When Aurora Phelps posted a profile on Tinder, she claimed to be “looking for friends.”
But the FBI says Aurora was hunting for men to drug and fleece.
Two of Aurora’s alleged victims turned up dead, while another vanished after being drawn into her clutches. So far only one alleged victim is known to have survived.
As authorities in the USA search for more possible victims, Aurora is being held in Mexico, accused of crimes against suitors south of the border.
A DEADLY DATING SCHEME
The FBI says that 40-something Aurora posted profiles on dating sites such as Hinge and Match, looking to meet men in the USA and Mexico.
Although details about Aurora’s past remain sketchy, the LA Times reports that she grew up in Mexico and the USA, and as an adult often traveled between the two countries.
According to the FBI, Aurora lured in victims – mostly older men – on both sides of the border.
In the privacy of her victims’ homes, she would drug them as she looted their valuables and emptied their bank accounts.
DRUGGED AND DAZED FOR FIVE DAYS
After being romanced by Aurora, her alleged victims were lucky if they came out alive.
According to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed earlier this year, starting in July of 2021, Aurora dated an older man for several months before springing her trap.
Once inside his home, she allegedly kept him medicated for five days as she logged into his bank accounts and bought products online.
At one point, says the FBI, she accessed his E-Trade account, sold $3.3 million in Apple stock, but couldn’t figure out how to transfer the proceeds to herself.
Although Aurora didn’t get away with the stock proceeds, she did plunder his cash, credit cards, and electronics.
But at least the man survived. Her next victims weren’t so lucky.
ONE DISAPPEARED, ONE DEAD ON THE FLOOR
In December 2021, Aurora allegedly met an American retiree at the Hard Rock Hotel in Guadalajara.
After Aurora left the hotel with the victim, he vanished – but his bank account got busy.
The FBI alleges that over the course of the following year, Aurora systematically drained the man’s account – including his monthly social security payments.
Authorities allege that she also got away with his prized BMW.
Meanwhile, in May 2022, after Aurora went on a date with another older man in Guadalajara, he turned up dead on his bathroom floor.
As the man’s corpse grew cold, Aurora bought gold – allegedly using the victim’s account to pay for the precious metal.
LEFT FOR DEAD IN A HOTEL ROOM
Aurora’s next alleged victim saw one of her dating posts and invited her out to a Las Vegas restaurant.
At that point Aurora was living in Sin City – a fitting location, perhaps, for a woman playing a high-stakes game of romance and ruin.
But what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas.
Instead, Aurora allegedly posed as a caregiver and wheeled the man, drugged and confused, across the border into Mexico.
At a hotel room in Mexico City her elderly victim died, but for Aurora the game wasn’t up.
She allegedly returned to Las Vegas and used the dead man’s bank cards to transfer cash to herself, make ATM withdrawals, and purchase airline tickets.
Authorities say she also used her ill-gotten gains to buy a motorcycle.
THE KNOWN VICTIMS TOTAL FOUR – BUT ARE THERE MORE?
After a two-year investigation by the FBI’s Las Vegas field office, the government unsealed the indictment against Aurora and issued a press release.
The FBI believes that Aurora may have preyed on other men – and possibly women too – and hopes that the publicity will help identify other victims.
Anyone with information about the case is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
You can also call me.
