Melissa Ramirez, 29, of Laredo, Texas, was murdered on September 3, 2018. Her body was found in a rural area outside Laredo; she had been shot in the head. Ramirez was one of four victims killed by U.S. Border Patrol agent Juan David Ortiz, who targeted sex workers in Laredo, luring them into his truck and shooting them. Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, later confessed during interrogation and was convicted of the killings and sentenced to life without parole.

Ramirez had told her mother and sister-in-law weeks before that she feared she would be murdered with a gunshot to the head. Her mother, Cristina Benavides, went looking for her on the day she disappeared but could not find her. Ramirez had worked as a sex worker and was known to spend time on San Bernardo Avenue, an area of Laredo associated with the drug and sex trade.

Investigators linked the scenes through tire marks and shell casings; a woman who escaped an attack by Ortiz provided crucial information leading to his arrest. Ramirez’s family remembers her as fun-loving, fond of 1980s ballads, watching cartoons with her children, and treating friends to ice cream. Does anyone who knew Melissa or who was in the San Bernardo Avenue area around that time have information to share?