SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Brayan Rivera, a U.S. citizen who has been described as a “psychopathic serial killer,” was arrested late last week in Los Angeles and was in a U.S. federal court Monday morning for an extradition hearing.
Rivera is suspected of killing three sex workers in Tijuana from September 2021 to February 2022.
Baja California’s Attorney General Ricardo Carpio Sanchez says his office is working to get Rivera back to Mexico where he will be tried and “likely die in prison.”
Rivera, 30, is accused of meeting and setting up sexual encounters with exotic dancers who worked in Tijuana’s so-called “tolerance zone.”
“We are going back 10 years checking murder cases to see if any match his modus operandi,” said Carpio Sanchez. “We believe he is responsible for other murders and in particular the disappearance of a woman who hasn’t been found.”
Baja’s chief prosecutor said Rivera was arrested by FBI agents and U.S. Marshals who knew Rivera often visited his mother’s house in Downey, California.
“Evidence was found during the arrest that shows he killed other women,” Carpio Sanchez said.
One of the alleged victims was 24-year-old Elizabeth Cigarroa Martinez.
“From the time she went to the hotel, went to dinner with him, she kept sending us messages in case something happened,” said Francisco Cigarroa, the victim’s brother. “She was very open about her lifestyle but never thought anything would happen to her.”
Francisco Cigarroa said his sister had been warned not to go out with Rivera.
“My mother told her don’t go out with this guy, but she didn’t listen,” he said.
Francisco Cigarroa says when she stopped sending messages, they got worried and traced her phone to a hotel where they found her dead two days later.
According to investigators, Elizabeth was severely beaten before being strangled to death.
Carpio Sanchez said the other two women were killed the same way.
“It’s bittersweet they caught him since we know my sister won’t be coming back,” said Francisco Cigarroa. “What matters is they captured him and justice will be done and he will never kill again.”
“The United States understands that Mexico may add additional charges when it submits the formal request for extradition,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
