Austin Man Linked to 2018 and 2024 Murders via Forensic Evidence

Austin police have identified a suspect in two unsolved murders in Central Texas, stating that the individual could be a serial killer. Luis Fernando Benitez Gonzalez, 26, was arrested on April 27, 2026, by the U.S. Marshals Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force at an apartment complex in Dallas, Texas.

Benitez Gonzalez faces a murder charge in connection to the June 2024 death of Alyssa Ann Rivera in southeast Austin. Investigators have also linked him through DNA evidence to the April 2018 killing of Alba Jenisse Aviles Marti in Bastrop County, Texas.

The breakthrough in the cases occurred following investigations into two separate aggravated assaults that took place in Austin during November and December 2025. During one of these assaults, a victim fought back against Benitez Gonzalez and managed to take his cell phone.

Detectives executed a search warrant on the recovered device, which revealed selfies taken by the suspect. These photographs contained location data that allowed investigators to identify Benitez Gonzalez and place him near the scene of the 2018 homicide in Bastrop County.

Forensic evidence further connected the suspect to the crimes. DNA recovered from the crime scene of Alyssa Ann Rivera generated a match in the federal Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database, which linked her case to the 2018 death of Aviles Marti.

Austin Police Department Homicide Detective Chris Anderson addressed the resolution of the cold cases.

“These two murders were never forgotten.”

Chris Anderson, APD Homicide Detective

The investigation combined digital forensics from the stolen mobile device with federal DNA database matches to link the suspect to the two separate homicides spanning six years.