$2.5M bond for Border Patrol agent in killings of 4 in Texas

Associated Press

HOUSTON

A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor was jailed Sunday on $2.5 million bond in Texas, accused of killing at least four women and injuring a fifth who managed to escape.

Juan David Ortiz, 35, was in custody in Laredo on four counts of murder along with charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful restraint, Webb County jail records showed.

Ortiz was arrested a day earlier, 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.

Jail records don’t list an attorney to speak for Ortiz, who had worked for Border Patrol for 10 years.

Alaniz said the dead are believed to have been prostitutes and that one of them 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.

The federal agency issued a statement offering its “sincerest condolences” to the victims’ families and saying criminal activity by its employees is not tolerated.