The Devil Behind the Badge: The Horrifying Twelve Days of the Border Patrol Serial Killer
The shocking true-crime story of a U.S. Border Patrol agent turned serial killer, the four sex workers whom he mercilessly killed, and the upended border town of Laredo where his heinous crimes occurred.
Twelve days is all it took.
Melissa Ramirez, Claudine Anne Luera, Guiselda Hernandez, and Janelle Ortiz were four marginalized women striving to make ends meet as sex workers. They looked out for one another. But they would soon share a connection that none of them could have imagined. When Melissa was found dead, the other three women were on edge but assumed they were safe. Twelve days later, they too were dead and police had detained an unlikely suspect--Juan David Ortiz, a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, where he carried a badge, a service revolver, and was entrusted to protect the community in which he eventually killed. From September 3 through September 15, 2018, Ortiz, a husband and doting father to three children, lured his victims into his white Dodge truck and drove them to the outskirts of town where he violently executed them, leaving them dead or dying on the sides of dark, rural roads.
In this fast-paced, electrifying tick-tock, Pulitzer Prize-winning USA TODAY journalist Rick Jervis tells the gripping story of the four murders that shook the small border town of Laredo, and the quest to unmask a cold, calculated killer who was hiding in plain sight. The Devil Behind the Badge is also a deeply human portrait of the four lives lost and an attempt to uncover what motivated Ortiz's descent into darkness. Along the way, it raises serious questions about the border crisis, the abuse of law enforcement, and the challenges of a federal agency to police its own ranks.
Author: Rick Jervis
Publisher: Dey Street Books
Published: 08/06/2024
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.29w x 0.99d
ISBN: 9780062962966
Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2024
BookPage 08/01/2024
We offer worldwide shipping.
All baymarbookgroup.ca orders over $100
(before taxes) are eligible for FREE standard shipping within Canada and
the United States.
Estimated Delivery Times Outside the USA
| Area / Country | Standard International Shipping (Not Trackable) |
International Courier Trackable |
| Asia | 10-14 days | 4-6 days |
| Australia | 18-20 days | 4-6 days |
| Canada | 10-14 days | 4-6 days |
| Caribbean | 14-18 days | 4-6 days |
| Europe | 10-14 days | 4-6 days |
| India | 16-20 days | 4-6 days |
| Latin America | 10-14 days | 4-6 days |
| Middle East | 16-20 days | 4-6 days |