A California man suspected of being a serial killer was apprehended on Thursday after more than a year since he allegedly murdered three sex workers in a Mexican border city.
Bryant “Eduardo” Rivera, aged 30, was captured outside Los Angeles and will be extradited to Baja California to face charges related to a six-month murder spree, as stated by the State Attorney General’s Office.
Mexican investigators had been searching for Rivera, whom they referred to as a “serial killer,” since November 2022.
The extradition request from Mexican authorities prompted US officials to act. Baja California Prosecutor Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez expressed determination to employ all legal and technological means necessary to bring criminals to justice, especially those driven by gender-related motives.
Rivera is wanted for three murders in Mexico, but US authorities have currently charged him with one femicide, according to a federal complaint.
The victim, Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores, a sex worker, was allegedly strangled to death by Rivera on January 24, 2022, in a hotel room adjacent to the Tijuana bar where he had picked her up. Surveillance footage showed the pair entering the hotel together, but Rivera left alone about an hour and a half later.
Although Flores’ mother and boyfriend were concerned for her safety when she did not answer her phone, the hotel staff did not discover her lifeless body until noon the following day. Rivera had already returned to the US by that time, as confirmed by video surveillance from the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
He was observed reentering the country just 13 minutes after leaving the hotel. Rivera may have also taken Flores’ phone, which was later tracked to Riverside, approximately 114 miles north of Tijuana.
Witnesses at the bar identified Rivera as the last person seen with Flores. He used the alias “Eduardo” while interacting with the dancers and booking hotel rooms. Another prostitute reported that Rivera had taken her to the same hotel room shortly before he allegedly killed Flores.
Despite being implicated in the murder, Rivera returned to the Hong Kong bar a month later and is suspected of killing another dancer.
Mexican authorities, drawing comparisons to notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, believe Rivera is also responsible for the August 2021 slaying of a 28-year-old mother who worked at the Hong Kong bar, as well as another strip club called Adelita Bar. Investigators are examining similar unsolved murders from recent years to determine potential connections to Rivera.
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