Still a mystery: Inside a grisly 12-day killing spree in Texas
Border agent charged in four women’s deaths
LAREDO, Texas – The driver of the white Dodge Ram pickup circled the San Bernardo neighborhood, seeking his next prey.
The man pulled up next to Stephany Gonzalez, a sex worker on the strip, as she walked with her friend Nikki Enriquez. He rolled down the window. “How much?” he asked Gonzalez, 25. Gonzalez had a bad feeling. Two of her good friends, also sex workers, were recently found dead with gunshot wounds to the head on rural roads outside Laredo.
“I’m not working,” she lied. Her friend, Enriquez, a 28-year-old transgender woman known to many of her friends as Janelle, got into the truck instead. It was the last time Gonzalez saw her alive.
That night was the beginning of the end of a 12-day killing spree last month that claimed four women and rattled this normally quiet border city. Enriquez was the last of four women who authorities said were murdered by Juan David Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Law enforcement officials are still gathering all the evidence in the killings. Isidro Alaniz, district attorney for Webb and Zapata counties, said this month that a murder indictment for Ortiz will likely be filed in December. Ortiz, 35, who was arrested hours after his encounter with Gonzalez, allegedly confessed to the killings.
More than a month after the slayings, authorities and friends and families of the victims are all still grappling with a central, unanswered question: Why? What triggered Ortiz, a Navy veteran, husband, father of two and Border Patrol supervisor, to allegedly go on the deadly rampage, meticulously killing woman after woman, with a .40-caliber semi-automatic pistol police believed to be his Border Patrol-issued service weapon?
Ortiz is accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29; Claudine Ann Luera, 42; Griselda Alicia Hernandez, 35; and Enriquez. The women were close friends.
Motive may still be a mystery, but a picture is emerging of what occurred between Sept. 3, when Ramirez, the first victim, was found dead, and Ortiz’s capture Sept. 15. Based on interviews with law enforcement officials, court documents, and interviews with families and friends of the victims, those 12 days were a roller coaster of terror, sweeping detective work, false leads and killings that shattered family after family.
Monday, Sept. 3
On Sept. 3, authorities said, Ortiz picked up Ramirez on San Bernardo and drove her 24 miles north out of town to a dirt road in Webb County. When Ramirez exited the truck to relieve herself, he allegedly shot her several times in the head, police said. A Webb County Sheriff ’s deputy recovered her body follow- ing a 911 call.
Ramirez’s death sparked an investigation at the Webb County Sheriff ’s Office in conjunction with the Texas Department of Public Safety, which took the lead on the case. Detectives canvassed San Bernardo Avenue, talking to people who might have known Ramirez and building a profile of the murderer, Webb County Sheriff Chief Federico Garza said.
Police believe Ortiz was monitoring the murder investigation from his perch as an intel supervisor for the Border Patrol’s Laredo sector.
Thursday, Sept. 13
As police looked for the killer, Ortiz allegedly plotted his next move, according to police. On Sept. 13, he picked up Luera on San Bernardo.
According to police, Ortiz allegedly drove Luera outside city limits, to a rural spot less than 2 miles from where Ramirez’s body was found. Luera became nervous, accusing Ortiz of being the last one seen with Ramirez, according to police. He pulled over, and she exited the truck. Ortiz followed and allegedly shot her several times in the head, leaving her for dead.
A passing truck driver spotted her and called 911. Luera, still alive, was rushed to a local hospital, where she later died. Police at the scene made a startling discovery: .40-caliber casings, similar to those found at Ramirez’s crime scene.
“Then we knew we had a problem,” Garza said. “A big, big problem.”
Friday, Sept. 14
Police believe Ortiz knew Erika Peña for more than four months before the killings began. Peña, 26, was known as friendly and outgoing on the strip.
On Sept. 14, she climbed into Ortiz’s white truck, and the two drove to Ortiz’s home, according to the arrest affidavit.
At his house, Peña brought up Ramirez’s murder, rattling Ortiz.
“His attitude started to change,” said Marcela Rodriguez, Peña’s aunt. “She told me that he stood in back of her, and she felt a rush run from her feet to her head. She started to get sick. She told him, ‘I need to go outside to vomit.’ ”
Peña then convinced Ortiz to drive her to a gas station. They again started talking about Ramirez, and again Ortiz became agitated, according to the arrest affidavit.
Ortiz allegedly pulled out his pistol. When Peña tried to flee the truck, he grabbed her blouse and ripped it off. Peña ran, shirtless and screaming, to a Texas DPS trooper at the gas station.
Peña was questioned by Texas Rangers and sheriff ’s detectives. She recounted the whole story, providing Ortiz’s name and the color, make and model of his truck.
Meanwhile, Ortiz returned to his home and began loading an arsenal of weapons he kept there, Garza said. He was readying for a final, deadly showdown with authorities.
“He’s loading all those weapons and was at the house waiting for us,” Garza said. “You get an idea of what he wanted to do.”
When police failed to show up immediately, Ortiz left. He drove right back to San Bernardo Avenue.
A short while later, police arrived at Ortiz’s home and searched it, finding the arsenal, about 12 weapons in all, fully loaded.
Saturday, Sept. 15
Around midnight, Ortiz allegedly picked up his third victim, Hernandez, also known as “Shelly” to her friends on San Bernardo. After driving her 20 miles north on Interstate 35, Ortiz pulled over at an overpass, ordered Hernandez out of the truck and allegedly shot her several times in the head, according to the arrest affidavit. He then drove back to Laredo.
At 12:07 a.m., police sent out a BOLO (be on the lookout) bulletin for Ortiz, driving a white Dodge Ram pickup truck.
Though she was on alert for a black truck, the white Dodge truck nonetheless spooked her, Gonzalez said. She watched as Enriquez climbed into the truck and disappeared into the night.
Police said Ortiz drove Enriquez north, ordered her out of the truck and shot her once in the back of the head.
About 1 a.m., two DPS troopers caught up to Ortiz at a gas station. He had gone inside to use the restroom, leaving his .40-caliber HK pistol locked in the truck. As he emerged from the convenience store, police approached and tried to shoot him with a Taser, but Ortiz ran off on foot.
Texas Rangers and a sheriff ’s office’s SWAT team finally cornered him in a parking garage. He was arrested and taken in for questioning.
Ortiz initially was uncooperative, denying any involvement in the killings, Alaniz said.
Slowly, as investigators confronted Ortiz with evidence found at the scenes, he began to turn. Ortiz asked if they could remove his handcuffs – then began confessing to the slayings, one by one, Alaniz said.
About 11 a.m. – nine hours into Ortiz’s questioning – police had only recovered three bodies: Ramirez, Luera and Hernandez.
“Is there anybody else?” one of the interrogators asked Ortiz. “Yes, there’s a tranny,” he said, using the derogatory term for a transgender woman. Ortiz offered the location of Enriquez’s body, according to Alaniz.