The Devil Behind the Badge

The Horrifying Twelve Days of the Border Patrol Serial Killer

By: Rick Jervis

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

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.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Rick Jervis (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

So good, learned so much!

I absolutely loved it! So informative while being a nail bitter. Laredo, TX life, sex workers, & drug abuse.

Pretty good

A sad and fascinating story that was written fairly well. My pet peeves were:
The author goes into crazily detailed info/history on anything he could get his hands on; it seems geared to increase the length of the book and added very, very little to the story. I skipped an entire chapter just because he went off on a random history of something vaguely related to the rest of the book.
The author virtue signals constantly throughout the book, insisting on calling illegal immigrants "asylum seekers" or "migrants" and painting them as helpless victims. Also calls the prostitutes "sex workers" which isn't a big deal except that it's a virtue-signaling, politically correct term.
I know have criticized the narrator's over-the-top pronunciation of Spanish words, and I agree although since I know some Spanish it wasn't too bad. It was obvious he wants us to know he can speak Spanish :-)

Unbelievable

A very sad story very well told. The author presents the case in a “just the facts” manner.

One note to the Audible team: it would be worthwhile for all performers to have a preview of the words in each book. In this case, "Bexar" County is actually pronounced "Bear." I've noticed this even with common names of well known people.

Great listen

It was one that o couldn’t pick down. If you like true crime. This is for you!!

Very detailed account of EVERY character!

A little drawn out, especially too much information on the minor players. Right when you think the story was getting somewhere and a new character was introduced & we get the life story.

Well researched

Very well researched and well-written book. Author gave the backstory of the killer, victims, law enforcement, media, and the other agencies involved in the case. Not political in any way. The author does spend about 5 minutes discussing the general atmosphere at Border Patrol toward immigrants and women, but this is very minor. Confused at the reviews that criticize the author for being too political? Are you folks that threatened by an honest reporting of the atmosphere at the US Border Patrol? My guess is that the author was implying that the pedestrian misogyny didn’t help coworkers identify some of the killer’s problematic behaviors (e.g hiring prostitutes). The author also mentions the connection between combat veterans and poor mental health outcomes-outcomes that include violence more so than other mental health disorders. Was that the political part that so infuriated you folks? Anyway, I enjoyed the book. Author did a great job discussing each victim with compassion and honesty.

The narrator speaks

The story was well told but the narrator speaks perfect English but it was so distracting every time a Spanish name came up, he had to interject an enormous accent into. I personally found it very distracting. Otherwise he spoke very well and the story is a sad but hard to follow.

Powerful and disturbing

This was very well written and narrated. Disturbing situations brought to light in as delicate a manner as possible. Heartbreaking in so many ways and very informative.

Detailed & Page Turning

The author went into great detail about the lives of the real life characters in this book. Well organized, I enjoyed listening to it and was always ready to hear the next chapter. There is quite a bit of the Spanish language intermixed with the dialogue, but that is no reason to shy away from listening to it. I couldn’t get the PDFs to download, but don’t think they were necessary to visualize the scenes described. I was struck by the destructive nature of the family relationships described and trauma that led to massive drug use by the victims and even the killer.
Growing up in Texas, I was a little disturbed by the pronunciation of some of the towns and counties by the reader, but otherwise appreciated his accent and reading style. Recommend this book to those who enjoy true crime tales.

Interesting tale.

I enjoyed the in-depth story presented by the author. This story was well written and kept me interested throughout.