THE DEVIL BEHIND THE BADGE

Gritty account of a Texas lawman turned serial killer.

Jervis, an Austin-based Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, unearths the 2018 murder spree of Border Patrol officer Juan Ortiz, who killed four sex workers in Laredo before being captured by local police. They had perceived the murders were related but were shocked to find the perpetrator was one of their own. Although Ortiz’s arc of violence was brief, the author patiently develops the larger social backdrop and the stories of both killer and victims. He also traces the volatile histories of the border region and the once-neglected Border Patrol, which became a militarized behemoth after 9/11, underscoring that “agents who violated the agency’s use-of-force policy rarely faced consequences.” Following a hardscrabble upbringing, “Ortiz slid into military life with the ease and zest of someone chasing his calling.” After distinguished service during the Iraq War, the Border Patrol seemed a natural fit for him. “Ortiz told his neighbors he wanted a career on the border because, as the son of immigrants, he could look out for the best interests of migrants arriving to the United States,” writes Jervis. However, he was living a double life: Married with children, he became preoccupied by Laredo’s underworld of drugs and prostitution. Although promoted to a supervisory position in an intelligence unit, Ortiz descended into paranoia and burnout, fueled by alcohol abuse and overprescribed pharmaceuticals. Yet, “if anyone at Border Patrol noticed Ortiz’s spiraling condition, no one officially reported it.” The author contrasts Ortiz’s seedy unraveling with the difficult lives of his victims. He empathetically reconstructs their lives and the complex social network that marginalized people depend on, capturing how places like Laredo have become ground zero for the intersecting crises of opiate abuse and migration, amplifying opportunities for predators.

An affecting true-crime drama that captures unsettling realities of the southern border.