A former Border Patrol agent was found guilty of capital murder Wednesday in the 2018 deaths of four sex workers after a jury heard recordings of him admitting he wanted to “clean up the streets” of his South Texas town.
A jury found Juan David Ortiz, 39, a Border Patrol intelligence supervisor at the time of his arrest, guilty in the deaths of Melissa Ramirez, 29, Claudine Anne Luera, 42, Guiselda Alicia Cantu, 35, and Janelle Ortiz. 28. His bodies were found along roads on the outskirts of Laredo in September 2018.
He received an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, as prosecutors were not seeking the death penalty.
During the trial that began last week, jurors heard Ortiz confess to the murders during a lengthy recorded interview with investigators.
UNITED STATES BORDER PATROL AGENT KILLED IN HIGH-SPEED CHASE OF GROUP OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Former US Border Patrol Supervisor Juan David Ortiz reacts as jail-recorded phone calls to his wife, Daniella, are played outside the jury presence during their capital murder trial at the Justice Center Cadena-Reeves in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, December 2, 2019. 6, 2022.
(Jerry Lara/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Ortiz told investigators that he had been a client of most of the women, but also said that he thought the sex workers were “trash” and “very dirty.” She said “the monster would come out” as she was driving in an area of Laredo frequented by women.
After the verdict, the relatives of the victims gave statements to Ortiz. Gracie Perez, Ramirez’s sister-in-law, said she was a “loving, kind, funny person,” and her death has broken the hearts of her children.
“Do you know how much pain you have caused this family?” Pérez told Ortiz, according to the Associated Press. “It breaks my heart to know that I will not be able to see her but visit her in the cemetery.”
Defense attorneys said Ortiz was improperly induced to make a confession, so it should not be considered. Prosecutors then told jurors that Ortiz’s confession was not only legal, but was provided by “an educated senior law enforcement official who was not having a mental breakdown.”
Defense attorney Joel Perez argued that Ortiz, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, nightmares and headaches. Perez said Ortiz was on medication and had been drinking before the killings.
VIDEOS FROM TEXAS SHOW ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS EASILY CROSSING THE BORDER AND RUNNING ACROSS THE FREEWAY
Family members react during closing arguments for the prosecution in the capital murder trial of former US Border Patrol supervisor Juan David Ortiz, at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Wednesday, May 7. December 2022.
(Jerry Lara/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
Erika Pena, 31, testified that Ortiz picked her up on the night of September 14, 2018. She had a bad feeling when he allegedly told her that he was the “second to last person” to have sex with Ramírez, whose body was found. . One week before
Peña testified that Ortiz told him he was concerned investigators would find his DNA on Ramírez’s body.
“It made me think that he was the one who might have been killing,” the woman told the jury, according to AP.
Peña escaped from his truck at a gas station after Ortiz pointed a gun at him. He ran directly into a state trooper who was pumping gasoline, prompting Ortiz to flee.
He was arrested early in the morning on September 15, 2018, after authorities tracked him down to a hotel parking lot.
Webb County Sheriff’s Department Captain Federico Calderón testified that the officers who arrested Ortiz knew about the murders of Ramírez and Luera. They learned that a third body, later identified as Cantú’s, was found while they were chasing him before his arrest. Calderón said it wasn’t until Ortiz’s confession that they learned Janelle Ortiz was also dead.
Webb County District Attorney Isidro R. “Chilo” Alaniz presents closing arguments in the capital murder trial of former US Border Patrol Supervisor Juan David Ortiz, at the Cadena- Reeves in San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.
(Jerry Lara/The San Antonio Express-News via AP)
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Webb County Coroner Corinne Stern testified that Ramirez, Luera and Janelle Ortiz were fatally shot, while Cantu, who was shot in the neck, died of blunt force trauma to the head.
A ballistics expert testified that the bullets collected at the crime scenes came from the same gun and matched the gun found in Ortiz’s truck.
Ortiz served in the US Navy for nearly eight years, until 2009, holding a variety of medical positions. He also served a three-year detachment with the Marines.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
