Slain women had endured hard lives
The sex workers ‘were human,’ relative says
LAREDO, Texas — Janelle Ortiz dreamed of becoming famous. Melissa Ramirez imagined a day when the street wasn’t home and drugs not her preoccupation. Claudine Luera just ached to see her children do better than she had.
All of these women, bound by difficulties in life, met an eerily similar death: They were shot in the head and left on rural Texas roadsides, allegedly by a Border Patrol agent who has been described as a serial killer. Relatives of the dead are now grieving for loved ones who, they say, were more than the troubles they endured.
“They had families. They were loved. They were someone. They were human,” said Colette Mireles, a sister of Luera.
The suspect’s motive remains unknown. Authorities said the three women and a fourth woman, Guiselda Alicia Cantu, whose name was released Wednesday, were sex workers, and that Border Patrol supervisor Juan David Ortiz knew some of them.
Each lived a life littered with hardship. Gracie Perez remembered her sister-in-law, 29-year-old Ramirez, telling her she was raped when she was 13. She dropped out of high school, experienced depression and eventually began living on the streets. Her five children were left in the care of others. She struggled with a drug habit.
Despite all that, her relatives remembered someone always trying to make others laugh. Ramirez liked pulling up funny videos on Youtube, devouring whatever food was before her and enjoying TV at full blast as she fell asleep on the couch.
Perez said her sister-in-law frequently returned home to her mother’s house, where two of her children live, typically staying a few days, vowing to get off drugs and improve her life before returning to the streets.
“She wanted to be a better mom, a better person,” Perez said. “She didn’t want to be running the streets anymore.”
Janelle Ortiz, 28, envisioned a future where her personality and gift for talking with nearly anyone transformed her into someone famous. Rosenda Ortiz, her younger sister, remembered the difficult childhood they shared, with them constantly being thrust into new homes. She said her sister was strong and had a big heart, always asking what others needed.