A prominent criminal profiler is warning that a suspected budding serial killer in Texas has allegedly started years earlier than expected and fears there may be more victims due to a six-year gap between murder charges.
Luis Benitez-Gonzalez, a 26-year-old previously deported Mexican national, is accused of strangling two women in the area of Austin, Texas, in 2018 and 2024.
Police announced his arrest earlier this week after two more women survived shootings in 2025, including one who fought back and police say swiped her attacker’s cellphone.
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“The rub for me…is that he is accused of killing Alba Jenisse Aviles-Marti when he was only about 18 years old,” said John Kelly, a criminal profiler who had been following the case since before Austin police and the U.S. Marshals announced an arrest. “We worked hard looking for this guy, because we believed there was a serial killer in this area. Little did we expect a budding serial killer who allegedly started killing at 18.”
Historically, most serial killers are older when they evolve into murderers, he said.
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“This is extremely rare, as serial killers usually start killing between 23 to 35 years old,” the STALK Inc. founder told Fox News Digital. “We usually never find out who the first victims really were. I just wonder how many this guy has killed with his homicidal anger towards women over the years?”
Investigators working the case are asking the same question.
“We believe that there is a strong likelihood that Benitez is responsible for further acts of extreme violence,” said Chris Anderson, a homicide detective with the Austin Police Department.
He said police are already looking into more cases for potential connections.
He is urging anyone with additional information on Benitez-Gonzalez to contact the Austin Police Homicide unit at 512-974-8477 or Capital Area Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.
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The suspect, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who voluntarily self-deported in 2020 before reentering the country at an unknown time, is believed to have ties to Austin, Houston, Dallas and Hidalgo County.
WATCH: Texas authorities say illegal migrant charged in 2 murders, 2 shootings and more victims possible
Authorities announced charges against him Tuesday in connection with the murders of Aviles-Marti and Alyssa Ann Rivera, whose remains were found just three miles away in 2024.
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Anderson said that it’s suspicious that there’s a six-year gap between the slayings and that evidence shows an alleged “repeated pattern of violence conducted against vulnerable female victims.”
“He has a 2018 case, and he has a 2024 case,” Anderson said. “People who commit crimes of this nature, with the very distinct MO, they usually don’t take a break.
Benitez-Gonzalez is also accused of shooting two more women in Austin in November and December 2025. Both of them survived, which helped authorities catch Benitez-Gonzalez.
He allegedly claimed self-defense in all four cases, but authorities said they don’t believe him. He has not yet entered a plea.
