This image was removed due to legal reasons. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent suspected of being a serial killer was arrested early Saturday morning and accused of killing four women in the Laredo, TX, area. Advertisement Several news outlets reported that Juan David Ortiz, a 10-year veteran at the agency, was arrested in a hotel parking lot in the border city of Laredo after a fifth victim managed to escape an attempted kidnapping. The Associated Press reported that Ortiz worked as an intel supervisor for the Border Patrol. According to KRGV-TV investigative producer Valerie Gonzalez, Ortiz confessed to all four homicides. Gonzalez said the case is the second homicide investigation in Webb County involving a border patrol agent from the Laredo sector. Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz described the victims, whose names and nationalities have not yet been disclosed by authorities , as sex workers, the AP reported. According to The Dallas Morning News, two victims were found earlier this month along Interstate 35 in rural Webb County, while two others were found this weekend in the same area. Advertisement The newspaper said Ortiz had fled state troopers and hid in the parking lot where he was later arrested. A statement by Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said, “We want to reassure the citizens of Laredo that the community and your families are safe,” the Houston Chronicle reported. Advertisement Authorities said more details would be made public on Monday.<doc-sep>LAREDO — A 10-year Border Patrol agent accused of killing four people and trying to kill a fifth in less than two weeks was arrested early Saturday after he ran from Texas troopers who confronted him at a gas station in the central part of this border city. Juan David Ortiz, 35, was behind bars in Webb County Jail, charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated assault and one count of unlawful restraint. He was found hiding in the parking garage of a hotel just off Interstate 35 about 2 a.m., officers said. He was arrested without incident. RELATED: Laredo Border Patrol agent pleads not guilty in double homicide case, judge issues gag order "The county, the city can rest assured we have the serial killer in custody," Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar said at an impromptu news conference. According to affidavits released late Saturday, the woman he is alleged to have kidnapped and tried to kill escaped Friday night and helped authorities find Ortiz. All four victims were found in the same general rural area near U.S. 83 in the northwest part of Webb County. All four were shot in the head; one was a transgender woman. District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said all had worked as prostitutes. The first victim was Melissa Ramirez, 29, the mother of two. Her body was found Sept. 4 in the 300 block of Jefferies Road near the intersection of Texas 255, also known as Camino Colombia Road. An affidavit stated that Ortiz said he killed her Sept. 3. The second victim was Claudine Anne Luera, 42. A mother of five, she was found barely alive at about 7 a.m. Thursday near mile marker 436 of Texas 255, about a half-mile east of U.S. 83. She died at a hospital later that day. Friday, the affidavit stated, Ortiz picked up Erika Peña. When they stopped at a gas station, she began talking about Ramirez. Ortiz told investigators that he pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her. They struggled inside his truck and she ran out, making it to another gas station where she found a Department of Public Safety trooper and asked for help. After Ortiz was in custody, he gave investigators a statement detailing the shootings, the affidavit said. After Peña ran away, Ortiz told investigators, he picked up two people whose names weren’t released — the affidavit identified them as “Jane Doe” and “John Doe.” He killed both. He picked up Jane Doe on San Bernardo Avenue, drove out of the city limits and told her to get out of the car at the Webb County Interchange Overpass, at mile marker 20 on I-35. He shot her multiple times in the head and left her body there, the affidavit stated. RELATED: Undocumented immigrant fatally shot by Border Patrol agent near Laredo Ortiz then picked up John Doe, also on San Bernardo Avenue, and again left the city limits, stopping near mile marker 15 on I-35. The affidavit said he told the man to get out of his truck, shot him once in the back of his head, and left his body behind the gravel pits at the mile marker. Jane Doe’s body was found Friday night; the body of John Doe was found after Ortiz told officers where to look, the affidavit said. In a statement, Andrew Meehan, assistant commissioner for public affairs for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said his agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the U.S. Border Patrol and the Homeland Security Department’s Office of the Inspector General were fully cooperating with all investigators. “Our sincerest condolences go out to the victims’ family and friends. While it is CBP policy to not comment on the details of an ongoing investigation, criminal action by our employees is not, and will not be tolerated,” Meehan said. He referred questions about the investigation to authorities in Webb County and to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Ramirez’s mother, Maria Cristina Benavides, said her daughter, a native Laredoan, had been caught up in drugs. Benavides had custody of her daughter’s two children, a 7-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy, at the family home in Rio Bravo, and her daughter stayed with them several days a week. “She was always smiling,” Benavides said. “She loved her children and when she was here, she took good care of them.” Luera’s sister, Colette Mireles, said she also had been addicted to drugs and had been living on the streets for the past five years. Family members had custody of her five children. READ ALSO: LPD: Border Patrol agent arrested after pawning government-issued night goggles “She was a happy-go-lucky person growing up,” Mireles said, adding that her older sister had a “contagious laugh,” and always was free-spirited. “Sadly, she was an addict,” Mireles said. “Her life took another turn.” At least three other Border Patrol agents have been arrested in Laredo this year. In April, Border Patrol agent David Villarreal, 32, was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a woman, tampering with physical evidence and official oppression. An arrest affidavit alleged that he threatened to deport the woman if she did not have sex with him. He told Laredo police that the sex was consensual, the affidavit stated. He said the woman had become “affectionate” toward him. Villarreal remains on suspension without pay, the Border Patrol said. On April 9, supervisory Border Patrol agent Ronald Anthony Burgos-Aviles, 29, was accused of killing his alleged 27-year-old lover and the couple’s 1-year-old child. Police initially said the bodies of a woman and child were found in the brush by Bristol Road and Allen Drive, near Father Charles McNaboe Park, on April 9. The Border Patrol agent who reported that he had found the woman’s body, Burgos-Aviles, later was found to have known her and was identified as the main suspect, authorities said. He was indicted on two counts of capital murder June 27. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Burgos-Aviles has been suspended indefinitely without pay. Also in April, agent Luis Enrique Aranda, 24, was arrested in the pawning of his government-issued night vision equipment after he reported it as stolen to his supervisors. He was served with an arrest warrant in Eagle Pass, charging him with state jail felony theft, punishable by up to two years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. District Attorney Alaniz noted Saturday that “Laredo is not the sleepy town that we all grew up in.” “This is the type of crime consistent with bigger cities,” he said. “Laredo is a big city. We are seeing more and more serious crimes. It can happen. People need to be careful. We need to look out for each other, report suspicious vehicles and suspicious behaviors.” Staff Writers Maria Salas, Danny Zaragoza and Diana R. Fuentes and the Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
LAREDO, Texas -- A U.S. Border Patrol supervisor was jailed Sunday on $2.5 million bond in Texas, accused of killing at least four women and injuring a fifth who managed to escape.Juan David Ortiz, 35, was in custody in Laredo on four counts of murder along with charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful restraint, Webb County jail records showed.Ortiz was arrested a day earlier, after being found hiding in a truck in a hotel parking lot in Laredo, at about 2 a.m. Saturday, capping what investigators portrayed as a 10-day string of violence. Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said Saturday that investigators "consider this to be a serial killer" whose victims were believed to be prostitutes.Alaniz described how the Customs and Border Patrol supervisor continued going to work as usual throughout that time. "As law enforcement was looking for the killer...he would be reporting to work every day like normal," he said.It all began with the discovery Sept. 4 of the body of 29-year-old Melissa Ramirez. According to a police affidavit , Ortiz said he killed Ramirez a day earlier. Like the other victims, Ramirez was shot in the head and left in a road in rural northwest Webb County.She was a mother of two.A second victim, 42-year-old Claudine Anne Luera, was found shot and left in the road Thursday morning, badly injured but still alive, according to the affidavit.The mother of five died at a hospital later that day.On Friday, according to the affidavit, Ortiz picked up a woman named Erika Pena. She told police she struggled with Ortiz inside his truck, where he pointed a pistol at her, but that she was able to flee. She made it to a gas station where she found a state trooper whom she asked for help.According to the affidavit, Ortiz told investigators that after Pena ran off, he picked up his last two victims, whose identities have not yet been released by authorities.Jail records don't list an attorney to speak for Ortiz, who had worked for Border Patrol for 10 years.Alaniz said the dead are believed to have been prostitutes and that one of them was a transgender woman. At least two were U.S. citizens; the nationalities of the others were not known, he said. He said investigators are still working to determine a motive.Ortiz was believed to have acted alone.The federal agency issued a statement offering its "sincerest condolences" to the victims' families and saying criminal activity by its employees is not tolerated.The Texas Department of Public Safety, whose Texas Rangers are investigating, referred questions on the case to the Webb County Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Martin Cuellar did not return several messages seeking comment.