A California man has been charged with the murder of three women who worked at a Tijuana strip club in Mexico.
Authorities are now waiting for Bryant Rivera, 30, to be extradited from the US. Mexican Police have reportedly charged Rivera with three counts of “femicide” – the act of killing someone just because they’re a woman.
Rivera was reportedly arrested earlier this week and charged with one of the murders in the United States.
The deaths of the three women have been compared by Baja California Attorney General Iván Carpio Sánchez to the murders carried out by Ted Bundy.
Rivera is alleged to have met the women at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club, a popular strip club in Tijuana. Prosecutors then believe he brutally murdered them.
The Mexican government is now formally seeking his extradition.
One victim, Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores, 20, who worked as a stripper, was found dead in a room at Hotel Cascadas on January 24, 2022.
On the night of her death, she texted her mother to say she was with a client at a room in Hotel Cascadas for 30 minutes. Security cameras caught a man and Flores together before entering the room, reports the Daily Mail.
When she didn’t return her boyfriend went to the bar to look for her. A colleague then said she had seen Flores “with a male client with a light brown complexion, an acne-scarred face,” who was around 5ft 5in and had brown hair, says the court documents.
The woman added that she knew the victim’s client as “Bryant Rivera”, and that he was a “gringo,” a term used to describe Americans, the complaint states.
Flores’ mother and boyfriend went to the hotel and remained in the foyer until they learnt a woman had been found dead in room 404.
The next day Rivera returned to to US by foot, passing through the San Ysidro port of entry, border control records show.
Three weeks later another dancer from the club was found dead. Elizabeth Martínez Cigarroa, 25, died after going on a Valentine’s Day date with an American, allegedly Rivera, that she met at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club.
Her body was discovered on February 17, 2022 in the back of her abandoned truck with apparent signs of violence, Vice reported.
A third dancer was allegedly strangled and beaten to death on August 30,2021. Her body was later found stuffed in a trash can.
Their families waited over a year before any arrests were made.
But on July 6 US police arrested Rivera on suspicion of the murder of Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores.
‘The United States understands that Mexico may add additional charges when it submits the formal request for extradition,’ according to the June 29 complaint filed by the U.S. attorney’s office.
He will appear in court for a detention hearing next week
