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U.S. NEWS Monday 17 SepteMber 2018
$2.5M bond for Border Patrol

agent in killings of 4 in Texas

By JUAN A. LOZANO every day like normal," he Jail records don't list an at-
Associated Press said. torney to speak for Ortiz,
HOUSTON (AP) — A U.S. It all began with the dis- who had worked for Border
Border Patrol supervisor covery Sept. 4 of the body Patrol for 10 years.
was jailed Sunday on $2.5 of 29-year-old Melissa Alaniz said the dead are
million bond in Texas, ac- Ramirez. According to a believed to have been
cused in the killing of at police affidavit, Ortiz said prostitutes and that one of This image provided by the
least four women and of in- he killed Ramirez a day them was a transgender Webb County Sheriff’s Office
juring a fifth who managed earlier. Like the other vic- woman. At least two were shows Juan David Ortiz, a U.S.
to escape. tims, Ramirez was shot in U.S. citizens; the nationali- Border Patrol supervisor who
Juan David Ortiz, 35, was the head and left in a road ties of the others were not was jailed Sunday, Sept. 16,
2018, on a $2.5 million bond in
being held in Laredo on in rural northwest Webb known, he said. He said in- Texas, accused in the killing
four counts of murder along County. vestigators are still working of at least four women.
with charges of aggravat- She was a mother of two. to determine a motive. Associated Press
ed assault with a deadly A second victim, 42-year- Ortiz was believed to have
weapon and unlawful re- old Claudine Anne Luera, acted alone. Public Safety, whose Texas
straint, Webb County jail was found shot and left in The federal agency issued Rangers are investigating,
records showed. the road Thursday morning, a statement offering its "sin- referred questions on the
Ortiz was arrested a day badly injured but still alive, cerest condolences" to the case to the Webb County
earlier, after being found according to the affidavit. victims' families and saying Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Mar-
hiding in a truck in a ho- The mother of five died at a criminal activity by its em- tin Cuellar did not return
tel parking lot in Laredo, hospital later that day. ployees is not tolerated. several messages seeking
at about 2 a.m. Saturday, On Friday, according to The Texas Department of comment.q
capping what investigators the affidavit, Ortiz picked
portrayed as a 10-day string up a woman named Erika
of violence. Webb County Pena. She told police she
District Attorney Isidro Al- struggled with Ortiz inside
aniz said Saturday that in- his truck, where he pointed
vestigators "consider this to a pistol at her, but that she
be a serial killer" whose vic- was able to flee. She made
tims were believed to be it to a gas station where
prostitutes. she found a state trooper
Alaniz described how the whom she asked for help.
Customs and Border Pa- According to the affida-
trol intel supervisor contin- vit, Ortiz told investigators
ued going to work as usual that after Pena ran off, he
throughout that time. picked up his last two vic-
"As law enforcement was tims, whose identities have
looking for the killer ... he not yet been released by
would be reporting to work authorities.