Dateline: Circle of Friends - Who was Christian Aguilar and what happened to him? Disturbing details of a deadly love triangle, revealed

NBC’s Dateline: Circle of Friends brought forth the disturbing murder case of 18-year-old Christian Aguilar, a University of Florida freshman. On September 20, 2012, his girlfriend Erika Friman filed a missing persons report. His friend Pedro Bravo was the last person to have seen Christian alive. After an extensive search for several weeks, Christian’s remains were found. Pedro was charged with murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Erika had previously dated Pedro, with whom she broke up when they were in high school. She started dating Christian in college, which angered Pedro. He wanted to seek revenge against his friend. The premeditated murder case became one of the more discussed subjects in the country.

Who was Christian Aguilar?

Christian Aguilar was an 18-year-old Gainesville, Florida, resident. He was a biomedical engineering student at the University of Florida. He was dating Erika Friman. Erika, Christian, and Pedro had graduated from the same high school in Doral, Florida.

On September 20, 2012, when Christian did not come to spend the night with Erika as he had promised her and was not reachable, she decided to go to the police. The police tried to contact his parents, who also shared that they had not heard from him. Pedro had seen Christian the previous day after he dropped him off on the side of the road.

Pedro Bravo becomes the key suspect

The Gainesville Police Department questioned Pedro, as he was the last person to have seen him alive. Pedro said that the day before, they had gone to buy a music CD and grab something to eat.

Pedro shared that they had picked up a hitchhiker on their way back. He described the man to be in his 50s-60s with grey hair. Pedro claimed that the man had some duct tape with him in the backseat. After he dropped him, Christian and Pedro got into an intense argument revolving around Christian’s relationship with Erika, which Pedro was not happy about.

During his initial questioning, he said that they had a verbal argument; he later changed his story and shared that they both got into a physical altercation, with Pedro punching Christian on his face. Pedro dropped him on the side of the road. The detectives pinned their suspicions on Pedro and asked him to share the location where he dropped Christian.

Pedro also revealed that he was having suicidal thoughts. He was taken into custody for 72 hours to check if he would self-harm. As per Oxygen, Detective Matthew Goeckel, of the Gainesville Police Department, suspected foul play as Christian’s phone was switched off.

Search for Christian Aguilar

Meanwhile, the investigators started looking for Christian in the wooded area next to the road that Pedro had allegedly dropped him off. As they looked for clues, several theories were in play, including a possible attack by the many wild animals in the area or abduction by the hitchhiker described by Pedro. Christian’s family, friends, and other volunteers joined the search as well.

Pedro was released after it was determined that he would not harm himself. At the same time, the police came to the realization that he was good at manipulation. They started finding loopholes in his story.

When the detectives questioned him about his physical altercation with Christian, Pedro did not appear concerned, which surprised the police. Goeckel shared,

“There were things that were not adding up.”

Pedro had learnt about Christian and Erika’s relationship from a common friend and felt betrayed.

Pedro’s car was searched, where they found a Gatorade bottle and a roll of duct tape. In the vehicle’s undercarriage, dirt from Levy County was also found.

Pedro is arrested for the murder of Christian

On October 12, Christian’s remains were found in the same area. The duct tape was also found, which is the same as the one in Pedro's car, according to the analysis. The investigators came to the conclusion that it was a premeditated murder as the Gatorade bottle was laced with sedatives.

At Pedro’s home, they found a receipt of a shovel and journal entries on how he was planning to win back Erika. They found all the evidence with the help of an Alachua County jail inmate, with whom he had shared the plan.

As per The Gainesville Sun, Pedro denied the charges. He said,

“"There are no … words to explain this, no … words to explain two years of heartbreak … to his family, my family and anyone involved in this… But I know in my heart, and I know God knows, that I did not kill Christian Aguilar. I will face my sentence. I will do my time."

Pedro was arrested on September 28th for Christian’s murder. He was found guilty in first-degree murder, poisoning, tampering with physical evidence, giving false information on committing a felony, and unlawful transportation of human remains. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Pedro was found dead at the Okeechobee Correctional Institution on March 12, 2025. The case is under investigation by the Florida Department of Corrections.

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