OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – Convicted killer Pedro Bravo has died, Local 10 learned Thursday.
Bravo was convicted of killing his friend, University of Florida student Christian Aguilar, who was from Miami-Dade County, nearly 13 years ago.
Local 10 has learned Bravo, also from Miami-Dade County, was found dead Wednesday at the Okeechobee Correctional Institution, where he was serving a life sentence for Aguilar’s murder.
His official cause of death will be determined by the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Prosecutors said Bravo poisoned and beat Aguilar to death in September of 2012 due to jealousy over an ex-girlfriend.
The murder trial of Pedro Bravo
Bravo was convicted of first-degree murder and six other charges in August 2014. It took jurors about three hours to reach their verdict.
Bravo was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole on the murder charge. He did not appear to react when the verdict was read.
Prosecutors claimed Bravo plotted to kill Aguilar after learning he was dating Bravo’s ex-girlfriend, whom both had known during their days together at Doral Academy.
Erika Friman was dating Aguilar at the time of his disappearance in September 2012.
Prosecutors portrayed Bravo as being so obsessed with Friman that he moved to Gainesville in an attempt to win her back.
Aguilar’s body was found three weeks after he was reported missing. His remains were partially buried in a remote field.
Aguilar was last seen alive with Bravo. Bravo admitted the two were in a violent fistfight shortly before the disappearance.
Aguilar’s blood was found in Bravo’s SUV and store surveillance video captured Bravo purchasing duct tape, a hunting knife, intoxicating over-the-counter drugs and a shovel.
Soil samples from the shovel matched dirt from the grave site and dirt on Bravo’s vehicle, which he took to a car wash in the overnight hours of the day Aguilar was reported missing.
Bravo even testified in his own defense, telling the jury that the shovel was for his own suicidal plans.
Bravo denied killing Aguilar in the minutes before the judge sentenced him to life in prison.
“There’s no words to explain the heartache that his family, my family and anyone involved in this has gone through,” Bravo told the judge. “But I know in my heart and I know in my actions that day and I know as well that day knows that I did not kill Christian Aguilar.”