DALLAS _ Texas is seeking the death penalty against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who confessed to killing four sex workers in September, a district attorney said.
Juan David Ortiz, 35, was indicted on a capital murder charge Wednesday, said Isidro Alaniz, district attorney for Webb and Zapata counties.
"The scheme ... from Ortiz's own words was to clean up the streets of Laredo by targeting this community of individuals who he perceived to be disposable, that no one would miss and that he did not give value to," Alaniz said.
Alaniz said he considered the horrific nature of the deaths, Ortiz's disregard for human life and vigilante mentality in his decision to seek the death penalty.
The state considers Ortiz to be a future danger to society, the district attorney said.
Ortiz, a supervisor and 10-year veteran of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, is accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29; Claudine Luera, 42; Guiselda Alicia Cantu, 35; and Janelle Ortiz, 28, according to The Associated Press.
The women were killed between Sept. 3 and 15. Each had been shot, however, Cantu's cause of death was ruled as blunt force trauma, Alaniz said.
Alaniz said he could not discuss the nature of the "relationship" between Ortiz and some of the women, but some knew him.
He did not detail the evidence presented to the grand jury Wednesday, but he said it showed Ortiz killed the women "in a cold, callous and calculating way."
Alaniz said Ortiz used the street where he picked up at least three of the women as a "hunting ground" and violated his oath to his agency and country.
Ortiz was arrested after a fifth woman escaped from him Sept. 14 and ran for help. When law enforcement closed in on him at a gas station, Ortiz fled but was later arrested in a hotel parking lot, Alaniz said.
If not for the woman's escape, Alaniz said there would have been more victims.
Ortiz is being held in the Webb County jail on charges of murder, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint and evading arrest. He will be arraigned on a capital murder charge. A trial date has not been set.
