Description

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.

About the Author

Rick Jervis is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist with more than two decades of experience working at the Miami Herald, the Wall Street Journal Europe, the Chicago Tribune, and USA TODAY, where he has worked since 2005. He lives in Austin, Texas. The Devil Behind the Badge is his first book.

Praise For…

"The Devil Behind the Badge is the most immersive, deeply reported work of true crime I've read in years. It's a terrifying portrait of a murderer, yes, but Jervis's true achievement is bringing these victims to life—no easy feat given that, as sex workers, they often defied documentation. There's no question that this book is comfortably on par with Lost Girls and Killers of the Flower Moon." — Elon Green, author of Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York  

"A deep dive into dark, chill waters. Rick Jervis is a gifted writer and reporter, and this shocking, important story is one worthy of his talents." — Jonathan Eig, New York Times-bestselling author of King: A Life and Ali: A Life.