News and Public Media for North Central Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Police have no evidence of missing UF student

lost uf student

Missing University of Florida freshman Christian Aguilar may be seriously injured, and police have not found evidence leading to where he is.

"We're still searching for Christian," said Officer Ben Tobias, Gainesville Police Department spokesperson. "Christian has not been located, and no evidence of Christian has been located."

Aguilar, an 18-year-old biomedical engineering, went missing after an apparent altercation with Pedro Bravo, a Santa Fe College student.

The last place police can confirm the two were at was Best Buy at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Tobias said.

"After that, it gets a little fuzzy on where exactly they were," he said.

Bravo gave police three different versions of what happened with Aguilar, Tobias said. He was held for mental examination under Florida's Baker Act on Friday after he said he wanted to hurt himself.

Bravo has since been arrested for depriving a victim of medical treatment, a third-degree felony.

Police are following up on phone calls from people who claim to have seen Aguilar, Tobias said. They are trying to create a "roadmap" of where Aguilar and Bravo were on Thursday.

Bravo told investigators he was involved in a fight with Aguilar and left him in a parking lot near Streit's Motorsports on NW 13th Street.

Police have searched the parking lot but found no evidence, Tobias said. They believe Aguilar is injured and unable to seek medical attention.

"I believe he's alive," said Erika Friman, Aguilar's girlfriend. "I'm not going to think otherwise until we have evidence."

Friman said she used to date Bravo, whom she met in high school. After they broke up, she started dating Aguilar, whom she has also known since high school.

She insisted her relationship with Aguilar had nothing to do with Thursday's altercation. She said she thought her boyfriend and Bravo were on good terms.

Friman said the last text message she received from her boyfriend was to have a good day in school.

Carlos Aguilar, the missing student's father, continues to search for his son.

"It's a nightmare," Aguilar said.

Katherine Hahn edited this story online.

Leah is a reporter who can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.