Texas Authorities on Hunt for Possible Serial Killer After Two Murders Are Linked Via DNA

While the two murders occurred six years apart -- one in 2018, another this past June -- police say DNA evidence reveals the suspect to be the same in both cases.

Texas authorities have made headway into their investigation into the recent killing of Alyssa Ann Rivera, after linking DNA at the murder scene with another unsolved murder. The two crimes occurred six years apart and police are now on the hunt for a suspected serial killer.

Rivera, 34, was found dead inside an abandoned home in Austin, Texas on June 21, 2024 -- while, on April 7, 2018, Alba Jenisse Aviles was found in a car on Old San Antonio Road in Bastrop County. Per authorities, Aviles left Club Caribe on Felter Lane in Austin the night she was murdered --  just 3 miles away from the Rivera crime scene.

The Austin Police Department, in a new release, said both murders appear to be sexual in nature -- with detectives adding in a press conference that they were both strangled and sexually assaulted. There's no known link between the two women outside of their murders.

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While there has been no suspect identified in either case, authorities now say "DNA evidence reveals the suspect to be the same in both cases."

Police are asking for the public's help identifying a person of interest, after Rivera was seen in recently released surveillance footage walking with an unknown male shortly before her murder ( video below ).

Authorities believe the man could be who killed her -- with police describing the person of interest as a "possibly short, Hispanic male."

Police have also shared a photo related to Ms. Aviles' murder: a photo of a silver Ford in a ditch ( above right ).

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"There was a DNA link found between this case, and April 14th, 2018, in the unsolved murder of Alba Jenisse Aviles," said Sgt. Nathan Sexton of the Austin Police Department per CBS.

"Both victims are believed to have been sexually assaulted -- it was DNA found in both scenes, like multiple sources of DNA at both scenes," added Sexton.

"Unfortunately that suspect does not come back to CODIS, what we call the national database, so they're not in that system," he said, meaning the suspect hasn't been previously charged or arrested for any crimes.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Austin Police Department, and/or Bastrop County Sheriff's Office.

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