A 26-year-old Mexican national living illegally in the United States now faces murder charges in two separate strangulation killings of women in Texas, and investigators say they believe the body count may be higher.
Luis Fernando Benitez-Gonzalez was arrested April 27 in the Dallas area by Texas authorities and U.S. Marshals, Fox News reported. He stands charged in the 2018 killing of Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti and the 2024 killing of Alyssa Ann Rivera. DNA evidence linked the two cases, spanning six years and multiple Texas locations.
Two additional women survived separate shootings in 2025 that police have connected to Benitez-Gonzalez. Austin Police Detective Chris Anderson laid out the stakes plainly:
"We believe that there is a strong likelihood that Benitez is responsible for further acts of extreme violence."
The known timeline stretches from 2018 to 2025. Aviles-Marti's killing came first. Rivera's death followed in 2024. Then two women were shot in separate 2025 incidents but survived. All four cases involved female victims, and police have described a repeated pattern of targeting vulnerable women.
Anderson, the lead Austin detective on the case, cast doubt on the idea that Benitez-Gonzalez simply stopped between 2018 and 2024. As Fox News detailed, Anderson pointed to the suspect's consistent methods:
"People who commit crimes of this nature, with the very distinct MO, they usually don't take a break. Not for six years."
That statement carries a grim implication. If investigators are right about the pattern, the two charged murders and two surviving victims may represent only a fraction of the full picture. Authorities have not publicly confirmed whether additional cases are under active review or whether they have identified other potential victims by name.
The critical break came through forensic science. Police linked the Aviles-Marti and Rivera cases through DNA evidence, bridging what had appeared to be unrelated killings separated by years. That forensic connection gave investigators the thread they needed to tie the suspect to both deaths and build a case strong enough for arrest warrants.
Benitez-Gonzalez's arrest in the Dallas area required coordination between local Texas authorities and the U.S. Marshals Service. Investigators have not said publicly how long they tracked him before making the arrest or whether immigration authorities played a role in locating him.
The case echoes a pattern that has drawn increasing public attention: violent crimes allegedly committed by individuals who entered or remained in the country illegally. A Virginia mother recently urged her county prosecutor to act after her daughter was stabbed to death and an illegal immigrant was charged in the killing.
Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti was killed in 2018. Alyssa Ann Rivera was killed in 2024. Both died by strangulation, and both cases went unsolved for a period before DNA testing drew the connection.
Authorities have released limited public information about the two women who survived the 2025 shootings. The shift from strangulation to firearms in the later incidents raises questions investigators will need to address as the case develops, including whether the change in method delayed recognition of the pattern.
What is clear from the charging documents and police statements is that every known victim or survivor was female. Detective Anderson's reference to "vulnerable women" suggests investigators believe the suspect specifically selected targets he perceived as easy to control or unlikely to draw immediate attention.
Benitez-Gonzalez is identified as a Mexican national in the country illegally. Authorities have not publicly confirmed when he entered the United States, how he entered, or whether he had prior encounters with immigration enforcement before the April 27 arrest.
Those details matter. If he crossed the border before the 2018 killing, it means he allegedly operated for at least seven years without detection by either criminal or immigration authorities. If he entered later and was involved in the 2018 murder during a prior stay, the timeline raises different questions about border crossings and re-entry.
Cases like this one fuel the broader debate over whether current enforcement mechanisms adequately protect American communities. A Biden-appointed judge recently freed a Dominican national wanted by Interpol for murder from ICE custody, a decision that drew sharp criticism from enforcement advocates.
The case against Benitez-Gonzalez is built on two murder charges and alleged connections to two additional shootings. But Anderson's public statements signal that investigators treat this as an open and expanding investigation, not a closed file.
Several critical questions remain unanswered. Investigators will need to determine whether unsolved cases involving female victims in the areas where Benitez-Gonzalez lived or traveled match his alleged methods. They will need to establish a complete timeline of his movements across Texas. And they will need to determine whether any prior law enforcement contacts, including immigration encounters, represented missed opportunities to intervene before more women were harmed.
The "very distinct MO" Anderson referenced suggests a behavioral signature that forensic investigators can use to screen cold cases. Whether that screening is already underway has not been disclosed publicly.
The scale of potential violence described by investigators calls to mind other cases where authorities have pursued serial offenders across jurisdictions. In a different context, El Salvador recently put hundreds of alleged MS-13 leaders on trial over tens of thousands of crimes, illustrating the challenge of confronting entrenched patterns of violence.
Benitez-Gonzalez faces murder charges in the deaths of Aviles-Marti and Rivera. No trial date has been announced publicly. Investigators have not said whether additional charges related to the 2025 shootings are forthcoming or whether a grand jury has been convened.
Texas prosecutors will need to decide how to structure the case. Trying the murders together could allow prosecutors to show the jury a pattern. Trying them separately could reduce the risk that a procedural error in one case contaminates the other. That strategic decision will shape how the public ultimately sees the full scope of the alleged crimes.
The suspect's immigration status may also trigger federal proceedings. Investigators have not confirmed whether ICE has lodged a detainer or whether federal charges are under consideration. Given the public attention the case has drawn, those decisions will carry political weight beyond the courtroom.
Violent crimes committed by individuals in the country illegally remain a flashpoint in national policy debates. A recent high-profile shooting in Austin drew similar scrutiny over the background and status of the suspect involved.
Two women are dead. Two more survived shootings. A detective who has studied the suspect's methods says he doubts the violence stopped for six years. And the man now charged in these crimes was, by every official account, never supposed to be in the country at all.
If the system worked, someone would have caught Luis Fernando Benitez-Gonzalez before the body count started. The women of Texas deserved at least that much.
