altogether. >> i made a comment about this girl that he had had a crush on for three years. he has poured his heart out to her, and it didn't work out. he got mad. he got silent. very few minutes. and then, he told me to stop. stop the car. he wanted to get out. >> okay and what did you do? >> i was angry at him too, so i stopped the car and said, fine, get out. >> the investigator listened with a skeptical ear as pedro described driving away, stopping at mcdonald's and then going home to bed. with no idea something happened until his phone rang at 4 am. and erica told him that christian was missing. >> i got up and try to go back to sleep because i couldn't. i felt kind of guilty because i dropped him off. on the road. and i was afraid, what is something happens? what if he's lost right now? >> pedro let them search his car for any clues related to christian, and bingo. they found something interesting. >> they found a receipt showing that someone, him or someone else using his vehicle had made a trip to mcdonald's during the night. >> mcdonald's, where pedro claimed he had eaten right after christian jumped out of the car. call it 7 pm and change, and yet the receipt was timed stamped much later. 12:54 am. more than five hours later than he told them. >> you go to mcdonald's in the middle of the night? maybe you forgot something else? >> the back and forth with the detective, started sounding more like an interrogation. >> when you leave things out. it kind of makes you look like you did something bad. >> as to the story about the hitchhiker? the cops checked it out. but could not come up with anything. >> we checked surveillance video in the area where they said they dropped him, and find anybody. we checked the businesses to see if there was someone like that that matched the description of a hitchhiker. and we didn't find anything. >> so, was pedro bravo hiding something. >> is there anything that you need to tell me about? where you went. what time and things like that. >> well, there was, just when the interview was ending. pedro decided to keep talking. there was something that he decided he left out. >> there is one thing that i have to tell, you're right, i have to tell you one thing. >> and that one thing was huge. >> in the scope, it wasn't just really an argument, i made the comments about the girl that he has a crush on. and he got an angry at that. but then he came back with maybe you should go [bleep] yourself. and that's when i turned around and punched him straight in the face. >> a fistfight? this was a new detail he had never mentioned. pedro was now admitting to leaving his buddy at the side of the road bleeding from the sock in his nose. >> now i'm deciding that there might be something more to this than just a missing person. >> but? what while investigators try to figure it out, they decided that they could not let pedro go home. so they charged him with depriving a victim of medical care. for a bloodying christians nose and then leaving him on the side of the road. >> i had a suspicion. that you know, the meeting took a wrong turn and that they got into an argument. what could've happened? what exactly is pedro capable of? >> meanwhile, the search was only getting bigger and for his family and friends, more desperate? >> what is going through your head? is it like, it's me alex, i'm out here in the woods. i'm trying to find you? where are you? >> yeah. i think we were searching it was more just to do something cause you feel so useless and so helpless. so you're just there looking. >> posters are going up? >> where hanging posters. handing out fliers during the football game. it was football season. >> gainesville police were doing their own searches to as they focus more and more of there attention on pedro bravo and his wobbly story. they executed a search of his apartment. less than two days after christian had gone missing. what did they find stached way up in pedro's closet. >> we find christian's backpack hidden in pedro's back back in a suitcase. >> why would a friend have another friend's backpack? >> that's on to say. why would pedro hide his backpack so excessively? because it was very well hidden. so, we thought this is pedro trying to cover up. >> pedro has gone from being a person of interest to a suspect? >> yes. it was very quickly. i felt, that that all happened. it is hard to swallow something that huge. this is somebody you've known for so long. >> erika had to face the possibility that maybe she and christian hadn't been so good. i keeping secrets. maybe pedro had known all about the relationship, and it had sent him over the edge. >> i overheard the police officers discussing like a love, jealous rage kind of thing, like a love triangle i think they had said. >> how did you bare up with that? >> i did a lot to think about. it i did it, i couldn't imagine somebody doing something so horrible. especially somebody as far as pedro. >> but when the crime scene techs saw the crime scene as uv. there it was. blood. now they just had to -- christian. they believe he killed him. on the friday a week after pedro bravo had reported his good friend missing, he was charged with first degree murder. >> with the blood evidence, the backpack being hidden and him being away and not heard of for so long. we upgraded the charge to murder. >> pedro, your high school boyfriend, in your life for a long time, is now charged with first degree murder as that you are describing as the man of your life. >> yes, that's exactly what happened. very strange, strange life i have. >> but there is an axiom in homicide work, nobody no case. investigators had not found christian's body. so what else were they finding out about pedro bravo? >> coming up, the case heads to court. the star witness. >> i didn't want to see him or be around him. i just wanted him gone. >> when dateline continues. all around us. unlike air fresheners, only new lysol air sanitizer kills 99.9% of viruses and bacteria in the air. because scent can't sanitize. lysol can. >> as pedro bravo sat in jail, charged with the murder of his friend, christian agular. the search for christian continued. his family clinging to hope but fearing the worst. >> you're there looking all day from sunrise to sunset with people you are meeting along the way. a bunch of volunteers and police officers. >> but after three weeks of searching. >> just down this road here is where the two men found human remains on friday afternoon. >> two walkers walking through some acreage, came across a body buried in a shallow grave. it was christian. >> in a way, we were waiting it. we were just waiting for that phone call to happen. >> erika could not accept the news. >> you never want to hear that kind of news. at least we were able to find him. >> state of florida versus pedro bravo. >> nearly two years after christian died, his high school friend pedro was now on trial for murder. he pleaded not guilty. >> erika, your personal belief, do you believe pedro killed christian? >> yes. >> why? for what reason? >> i think it was a mixture of jealousy, academically, a mixture of jealousy involving me. >> central to the prosecutions, case simple high school geometry. a love triangle. christian, his new girlfriend erica and her ex, pedro bravo. a motive as old as time, the prosecutor said. >> mr. bravo's plan, was not just to lower christian agular. that's just part of it. he's got to reunite with erica. >> the prosecutor painted a picture not just of a teen depressed over the breakup and obsessed with getting erica back. and his star witness was the very objective pages of obsession, erica. a very nervous erika. >> i did want to see him, i didn't -- , when i just wanted him gone. >> with pedro barely looking at her, erica address some of the nonstop messages that pedro at center. >> i came all this way, and i still love you like everything has happened. and that maybe i'm stupid, but i can't help the feeling. and i'm so sorry. i'm so sorry. >> on the stand asking erika to read out loud sections of pedro's journal. thoughts that would show the jury just how fixated on her he was. >> i can win her back. i will win her back. i want to give up everything to be with her again. >> but it was the site of an evidence bag containing christians backpack, his personal stuff from a carefree, happy time. that caused america to lose it on the stand. >> i got really emotional, and i got really thrown back. i was like why, why did you have to bring this out? why did you want to show me this? >> and the prosecution wasn't done. there was more to its theory of motive. despite their best efforts, christian and erica hadn't done a very good job concealing the relationship from pedro. >> pedro went into christians facebook and email accounts and read conversations between erica and christian. >> christian was the romantic rival, and he needed to go. for him to stay. >> we knew he knew it prior to them going off that day. >> and this wasn't just simply a crime of passion, the prosecution charged. it was a cold, premeditated murder. they said pedro started planning the murder on september 16th, 2012. four days before christian disappeared. >> he's at home, he's on his computer. >> google searches were found on pedro's laptop. questions like, what is chloroform? can robbing alcohol knock someone out? and what kinds of murders get solved? and here on security video, is pedro at a walmart. buying the sleep aid products, 55 yards of duct tape. and a hunting knife. in his hand, was a shovel he just bought at logos. >> he literally bought the murder starter pack. >> and is the prosecution theory goes, pedro used those items to drug and strangle his friend right inside the car. >> and 9:24, the blue blazer polls in. >> they showed the video of pedro's suv in a walmart parking lot. investigators believe that inside the vehicle, the murder is going down. >> they sit there a long period of time and pull up a little further. and sit there for another prolonged period of time. >> when he leaves that parking lot, christian aguilar is dead. he murders him in the car. >> forensics confirm that was christians blood that investigators had found in pedro's as to the. and they discovered even more intriguing evidence in the trunk. an empty gatorade bottle, caked with residue from a sleeping aid and antihistamine. >> putting those two combinations together in a large quantity would cause someone to lose consciousness. >> once christian was, that pedro had to dispose of his friends body. and the tale of how that happened, the prosecution said. was told by pedro's phone. his iphone had been on airplane mode for more than five hours that night. but, investigators could see that pedro had used an app, the flashlight app, for 48 minutes. >> he's using the flashlight, he's very increases body. >> and the prosecution had yet another piece of physical evidence that he said tied pedro beyond a reasonable doubt, to the murder. duck tape. >> he had duck tape in his body, his ankles, his wrist, in his neck. his ankle was identified as being torn by the same piece of tape that was inside pedro bravo's windshield. >> when pedro was done bearing his friend, the prosecutions that, he's stopped at mcdonald's for that bite to eat, and then he drove to a car wash. >> at 1:00 in the morning, we have pedro pulling up to a car wash and washing his vehicle for 12 minutes. tells me he's trying to get rid of evidence. when he got home, he washes clothes and gets in bed in time to get the 4:00 call. asking of christians whereabouts. >> who duct taped him? pedro bravo. who buried him in the grave? pedro bravo. who killed them? pedro bravo. >> after calling nearly 50 witnesses to the stand, the prosecution rested its case. defense only needed one victim in response. pedro bravo is about to take the stand. >> coming up! >> i still love her. >> he would have a dramatically different story to tell. >> the drink, the concoction, and the gatorade bottle. >> yes i drank the concoction that was in the gatorade bottle. >> when dateline continues! the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. >> the prosecutions portrait of home of the xfinity 10g network. pedro bravo was clear. and unforgiving. he was so fixated on winning back his former girlfriend, he would kill anyone who got in the way. anyone. >> i didn't think pedro would deserve to walk the streets. i didn't think it would be safe for anyone to be out. in the real world, with normal people. i think he could be border line sociopath. >> but the defense had a flipside to the pedro narrative. >> 18-year-old honor student from miami. charter academy. he had issues he wanted to talk to his best friend about. >> his best friend, that's what the defense said christian was. to pedro right up until the time he disappeared. his lawyer insisted that pedro never saw christian as a romantic rival. that's because he didn't know that christian and erica were dating until that day in the police station. >> do you know christian? >> yeah. >> how do you know him. >> his girlfriend. >> and now the jury was about to hear from pedro himself, and only pedro, the sole witness for the defense. and when he took the stand, the jurors didn't see some hulking psycho killer, but a pale, intelligent, love sick boy in the tiny suit. >> i graduated from dorlan cadamy yes. >> any distinctions? >> i graduated magna cum laude. >> though he didn't -- , he did concede another key element of the states case. he was desperate to rekindle his relationship with erica. >> i still love her, and i was still very and that murdered with her and i really want to get back together with her. >> and when it became clear that she wasn't coming back. he told the jury that he sank into a deep depression. about erica, and everything else in his sad, disintegrating life. >> basically, i felt like a failure. everything is a mess. everything feels like a mess and i feel like i'm breaking apart piece by piece. >> and that's why he made plans to hang out with christian that afternoon. he wanted help from his old friend. >> christian was one of the people i could talk to about this because he had also gone from the same thing. >> how did that man-to-man talk end up in a fist fight. pedro says it started after christian said something terrible. >> he tells me, why don't you go kill yourself. >> what happened? next >> i turned around. and i hit him in the nose with my fist. >> while you are driving? >> while i was driving, yes. >> that punch in the face could explain how christians blood ended up in the car, next, pedro told the jury that he pulled over and the fight moved into the street. but after a few minutes, pedro left the scene. >> what is christians condition when you leave? >> all i could tell is that he didn't give up right away. but he was still moving. >> still breathing? >> yes. >> when you did this did you have any malicious intent to kill christian aguilar? >> no. it was all spur of the moment. >> you decided to leave? >> yes. >> have you come to regret that decision? >> i feel like i'm going to regret that decision the rest of my life. >> so pedro admitted that he fought christian, but claims he did not kill him. and as he drove away, pedro said the only person that he wanted to destroy was himself. that's when he says that he decided to do it and take his own life. >> now, is this just suicidal ideation or are you gonna act on it? >> i was going to act on it. >> so all of the evidence presented by the prosecution wasn't about murder. it was about suicide. the drug laced, gatorade cocktail wasn't made for christian. it was made for pedro himself. >> did you drink the concoction in the gatorade bottle? >> yes i drank that concoction that was in the gatorade bottle. >> obviously, an unsuccessful suicide attempt. but the defense argued that pedro's desire to end his own life was very real, pedro was combing the web for information about chloroform. rubbing alcohol, and sleeping pills because he was planning his own death. he even brought along a shovel as part of his plan. >> at the beginning, i was going to go and dig myself my grave. >> so the jury had to decide, who is pedro bravo? a killer without a conscience. or a self destructive love sick boy. but before they got the case, prosecutors gave the jury something else to consider. some of the weirder evidence to come from a jailhouse snitch. >> could you state your name please? >> michael johns angelo. >> michael angelo had cut a deal in exchange with leniency since of his own case was a soulmate with pedro bravo. >> one day. he said he needed my help and slid a chip bag under my door. >> the note wanted to find someone on the outside to commit a series of murders with pedro story. suggesting that the real murder was at large. >> he wrote 3 to 4 people unfortunately must stay they would be random individuals but maybe u.s. students. tased to incapacity. strangle to kill. and duct tape. >> basically a plan to say that christian aguilar was murdered by a serial killer still out there. >> so just as the jurors got their head around this bizarre twist, the trial came to an end. and the fate of pedro bravo is in their hands. so much for one family to go through. you could see the tension on their faces as they began reading for the verdict. >> we all talk to the each other, that day wasn't the day to celebrate whatever the jury had decided. >> whatever the jury decided, erica knew that there would be sorrow all around. in fact, the jurors came back in less than four hours and they found pedro bravo guilty of murder in the first degree. a verdict the family wanted. but there were no winners that day about an hour later, he faced the judge at his sentencing. insisting to the end. >> i did not kill christian aguilar. i know in my heart what i, did and i know god knows what i did. >> clearly unmoved, the judge sentenced bravo to life without parole. the day after the verdict, christian family made a heart wrenching visit to the place where the beloved son's body had been found. since his, death they've created the christian aguilar search and rescue foundation which supports the use of tracking dogs to find the missing. and christian's brother,, alex embrace an opportunity and added a bitter sweetness to it. graduating from the university of florida in gainesville. >> i've always followed his example in school and now that examples gone so i have to, i guess, follow my honor. >> erika got her degree in gainesville along with memories she will carry forever. she can't forget that fleeting moment she fell in love with christian. and then he was gone. just like that. >> we weren't even dating that long and we have the death of, what happens if something happens tomorrow and he got hit by a car. and he looked at me, and he was like. i don't know what i would do without you. i don't know what i would, you know? and i looked at him, and i told him. i told you what you're gonna do. you're gonna find somebody, and you're gonna live your life. >> you ever get up in the morning shaking your fist in outrage to the heavens? pedro, why did you do this to me? not just christian as a victim, you become the victim to. >> it's so difficult sometimes to think of it so that way, i would still do anything for christian to be here. there's not gonna be another joke he tells. and another smile i see when i look up from working. or something. it's not gonna happen again. they're just memories. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. thank ♪ ♪ ♪ >> hey, happy saturday. welcome to morning joe: weekend. >> let's dive into the week's top stories. [inaudible] >>

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