Police: Killer border patrol agent held woman at gunpoint before she escaped
If not for the would-be victim’s quick thinking, a supervisory Border Patrol agent accused in a string of killings in and around the south Texas border town of Laredo might still be on the loose.
But despite her heroic actions, the woman could not save two other women who were killed hours after she reported the agent to state police, according to a police affidavit.
Juan David Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of US Customs and Border Protection, is being held on four counts or first-degree murder, among other charges. Authorities are calling him a serial killer.
“The suspect was hunting for his victims,” Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said.
Ortiz looked for victims who were vulnerable, authorities said — people who struggled with drug or alcohol addiction, or who were involved in sex work, authorities said. He had a dislike for people in that community, officials said.
He got to know the people he targeted, meeting with them several times to gain their trust, according to Webb County Sheriff’s Department Chief Federico Garza.
“The evidence that we have right now is that he committed these murders in a similar fashion, taking these individuals out to desolate areas, near or right outside the city limits, and executing them with a hand gun,” Alainiz said.
