Crime & Punishment

[merh]

Ex-Border Patrol agent convicted of killing 4 women in Texas
Wed, December 7, 2022 at 1:35 PM


Juan David Ortiz, 39, receives an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole because prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.

Ortiz, a Border Patrol intel supervisor at the time of his arrest, was accused of killing Melissa Ramirez, 29, Claudine Anne Luera, 42, Guiselda Alicia Cantu, 35, and Janelle Ortiz, 28. Their bodies were found along roads on the outskirts of Laredo in September 2018

During the trial that began last week, jurors heard Ortiz’s confession during a lengthy taped interview with investigators.

Ortiz told investigators he had been a customer of most of the women, but he also expressed disdain for sex workers, referring to them as “trash” and “so dirty” and insisting he wanted to “clean up the streets.”

He said “the monster would come out” as he drove along a stretch of street in Laredo frequented by the women.

Following the verdict, family members of the victims faced Ortiz to give their statements. Ramirez's sister-in-law, Gracie Perez, said she was "a loving, kind and funny person.” She told Ortiz that the hearts of Ramirez's children are now broken.

“Do you know how much pain you have caused this family?” Perez said. “My heart is torn apart knowing that I won't be able to see her but to visit her in the cemetery,” she said.

Defense attorneys said Ortiz was improperly induced to make the confession and that it should not be considered. Defense attorney Joel Perez argued that Ortiz, a Navy veteran who had been deployed to Iraq, was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had been suffering from insomnia, nightmares and headaches, and was medicated and had been drinking that night.

Prosecutors told jurors it was a legal confession provided by an educated senior law enforcement official who was not having a mental breakdown.

Erika Pena testified that Ortiz picked her up on the evening of Sept. 14, 2018, and that she got a bad feeling when he told her he was the “next to last person” to have sex with Ramirez, whose body had been found a week earlier. She testified that he told her he was worried investigators would find his DNA on the body.

“It made me think that he was the one who might have been murdering,” Pena, 31, told the jury.

Pena escaped from his truck at a gas station after he pointed a gun at her, and she ran straight to a state trooper who was refueling his vehicle. Ortiz fled.

Authorities tracked Ortiz to a hotel parking garage in the early hours of Sept. 15, 2018, and he was arrested.

Capt. Federico Calderon of the Webb County Sheriff’s Department testified that officers who arrested Ortiz knew about the slayings of Ramirez and Luera, and while chasing him after Pena’s escape learned that a third body — later identified as Cantu’s — had been found. But Calderon said it wasn’t until Ortiz’s confession that they learned Janelle Ortiz had been slain.

So he's having sex & then killing them to clean the streets up?

[abbey1227]

Dec 8, 2022 21:23:39 GMT merh said:

Ex-Border Patrol agent convicted of killing 4 women in Texas

So he's having sex & then killing them to clean the streets up?

When it's pretty much a lawless state all around........you don't expect it to get worse?

[merh]

Dec 9, 2022 2:49:26 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 8, 2022 21:23:39 GMT merh said:

So he's having sex & then killing them to clean the streets up?

When it's pretty much a lawless state all around........you don't expect it to get worse?

So now you see prostitutes as evil?

He wasn't killing random criminals. 
He was picking up prostitutes,  using their services, then killing them to "clean up the streets"

[abbey1227]

Dec 9, 2022 7:30:06 GMT merh said:

So now you see prostitutes as evil?

He wasn't killing random criminals. 
He was picking up prostitutes,  using their services, then killing them to "clean up the streets"

OMG, merh. How many times do I have to state that prostitution and drug use should be COMPLETELY legal, imo befre it rings true to you?

And in high crime areas, there are tons of other crimes going on......... that sorta keep the cops busy, sorta give others the impression that crime isn't so bad. ONE BEGETS ANOTHER, BEGETS ANOTHER.

[merh]

Dec 9, 2022 12:54:31 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 9, 2022 7:30:06 GMT merh said:

So now you see prostitutes as evil?

He wasn't killing random criminals. 
He was picking up prostitutes,  using their services, then killing them to "clean up the streets"

OMG, merh. How many times do I have to state that prostitution and drug use should be COMPLETELY legal, imo befre it rings true to you?

And in high crime areas, there are tons of other crimes going on......... that sorta keep the cops busy, sorta give others the impression that crime isn't so bad. ONE BEGETS ANOTHER, BEGETS ANOTHER.

So why were you talking like it was a correct thing to kill them as trash?

[abbey1227]

Dec 10, 2022 1:53:56 GMT merh said:

Dec 9, 2022 12:54:31 GMT abbey1227 said:

OMG, merh. How many times do I have to state that prostitution and drug use should be COMPLETELY legal, imo befre it rings true to you?

And in high crime areas, there are tons of other crimes going on......... that sorta keep the cops busy, sorta give others the impression that crime isn't so bad. ONE BEGETS ANOTHER, BEGETS ANOTHER.

So why were you talking like it was a correct thing to kill them as trash?

I was?

I can make the observation that bad people in bad areas seem to value life less than others..........that doesn't mean I agree with killing anyone for no reason.

There ARE a few legitimate reasons to kill someone........being a prostitute is not one of them.

[merh]

Dec 10, 2022 13:21:26 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 10, 2022 1:53:56 GMT merh said:

So why were you talking like it was a correct thing to kill them as trash?

I was?

I can make the observation that bad people in bad areas seem to value life less than others..........that doesn't mean I agree with killing anyone for no reason.

There ARE a few legitimate reasons to kill someone........being a prostitute is not one of them.

This felt like yet another sinner killing the temptation rather than addressing his sin

[abbey1227]

Dec 10, 2022 21:51:43 GMT merh said:

Dec 10, 2022 13:21:26 GMT abbey1227 said:

I was?

I can make the observation that bad people in bad areas seem to value life less than others..........that doesn't mean I agree with killing anyone for no reason.

There ARE a few legitimate reasons to kill someone........being a prostitute is not one of them.

This felt like yet another sinner killing the temptation rather than addressing his sin

I think you'll find people get really uncomfortable when presented with their own sins. This is why I think most just love being lied to in their preferred way.

[merh]

California Interior Designer Drugs, Kills Stepfather After Finding Nude Images of Herself on His Computer

By Manthan C. On 12/12/22 At 2:17 PM

A California-based interior designer drugged and strangled her stepfather after finding nude pictures of herself on his computer, prosecutors alleged.

Thomas Merriman's body was found in January 2021, under a pile of trash at the Solana Beach, Calif., home he shared with stepdaughter Jade Janks.

Merriman Used One of the Images as a Screensaver

The murder trial of Janks, 39, an interior designer who co-founded the research non-profit Butterfly Farms, began this week in Vista Superior Court.

She has pleaded not guilty to killing the 64-year-old Merriman, who prosecutors said died of an overdose of sleeping pills Janks gave him after she discovered the photos — one of which he reportedly used as his screensaver.

The photos were taken more than a decade ago, consensually, by Janks and her boyfriend, authorities said. It's unclear how they came into Merriman's possession. Janks found the photos while she was cleaning her stepfather's apartment, who had been hospitalized, Del Portillo added.

'I Just Dosed the Hell Out of Him'

Janks then texted another man about giving Merriman the pills, according to prosecutors. "I just dosed the hell out of him. Stopping for whiskey then at Dixieland to stall. LMK," Janks wrote in texts sent on the day she picked Merriman up from the hospital, according to Del Portillo.

Janks seems to second guess her plan in another text message the prosecutors shared. "He's waking up," one alleged text read, according to NBC San Diego. "I really don't want to be the one to do this."

"I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up," another read.

Janks eventually called another person for help, said prosecutors. That person reported her to the authorities the next day. Deputies then searched the home and found Merriman's body under a pile of boxes, blankets and other trash.

Janks' Attorney Claims Merriman Died of Poor Health, 'Cocktail' of Drugs

Attorneys for Janks argued that Janks did not kill Merriman, who instead died from poor health and "his own cocktail" of drugs. "You will not find any evidence that he was strangled to death," Janks' attorney, Marc Carlos told the jury.

The discovery of the images, Deputy District Attorney Jorge Del Portillo said, left Jade Sasha Janks "beyond freaked out."

"This was no accident. This was murder by design," Del Portillo said.

[abbey1227]

Dec 12, 2022 20:29:49 GMT merh said:

California Interior Designer Drugs, Kills Stepfather After Finding Nude Images of Herself on His Computer

By Manthan C. On 12/12/22 At 2:17 PM

A California-based interior designer drugged and strangled her stepfather after finding nude pictures of herself on his computer, prosecutors alleged.

Thomas Merriman's body was found in January 2021, under a pile of trash at the Solana Beach, Calif., home he shared with stepdaughter Jade Janks.

Merriman Used One of the Images as a Screensaver

The murder trial of Janks, 39, an interior designer who co-founded the research non-profit Butterfly Farms, began this week in Vista Superior Court.

She has pleaded not guilty to killing the 64-year-old Merriman, who prosecutors said died of an overdose of sleeping pills Janks gave him after she discovered the photos — one of which he reportedly used as his screensaver.

The photos were taken more than a decade ago, consensually, by Janks and her boyfriend, authorities said. It's unclear how they came into Merriman's possession. Janks found the photos while she was cleaning her stepfather's apartment, who had been hospitalized, Del Portillo added.

'I Just Dosed the Hell Out of Him'

Janks then texted another man about giving Merriman the pills, according to prosecutors. "I just dosed the hell out of him. Stopping for whiskey then at Dixieland to stall. LMK," Janks wrote in texts sent on the day she picked Merriman up from the hospital, according to Del Portillo.

Janks seems to second guess her plan in another text message the prosecutors shared. "He's waking up," one alleged text read, according to NBC San Diego. "I really don't want to be the one to do this."

"I am about to club him on the head as he is waking up," another read.

Janks eventually called another person for help, said prosecutors. That person reported her to the authorities the next day. Deputies then searched the home and found Merriman's body under a pile of boxes, blankets and other trash.

Janks' Attorney Claims Merriman Died of Poor Health, 'Cocktail' of Drugs

Attorneys for Janks argued that Janks did not kill Merriman, who instead died from poor health and "his own cocktail" of drugs. "You will not find any evidence that he was strangled to death," Janks' attorney, Marc Carlos told the jury.

The discovery of the images, Deputy District Attorney Jorge Del Portillo said, left Jade Sasha Janks "beyond freaked out."

"This was no accident. This was murder by design," Del Portillo said.

I saw that one, too. Weird. WHY would she care that much about photos she took a decade ago? when she likely looked her best?

[merh]

Dec 13, 2022 4:21:01 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 12, 2022 20:29:49 GMT merh said:

I saw that one, too. Weird. WHY would she care that much about photos she took a decade ago? when she likely looked her best?

It's not a bit creepy someone who is supposed to be one's father figure has nudes of his daughter?

She is 39 so that makes her a hag?

What does the wife say?
Say if no step father, a favorite uncle had a nude of her as his screen saver?

She was taking care of his home while he was hospitalized so there seems to be some sort of relationship. Like she saw him as a father & he's getting his jellies off on her?

Here's the non-profit

www.butterflyfarms.org/

Posher address. Vista is inland. More East County redneck sort of feel. Not far from Fallbrook which is where Weird Al's parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2004. Encinitas is coastal. Beach.

[abbey1227]

Dec 13, 2022 11:52:17 GMT merh said:

It's not a bit creepy someone who is supposed to be one's father figure has nudes of his daughter?

She is 39 so that makes her a hag?

What does the wife say?
Say if no step father, a favorite uncle had a nude of her as his screen saver?

She was taking care of his home while he was hospitalized so there seems to be some sort of relationship. Like she saw him as a father & he's getting his jellies off on her?

Here's the non-profit

www.butterflyfarms.org/

Posher address. Vista is inland. More East County redneck sort of feel. Not far from Fallbrook which is where Weird Al's parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2004. Encinitas is coastal. Beach.

Yes, it's a bit creepy. So she should have moved out........or stopped speaking to him. right? 

Who said 'hag'? MOST people look their physical best in their 20s and early 30s, no?

Nobody is denying his creepy behavior..........but to throw your life away over it? So delete the photos from his computer and move out. Badmouth him to all your friends and family.........but to kill and guy that probably doesn't even have that long a life to live anyway? Seems pretty stupid to me.

You think she just didn't wanna give up the house?

[gaia1953]

Just in general, there may have been past abuse that no one knew about. Perhaps it had stopped for a while. But seeing those images triggered all the old issues and brought about a 'psychotic break' (no, I am not a therapist, just know a few people who have had past abuse issues).

We should see what transpires during the trial.

[abbey1227]

Dec 13, 2022 19:04:27 GMT gaia1953 said:

Just in general, there may have been past abuse that no one knew about. Perhaps it had stopped for a while. But seeing those images triggered all the old issues and brought about a 'psychotic break' (no, I am not a therapist, just know a few people who have had past abuse issues).

We should see what transpires during the trial.

1. Do you think those photos will be entered in as evidence?

2. How odd/funny is it that the word 'therapist' is even involved in sexual abuse cases?

[merh]

Dec 13, 2022 13:22:51 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 13, 2022 11:52:17 GMT merh said:

It's not a bit creepy someone who is supposed to be one's father figure has nudes of his daughter?

She is 39 so that makes her a hag?

What does the wife say?
Say if no step father, a favorite uncle had a nude of her as his screen saver?

She was taking care of his home while he was hospitalized so there seems to be some sort of relationship. Like she saw him as a father & he's getting his jellies off on her?

Here's the non-profit

www.butterflyfarms.org/

Posher address. Vista is inland. More East County redneck sort of feel. Not far from Fallbrook which is where Weird Al's parents died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2004. Encinitas is coastal. Beach.

Yes, it's a bit creepy. So she should have moved out........or stopped speaking to him. right? 

Who said 'hag'? MOST people look their physical best in their 20s and early 30s, no?

Nobody is denying his creepy behavior..........but to throw your life away over it? So delete the photos from his computer and move out. Badmouth him to all your friends and family.........but to kill and guy that probably doesn't even have that long a life to live anyway? Seems pretty stupid to me.

You think she just didn't wanna give up the house?

Yeah.
I had that discussion with my husband, remember?
He was so angry with his boss he wanted to buy a gun & shoot him. I pointed out he'd go to prison. He didn't care. Said he'd be satisfied the man was dead.

Hell, I might be more pissed at the ex since that had to be the source of the photos getting to the step dad.

I would have probably been satisfied telling everyone what a creepy he was.

[abbey1227]

Dec 14, 2022 1:24:37 GMT merh said:

Yeah.
I had that discussion with my husband, remember?
He was so angry with his boss he wanted to buy a gun & shoot him. I pointed out he'd go to prison. He didn't care. Said he'd be satisfied the man was dead.

Hell, I might be more pissed at the ex since that had to be the source of the photos getting to the step dad.

I would have probably been satisfied telling everyone what a creepy he was.

I do find it interesting what sets people off. I have my own few things.........but overall, I feel like I'm less emotional than others.

THAT was what I first thought, too. The Ex, being spiteful sent dear old StepDad some frisky shots. OR maybe Dad was simply a bit of a hacker himself? It IS private photos...........but then again, who in their right mind these days thinks those kinds of things may never come back to bite them in the arse?

And don't forget, deleting his files......or smashing his computer on the way out. 

[merh]

Dec 14, 2022 7:05:00 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 14, 2022 1:24:37 GMT merh said:

Yeah.
I had that discussion with my husband, remember?
He was so angry with his boss he wanted to buy a gun & shoot him. I pointed out he'd go to prison. He didn't care. Said he'd be satisfied the man was dead.

Hell, I might be more pissed at the ex since that had to be the source of the photos getting to the step dad.

I would have probably been satisfied telling everyone what a creepy he was.

I do find it interesting what sets people off. I have my own few things.........but overall, I feel like I'm less emotional than others.

THAT was what I first thought, too. The Ex, being spiteful sent dear old StepDad some frisky shots. OR maybe Dad was simply a bit of a hacker himself? It IS private photos...........but then again, who in their right mind these days thinks those kinds of things may never come back to bite them in the arse?

And don't forget, deleting his files......or smashing his computer on the way out. 

Oh God.


Always the woman's fault.

Bexcuse no one wants all those goddamned dick pics guys send out to everyone & anyone.
Hell I was driving my underage kid & friend (maybe 15?) Somewhere & a guy they knee on the net sent my kid a dick pick. Said laughed & said mom was right there. Guy left the conversation 

[abbey1227]

Dec 14, 2022 21:33:36 GMT merh said:

Dec 14, 2022 7:05:00 GMT abbey1227 said:

I do find it interesting what sets people off. I have my own few things.........but overall, I feel like I'm less emotional than others.

THAT was what I first thought, too. The Ex, being spiteful sent dear old StepDad some frisky shots. OR maybe Dad was simply a bit of a hacker himself? It IS private photos...........but then again, who in their right mind these days thinks those kinds of things may never come back to bite them in the arse?

And don't forget, deleting his files......or smashing his computer on the way out. 

Oh God.


Always the woman's fault.

Bexcuse no one wants all those goddamned dick pics guys send out to everyone & anyone.
Hell I was driving my underage kid & friend (maybe 15?) Somewhere & a guy they knee on the net sent my kid a dick pick. Said laughed & said mom was right there. Guy left the conversation 

Wha?  IF she killed this guy, yes it's HER fault for choosing to do that.

And if her ex sent those photos, he's at fault for leaking private stuff.

Dick pix are some of the strangest things, aren't they? MOST aren't really worth noting.

So, as a parent, suddenly you're concerned with strangers showing sexual material to your 15 yr old?    My, how times have changed, huh?

[merh]

Dec 15, 2022 2:07:08 GMT abbey1227 said:

Dec 14, 2022 21:33:36 GMT merh said:

Oh God.


Always the woman's fault.

Bexcuse no one wants all those goddamned dick pics guys send out to everyone & anyone.
Hell I was driving my underage kid & friend (maybe 15?) Somewhere & a guy they knee on the net sent my kid a dick pick. Said laughed & said mom was right there. Guy left the conversation 

Wha?  IF she killed this guy, yes it's HER fault for choosing to do that.

And if her ex sent those photos, he's at fault for leaking private stuff.

Dick pix are some of the strangest things, aren't they? MOST aren't really worth noting.

So, as a parent, suddenly you're concerned with strangers showing sexual material to your 15 yr old?    My, how times have changed, huh?

My kid was not unfamiliar with male anatomy.

I couldn't believe it & the guy vanishing in embarrassment ended the conversation. I knew my kid could handle the idiot. It is just insane guys think their dicks are so special someone will see it & just HAVE to have it 

My kid had been reading yaoi Manga since age 12.

[abbey1227]

Dec 16, 2022 10:58:13 GMT merh said:

Dec 15, 2022 2:07:08 GMT abbey1227 said:

Wha?  IF she killed this guy, yes it's HER fault for choosing to do that.

And if her ex sent those photos, he's at fault for leaking private stuff.

Dick pix are some of the strangest things, aren't they? MOST aren't really worth noting.

So, as a parent, suddenly you're concerned with strangers showing sexual material to your 15 yr old?    My, how times have changed, huh?

My kid was not unfamiliar with male anatomy.

I couldn't believe it & the guy vanishing in embarrassment ended the conversation. I knew my kid could handle the idiot. It is just insane guys think their dicks are so special someone will see it & just HAVE to have it 

My kid had been reading yaoi Manga since age 12.

That'd cover it, I guess.

Though how weird is it that the manga is so risque..........yet much of their adult porn is pixelated?