A Mexican in the country illegally has been identified as the suspect in a string of violent assaults against women in Central Texas, including two murders.
Luis Benítez-González, 26, allegedly killed two women and shot two others who survived in Texas, and police believe there could be more victims. He was arrested on April 27 in the Dallas area by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement also lodged a detainer against Benítez-González and called on local officials not to release him.
Meet Luis Benitez-Gonzalez, an illegal alien from Mexico, who is accused of m*rdering Alba Jenisse Aviles and Alyssa Ann Rivera.
He was also arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of dangerous drugs.
He is currently being held in Dallas on an ICE… pic.twitter.com/W7gXiEzOVW
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 14, 2026
Benítez-González is suspected of murdering two women in Texas over the course of six years. U.S. Marshals and Texas police took him into custody on April 27 after obtaining a warrant for Benítez-González’ DNA following several months of detective work, FOX 7 Austin reported.
In interviews with police, he claimed self-defense and said the women were either trying to rob him or extort him for money, according to court documents. Investigators said that claim doesn’t match up with the physical and forensic evidence.
Austin police detectives have expressed concern there could be more victims and that Benítez-González could be a serial killer. His own admissions show “a repeated pattern of violence” against vulnerable female victims.
“We believe that there is a strong likelihood that Benitez is responsible for further acts of extreme violence,” Austin Police Department Homicide Detective Chris Anderson said at a news briefing per Fox News Digital.
Police used DNA evidence to link Benítez-González to two separate homicides in two counties between 2018 and 2024, but the case broke when he allegedly shot two women in late 2025 and one of them took his cell phone.
“People who commit crimes of this nature, with the very distinct MO, they usually don’t take a break. Not for six years,” Anderson said.
Austin authorities have charged him with first-degree murder in Austin for the June 2024 death of Alyssa Ann Rivera in southeast Austin.
Benítez-González has been linked through DNA evidence to the April 2018 killing of Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti in Bastrop County.
He also faces two felony charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with shooting two women in Austin in late 2025. His criminal history includes an arrest for possession of dangerous drugs.
“These two murders were never forgotten,” Anderson told reporters following his arrest.
“Detectives did a search warrant on the phone… He took selfies,” Anderson said. “From that point on, we were able to progress the investigation further.”
Benitez-Gonzalez first illegally entered the country at an unknown date and location. He was arrested by Border Patrol in Texas in 2020 and removed to Mexico, according to U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He then once again illegally re-entered the country — a felony — at an unknown date and location.
“Alba Jenisse Aviles and Alyssa Ann Rivera should still be alive today,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “Because Dallas cooperates with ICE law enforcement, we will work with local law enforcement to ensure this criminal is NEVER loose in American neighborhoods again.”
In April 2018, 28-year-old Alba Aviles-Marti was found beaten and strangled in Bastrop County. Deputies responded after a passing motorist reported her car on the side of a road. She was last seen alive at an Austin club with an unidentified Hispanic man.
According to Bastrop County detectives, Aviles-Marti had been dragged, including mud on her clothing and feet, and she had bruising on her neck, chin and lip, and blood on her face and on the outside of her car, FOX 7 reported.
The second victim, 34-year-old Alyssa Ann Rivera, was murdered in Austin in June 2024. Austin police found Rivera’s body in an abandoned house with an extension cord wrapped around her neck.
Police also found a bloody rock, bloody handprints, and evidence Rivera had been forcibly dragged into the house and assaulted. The medical examiner’s office determined that she had been hit in the head and nose, FOX 7 reported.
Investigators also recovered surveillance footage showing Rivera walking with a man, one of the last moments captured of her alive.
Police collected DNA and connected the two murder cases though the FBI’s CODIS database. The suspect was not in Austin Police Department’s database because he had never been arrested, FOX 7 reported.
“Multiple sources of DNA at both scenes, but the same suspect links back in both cases,” APD Sgt. Nathan Sexton told local news outlets in 2024.
The case broke after two women were shot on Burton Drive in Austin in late 2025. Detectives in the Rivera murder were alerted to the shootings.
The first shooting occurred in November, and the victim took the attacker’s cell phone and handed it over for evidence. She didn’t know his name, but described him as a Hispanic man who was known around the area and had previously victimized her, FOX 7 reported.
Police obtained a search warrant for the phone and found two selfies depicting a Hispanic male. One of those selfies was released to the public in an effort to identify him.
The second assault happened around Dec. 13, 2025, when the victim told police she had met with a man and agreed to go to a vacant apartment to drink with him.
During a fight, the man reportedly pulled a handgun out and shot her. The victim’s description matched the one provided by the November shooting victim as well as the selfies found on his phone.
Detectives found a spent cartridge at both scenes as well as blood and other evidence. The two assaults were later linked through data from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, KDFW reported.
Austin Police Department also received tips from the public identifying the suspect as Luis Fernando Benítez-González. Tipsters said he was trying to sell firearms and may be trying to flee the country.
Detectives continued their work, searching the recovered phone that turned up photos of a trailer less than half a mile from where Aviles-Marti’s car was found in 2018.
Austin police also found a previous Travis County booking photo from another aggravated assault charge in 2019 that appeared to match the selfies.
Investigators learned that a woman connected to the 2019 assault case lived about a five-minute walk from the home where Rivera’s body was found.
On May 6, lab results confirmed a match to DNA found on evidence recovered from the Rivera homicide crime scene. A previous CODIS hit had matched DNA found at both murder scenes.
Following his arrest, detectives interviewed Benítez-González about all four cases. He allegedly offered details of how he killed Rivera and Aviles but claimed self-defense, according to court documents.
He initially denied any involvement in the two Burton Drive aggravated assaults, but during interviews with detective, he said the woman in the first assault had robbed him of money and his phone.
Benítez-González claimed the gun was not his and he discarded it in a river. When detectives confronted him with the NIBIN link between the two Burton Drive shootings, he reportedly admitted to the December assault, but claimed she was also trying to rob him.
Benítez-González is being held without bond at the Travis County Jail per a request from Travis County District Attorney’s Office on the grounds he is a threat to public safety as well as a flight risk.
Detectives continue to seek tips from the public and work with other agencies to see if there are connections with unsolved cases.
“We are reviewing other cases in the Austin area,” Anderson said at a news conference Tuesday. “That’s part of the plea — have other agencies also check their records and check their cases to see if they have any unsolved cases that match what we have.”
