Texas: Ex-Border Patrol Agent Who Brutally Killed 4 Women by Shooting Them in Their Heads Charged With Capital Murder

On Wednesday, the district attorneys' offices for Webb and Zapata counties announced that a former U.S. Border Patrol agent had been found guilty of capital murder for the U.S. 2018 killings of four women in and near the Texas border city of Laredo.

The women were murdered by gunshot.

According to CNN, officials confirmed that a Bexar County jury had found Juan David Ortiz guilty and sentenced him to life without parole.

In September of 2018, Ortiz was apprehended shortly after a possible victim named Erika Pena escaped and subsequently tipped off an officer from the Texas Department of Public Safety to her whereabouts.

She allegedly led law enforcement to his vehicle, where they made the arrest.

He told authorities that he had killed four women in the preceding two weeks: Melissa Ramirez, 29; Claudine Luera, 42; Guiselda Cantu Hernandez, 35; and Janelle Ortiz, 28. According to authorities, two ladies were killed between Pena's escape and Ortiz's capture.

At the time, Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz described him as a self-proclaimed vigilante who intended to "clean up the streets of Laredo by targeting individuals he deemed to be disposable and that no one would care about. People he did not give value to."

Defense Attorney Says Texas Ex-Border Patrol Agent Suffers From Mental Health Problems

The trial against Ortiz began last week when the jury heard his lengthy confession to detectives on video.

Though Ortiz told police he had been a customer for most of the women, he also expressed distaste for sex workers by labeling them "trash" and "so dirty" and expressing a desire to "clean up the streets."

He was driving through a section of Laredo frequented by women where, he remarked, "The monster would come out."

Defense lawyers for Ortiz argued that the confession should be disregarded since it was coerced.

The defense attorney, Joel Perez, testified that Navy veteran Ortiz, who was deployed to Iraq, had post-traumatic stress disorder, per NPR.

Ortiz reportedly had problems sleeping, nightmares, and headaches at night and resorted to medication and alcohol to cope.

Prosecutors told the jury that it was a legal confession given by a senior law enforcement official with a good education who was not having a mental breakdown.

Escaped Victim in Texas Testifies

Ortiz allegedly picked up Erika Pena on the evening of September 14, 2018, and she reported having a horrible feeling after he told her he was the "next to last" person to have sex with Ramirez, whose body had been discovered the week before.

According to her, he expressed concern to her about the possibility of his DNA being traced back to the dead person.

Pena, 31, told the jury that it made her think the former border patrol agent might have been killing.

ABC News noted that after Ortiz threatened her with a gun, she jumped out of his truck at a gas station and went to a state trooper filling up his vehicle. As soon as they arrived, Ortiz ran away.

Early on the morning of September 15, 2018, police located and detained Ortiz in a hotel parking garage.

Webb County Sheriff's Department Capt. Federico Calderon stated that the deputies who apprehended Ortiz knew that Ramirez and Luera had been killed and that when pursuing Ortiz after Pena escaped, they learned that a third body had been located, which turned out to be Cantu's.

Calderon, however, claims that they did not find out Janelle Ortiz was dead until Ortiz herself revealed the news.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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