. >> reporter: at the time, erika friman was dating christian's close friend, class clown, pedro bravoso tell me more about pedro in high school. >> he was always quite sarcastic. quite funny. he was able to make me laugh so easily. he was very much an animal lover and he liked action movies. you know, he liked superheroes. >> reporter: the beauty with the big hazel eyes is the center of pedro's world. >> we would go out. we would go on dates. we texted all the time. >> reporter: did you say you loved each other? >> yes, we did. we did say we loved each other. and for a long time i thought that was kind of what love was like. >> reporter: it seemed their love is built to last. >> i mean, not many relationships go almost three years, but -- >> reporter: especially not in high school. >> yeah, it's, it's kind of unheard of. >> reporter: they all go to prom together. but as graduation approaches, pedro and erika's puppy romance is almost over. at one point, you decided this relationship wasn't working for you. >> yes, i did. i had talked to him about it, maybe we should go on a break. i d

>> it's christian's. >> reporter: a moment too tough for friman. say bravo followed friman to gainesville from miami writing about it in a sketch book. >> no one will stop me. i will get out of miami and into gainesville by january 2013 and i will get her back. >> reporter: friman says bravo threatened suicide and hoping advice from aguilar would help she says she arranged for the two to meet. >> at this point, did you still care about pedro? >> i did, but i mean i cared about anyone who claimed that they were suicidal. >> reporter: the two men captured shopping on surveillance images. investigators say bravo had bought a shovel and duct tape both found near the body. in the sketch book now used as evidence against him he wrote "i am a monster for having hurt chris the way i did." such a tough case. >> it sure is. okay, gio, thanks. >>> now to a murder mystery. a mother of two strangled to death in a park in a quiet neighborhood. police are hunting for the killer. they say they have no suspects right now and abc's reena ninan has the story. >> repo

bravo dating erika friman in high school.man calling it off heading to gainesville for college and dating aguilar. >> i didn't want to throw him over the edge or anything and say, by the way, i'm dating a mutual friend of ours. >> reporter: they say when bravo found out he hatched a plot to kill his high school friend in order to get friman back. bravo's attorneys say he is not guilty of murder. apng, bravo is chaed illegay fse aceson. dan abrams here right now and, boy, the prosecutors have quite a case there. >> there are very few cases that go to trial with this much evidence against someone. you're talking about physical evidence that linzie laid out, searches and video evidence, motive. you've got almost everything yo lt t n h i soe' ye y atnsfeut p hi a long shot defense it is, seems to me it may be the only hope that they have is that somehow he's a really good witness who will lay out exactly what he claims happened, that, yes, we're together. this and we get in a fight and then i leave, but it's just -- it's such a t

week after that sensational trial we were the first to speak to 20-year-old college student erika friman center of it. the morning christian aguilar went missing two people showed up at the university of florida police station in september of 2012, erika friman, the hazel-eyed beauty aguilar's current beauty and her ex-boyfriend, pedro bravo. >> one thing that i remember thinking that was strange right when we came in i overheard a police officer saying, oh, this love triangle thing, you know, one of the boyfriends is missing. >> reporter: at the other edge of that, this teen, pedro bravo, was not only her ex but also one of christian's best friends and it didn't take police long to suspect him. >> was there a moment during that interrogation that you looked at braff so and said, i'm speaking to a murderer? >> i knew certainly after speaking with him for just a few minutes that i was speaking with someone who was trying to be extremely deceptive. >> so deceptive that out of jealousy he tricked aguilar into meeting then drugged him and strangled him in his blue chevy suv in a walmart park

he was desperate to rekindle his relationship with erika friman. >> i still loved her.anted to get back with her. >> and whether it became clear that she -- when it became clear that she wasn't coming back, he told the jury he sank into a deep depression about erika and everything else in his sad, disintegrating life. >> basically how i felt like a failure. everything's a mess. everything feels like a mess, and i feel like i'm breaking apart piece by piece. >> that's why he made plans to hang out with christian that afternoon. he wanted help from his old friend. >> chris was one of the people i could talk to about this because he had also gone through the same thing. >> so how did that man-to-man talk end up in a fist fight? pedro says it started after christian said something terrible. >> and he tells me, why don't you go [ bleep ] kill yourself. >> what happened next? >> i turn around, and i hit him

bravo dating erika friman in high school.ding to gainesville for college and dating aguilar. >> i didn't want to throw him over the edge or anything and say, by the way, i'm dating a mutual friend of ours. >> reporter: they say when bravo found out he hatched a plot to kill his high school friend in order to get friman back. bravo's attorneys say he is not guilty of murder. well, bravo is charged with first degree murder, kidnapping, illegally transporting a dead body and providing false statements to law enforcement. he faces life in prison. if he's convicted. george. >> thanks. dan abrams here right now and, boy, the prosecutors have quite a case there. >> there are very few cases that go to trial with this much evidence against someone. you're talking about physical evidence that linzie laid out, you've got computer searches, you've got video evidence, you've got motive in this case. you've got almost everything you could possibly have and the defense is, yeah, we were together and you know what, yeah, we got in a fight an

murder, even before the body was discovered, allegedly part of a plot to get his ex-girlfriend, erika frimanhe three students graduating from the same high school just months earlier. police then searching bravo's truck finding bloodstains, a cracked windshield and scrapes on the ceiling. prosecutors say all signs of aguilar's violent struggle, as bravo allegedly strangled him with a belt in the suv. suggesting officers didn't keep detailed record. >> if you could say there was sloppy police work, you hope that the jury goes back there, if he didn't do right, what else did the police get wrong. >> reporter: for "good morning america," bazi kanani, abc news, washington. >>> more news overnight. as always, we turn to ron delay -- claiborne. >>> hi, everybody. good morning, everyone. in the news, images coming out this morning of a horrible racetrack accident, police say nascar driver tony stewart struck and killed another sprint car driver after the victim crashed his own car, and got out in the middle of the track. it happened saturday night in upstate new york, stewart hasn't been charged an

september night police say bravo drankled his friend in a fit of knellous si over this woman, erika frimanschool sweetheart. he buried his friend in a shallow grave but refused to tell police or his family where it was. after the verdict his father spoke. >> now in the minutes after the trial, are you ready to forgive? >> not yet because pedro bravo didn't show any signs of repent. >> reporter: but he added at least now his healing can begin. for "good morning america," matt gutman, abc news gainesville, florida. >> the case is gruesome and very sad. let's bring in abc news legal analyst ryan smith this morning. ryan, good morning. thanks for coming in. were you surprised at how speedy the verdict was. >> i was not. not when you have a mountain of evidence against you like pedro bravo did. they had video of him picking a murder starter kick, duct tape and shovels. and not only that, dna evidence and blood evidence in that car. that stacked up against him and made imalmost impossible for an acquittal. >> what was the strategy behind him taking the stand. >> you had to. he had to take the st

september night police say bravo strangled his friend aguilar in a fit of jealousy over this woman, erika frimanravo's high school sweetheart. but in college she was dating aguilar. bravo then allegedly buried his buddy in a shallow grave an hour from gainesville but refused to tell police or aguilar's family where it was. after the verdict aguilar's father spoke. now in the minutes after the trial and the verdict, are you ready to forgive? >> not yet because pedro bravo didn't show any signs of repent. >> reporter: but he added at least now his healing can begin. for "good morning america," matt gutman, abc news, gainesville, florida. >> the case is really gruesome and very sad. let's bring in abc news legal analyst ryan smith this morning. ryan, good morning. thanks for coming in. we appreciate it. >> sure. >> were you surprised at how speedy the verdict was? >> i was not. not when you have a mountain of evidence against you like pedro bravo did. they had videotape of him picking up what prosecutors call a murder starter kick, duct tape and shovels and things like that. they had motive which t

in a fit of jealousy after learning that aguilar was dating his ex-high school sweetheart, erika friman enamored with her and wanted to get back with her. >> reporter: he testified he did get into a heated argument with aguilar. >> i strike him with my open palm in the face. and then i strike him again. >> reporter: but that he left aguilar alive. >> all i could he didn't get up right away but that he was still moving. >> reporter: bravo insisting the only life he planned to take that night was his own. even reading from his suicide note, he says he wrote it just after the fight. >> i'm sorry, there is no right way to explain why i'm doing this. >> reporter: but prosecutors say that note is all part of bravo's web of lies. alleging he killed aguilar in cold blood and buried his body in a shallow grave. >> the shovel that's been introduced into evidence, that is your shovel. >> yes. >> you bought it. >> yes. >> okay. you hid it. >> yes. >> reporter: but when confronted with the evidence against him, bravo danced around every word. >> chris admitted to you in the car he was dating erika,

actually once they got up underneath the confederate battery were heard by a south carolinian infan friman virginia irtill artillery men. they were looking for the mine, rumors were flying and anywhere where the lines were close, the confederates were digging listening galleries. there's one spot where the confederate counter mine goes over top of the union mine. they just didn't go deep enough. the union mine was 16 feet down. the confederate listening galleries would go down 8 to 10 feet so they were right on top and, yes, at night when it was quiet, they were hearing the sounds of dagiigging below them. the end of the mine would be filled with 8,000 pounds of gun powder. the initial battle plan was to blow up the gun powder, create a large hole in the confederate lines. the initial attack would be led by african-american troops, and they would roll up the confederate lines to the north back behind me, to the south behind you, and then the rest of the troops would go through -- around the hole and capture the cemetery about 19,000 yards behind us here. if grant could get guns up on top o