“All of these women,” he wrote in an USA Today article, “were also women with siblings and parents and friends who loved them.”
NPC President Emily Wilkins asked Jervis how he won the trust of victims’ families. Cristina, mother of the first victim, Melissa, welcomed him into her home but wouldn’t answer questions, he said, until overhearing him speak Spanish. She then could tell him about her daughter, how bright Melissa was, how she loved the accordion, how her child had issues during middle school and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. When Melissa became a sex worker and cocaine user, she’d come home barefoot, feet bloodied. Her mother would nurse her back to health. But the cycle continued, she said, pausing to cry in the interview.
In Jervis’s experience, these murdered women were never abandoned or ostracized by their families as stereotypes of sex workers often claim, along with the view that women somehow deserve abuse for what they do. In fact, sex workers are a top target for serial killers, Jervis noted, with women 18 times more likely to be targeted.
“I was blown away how open they (parents) were talking to me. All agreed to initial interviews,” Jervis said in response to audience questions. It became more challenging but after he went to pretrial hearings, “they (families of victims) got comfortable seeing me.”
Jervis said he felt “compulsively curious” about how a bright, loved child become a sex worker. Drug abuse is key, he said, and sexual abuse at a young age. One victim, “Chelly” was “a black hole for 2.5 years”— he knew nothing about her. He learned that her sister was also a sex worker. Her daughter came to the motel to talk with him.
“The people who really knew these victims were other sex workers," Jervis said.
The most frightening experience Jervis had was staying at motels where sex workers worked. “They’re not the Marriott,” he said to audience laughter.
“To a tee, all of the sex workers wanted to get off the streets. None of them wanted to be there,” Jervis said of those he spoke with. “They wanted to get their children back.” Also, they (sex workers) “were all fiercely loyal to one another.”
Claudine, of all the victims, was in a solid middle-class family with siblings who went to college. She had a bad heroin addiction and a middle-school boyfriend who introduced her to it.
This sparked questions about better mental-health monitoring, treatment, and realizations that towns like Laredo have no rehab centers, are poor and struggle to get help.
“A lot of these families impacted me,” Jervis said. “It made me appreciate what I have.” His family, he said, “kept me sane.”
Questions arose about the murderer near the event’s end.
Ortiz was from Brownsville, and a devout evangelical family and school, said Jervis. “He was the guy we all wanted to be like,” his schoolmates said.
In 2001, Ortiz joined the Navy two months before 9/11. He left voluntarily and joined the Border Patrol in 2009. Later, he joined its intel center. That’s where he started to deteriorate, Jervis said. He was advised to seek therapy where he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and receives eight psychotropic drugs he’s supposed to take daily.
Ortiz started drinking “copious amounts of alcohol” Jervis learned, and was advised by his therapist not to tell anyone of his suicidal thoughts as it could affect his job security. He then is screened for major security clearances and passes “with flying colors." Married at the time, he started bragging about picking up women.
A military buddy and close friend invited Ortiz to watch football, Jervis said, where he’d become aggressive, challenge people to wrestle, and drink and pop pills at parties. In front of others, Ortiz said: “Snitches get stitches; bitches end up in ditches.”
After covering the Border Patrol for years, Jervis knows outstanding and professional agents, describing the agency as ‘opaque’ not transparent.
After his book came out, Jervis got a cold call from an agent who told him he got lots of stuff right, but wanted to know if he ever asked why this (presumably crimes) doesn’t happen at other agencies like the FBI etc.?
