REPORT: Texas Sheriff Arrests Border Patrol Agent as Alleged Serial Killer

REPORT: Texas Sheriff Arrests Border Patrol Agent as Alleged Serial Killer

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https://media.breitbart.com/media/20...na-640x480.jpgPhoto: U.S. Border Patrol15 Sep 201810A Texas sheriff arrested a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Laredo and alleges he killed four women and abducted a fifth.

Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar told reporters at a news conference on Saturday that he arrested U.S. Border Patrol Agent Juan David Ortiz early Saturday morning, the Associated Press reported. The agent is accused of killing four women and abduction a fifth, the report states.



Sheriff Cuellar told reporters that Agent Ortiz is a 10-year veteran supervisor of the Border Patrol. Deputies detained the agent following a two-week murder investigation following the discovery of the bodies of two women the agent is accused of killing, KGNS reported on Saturday. The Webb County Sheriff’s dispatched deputies to a location in another part of the on Saturday morning where they found the body of a third female victim. Deputies recovered the body of a fourth woman shortly after noon on Saturday, the report states. That woman’s body was located near Interstate 35, north of Laredo.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images...lpl_normal.jpgHarry Sullivan@SullyKGNS








Authorities discover 2 bodies overnight bringing the weeks total up to 4. They are investigating a person of interest at this point. We will have more information hopefully in the coming hours. @KGNSnews #laredo

2:11 PM - Sep 15, 2018 · Laredo, TX

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Investigators found the first three bodies in a remote area in the northwest part of the county, the Laredo Morning Times reported.


A woman claiming to be another victim of the agent’s alleged attacks escaped from Ortiz and contacted law enforcement.


Sheriff Cuellar told reporters that Ortez fled from Texas Department of Public Safety troopers who later found him hiding in a hotel parking lot in Laredo, KTRK ABC13 reported. The sheriff described the veteran Border Patrol agent as a “serial killer.”

The Webb County District Attorney’s Office told reporters that all of the victims were prostitutes. At this time, officials said they do not expect to find any additional bodies. They also said Ortiz is believed to have been working alone.


“We have probable cause to believe that he is responsible for this series of murders, which I would qualify as a serial murder,” District Attorney Isidro Alaniz told reporters.


Agent Ortiz is now in custody in the Webb County Sheriff’s Office jail and stands charged with four counts of murder and a single count of aggravated kidnapping, Sheriff Cuellar stated.


Texas Rangers are taking the lead on the investigation at this time, officials stated.


Police identified one of the victims as 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez of Laredo. Investigators found her body on September 4. Police did not disclose her cause of death.


The second victim, 42-year-old Claudine Anne Luera, was located alive along Texas Highway 255 near mile marker 436. Paramedics rushed the woman to a local hospital in critical condition. She later died from her wounds, the Laredo newspaper reported. She is reported to have suffered head trauma. The other victims’ identities have not yet been released.


The Laredo Police Department issued the following statement on Saturday afternoon:

We want to reassure the citizens of Laredo that the community and your families are safe. There has been a recent breakthrough in the investigations and there has been someone detained. That information belongs to the corresponding agencies who are handling the information and will make a more in depth release at the appropriate time. We value the release of timely information and we are making this notice public in order to remove any unnecessary fear in the community.
There will be information made available very soon by those agencies who are in charge of the case. (In the) meantime we maintain our city’s safety and security and our responsibility to make you feel safe as well.

The Associated Press reported that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed Ortiz is a supervisory Border Patrol agent. Breitbart Texas reached out to Laredo Sector officials on Saturday afternoon. A response was not immediately available.


https://www.breitbart.com/texas/2018/09/15/report-texas-sheriff-arrests-border-patrol-agent-as-alleged-serial-killer/

US border agent in Texas confesses to 4 killings, police say

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https://media.breitbart.com/media/20...ce-640x430.jpgThe Associated Press17 Sep 20181LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor who confessed to killing four women and assaulting a fifth who managed to escape remained in jail Monday, police said in court records.


Juan David Ortiz is being held in Laredo on $2.5 million bond on four counts of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful restraint.

According to affidavits , the 35-year-old Ortiz “provided a voluntary verbal confession” early Saturday in the deaths of the women. Ortiz was arrested a day after being found hiding in a truck in a hotel parking lot in Laredo, at about 2 a.m. Saturday, capping what investigators portrayed as a 10-day string of violence. Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said Saturday that investigators “consider this to be a serial killer” whose victims were believed to be prostitutes.

Alaniz described how the Customs and Border Patrol supervisor continued going to work as usual throughout that time.
“As law enforcement was looking for the killer … he would be reporting to work every day like normal,” he said.
It all began with the discovery Sept. 4 of the body of 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez. According to court records, Ortiz said he killed Ramirez a day earlier. Like the other victims, Ramirez was shot in the head and left in a road in rural northwest Webb County.

She was a mother of two. Her mother, Maria Cristina Benavides, told the San Antonio Express-News on Sunday that she had been collecting donations on a street corner Saturday to pay for her daughter’s funeral.
“I hurt a lot. All I want is justice. I want that guy to die in jail for taking the life of my daughter,” Benavides said.

A second victim, 42-year-old Claudine Anne Luera, was found shot and left in the road Thursday morning, badly injured but still alive, according to the affidavit. The mother of five died at a hospital later that day.
On Friday, according to the affidavit, Ortiz picked up a woman named Erika Pena. She told police she struggled with Ortiz inside his truck, where he pointed a pistol at her, but that she was able to flee. She made it to a gas station where she found a state trooper whom she asked for help.

According to the affidavit, Ortiz told investigators that after Pena ran off, he picked up his last two victims, whose identities have not yet been released by authorities.

Alaniz said one of the unnamed victims was a transgender woman. At least two were U.S. citizens; the nationalities of the others were not known, he said. He said investigators are still working to determine a motive.

Ortiz was believed to have acted alone.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a statement offering its “sincerest condolences” to the victims’ families and saying criminal activity by its employees is not tolerated.

The Texas Department of Public Safety, whose Texas Rangers are investigating, referred questions on the case to the Webb County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Martin Cuellar did not return several messages seeking comment.
Jail records don’t list an attorney to speak for Ortiz, who had worked for Border Patrol for 10 years. He is the second Border Patrol agent in Laredo to be arrested on a murder charge this year after Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles was accused of killing a woman with whom he was romantically involved and her 1-year-old child. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in that case.

https://www.breitbart.com/news/us-border-agent-in-texas-confesses-to-4-killings-police-say/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

He is the second Border Patrol agent in Laredo to be arrested on a murder charge this year after Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles was accused of killing a woman with whom he was romantically involved and her 1-year-old child. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in that case.

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Laredo Border Patrol agent pleads not guilty in double homicide case, judge issues gag order

By Joana Santillana, LMTonline.com / Laredo Morning Times
Published 1:35 pm CDT, Tuesday, August 7, 2018


The judge presiding over the case of the Laredo Border Patrol agent indicted on two counts of capital murder has issued a gag order at the defense's request, precluding all parties involved from publicly discussing the case.

Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles, 29, appeared before 49th District Court Judge Joe Lopez on Monday for an arraignment. He pleaded not guilty to both capital murder charges.

Burgos-Aviles, who hails from Puerto Rico, had a supervisory role in the Laredo Sector Border Patrol before his arrest on April 9.

A high profile case that made international news due to its unusual nature, Burgos-Aviles is accused killing his alleged 27-year-old lover and the couple's 1-year-old child.


The indictment alleges that Burgos-Aviles repeatedly stabbed Grizelda Hernandez, slashed Dominic Alexander Hernandez's throat and stabbed him in the chest.

Attorneys J. Eduardo Peña and Silverio Martinez, both of whom have experience trying capital murder cases, are representing Burgos-Aviles. On July 25, Peña filed a motion to enjoin attorneys, their staffs, law enforcement officers and witnesses involved in the case from discussing it with the press.

The Webb County District Attorney's Office did not oppose the motion. Lopez granted it Monday morning.
In his order, Lopez writes that the court has a duty to preserve Burgos-Aviles' right to a fair trial by and impartial jury. If possible, the court must ensure that potential jurors are not prejudiced by pretrial publicity, the document states.

"This court takes judicial notice of the unusually emotional nature of the issues involved in this case," the order states.
All hearings will remain open to the public. However, prosecutors, defense attorneys, police, witnesses and other officers of the court with ties to the investigation are barred from discussing, summarizing or commenting on the case.

Peña told the court that the international attention the case had received could influence potential jurors. He cited empirical studies showing that jurors hearing death penalty cases that have received extensive pretrial publicity showed bias toward the defendant, increasing the likelihood of a conviction.

He pointed to the multiple prominent media outlets covering his client's case, such as Newsweek, the Washington Post, the Associated Press, Fox News and the New York Post.

"The various and numerous news articles and stories disseminated by the news media have already generated a tremendous amount of public anger, hate and prejudice toward (Burgos-Aviles)," Peña's motion states.
At a bond hearing in April, Martinez had filed a motion to make the hearing private and not allow any media in the courtroom making a similar argument about "poisoning" the jury pool. 406th District Court Judge Oscar J. Hale Jr. denied the motion and, after a two-day hearing, denied the bond request. Burgos-Aviles remains behind bars at the Webb County Jail.

Since there is no official witness list from either side yet, the order extends to people who have given statements to law enforcement or prosecutors and those who have previously testified at hearings related to the case.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin June 10, 2019. District Attorney Isidro "Chilo" Alaniz had said the process could take up to two months since jurors are questioned on a one-on-one basis.

https://www.lmtonline.com/local/crim...photo-14699406