Serial killer suspect compared to Ted Bundy arrested in California
A suspected serial killer that Mexican prosecutors compared to Ted Bundy has been arrested in California, authorities say.
Since 2021, authorities in Tijuana have been searching for an American man they believe killed at least three women working in the popular strip clubs of the border town. All three of the women worked at Hong Kong Gentlemen's Club in Tijuana, where some of the dancers also can be hired for sex work.
According to a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on June 29, American authorities were told by their Mexican counterparts that they believed a Downey, Calif., man named Bryant Rivera was their killer.
On Jan. 24, 2022, Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores, a dancer at the Hong Kong club, texted her mother that she was going to the adjoining Hotel Cascadas with a male client. She said she would be back in touch in 30 minutes. When Acosta did not respond to multiple texts and calls, her mother began to worry. Acosta’s boyfriend arrived at the club to see if anyone had seen her, and another worker said Acosta had left with an “acne-scarred” man that they knew as the “gringo” Bryant Rivera, the complaint says.
Acosta’s mother and boyfriend were anxiously waiting in the hotel lobby when an ambulance pulled up to attend to an unresponsive woman found in room 404. That woman was Acosta, who was dead from strangulation.
When Mexican authorities checked surveillance footage, they saw a man and Acosta enter room 404 together around 10 p.m. At 11:49 p.m., the man was seen leaving alone. There was no further activity in the room until a hotel employee found Acosta’s body in the morning.
The complaint says U.S. Border Patrol video taken at the San Ysidro checkpoint shows Rivera, 30, entering into California on foot 13 minutes after he’s seen leaving the hotel. Mexican authorities said Acosta’s phone was last tracked to Riverside, the complaint says.
"This subject has criminal tendencies associated with violent and psychopathic behavior," Baja California Attorney General Iván Carpio Sánchez told the media in Tijuana last year. "His profile is very similar to someone who became very well-known decades ago: Ted Bundy."
Carpio also said the suspect “is considered a serial killer.”
Investigators believe the same killer also attacked Elizabeth Martínez Cigarroa, who also worked at the Hong Kong Gentlemen's Club. She was found dead in her truck in February 2022 after allegedly going on a Valentine's Day date with an American. A third unnamed victim was found strangled in August 2021 in a Tijuana motel; Rivera was reportedly a frequent client of the woman.
Rivera was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals and is currently incarcerated at MDC Los Angeles, a federal prison. According to the DOJ complaint, American officials expect Mexican authorities to file extradition papers for Rivera on the charge of femicide, a gender-specific crime in the country.
Source: SFGATE
