Mexico investigates 4th killing at Tijuana hotel frequented by American accused of killing 3 women

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Mexican officials say they are investigating the death of a fourth woman at a Tijuana hotel frequented by a California man who is the subject of extradition proceedings to face charges in connection with the killings of at least three women in the border city across from San Diego.

Former Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez said the case shared similarities to the other three killings and authorities are seeing if there is any tie to Bryant Rivera. The resident of Los Angeles suburb Downey was arrested July 6 on a femicide charge in the strangulation death of Angela Carolina Acosta Flores, whose body was found in a hotel room in Tijuana on Jan. 25, 2022.

Mexican officials have said once Rivera is extradited, they plan to present evidence to add charges for the deaths of two more women in Tijuana, including new evidence found when Rivera was arrested in California.

The Associated Press sent an email and left a voice message with Rivera’s defense attorney, deputy federal public defender J. Alejandro Barrientos, who could not be immediately reached for comment.

Carpio Sánchez told reporters this week they are evaluating the evidence of potentially another case. He provided no other details, nor the date of the killing.

“It’s the same hotel, the victim is a woman and there are similarities to the deaths of the other victims,” said Carpio Sánchez, who also announced he was resigning from his post.

Acosta’s mother told Mexican authorities her daughter worked next door to the Tijuana hotel where her body was found, at a strip bar called the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club and occasionally as a sex worker. The mother told authorities she last heard from her daughter Jan. 24, 2022, when she texted her that she would be taking one of her clients into room 404 at the Las Cascadas Hotel for 30 minutes at around 10:15 p.m., according to court records. At 10:45 p.m., her mother said she started texting her daughter but never heard from her.

Court records show Acosta’s boyfriend went to the club at 3 a.m. and was told by a worker there that Acosta had left with a customer who was a “gringo” named Bryant Rivera. After her daughter’s body was found in room 404, Acosta’s mother tracked her daughter’s cellphone to an address in Riverside, California.

Security camera footage from the hotel captured a man matching Rivera’s description and the victim entering room 404, according to court records.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection records show Rivera entered the United States on foot through the San Ysidro port of entry shortly after midnight on Jan. 25, 2022.