U.S. Marshals Arrest Mexican National in 2 Texas Strangling Murders, 2 Shootings

U.S. Marshals and Texas police arrested Luis Fernando Benitez-Gonzalez, a 26-year-old illegal immigrant and suspected serial killer, in connection with two strangling murders in 2024 and 2018, plus two recent shootings where female victims survived.

Benitez-Gonzalez faces accusations of killing 34-year-old Alyssa Ann Rivera in Austin and 28-year-old Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti in Bastrop County. "We believe that there is a strong likelihood that Benitez is responsible for further acts of extreme violence," Austin Police Detective Chris Anderson said at a news briefing.

Authorities arrested him on April 27 in the Dallas area through the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, Anderson said. The detective said evidence and Benitez-Gonzalez's statements reveal "a repeated pattern of violence conducted against vulnerable female victims."

Anderson added that 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."

Deputy U.S. Marshal Brandon Filla said at the briefing that Benitez-Gonzalez is a Mexican national previously deported voluntarily in 2020. It was not clear when he returned to the U.S.

Austin police found Rivera's body on June 21, 2024, in a vacant home on Metcalfe Road after a resident called 911. She had been beaten and strangled, police said.

In 2018, authorities said Aviles-Marti had been sexually assaulted and strangled with a seatbelt in her car. Bastrop County deputies responded after a driver reported her vehicle on the shoulder of San Antonio Road, just three miles from where Rivera's remains turned up six years later.

Austin police linked the cases in 2024 after sending DNA from both to the FBI's CODIS database. Benitez-Gonzalez was not in the database, and it took two more years to charge him.

Anderson said two women survived shootings in November and December 2025. One fought back and took her attacker's phone, he said. Ballistic evidence tied her case to the other shooting and to Benitez-Gonzalez in Dallas.

Anderson and another detective questioned 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," Anderson 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 held without bail at Travis County Jail on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has filed a detainer request.

Anyone with information should call the Austin Police Homicide unit at 512-974-8477 or Capital Area Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.