On September 15, 2018, U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Juan David Ortiz, was arrested and charged with four counts of murder, one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of unlawful restraint. Ortiz, an agent with U.S. Border Patrol for ten years, is accused of killing at least four women who are believed to be prostituted persons in the Laredo area. A fifth woman managed to escape.
Laredo had been terrorized for ten days marked by intense violence and fear. The horror began on September 4, 2018, when the body of 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez, a mother of two, was discovered on a road in Webb County. Nine days later, 42-year-old Claudine Anne Luera, was discovered; the mother of five was shot and left for dead on the same road in which Ramirez’s body was found. She subsequently died at the hospital. Ortiz allegedly committed two more murders – one unidentified female victim and one unidentified transgender woman. On Friday, Ortiz picked up another female victim. Despite allegations of having a pistol pointed at her, the victim was able to escape from Ortiz and locate a state trooper. Ortiz’s reign of terror came to an end when police arrested him on Saturday in a hotel parking lot in Laredo, where he was found to be hiding in a truck. Ortiz has allegedly confessed to the police.
District Attorney of Webb County, Isidro Alaniz, stated that he believed that all of the victims worked as prostitutes in the Laredo area. Additionally, Alaniz indicated that prostituted persons were specifically targeted by Ortiz: “Evidence points to him having knowledge and contacts within the [prostituted persons] community.” Serial killers in Laredo, Texas may be infrequent, but unfortunately violence against women is not. Specifically, the media has reported that Border Patrol agents have consistently preyed on women and girls. The last several years have proven to be exceptionally disturbing: in 2014, Border Patrol Agent, Esteban Manzanares, kidnapped and sexually assaulted a woman and two teenage girls. In 2016, a senior Border Patrol Agent, Salvador Contreras, was sentenced to eleven years in federal prison for distributing child pornography and attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. Furthermore, U.S. Customs and Border Protection is required to provide an annual report to Congress with all cases of reported sexual abuse by employees. The results are alarming. In the most recent report from 2016, the agency reported 52 allegations of sexual abuse and sexual assault between October 2014 and September 2015. Ten allegations were substantiated.
Several news outlets reported on this story by referring to the murdered women as prostitutes or sex workers. In a rare media correction, the Associated Press deleted a tweet regarding this story because it identified the victims as prostitutes, rather than as women or victims. There is a distressing tendency to dehumanize victims when they are prostituted persons; this trend needs to stop. These four women were victims. They were also mothers, sisters, and daughters. There are seven children in Laredo, Texas that will now grow up without their mother. Their narratives ended in brutal murder. The least that we can do as a society is to treat these victims – homicide victims – with the respect that we would afford anyone else. A simple fix is to start with the words that we use. We strongly encourage the media to review and use the suggested terminology when reporting on cases involving prostituted persons. We are encouraged that news outlets are beginning to recognize the gravity of these types of reporting mistakes; however, we need to avoid these harmful errors in the first place.
The CSE Institute commends the efforts of local law enforcement to arrest the offender of these horrific offenses against women. We are encouraged that Webb County understands the seriousness of preying upon an unfairly marginalized sect of society – prostituted persons. While agency reporting allows for public knowledge of sexual abuse and sexual assault allegations within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, it is critical that law enforcement continues to assess the dynamic between those that maintain an influential position and victims. We are hopeful for a successful prosecution and for an appropriate sentence that reflects the severity of these senseless tragedies.
Ortiz is currently being held in Laredo, Texas on $2.5 million bond. We will continue to provide updates as more details arise.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or Villanova University