Johnny Joe Avalos: The San Antonio Serial Killer
Overview
Johnny Joe Avalos, born December 1, 1986, is an American serial killer and sexual predator responsible for the deaths of five females in San Antonio, Texas, between 2012 and 2015. His victims ranged in age from 15 to 46. Avalos targeted women in areas of San Antonio's West Side and South Side, often approaching vulnerable women late at night and isolating them before attacking them. Four of his adult victims had histories of prostitution, while another victim was a 15-year-old girl.
Avalos primarily killed by strangulation or asphyxiation. Court records alleged that he used his hands and arms to strangle his victims and, in several killings, also used plastic bags. Sexual assault was an important component of his crimes, and prosecutors later described a pattern in which Avalos stalked women, isolated them, strangled them and sexually violated some of them. DNA evidence eventually became one of the most important tools investigators used to connect the separate deaths to the same offender.
Early Murder and the Death of Vanessa Lopez
The earliest murder eventually attributed to Avalos occurred in October 2012. Vanessa Lopez, 25, was killed in San Antonio and her body was discovered in the San Antonio River system near the Mission Reach area. Prosecutors later placed the killing on October 28, 2012. Her remains had apparently been in the water for several days, and the circumstances surrounding her death were not initially recognized as part of a serial murder investigation.
Vanessa's death occurred during a period when several women were being found dead under suspicious circumstances in Bexar County. At the time, authorities did not publicly conclude that those deaths were the work of a serial killer, and the medical finding in Vanessa's case was initially inconclusive. Years later, DNA evidence and the developing investigation of Avalos caused detectives and prosecutors to revisit her death. Avalos ultimately admitted responsibility for killing Vanessa when he entered his guilty pleas in 2019.
The Murder of Natalie Chavez
More than two years after Vanessa Lopez's death, Avalos murdered 15-year-old Natalie Chavez. Natalie was killed on December 18, 2014. Her body was discovered beneath the Vera Cruz Street bridge near Apache Creek on San Antonio's West Side. Investigators found evidence indicating that she had struggled with her attacker and had been sexually assaulted.
DNA recovered during the investigation became crucial. Avalos was eventually identified through evidence associated with Natalie, and investigators began examining whether he could be responsible for additional attacks against women in San Antonio. Court documents alleged that Avalos caused Natalie's death by asphyxiating her with his hand and arm and with a plastic bag while committing or attempting to commit aggravated sexual assault.
When questioned, Avalos claimed that he had encountered Natalie in connection with a sexual transaction and initially maintained that he did not know she was 15 years old. He later acknowledged knowing her age. His statements did not erase the physical evidence connecting him to the teenager, and Natalie's murder became one of the central cases that brought Avalos to the attention of homicide investigators.
The Murder of Rosemary Perez
Only weeks after Natalie's murder, 28-year-old Rosemary Perez was killed. Court records placed her killing on or about January 10, 2015. Her body was discovered on January 12, wrapped in a sheet beside a sidewalk in the 2100 block of San Fernando Street on San Antonio's West Side.
Investigators initially faced difficulties determining exactly what had happened to Rosemary. As the Avalos investigation expanded, however, prosecutors alleged that she had been asphyxiated with Avalos's hand and arm and with a plastic bag. Her killing bore important similarities to the other deaths, including the manner in which she was strangled and the abandonment of her body in a public area.
The Attack on Genevieve Ramirez
In early April 2015, 46-year-old Genevieve Ramirez became another victim. She was discovered alive but unconscious in a grassy alley in the 100 block of Avondale Avenue in San Antonio on April 3-4, 2015. She was partially unclothed and had suffered significant injuries. Emergency personnel transported her for medical treatment.
Unlike several of Avalos's other victims, Genevieve initially survived the attack. She remained under medical care and was later transferred to a nursing facility, but she never recovered from the injuries inflicted upon her. She died in June 2015, approximately two months after the assault. Contemporary reporting does not consistently provide a reliable exact calendar date for her death, so June 2015 is the most appropriate verified time frame.
Authorities eventually concluded that Genevieve had been another victim of Avalos. Prosecutors alleged that he had asphyxiated her with his hand and arm. Her case was incorporated into the capital murder prosecution, and Avalos ultimately admitted responsibility for the attack that caused her death.
The Murder of Celia Ann Lopez
Twenty-nine-year-old Celia Ann Lopez was the final known victim in Avalos's series of killings. Celia's family reported her missing on April 12, 2015. On April 15, her decomposing body was discovered in a vacant or fenced lot in the 4400 block of South Presa Street in San Antonio. She was partially clothed and had suffered injuries to her head and face.
The indictment later alleged that Avalos killed Celia on or about April 15, 2015, although the condition of her remains indicated that she had been dead for some period before being discovered. Investigators recovered important physical evidence from the scene, including DNA evidence associated with men's underwear found nearby. Avalos was ultimately connected to Celia through the investigation and admitted responsibility for her death.
A witness also told investigators that Avalos had confessed to killing Celia and taking money from her. The accusation was significant because investigators believed robbery was sometimes part of Avalos's pattern in addition to sexual violence. Celia's death became one of the murders formally included in the capital murder indictments against him.
Confirmed Victims
- Vanessa Lopez, 25 - Killed October 28, 2012, in San Antonio, Texas. Her body was discovered in the San Antonio River/Mission Reach area after having been in the water for several days. Her death was not immediately connected to Avalos, but DNA evidence and Avalos's later admission established her as his earliest confirmed victim.
- Natalie Chavez, 15 - Killed December 18, 2014, in San Antonio, Texas. Her body was discovered beneath the Vera Cruz Street bridge near Apache Creek on the West Side. She had been sexually assaulted and asphyxiated. DNA evidence proved critical in connecting Avalos to her.
- Rosemary Perez, 28 - Killed on or about January 10, 2015, in San Antonio, Texas. Her body was found January 12 wrapped in a sheet beside a sidewalk in the 2100 block of San Fernando Street. Prosecutors alleged that Avalos asphyxiated her with his hand and arm and a plastic bag.
- Genevieve Ramirez, 46 - Attacked April 3-4, 2015, in San Antonio, Texas, and died from her injuries in June 2015. She was found unconscious in an alley in the 100 block of Avondale Avenue and remained alive for approximately two months before dying. A consistently documented exact date of death is not available in contemporary reporting.
- Celia Ann Lopez, 29 - Killed in April 2015 in San Antonio, Texas. Her family reported her missing April 12, and her decomposing body was found April 15 in a vacant lot in the 4400 block of South Presa Street. The indictment alleged the murder occurred on or about April 15. DNA evidence helped connect Avalos to the crime.
A Pattern of Predatory Violence
By the time investigators understood the scope of the crimes, a disturbing pattern had emerged. Avalos frequently operated late at night on San Antonio's West and South sides. Prosecutors said he would walk the streets after finishing work as a dishwasher and look for women he believed he could isolate. Several of the women he targeted were involved in prostitution, making them especially vulnerable to someone approaching under the pretense of purchasing sex.
After getting a victim alone, Avalos used physical force and strangulation. The indictments described multiple victims being asphyxiated with his hands or arms, while plastic bags were used in several attacks. Sexual assault occurred in connection with the murders, and prosecutors described Avalos as deliberately preying upon women he believed would be easy to isolate and overpower.
The placement of the victims also became a recognizable feature of the series. Rather than carefully concealing all of the bodies, Avalos left victims in or near public locations: beneath a bridge, beside a sidewalk, in an alley, in a vacant lot and in a waterway. These locations were spread through neighborhoods and areas where Avalos lived, worked or traveled.
DNA Links the Crimes
The murders were not immediately recognized as the work of one offender. Some of the victims initially had undetermined causes of death or were investigated separately. DNA evidence gradually changed that. Biological evidence associated with the victims and crime scenes connected Avalos to multiple women and allowed investigators to see that apparently separate deaths were part of a much larger pattern.
The DNA evidence from Natalie Chavez's case was particularly important. Avalos was arrested in April 2015 in connection with sexual assault allegations involving Natalie, and homicide investigators were already interested in his potential involvement in other recent deaths. As additional testing, witness statements and investigative information accumulated, his connection to Celia Lopez, Genevieve Ramirez, Rosemary Perez and ultimately Vanessa Lopez became clearer.
Statements About Additional Victims
While jailed, Avalos made statements indicating that investigators might not know the full extent of his crimes. During a 2015 jail interview, he hinted that there was another killing unknown to authorities and attempted to obtain money in exchange for information. He also made later claims that numerous women he had intended to attack or kill had managed to escape.
Avalos reportedly claimed that as many as 20 intended victims escaped him. Although his statements suggested a potentially much larger series of assaults, authorities did not publicly establish evidence confirming 20 additional attempted murders. Those claims therefore remain unverified and should not be treated as additional confirmed victims.
Capital Murder Indictments
On November 29, 2016, a Bexar County grand jury returned major indictments against Avalos. Prosecutors used Texas's capital murder provisions involving multiple victims killed as part of the same scheme or course of conduct. One indictment dealt with the deaths of Natalie Chavez and Rosemary Perez, while another incorporated Celia Ann Lopez and Genevieve Ramirez.
By this point prosecutors publicly described the crimes as meeting the practical definition of serial murder. The killings had occurred during separate criminal transactions, but investigators argued that the repeated strangulations, sexual violence, victim selection and other similarities demonstrated a continuing course of conduct.
The Fifth Murder
The investigation eventually extended backward to Vanessa Lopez's October 2012 death. Her case substantially expanded the known period during which Avalos had been killing, demonstrating that his violence had begun more than two years before the tightly clustered murders of late 2014 and 2015.
When Avalos eventually resolved the case through guilty pleas, he judicially admitted responsibility for all five deaths. That admission removed any remaining distinction between the four women named in the principal capital murder allegations and Vanessa Lopez, whose death had been connected to him later in the investigation.
Guilty Plea and Sentence
On February 19, 2019, Johnny Joe Avalos pleaded guilty to two counts of capital murder in Bexar County. During the proceeding, he admitted responsibility for all five victims: Vanessa Lopez, Natalie Chavez, Rosemary Perez, Genevieve Ramirez and Celia Ann Lopez.
Although prosecutors had previously discussed seeking the death penalty, Avalos was evaluated and determined to be intellectually disabled. Under constitutional protections established by the United States Supreme Court, an intellectually disabled defendant cannot be executed. The state ultimately waived the death penalty.
Judge Lori Valenzuela sentenced Avalos to two terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The result ensured that Avalos would remain imprisoned for the rest of his life without eligibility for parole.
Legacy of the Case
The Johnny Joe Avalos case demonstrated how a serial murderer can remain unidentified when victims are vulnerable, crimes occur in different locations and individual deaths initially appear unrelated. Several victims had histories that could cause their disappearances or deaths to receive less immediate attention, yet the eventual investigation showed that they had been deliberately targeted by the same predator.
DNA evidence, witness statements, renewed examination of earlier deaths and Avalos's own admissions eventually brought the cases together. What initially appeared to be separate deaths across San Antonio became a documented series of five murders stretching from October 2012 through 2015.
The five confirmed victims - Vanessa Lopez, Natalie Chavez, Rosemary Perez, Genevieve Ramirez and Celia Ann Lopez - remain at the center of the case. Avalos's later claims about additional intended victims raised questions about the true extent of his violence, but only these five deaths have been formally established as part of his known serial murder history.
