American accused of killing Mexican sex workers in Tijuana arrested in California

An alleged serial killer from California was arrested last week in Los Angeles after he allegedly killed several women in the Mexican border city of Tijuana starting in 2021. 

Authorities arrested Bryant Rivera, 30, on July 6 at his parent’s home in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey, according to U.S. court records. Rivera is being charged with femicide after he strangled Angela Carolina Acosta Flores, a 20-year-old dancer and sex worker at the Hong Kong Gentlemen’s Club in Tijuana whose body was found on January 25, 2022.

Flores was last seen entering a hotel room that prosecutors say was rented by Rivera. Authorities found her lifeless body in the bathroom the next day. She died from asphyxiation. Rivera was seen leaving the room before midnight and crossing the U.S.-Mexico border 13 minutes after. 

Mexico is planning to request Rivera’s extradition in order to include two additional femicide charges, according to court filings. The attorney general of the state of Baja California, Ricardo Ivan Carpio, said they will include new evidence in the case. 

Three weeks after Flores’, Rivera allegedly killed another dancer he met at the Tijuana club. Elizabeth Martinez Cigarroa, 25, was found dead on February 17, 2022, in the back of her truck after going on a date with Rivera. 

The third victim was allegedly strangled and beaten to death by Rivera on August 30, 2021. Her body was found several days later stuffed inside a trash bin. Rivera had been one of her frequent customers.

Rivera "is considered a serial killer" and "will now face justice in Baja California," Carpio said in a Facebook post. It is unclear if Acosta was Rivera’s last victim, according to the federal court filing. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen L. Stevenson ordered Rivera to remain detained at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles while the extradition proceedings are processed. Mexico has 60 days to file a formal extradition request. 

If convicted, Rivera could face up to 65 years for each one of the victims, Carpio added.