Search for suspect in connection to murders in Austin & Bastrop County
AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department says new information has connected two murder cases, one in Austin and one in Bastrop County.
Police say they learned on August 7 of a DNA link between the murder case of 34-year-old Alyssa Ann Rivera and an unsolved Bastrop County Sheriff's Office case from 2018.
The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office said on April 14, 2018, 28-year-old Alba Jenisse Aviles was murdered in the 300 block of Old San Antonio Road in Bastrop County.
"The body of Alba Jenisse Aviles was discovered by a passing motorist," said Detective Christopher Anderson with the Austin Police Department.
Six years later, there was another murder. At first, police said they believed it was two separate cases.
"For it to have been so geographically tight is pretty coincidental," said Sargeant Nathan Sexton with the APD Homicide Department.
Police believe these two women never knew each other, but now their deaths might be what connects them.
"Both victims are believed to have been sexually assaulted," said Sexton.
Sexton added both women died by strangulation.
"There was DNA found at both scenes," said Sexton. "Multiple sources of DNA at both scenes, but the same suspect links back in both cases."
Austin police said their suspect is not in its DNA database because he's never been arrested.
"Which, 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," said Sexton.
While they don’t know the suspect's name, they have a video of him walking alongside Rivera.
"They could have known each other for some period of time, they could have met just that day, so that's still being explored," said Sexton.
Detectives said this is one of the last moments captured of Rivera alive, and they hope it's enough to help close both of these cases.
"Anyone that knew either of these victims, by all means, anything that you may have seen, we don't know if the suspect frequents clubs, we have no idea," said Sexton. "We know there was a tie to the first murder, but in the second one there's no evidence of that so anybody with any information even if it seems trivial, if they knew either of these victims, we ask them to call our homicide tipline."
Anyone with any information should contact the Austin Police Department at 512-974-TIPS. You may submit your tip anonymously through the Capital Area Crime Stoppers Program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or by calling 512-472-8477. A reward up to $1,000 may be available for any information that leads to an arrest.
What happened to Alyssa Ann Rivera?
On Friday, June 21, around 4:06 p.m., officers responded to a call of a dead body in the 2600 block of Metcalfe Road. The caller said they saw what appeared to be a dead body.
When officers arrived, they found a dead woman, later identified as 34-year-old Alyssa Rivera, in an abandoned house.
On July 3, police released new images of a possible person of interest.
Detectives believe Rivera was murdered at the home by an unknown suspect.
What happened in Bastrop County in 2018?
Officials said on April 14, 2018, at around 7:30 a.m., a person driving by saw a body in a car.
The woman, later identified as 28-year-old Alba Jenisse Aviles, was found dead in a silver sedan in the 300 block of Old San Antonio Road in Bastrop County.
Courtesy BCSO: PHOTO EVIDENCE OF 2018 MURDER
The 28-year-old had been strangled to death.
Aviles left Club Caribe on Felter Lane in Austin the night she was murdered. This is just over three miles away from where Rivera was murdered, BCSO said.