Texas border patrol agent arrested in slaying of four women

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

Juan David Ortiz, 35, was being held in Laredo on four counts of murder along with charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful restraint.

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.

It all began with the discovery Sept. 4 of the body of 29-yearold Melissa Ramirez, a mother of two. According to a police affidavit, 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.

A second victim, Claudine Anne Luera, 42, a mother of five, was found shot and left in the road Thursday morning, badly injured but still alive, according to the affidavit. She died at a hospital later that day.

On Friday, according to the affidavit, Ortiz picked up Erika Pena. She told police she struggled with Ortiz inside his truck, where he pointed a pistol at her, but she was able to flee and 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.

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