Authorities in Texas are searching for a suspected serial killer after matching DNA from two murder scenes six years apart.
Austin police said they were investigating the recent murder of Alyssa Ann Rivera and linked DNA to a previous unsolved case.
Rivera, 34, was found dead in an abandoned home on June 21. Her death is now being linked to the six-year-old case of Alba Jenisse Aviles, officials said.
Aviles, 28, was found in 2018 in a silver Ford sedan in Bastrop County, just a few miles from where Rivera was found.
Authorities say it’s not just DNA at the crime scene that links the two, but that both women were strangled and their murders were “sexual in nature.”
Rivera, pictured here, was found dead in an abandoned home on June 21. Detectives found DNA at the scene that led to an unsolved case.
Aviles, 28, was found dead in 2018 in the silver Ford sedan seen here in Bastrop County, just a few miles from where Rivera was found.
Investigators also said Aviles’ killer met her at an Austin bar called Club Caribe, just three miles from where Rivera was killed.
Police have also released a video showing Rivera walking with a male suspect shortly before her death.
Austin Police Sgt. Nathan Sexton said, “A DNA link has been found between this case and the April 14, 2018, unsolved murder of Alba Jenisse Aviles.
“It is believed that both victims were sexually abused. DNA was found at both crime scenes, as well as multiple sources of DNA at both scenes.”
Even with the new DNA evidence, they have not been able to track down the person using a DNA index system, so it is likely that this person has never been arrested before.
Sexton added: “Unfortunately, that suspect does not show up in CODIS, the national database, and so he is not in that system.”
Sexton said the department and the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office are working closely to identify the DNA as a suspect.
He added: ‘We’re trying to compare notes and see if there’s anyone who appears in both cases or who may have lived here. So it’s going to take quite a bit of research to go through the records.’
When asked if there were other killings connected to the murder, he replied: “There could be more.”
Police have also released a video showing Rivera walking with a male “person of interest” just before she was killed.
According to Sexton, the department and the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office are working closely to turn the DNA into a suspect.
When asked if there were other murders connected to the killing, Sexton replied, “There could be more.”
A GoFundMe has since been set up for Rivera’s family, who wrote in a post on the fundraiser: ‘As many of you know, our daughter, Alyssa Rivera, has been found murdered.
“We still don’t have an answer to how or why. But in the meantime, we need to lay her to rest and ask for all the help we can get to do so.
‘Alyssa was the most kind and generous soul. And everyone who knew her knew that.
“Please help us give our daughter the funeral she deserves. Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated.”
An anonymous family member also told CBS Austin: ‘We love her so much, and we can’t imagine this happening to her.
“Once you meet Alyssa, you never forget her. She didn’t deserve this. She didn’t and neither did we.”