A California man accused of killing three sex workers in Mexico had an unusual relationship with his mother and would often sleep in the same bed as her, officials say.
Bryant Rivera, 30, was arrested at his parents’ home in Downey, California, on Thursday and is expected to be extradited to Mexico.
The Los Angeles County man has only been charged in connection to one murder, but faces three counts of femicide, according to Mexican officials, who shared some of the evidence they believe connects him to all three deaths.
The Attorney General of Baja Mexico, Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez, described Rivera as a serial killer who murdered three sex workers between September 2021 and February 2022. Rivera’s scheduled to appear Monday in federal court in LA.
The brutal slayings of the vulnerable women led Carpio Sánchez to describe Rivera as displaying ‘violent and psychopathic behavior’ comparable to notorious murderer Ted Bundy.
Bryant Rivera, 30, who is is accused of killing three sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico, was arrested Thursday at his parents’ home in Downey, California, and is to be extradited to Mexico
Rivera’s parents said they are in disbelief over their son’s arrest with his father Candido Rivera telling NBC Los Angeles that they depend on him
Rivera’s parents said they are in disbelief over their son’s arrest with his father, Candido Rivera, telling NBC Los Angeles that they depend on him.
‘He takes us to our doctor’s appointments, to the supermarket,’ Rivera said of his son who he described his son as kind and caring.
If convicted, Rivera faces three 65-year sentences, one for each alleged victim, according to Carpio Sánchez.
But Rivera’s father told NBC: ‘I’m going to wait and see what the evidence shows.’
Rivera allegedly met the women at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club, a popular strip club in Tijuana, before brutally murdering them.
One of the victims, Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores, 20, who worked at the bar for around five months as a dancer and sex worker, was killed in a room at Hotel Cascadas on January 24, 2022.
Angela Acosta Flores, 20, was working as an exotic dancer in the Tijuana club when she was murdered at a hotel above the premises in January 2022
Security footage is said to show Rivera heading to a hotel with a woman he’s accused of killing
On the night of the murder, the victim texted her mother that she was accompanying a client to a room at Hotel Cascadas for 30 minutes.
Security cameras caught a man and Flores together before entering the room, according to the criminal complaint.
Three employees at the bar later described the man as having an acne-scarred face and a mole on the left side of his nose.
When she did not return, her boyfriend went to the bar to look for her and a colleague said she had seen Flores ‘with a male client with a light brown complexion, an acne-scarred face,’ who stood about 5-feet-5-inches tall and had brown hair, according to the document.
The woman added 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 reception for answers when they discovered that a woman had been found dead in room 404.
The next day Rivera returned to the US by foot, passing through the San Ysidro port of entry, border control records show.
Just three weeks later, Rivera allegedly murdered another dancer he met at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club, Carpio Sánchez said.
Elizabeth Martínez Cigarroa, 25, was found dead after going on a Valentine’s Day date with an American, allegedly Rivera, who she reportedly met at Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club.
Her body was found on February 17, 2022 in the back of her abandoned truck with obvious signs of violence, Vice reported.
Elizabeth Martínez Cigarroa, 25, has been named as another of Rivera’s alleged victims he’s said to have met at the same premises
Another dancer, thought to have been a regular client of Rivera, was allegedly strangled and beaten to death by him on August 30, 2021, according to Zeta Tijuana.
Her body was found days later stuffed in a trash bin.
For more than a year, the victims’ families grieved their loss while the suspect evaded custody.
But on July 6, 2023, US police arrested Rivera on suspicion of the murder of Ángela Carolina Acosta Flores.
Rivera is filmed passing through border control. He is a California native, but will be tried over the killings in Mexico
‘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.
A detention hearing will take place in Los Angeles next week where federal prosecutors will request the judge keeps Rivera behind bars during extradition proceedings.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility of additional victims.
According to the Los Angeles Times, in 2021, Mexico saw 1,000 femicides, the murder of women or girls because they are female.
