Police: US border police officer in Texas confessed to 4 murders

LAREDO, Texas – A supervisor from the US Border Patrol who confessed to killing four women and assaulting a fifth who managed to escape, remained in jail on Monday, police said in court records. Juan David Ortiz is being held in Laredo on $ 2.5 million bail for four counts of murder, aggravated assault with a lethal weapon and unlawful restraint.

According to affidavits, Ortiz, 35, "provided voluntary verbal confessions" early Saturday in the deaths of women. Ortiz was arrested one day after being found hidden in a truck in a hotel car park in Laredo, around 2 am Saturday, limiting what investigators described as a series of 10-day violence. Webb District Attorney, Isidro Alaniz, said Saturday that investigators "considered this a serial killer" whose victims would be prostitutes.

Alaniz described how the Customs and Border Patrol Supervisor continued to work as usual throughout this time.

"As the forces of the order were looking for the killer … he would come to work every day as usual," he said.

Second Border Policeman in Laredo to be arrested for murder this year after Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles was accused of killing a woman with whom he was involved and his one-year-old child. Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty in this case.