Aurora allegedly went on a crime spree in her early 40’s, targeting older men (FBI Las Vegas)
Aurora Phelps, indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on charges she engaged in a deadly cross-border crime spree targeting older men, has been convicted in Mexico on charges arising from one of the cases.
On June 11, 2026, a judge in Jalisco state sentenced Aurora to 37 years, six months in prison, following a trial on charges arising from the disappearance and death of Robert H. “Beau” Erbach, a retired American living in the Guadalajara region.
In June 2026, Mexico authorities announced the results of their case against Aurora (Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office)
The following week, the State Prosecutor’s Office in Jalisco, issued a statement crediting their missing persons unit with securing the conviction of a woman for the crime of “disappearance committed by a private individual.”
Mexican federal law makes it a crime for a person to detain, abduct, or kidnap someone with an intent to conceal their fate or whereabouts from authorities or loved ones.
The statement issued by the prosecutor’s office identified the alleged perpetrator as “Aurora” followed by the letter “N,” which stands for “name not revealed” – a common practice in Mexican judicial proceedings.
The woman in a photo that accompanied the statement is recognizable as Phelps despite the privacy bar partially obscuring her face.
A federal indictment against Aurora is pending in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas (Doug Kari)
U.S. officials expect that Phelps, rather than serving out her prison sentence in Mexico, will be extradited to the United States to face the charges pending in Las Vegas, said FBI Public Affairs Specialist Sandra Breault.
Erbach was 67 years old in December 2021 when he allegedly took Phelps, then aged 40, on a date to the Hard Rock Hotel in Guadalajara – and afterward never returned home.
Beau Erbach, seen here in San Francisco with his former wife before they divorced, disappeared in Guadalajara (Corinne Rogan)
Erbach’s mysterious disappearance worried his longtime friend Corinne Rogan, an actress living in Los Angeles.
“I met Beau in 1974 when I was working as a cocktail waitress at Ebbets Field, a famous nightclub in Denver,” said Rogan. “Beau did the sound and lights. He was quite a guy.”
Erbach’s friend Corinne Rogan posted a plea for information about him (TikTok)
After Erbach vanished, Rogan posted a plea on TikTok: “Have U seen Robert BEAU Erbach? Be in touch!”
Unbeknownst to Rogan and others in Erbach’s circle, his body had turned up by a roadside in Mexico but hadn’t yet been identified.
As months passed and Erbach remained missing, Phelps allegedly stole his BMW and looted his bank account – including his social security payments.
The FBI alleges that to lure older men, Aurora posted profiles on multiple dating sites (FBI Las Vegas)
According to the grand jury indictment, Phelps met another of her elderly victims at a restaurant in Las Vegas.
Phelps allegedly drugged the man into a stupor, transported him to Mexico, ran up charges on his credit cards, plundered his financial accounts, and left him for dead in a hotel room in Mexico City.
In September 2023, around the same time that Phelps was arrested in Mexico, she was indicted by the grand jury in Las Vegas on 21 counts of kidnapping, fraud, and identity theft related to four alleged victims.
The grand jury indictment was originally filed under seal to protect the confidentiality of the ongoing investigation. But in February 2025, after the FBI discovered seven more alleged victims, the indictment was unsealed as part of an effort to enlist the public’s help.
FBI Special Agent Spencer L. Evans at a press conference in February 2025 (YouTube)
At a press conference announcing the unsealed indictment, Spencer L. Evens, who at that time was Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, explained how Phelps allegedly carried out her scheme.
“Once she incapacitated her victims, Phelps stole their cars, access their bank and brokerage accounts to withdraw cash, used their credit cards to make a variety of purchases, including luxury retail goods and gold, and even attempted to access their Social Security and retirement accounts.”
The FBI is asking anyone with information about Aurora Phelps’s alleged romance scheme to complete an online form or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.
