In a significant breakthrough, U.S. Marshals and law enforcement officers in Texas have apprehended an undocumented immigrant linked to a series of violent crimes, including two murders by strangulation and two recent shootings where the victims survived.
The suspect, identified as 26-year-old Luis Fernando Benitez-Gonzalez, faces charges in the deaths of Alyssa Ann Rivera, 34, in Austin, and Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti, 28, in Bastrop County.
“There is a strong likelihood that Benitez-Gonzalez is connected to additional violent acts,” stated Austin Police Detective Chris Anderson during a recent press conference.
Authorities took Benitez-Gonzalez into custody on April 27 in the Dallas area with the help of the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, Anderson confirmed.
Originally from Mexico, Benitez-Gonzalez had been voluntarily deported in 2020, according to officials. Detectives in Austin suspect there could be more victims linked to his alleged crimes.
Detective Anderson noted that the evidence, along with Benitez-Gonzalez’s own admissions, suggests a disturbing pattern of violence targeting vulnerable women.
He said Benitez-Gonzalez may have interacted with more potential victims in Austin, Dallas, Houston and Hidalgo County.
“He has a 2018 case, and he has a 2024 case,” Anderson said. “People who commit crimes of this nature, with the very distinct MO, they usually don’t take a break. Not for six years.”
During the briefing, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon Filla revealed that Benitez-Gonzalez is a Mexican national who had previously been voluntarily deported in 2020. It was not immediately clear when he returned to the U.S.
Austin police found Rivera dead on June 21, 2024, after a resident called 911 to report seeing a body in a vacant home on Metcalfe Road. She had been beaten and strangled, police said.
In 2018, Aviles-Marti had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a seatbelt in her car, according to authorities. Bastrop County deputies responded to the scene after a driver reported seeing her car on the shoulder of San Antonio Road — just three miles from where Rivera’s remains were found six years later.
Alyssa Ann Rivera was killed in Austin on June 22, 2024. (Austin Police Department)
Austin police announced in 2024 they had linked the two cases after investigators sent DNA evidence from each of them to the FBI’s CODIS database. Benitez-Gonzalez, however, was not in the database, and it took another two years before he was charged.
Then in November and December 2025, two women survived shooting incidents, Anderson said.
Alba Jenisse Aviles Marti was killed on April 14, 2018 in Bastrop County, Texas. (Austin Police Department)
One of them fought back and managed to wrestle her attacker’s phone away, he added. Ballistic evidence linked her shooting to the other victim, and ultimately to Benitez-Gonzalez in Dallas.
Anderson and another detective interrogated him.
“During that interview, he made admissions related to both aggravated assaults and the 2024 homicide of Alyssa Rivera and the 2018 homicide of Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti,” he said. “Although Benitez-Gonzalez attempted to characterize his actions as self-defense, the totality of the evidence developed in this investigation does not support that claim.”
Benitez-Gonzalez is being held without bail at the Travis County Jail on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has also filed a detainer request.
Anyone with information that may be of value to investigators is asked to call the Austin Police Homicide unit at 512-974-8477 or Capital Area Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.
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