A decade after being convicted of murdering his high school best friend, Pedro Bravo attempted to overturn his life sentence through a complex scheme involving false testimony and secret communications — a plan that ultimately ended in failure, a confession, and Bravo’s death.Bravo was serving a life sentence for the 2012 murder of University of Florida freshman Christian Aguilar, who had been dating Bravo’s ex-girlfriend, Erika Friman. In March 2025, Bravo died by suicide inside Okeechobee Correctional Institution, shortly before two people involved in his alleged plot pleaded guilty.
Plot unravelled through phone records and money transfers
Prosecutors say Bravo orchestrated the scheme from prison, using intermediaries to arrange false testimonies. Kelcie Edwards and Michael Angelo, who both later admitted to lying, were key players.Edwards, linked to Bravo through fellow inmate Brandon Campbell, falsely claimed to have seen Aguilar alive after his fight with Bravo. Authorities discovered a trail of messages and Cash App transactions between Bravo and Edwards, revealing the arrangement.“They know everything,” Campbell warned Edwards in one recorded phone call. Campbell was not charged and cooperated with the investigation, reports ABC News.Michael Angelo, who had earlier told the court that Bravo confessed to the murder while in jail, later took back his statement. In 2025, he admitted he had lied and was given a seven-year prison sentence. Kelcie Edwards, who also lied during the case, was given five years of probation after pleading guilty to fraud.
Bravo finally confesses in private
As part of the failed effort to overturn his conviction, Bravo privately admitted to Edwards that Aguilar had died in his car during a fight.The confession came more than ten years after Aguilar’s disappearance, which sparked an intense search across Gainesville. Hundreds of volunteers helped look for him in the surrounding woods and swamps. Bravo had initially claimed innocence, but police grew suspicious after discovering inconsistencies in his story, unusual internet searches, and surveillance footage of him cleaning his car at night.Aguilar’s body was eventually found in a shallow grave in Levy County in October 2012. Bravo was convicted of first-degree murder and six other charges in 2014.
Friendship turns fatal
Bravo and Aguilar had been classmates at Doral Academy Charter School in Miami and were both studying in Gainesville when the tragedy occurred. Friman, the former girlfriend, first reported Aguilar missing, alongside Bravo, who acted concerned at the time.Bravo’s handwritten journals, internet history, and physical evidence led investigators to build a strong case against him. The 2025 revelations and failed appeal attempt have now closed a major chapter in the long-running case.
