The Austin Police Department is looking for a suspected serial killer after the unidentified suspect’s DNA was linked to the murders of two women in Austin, Texas.
In a recent press release, the Austin Police Department said, “On August 7, 2024 there was a DNA link found between Alyssa Ann Rivera’s case and the April 14, 2018 unsolved murder of Alba Jenisse Aviles in the 300 block of Old San Antonio Road in Bastrop County, Texas.”
According to Fox News, police officers responded to a call at roughly 4 p.m. on June 21 from an individual who reported that they found a body at an abandoned home in the 2600 block of Metcalfe Road. Officers later identified the body as 34-year-old Alyssa Rivera.
Fox News reported that an investigation by crime specialists and homicide detectives led law enforcement officials to determine that Rivera was murdered at the abandoned home by an unknown suspect. On July 3, law enforcement officials released a video and pictures of a potential suspect in Rivera’s murder case. The video appears to show a Hispanic male walking next to a woman.
As part of the investigation, officials discovered a DNA connection between Rivera’s murder case and the unsolved murder of Aviles, who was killed on April 14, 2018, in the 300 block of Old San Antonio Road in Bastrop County, Texas.
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“Ms. Aviles’ murder is being investigated by the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office. Ms. Aviles left Club Caribe on Felter Lane in Austin the night she was murdered,” police officials said in a press release. “This is just over 3 miles away from Ms. Rivera’s murder.”
According to Fox 7, Austin Police Department Sgt. Nathan Sexton noted that both women were killed by strangulation and that both women were believed to have been sexually assaulted. While no suspect has been identified in either of the murder cases, police officials said the DNA evidence points to a single suspect.
“For it to have been so geographically tight is pretty coincidental,” Sexton said.
Police officials have indicated that the suspect is not in the city’s DNA database, which means that the suspect has never been arrested before. Sexton added, “Typically, people committing really violent murders have probably committed something similar to that in the past or have at least been arrested, so that does not appear to be the case.”
The Austin Police Department has asked the public to provide any information regarding the two murder cases as law enforcement officials continue to search for the suspected serial killer.
