\u00ab\u00a0In this case,\u00a0\u00bb Alaniz said, \u00ab\u00a0he preyed on the weak, the sick and the vulnerable.\u00a0\u00bb A county grand jury returned the indictment on the\u2026<\/b>
\n\u00ab\u00a0In this case,\u00a0\u00bb Alaniz said, \u00ab\u00a0he preyed on the weak, the sick and the vulnerable.\u00a0\u00bb
A county grand jury returned the indictment on the federal murder charge Wednesday, according to Alaniz. He was also indicted on one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of unlawful restraint with reckless exposure to serious bodily injury and evading arrest or detention.
Alaniz said the Texas Penal code allows a lone capital murder count if the defendant carried out multiple murders \u00ab\u00a0pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct.\u00a0\u00bb
\u00ab\u00a0Ortiz, by day, he was a family man,\u00a0\u00bb the prosecutor told reporters. \u00ab\u00a0The evidence shows that he was a supervisor. That he would go about his daily activities like anybody here. He appeared normal by all accounts and circumstances. At the nighttime, he was someone else, hunting the streets of San Bernardo for this community of people and arbitrarily deciding who he was going to kill next.\u00a0\u00bb
Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of US Customs and Border Protection, was originally charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
There was no immediate comment from an attorney for Ortiz.
His bond was set at 2.5 million dollars. Capital murder is punishable by death or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Ortiz, a supervisory Border Patrol agent with access to US Customs and Border Protection intelligence, had been holding Pe\u00f1a at gunpoint, but she got away and ran to a state trooper who was fueling up at a nearby gas station.
An unlikely escape, a surprising arrest
Pe\u00f1a’s family says it’s a miracle she’s alive. Now, she’s considered the hero who brought down the alleged serial killer.
Ortiz allegedly picked Pe\u00f1a up at a prostitution hub on September 14. Pe\u00f1a knew Ortiz as \u00ab\u00a0David,\u00a0\u00bb and rode with him to his home in the northern part of Laredo, the affidavit said. Pe\u00f1a noticed that Ortiz \u00ab\u00a0began to act weird\u00a0\u00bb when she brought up her acquaintance, Melissa Ramirez, who had been killed the week before, according to the affidavit.
From his home, Ortiz took Pe\u00f1a to a gas station off the Texas 20 Loop, and there they again discussed Ramirez, police say.
That’s when Ortiz pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Pe\u00f1a, according to the affidavit. Ortiz grabbed her shirt to prevent a screaming Pe\u00f1a from leaving the car, the affidavit says.
Pe\u00f1a maneuvered herself out of her top to escape him, according to the affidavit, and as she ran to a state trooper fueling up at the gas station, Ortiz drove away.
Pe\u00f1a was able to describe Ortiz, his tattoos and his truck, as well as bring investigators to his home, the affidavit says.
Just after midnight, police issued an alert for law enforcement to be on the lookout for Ortiz, and at about 1 a.m., they spotted him at a gas station. Ortiz fled, according to police.
They found him about an hour and a half later, hiding in the bed of a truck in the parking garage of a Ramada Inn, Alaniz said.
The victims
When police brought Ortiz in, they say he confessed — to an additional four murders.
Two took place after Pe\u00f1a’s escape.
His first victim, police say, was 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez. Ortiz told police he picked her up September 3 and drove her out to the edge of the city, where she exited his vehicle to urinate on the side of the road, the affidavit says. Ortiz shot her multiple times in the back of the head and drove away, according to police.
On the Thursday before Pe\u00f1a’s escape, Ortiz picked up another woman — 42-year-old Claudine Ann Luera — and drove her outside of Laredo. After she became suspicious and accused Ortiz of being the last person seen with Ramirez, Luera got out of the vehicle, the affidavit says.
Ortiz shot her multiple times in the head and fled, police allege.
After Pe\u00f1a escaped Ortiz, the Border Patrol agent picked up another woman initially identified as Jane Doe. He ordered her out of the car and shot her repeatedly in the head, the affidavit says. She was later identified as Guiselda Alicia Cantu.
Later Saturday morning, Ortiz picked up a transgender woman and drove her about five miles from where he killed Jane Doe, the affidavit says. Police identified the transgender woman as Humberto Ortiz; later, the DA’s office said she went by Janelle. CNN is attempting to confirm the victim’s preferred name and pronoun.
He ordered her out of the car and shot her once in the back of the head, the affidavit says.
\u00ab\u00a0The evidence that we have right now is that he committed these murders in a similar fashion, taking these individuals out to desolate areas, near or right outside the city limits, and executing them with a hand gun,\u00a0\u00bb Alaniz said.
Authorities said Ortiz preyed upon vulnerable victims in communities he disliked — people who struggled with drug or alcohol addiction or were involved in sex work.
\u00ab\u00a0The suspect was hunting for his victims,\u00a0\u00bb Alaniz said.
He got to know the people he targeted and met with them several times to gain their trust, according to Webb County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Federico Garza.<\/p>\n