Former U.S. Border Patrol supervisor Juan David Ortiz reacts as recorder jail cellphone calls to his spouse, Daniella, are performed exterior the presence of the jury throughout his capital homicide trial in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022

Jerry Lara/AP

conceal caption

toggle caption

Jerry Lara/AP

Former U.S. Border Patrol supervisor Juan David Ortiz reacts as recorder jail cellphone calls to his spouse, Daniella, are performed exterior the presence of the jury throughout his capital homicide trial in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022

Jerry Lara/AP

SAN ANTONIO — A former Border Patrol agent who confessed to killing 4 intercourse employees in 2018 was convicted Wednesday of capital homicide, after jurors heard recordings of him telling investigators he was making an attempt to “clean up the streets” of his South Texas hometown.

Juan David Ortiz, 39, receives an computerized sentence of life in jail with out the potential for parole as a result of prosecutors determined to not search the loss of life penalty.

Ortiz, a Border Patrol intel supervisor on the time of his arrest, was accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29, Claudine Anne Luera, 42, Guiselda Alicia Cantu, 35, and Janelle Ortiz, 28. Their our bodies have been discovered alongside roads on the outskirts of Laredo in September 2018.

During the trial that started final week, jurors heard Ortiz’s confession throughout a prolonged taped interview with investigators.

Ortiz advised investigators he had been a buyer of many of the girls, however he additionally expressed disdain for intercourse employees, referring to them as “trash” and “so dirty” and insisting he wished to “clean up the streets.”

He stated “the monster would come out” as he drove alongside a stretch of road in Laredo frequented by the ladies.

Following the decision, members of the family of the victims confronted Ortiz to present their statements. Ramirez’s sister-in-law, Gracie Perez, stated she was “a loving, kind and funny person.” She advised Ortiz that the hearts of Ramirez’s youngsters at the moment are damaged.

“Do you know how much pain you have caused this family?” Perez stated. “My heart is torn apart knowing that I won’t be able to see her but to visit her in the cemetery,” she stated.

Defense attorneys stated Ortiz was improperly induced to make the confession and that it shouldn’t be thought-about. Defense lawyer Joel Perez argued that Ortiz, a Navy veteran who had been deployed to Iraq, was affected by post-traumatic stress dysfunction, had been affected by insomnia, nightmares and complications, and was medicated and had been consuming that night time.

Prosecutors advised jurors it was a authorized confession supplied by an informed senior legislation enforcement official who was not having a psychological breakdown.

Erika Pena testified that Ortiz picked her up on the night of Sept. 14, 2018, and that she received a foul feeling when he advised her he was the “next to last person” to have intercourse with Ramirez, whose physique had been discovered per week earlier. She testified that he advised her he was fearful investigators would discover his DNA on the physique.

“It made me think that he was the one who might have been murdering,” Pena, 31, advised the jury.

Pena escaped from his truck at a gasoline station after he pointed a gun at her, and he or she ran straight to a state trooper who was refueling his car. Ortiz fled.

Authorities tracked Ortiz to a resort parking storage within the early hours of Sept. 15, 2018, and he was arrested.

Capt. Federico Calderon of the Webb County Sheriff’s Department testified that officers who arrested Ortiz knew concerning the slayings of Ramirez and Luera, and whereas chasing him after Pena’s escape realized {that a} third physique — later recognized as Cantu’s — had been discovered. But Calderon stated it wasn’t till Ortiz’s confession that they realized Janelle Ortiz had been slain.

Webb County Medical Examiner Corinne Stern testified that Ramirez, Luera and Janelle Ortiz have been fatally shot whereas Cantu, who was shot within the neck, died of blunt pressure trauma to the pinnacle.

The bullets collected from the crime scenes got here from the identical gun, and matched the weapon present in Juan David Ortiz’s pickup, a ballistics skilled testified.

Ortiz served within the U.S. Navy for almost eight years, till 2009, holding quite a lot of medical posts and served a three-year detachment with the Marines.