The Murders of Alba Aviles & Alyssa Rivera

Two women were murdered in the same small stretch of southeast Texas — six years apart, just over three miles from each other — by what forensic evidence suggests is the same person. Neither victim appears to have known the other. Neither murder has been solved. The suspect has never been identified.

Alba Jenisse Aviles, 28, spent the night of April 13, 2018, at Club Caribe on Felter Lane in southeast Austin. At approximately 7:30 a.m. on April 14, a passing motorist spotted her silver Ford sedan parked on the side of Old San Antonio Road in Bastrop County. Alba was inside the car, dead. She had been strangled and sexually assaulted. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office took the case. For six years, there were no suspects and no significant public updates.

On June 21, 2024, at approximately 4:06 p.m., police received a call about a body in an abandoned home at the 2600 block of Metcalfe Road in southeast Austin. Officers arrived to find Alyssa Ann Rivera, 34, dead inside the building. Homicide detectives and crime scene specialists determined she had been murdered there. She too had been strangled and sexually assaulted. On July 3, APD released surveillance footage showing Alyssa walking with an unidentified male in the hours before her death. Then on August 7, 2024, forensic analysts made the connection: multiple sources of DNA recovered from both crime scenes matched the same unknown male. Both scenes. Six years apart. Three miles apart. The same man.

The investigation involves two agencies: the Austin Police Department's Homicide Unit is the lead agency for the Rivera murder, and the Bastrop County Sheriff's Office handles the Aviles case. APD Detective Christopher Anderson and Sgt. Nathan Sexton have been among the named investigators. Since the DNA link was announced in August 2024, both agencies have been collaborating on identifying the suspect.

The DNA evidence is the strongest lead in both cases. Multiple sources of DNA were recovered from each scene, and all match the same unidentified male. The fact that his profile does not appear in CODIS — the national forensic database — indicates he has no prior felony convictions with a DNA sample on file. Investigators described this as unusual for someone capable of what was done to both women. The geographic proximity of the two crimes — just over three miles apart, both in the southeast Austin corridor — and the shared modus operandi strongly point to the same perpetrator.

The surveillance footage released on July 3, 2024, showing Alyssa Rivera walking with a short Hispanic male, remains one of the most important public-facing pieces of evidence. Police believe this footage was captured within 24 hours of her death. Anyone who recognizes this individual — or who had any contact with either Alba Aviles or Alyssa Rivera in the period leading up to their deaths — is asked to come forward.

A reward of $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest. Police are particularly interested in anyone who can identify the person in the surveillance footage, or who knew either Alba Aviles or Alyssa Rivera and may have information about the people they were with in the days before their deaths. Anonymous tips are accepted.

Alba Jenisse Aviles was 28 years old. She went out to a club one night in April 2018, and someone took her home and killed her, and left her in her car on the side of a road. For six years, her case sat without an answer. Her family waited. The Bastrop County Sheriff's Office kept working. And then a new murder, just three miles away, brought her case back into the light.

Alyssa Ann Rivera was 34 years old. The kindest person. Someone you would never forget after meeting once. Her stepmother raised her after her mother was gone and loved her like her own. "I will not let this become a cold case," Wendy Rivera said. "I will not let her memory fade." She meant it. She is still saying it.

Both of these women were strangled and left by the same person who has not been found. There is DNA. There is video. There is a reward. The only thing missing is someone willing to make a call. If you know who this man is, please contact Austin Police or Crime Stoppers. Alba and Alyssa deserve justice. Their families deserve answers. This suspect should not still be free.