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Erika Friman Testifies On Day Three Of Trial

Erika Friman, the girlfriend of victim Christian Aguilar, continues her testimony from yesterday during the murder trial of Pedro Bravo in courtroom 1B of the Alachua County Criminal Justice Center Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (Doug Finger/The Gainesville Sun)
Erika Friman, the girlfriend of victim Christian Aguilar, continues her testimony from yesterday during the murder trial of Pedro Bravo in courtroom 1B of the Alachua County Criminal Justice Center Wednesday, August 6, 2014. (Doug Finger/The Gainesville Sun)

As time passed on September 20 and 21 of 2012, Christian Aguilar's girlfriend became more and more concerned about his whereabouts.

Erika Friman testified Wednesday in the Alachua county trial of Pedro Bravo that she called Bravo at 4 am on the  21st because she knew the two men had been together.

Bravo told her he and Aguilar had an argument and he had left him someplace north of Gainesville.

Later that morning, Friman and Bravo, who dated in high school until she broke things off before moving to Gainesville to attend Santa Fe College, went to Gainesville police to report a missing person--but was told to go to University of Florida Police because Aguilar lived on the UF campus.

Later in Wednesday's testimony,  Friman read from some of Bravo's journals in which he talked about Aguilar.

Bravo is accused of killing Agular in part because he was upset Friman was now spending time with Aguilar and Bravo was trying to win her back.

Additional testimony from Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Analyst Denise Holmquist revealed her analysis of a plastic bottle, believed to have contained some of the substances Bravo used to help subdue Aguilar.

Holmquist says several levels of testing identified no controlled substances. But, two chemical substances, acetaminophen and diphen-hydramine, were identified in the plastic bottle.

She says these substances are commonly used in manufacturing pharmaceutical products. The state claims that after giving Aguilar the drugs, Bravo then strangled him.

The state will be calling more witnesses today.

For continuing coverage of the Pedro Bravo trial, follow @WUFTPedroBravo on Twitter and listen for hourly updates on Florida’s 89.1 WUFT-FM.

 

Rebecca is a reporter for WUFT News who may be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news @wuft.org