GUILTY TX - Sheriff: U.S. border patrol agent suspected of killing 4 women, 15 Sept 2018

[carbuff]

How long had he been on this job, I wonder? And where was he working before that?

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Border Patrol Agent Arrested in Connection With Murders of 4 Women

Mr. Alaniz said Mr. Ortiz is suspected of shooting the four victims, two of whom were identified on Saturday as Melissa Ramirez, 29, and Claudine Luera, 42. Ms. Luera was found still alive but in critical condition on Thursday near a stretch of Texas Highway 255, but later died at a nearby hospital.

Another female victim remained unidentified and was referred to as Jane Doe, Mr. Alaniz said. The fourth appeared to be a transgender woman, but authorities referred to her as John Doe.
...

Mr. Alaniz said authorities tracked down Mr. Ortiz after a woman, also described as working as a prostitute, escaped after having been abducted. She claimed that the agent, a married father of two young children, had torn off her blouse before she could run away from his vehicle. She ran until she found a police officer at a nearby gas station.

She then described the suspect to the officer and provided details about his vehicle and his home, Mr. Alaniz said. He said the woman told authorities that she grew suspicious of the agent after asking him about the spate of killings.​

 

[JDough]

Border Patrol Agent Arrested in Connection With Murders of 4 Women

Mr. Alaniz said Mr. Ortiz is suspected of shooting the four victims, two of whom were identified on Saturday as Melissa Ramirez, 29, and Claudine Luera, 42. Ms. Luera was found still alive but in critical condition on Thursday near a stretch of Texas Highway 255, but later died at a nearby hospital.

Another female victim remained unidentified and was referred to as Jane Doe, Mr. Alaniz said. The fourth appeared to be a transgender woman, but authorities referred to her as John Doe.
...

Mr. Alaniz said authorities tracked down Mr. Ortiz after a woman, also described as working as a prostitute, escaped after having been abducted. She claimed that the agent, a married father of two young children, had torn off her blouse before she could run away from his vehicle. She ran until she found a police officer at a nearby gas station.

She then described the suspect to the officer and provided details about his vehicle and his home, Mr. Alaniz said. He said the woman told authorities that she grew suspicious of the agent after asking him about the spate of killings.​

Above BBM- this is very disturbing. He took the victim(s) to his home?

 

[MsFacetious]

Did he just suddenly go off the rails? Or has something like this been going on for a while with women who just weren't noticed?

That's what I was wondering. Is he a spree killer or a serial killer? I wonder if maybe his wife left him, which triggered a killing spree and that's why he's able to take them to his home as well?

 

[margarita25]

Juan David Ortiz: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

According to the Webb County Sheriff’s Office, Ortiz has confessed to four homicides as of Saturday afternoon.

...

Ortiz was a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol at the time of his arrest. He was a part of the Highway Interdiction team, whose role was to “observe vehicles traveling on IH-35 with the goal of intercepting vehicles engaged in narcotics trafficking, human trafficking, etc.,” according to the documents as seen above.​

Wow just wow.

 

[Niner]

Well - he's not in the "system" yet. I'll keep checking to "see" when his 1st court date will be. Maybe Monday?

 

[sweetcaro]

What an ahole. Props to his 5th victim, she has for sure saved lives!

 

[CARIIS]

Did he just suddenly go off the rails? Or has something like this been going on for a while with women who just weren't noticed?

This is what I think too. People at 35 dont suddenly wake up and decide to "become" a serial killer

Its creepy its like an 18 wheeler serial killer.

Anyone know what kind of vehicle he uses when working?

are they divorced?

It would be interesting to know if the transgender indiv was killed much quicker than the others



She then described the suspect to the officer and provided details about his vehicle and his home,

 

[CARIIS]

Did he just suddenly go off the rails? Or has something like this been going on for a while with women who just weren't noticed?

This is what I think too. People at 35 dont suddenly wake up and decide to "become" a serial killer

intel supervisor for the Border Patrol,

aggravated assault, unlawful restraint & 4 cts of murder.


Its creepy its like an 18 wheeler serial killer.

was off duty and in his own vehicle, a white four-door Dodge truck.


Wonder where he was before this job - are there a lot of missing ladies there?

The term kidnapped on one victim is odd no? It does not sound like a trick in that way (He picked [the fifth woman] up, she went willingly with him )

???

Is his family alive

Maybe he did not bring all the victims to his house?

she said Ortiz pointed a gun at her when she tried to escape from his vehicle, according to the documents. “Erika stated David began to act weird when she began to speak about Melissa, a female she knew who had been discovered dead the week before,

David grabbed her shirt to prevent her from exiting the vehicle. Erika began to scream for help. Erika pulled off her shirt allowing her to escape and run away from the vehicle,”

Ortiz said the two drove outside city limits and stopped so Ramirez could urinate

Sept. 13 Ortiz picked up Claudine Ann Luera and drove her outside city limits on U.S. 83, the affidavit said. She exited his truck and Ortiz shot her "multiple times in the head" according to the affidavit. She died later at a local hospital.

....so it does not sound like this was sex driven?

more like woman rage ?

He was off duty - I wonder if he was uniform

Texas Border Patrol agent accused of "serial killing spree" in Laredo

 

[mickey2942]

This is so horrific.

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Border Patrol agent fatally shot 4 victims in the head, documents say

Juan David Ortiz, 35, who was arrested Saturday, was being held on four counts of murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful restraint. His bond was set at $2.5 million.
...

After Pena began talking about a woman she knew, Melissa, who had been found dead the previous week, the man began "acting weird," she said. Later, after they left the house and drove to a gas station, Pena and the man began talking about the dead woman again, when he pointed a pistol at her and grabbed her, she told authorities.

She tried to get away but the man grabbed her shirt to prevent her from leaving. She pulled the shirt off and fled his pickup truck, running to a state trooper who was filling his vehicle at the gas station, the documents state.
​

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Relatives mourn the loss of victims slain in Laredo by what police call a serial killer

RIO BRAVO — The wooden urn holding Melissa Ramirez’s ashes waits in her mother’s kitchen, part of a small altar that includes a photo of the smiling girl, another of a brother who died years earlier, and a Bible opened to Psalm 91.

Her mother, Maria Cristina Benavides still lives in fear, despite the arrest early Saturday of Border Patrol agent Juan David Ortiz, who is in jail and charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of Ramirez and three others. Investigators say he confessed to the killings.

“I don’t feel secure. I’m afraid for my grandchildren. I don’t really know who killed Melissa and I don’t know if there was more than one,” Benavides, 51, said Sunday afternoon.

Teary-eyed and sunburned from collecting donations on a street corner Saturday to pay for her daughter’s interment, Benavides spoke freely but declined to have her photo taken.

“I hurt a lot. All I want is justice. I want that guy to die in jail for taking the life of my daughter,” she said, seated in the living room of an aging mobile home under a metal shade.

“I last saw her on Aug. 31. She was here with us. They came on Sept. 5th to tell me she was killed,” she said.

Outside, Melissa’s two children, a girl, 7, and a boy, 3, played in the yard, which has a trampoline, a pink clubhouse, various mechanized vehicles and a yipping Chihuahua.
​

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Arrest documents for 'serial killer' U.S. Border Patrol agent in Texas reveal new details

Ortiz is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful restraint and four counts of murder.

...​

September 3: Melissa Ramirez
According to court records, Ortiz told authorities he picked up Ramirez in Laredo and drove out of city limits when he stopped the car so Ramirez could urinate on the side of the road.

That's when Ortiz shot Ramirez. ...

...

September 13: Claudine Ann Luera
Ortiz told investigators he picked up Claudine Ann Luera and that as they drove out of the city, Luera became nervous and accused Ortiz of being the last person to see Ramirez.

Court documents state Ortiz pulled over and shot Luera multiple times. ...

...

September 14: Victim escapes from Ortiz
The affidavit states Ortiz picked up a woman and took her to his house. The woman said Oritz began to "act weird" whenever she brought up Ramirez's death, as they both knew her.

She said she became sick and vomited in Ortiz's front yard before Ortiz's took her to a gas station.

During the drive to the gas station, the woman said she brought up Ramirez's murder again and that Ortiz pulled out a handgun and pointed it at her.

She said she began screaming for help. ...

...

September 15: Ortiz kills "John Doe," "Jane Doe" in separate incidents
Ortiz told deputies that after the woman escaped at the gas station, he picked up an unknown woman from an underpass in Webb County and later told her to get out of his truck.

He told deputies he shot the woman several times. ...

...

Later, Ortiz picked up a person authorities initially described as a transgender woman ... Ortiz, documents state, told the man to get out of the truck and shot him...​

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Affidavits detail Texas Border Patrol agent ‘serial killer’ murders

Ramirez is survived by her two children, her mother, and two siblings. ...

Ramirez never mentioned Ortiz to her mother.

“She always told me about her boyfriends, but she never said she knew a Border Patrol,” she said. ...

Luera grew up in Laredo and was the third of four sisters, and the mother of five children. ...

According to the affidavit, after Pena escaped Ortiz's vehicle at the gas station, he went on to kill two more people that same evening. ...

The identities of the other two victims have not been released by law enforcement officials. ...

Webb County District Attorney Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz said the Customs and Border Patrol supervisor had continued going to work as usual since the first known killing Sept. 3, before his arrest.

​

 

[Niner]

Anyone have a court date? I have Webb County - is that correct? He is not in that system.

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Well, the sheriff quoted upthread was Webb County. Hm. The later stories told of Ortiz leaving city limits to kill at least one of the women.

Here are surrounding cities. Laredo truly is a border town. Half of it isn't in the U.S.

Might they be holding him in a federal facility, instead of city or county?

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Border Patrol agent accused of serial killings wanted to 'commit suicide by cop,' officials say

A U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of killing four people and assaulting a fifth in rural Webb County, Texas, had a trove of weapons in his home — and may have wanted to die in a confrontation with police, authorities said Monday afternoon.

Juan David Ortiz, 35, amassed "numerous" weapons in his home after a woman escaped his pickup truck and sought help from law enforcement at a gas station, Webb County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Federico Garza said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

"He had numerous, numerous weapons — he was loading up all these weapons thinking that DPS was going to confront him and he was looking at a confrontation. Thank God that didn't happen," Garza said, referring Texas' statewide law enforcement agency, the Department of Public Safety.
​

ETA:

A Border Patrol official said that Ortiz had no major disciplinary actions against him and may have had "one minor allegation against him" that was being investigated but "certainly nothing to indicate this sort of behavior."

​

 

[carbuff]

It sounds like he was arrested by DPS. Would they take him to the county jail, or a state-level facility?

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

Here's how police caught the border patrol agent accused of 'serial killer' murders

"What he was going to do is he was trying to commit suicide by cop," Garza said. "He was going to try to use his phone to make it look like it was a weapon. It didn't happen — he was apprehended without incident."
...

Authorities said 28-year-old Humberto Ortiz was picked up and killed sometime between Sept. 14 and 15, though they acknowledge not being certain on an exact time and date just yet. The body of another unidentified woman, Jane Doe, was found by Mile Marker 20, on I-35, at the Webb County Interchange overpass, according to the affidavit.

...

What motive led to the murders has not been given by law enforcement, and the investigation is ongoing. But authorities believed Ortiz acted alone. They also acknowledged that it is possible there could be more victims, and were looking into Ortiz's work history to see if similar homicides occurred in those areas.

"I believe Ortiz targeted all victims due to their profession, and they were vulnerable," Garza said. "In addition, all the victims were defenseless, and at one point, Ortiz worked to gain their trust and then viciously shot them."

"In an overall nutshell here, the perpetrator made a mistake and law enforcement capitalized on it, and that is how we were able to catch him," he added.

​

 

[EuTuCroquet?]

https://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/a...ed-Border-Patrol-agent-served-in-13235768.php

The Navy says a Border Patrol agent accused of killing four women near the U.S.-Mexico border was in the service for almost eight years.

A biography of Juan David Ortiz released Monday says that he enlisted in the Navy in July 2001 and served until May 2009. He was listed as a hospital corpsman, second class.

He joined the Border Patrol shortly after leaving the Navy. The Border Patrol often recruits servicemembers and gives hiring preference to eligible veterans.

...

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.

​