Defense Denies Accused Killer Asked Siri for Help
-- A defense lawyer challenged the suggestion that an accused murderer asked the iPhone application Siri for help in hiding the victim's body.
Pedro Bravo, 20, is accused in a Gainesville, Fla., courtroom of killing his friend Christian Aguilar in 2012 in a jealous rage allegedly because Aguilar was dating Bravo's ex-girlfriend from high school, Erika Friman.
The prosecution on Tuesday displayed for the jury to see a grab from Bravo's iPhone that asked Siri, "I need to hide my roommate." The grab showed a supposed response from Siri that replied, "What kind of place are you looking for?" and listed swamps, reservoirs, metal foundries and dumps.
Under cross examination, however, Detective Matt Goeckel conceded that Bravo had an iPhone 4 which did not have Siri capability and there was no proof that Bravo had asked Siri for suggestions on disposing of a body. The detective said the image on Bravo's phone was a "cached photo."
The defense also pointed out that Bravo and Aguilar were not roommates.
Several news outlets, including ABC News, initially reported that the prosecution contended that Bravo had asked Siri for help in deciding where to hide a body. The Gainesville Police Department tweeted today that "GPD Det. Goeckel certainly did not testify to that."
Aguilar's body was found in a forest.
During Tuesday's testimony, medical examiner Martha Burt told the court about fragments of duct tape found on the victim’s body.
“The tape appeared to be looped around both wrists,” Burt said.
The jury heard the accused killer Monday, when his interrogation tapes were played in court. In that interrogation, Bravo admitted to police that he met Aguilar on the night of his death.
“He got out of the car and I fought him and after that, I remember going in the car and I remember seeing him in my rearview mirror while I was driving away,” Bravo said during the interrogation.
Prosecutors agree that Bravo drove away, but they allege that he did so with Aguilar’s body in the back of his SUV, later stashing it in a remote field.
Aguilar’s body was discovered 22 days after he went missing.
Bravo, who has pleaded not guilty, sat stone-faced during Tuesday’s testimony.
Prosecutors last week revealed a photograph in court of the belt they say Bravo used to kill Aguilar. Authorities have also focused on a sketch pad they say Bravo filled with hate-filled messages.
“No one will stop me,” he wrote in one passage, prosecutors allege. “I will get out of Miami and into Gainesville by January 2013 and I will get her back.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this story included the prosecution’s assertion that the defendant asked Siri on his iPhone the following, “I need to hide my roommate.” Later in the trial, however, a police detective testified that the defendant could not have issued that query from his iPhone, since his phone did not have that capability.
