The FBI has issued an extraordinary public appeal for help identifying potential victims of a woman investigators describe as a predator without comparison, an alleged serial killer who preyed on older men through dating apps, drugged them with dangerous sedatives, and stole their life savings before, in some cases, leaving them dead.
Federal authorities believe 43-year-old Aurora Phelps, a Las Vegas resident, targeted vulnerable elderly men across the United States and Mexico between approximately 2019 and 2022. What began as a simple missing person investigation has unraveled into what one veteran investigator called “a romance scam on steroids” involving at least 11 known victims, with the FBI warning that number could grow significantly.
The case has taken the unusual step of involving a true-crime program at the FBI’s request, marking one of the rare instances where federal agents have used media to solicit tips during an ongoing investigation. The bureau is asking anyone who recognizes Phelps’ alleged methods to come forward, believing there are victims who have remained silent out of shame or fear.
The investigation began innocuously enough with a missing persons report for John Weens, a retired engineer from Las Vegas. Weens’ son, Mike, reported his father missing in 2022 after the 70-something failed to answer phone calls and neighbors noticed his dog barking unattended. Police found the home looking as if it had been left in a hurry.
“I took the laptop home with me and was able to get into it and access his email, which already had all kinds of purchases being made that were odd,” Mike Weens recounted. The family noticed fraudulent charges for luxury items, including Dior merchandise, that the elder Weens would never have purchased.
The FBI opened a formal investigation in December 2022. Agents learned that John Weens had been lonely and excited about a date with a woman he met on a dating application. That woman was allegedly Aurora Phelps, and investigators soon realized this was far more than a missing person case.
“We realized that might be a little bit more than just a missing person, which opened up the doors to our investigation,” said FBI Agent Zach Franklin. “It led us to realize that there’s not just a victim but potentially a deceased victim, and that there might be other victims out there as well.”
Phelps, who was born in California but raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, used a dizzying array of aliases including Aurora Alvarez, Aurora Flores Velasco, and the nicknames Boreas, Sissy, Bori, and Laura. She presented herself online as an influencer, posting unboxing videos of luxury goods she had allegedly purchased with stolen credit cards.
Investigators traced her alleged criminal history back years. Her first reported victim was her own first husband, Alejandro Alvarez, whom she reportedly tried to destroy with false 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮 claims during a custody dispute after he was granted custody of their three children. She allegedly coached her brother in Mexico to spoof calls and send threatening texts to frame her ex-husband.
In Arkansas, she allegedly drugged a female friend in a hotel room, stole her identity, and ran up charges on her credit cards before the victim woke up alone and disoriented. Law enforcement believes this may have been a test run for a more elaborate and deadly scheme.
“She got smarter about how to commit these crimes, how to get more and more money with each scam that she ran,” one investigator said. “How many could she get away with, and what’s the most amount of money I can get out of one person?”
Phelps’ method was chillingly simple. She created dating profiles appearing interested in older men, presented herself as charming and conversational, and quickly moved to meet them in person. She would then allegedly 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 them with sedatives she obtained with relative ease in Mexico, where she had deep ties.
One surviving victim, a retired film industry professional in his 60s living near Las Vegas, described being drugged and held captive in his own home for roughly five days. He recalled waking briefly to find Phelps shoving more pills down his throat. When he finally escaped his coma-like state, he was too weak to drive and crashed his car on the way to the hospital.
“He tried not to pursue a relationship with her. She insisted and came over to his house bringing food. At one point they ordered food and left food unattended, came back and began to eat and then passed out,” the survivor told investigators.
The attack left him with devastating financial losses, including an attempted liquidation of $3. 3 million from his E-Trade account.
Another alleged victim, a chiropractor living in Mexico, was found submerged in a bathtub by his housekeeper, who discovered the strange woman in the home. Phelps reportedly claimed the man was drunk and the water would wake him. The housekeeper pulled him from the tub and called emergency services.
He survived and reported $25,000 in stolen jewelry, cash, and electronics.
The FBI identified Robert “Bo” Erbaugh, a legendary stagehand who worked with Muddy Waters, Dolly Parton, the Rolling Stones, U2, Guns N’ Roses, and David Bowie, as victim three. Erbaugh had retired to Mexico and was reportedly living his best life when he connected with Phelps on Tinder. He disappeared in 2021, with his family receiving a suspicious text message in broken English claiming he had moved to Ecuador.
Investigators estimated Phelps successfully stole around $300,000 from Erbaugh and attempted to steal more than $3. 5 million, including an effort to redirect his pension. For over a year, his family had no answers.
Agent Franklin admitted the case haunted him.
“One night I woke up from having a dream of victim three telling me ‘Help me. Help me.’ I think everyone wrote off that we’d never find victim three’s body ever,” Franklin said.
“That helped me hold on to hope that there’s something more here.”
About a year and a half into the investigation, authorities located Erbaugh’s body in a morgue in Mexico, where he had been listed as a John Doe. It was an emotional moment for the family, who had waited so long to bring their loved one home.
Victim four was Manuel “GG” Gus, a charismatic figure known for his food trailer and ride-share business in Ajijic, Mexico. His daughter spoke to him daily, but one day in May 2022, the calls stopped. Police found him dead on his bathroom floor.
A charge to American Precious Metals Exchange for a gold coin shipped to Phelps’ house after Gus’ death proved a key piece of evidence.
“The case shows a predator prowling without fear. This woman had no conscience. She’d do anything to anyone to get what she wanted,” one of Gus’ friends said.
The investigation ultimately revealed that John Weens, the first victim identified by the FBI, was actually Phelps’ last known victim. Airport footage showed Weens being wheeled into Mexico in a wheelchair, dressed in old sweats without his glasses. He was found dead in a hotel bathtub in Mexico City within days of being taken across the border.
“She did take him across the border in a wheelchair to the Tijuana airport through the tunnel that crosses the border,” investigators said. “Can you imagine someone who would 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 a victim, put him in a wheelchair, bring him across the border? That’s just insanely audacious.”
Phelps was arrested in Mexico after being released on bail in Arkansas, where she faced fraud charges. Federal authorities coordinated with Mexican officials to take her into custody. She was indicted federally on September 13, 2023, on 21 counts including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, identity theft, and two counts of kidnapping, one resulting in death.
In Mexico, Phelps was convicted and sentenced to 37 years and six months in connection with the death of Robert Erbaugh. Authorities confirmed she will be extradited to the United States to face the federal indictment, where she faces potential life in prison. Questions remain about how much her husband, Cody Phelps, knew about her activities.
The FBI is now urgently seeking information from the public, particularly about potential victims between 2019 and 2022. Investigators are asking families to look for red flags, including unexplained fraudulent bank charges, luxury purchases the loved one would never make, packages shipped to Las Vegas without a local connection, and drugs in the system of someone who never used them.
“Some loved ones notice items being shipped to Las Vegas even though they have no address in Las Vegas,” the FBI said. “If you’re seeing something strange and it’s giving you that little spidey tingle, you should probably just make a call.”
The emotional toll on victims and their families has been profound. Some survivors have been too embarrassed to report what happened, afraid to tell their children and grandchildren they were scammed by someone half their age. The FBI emphasized that John Weens’ son wanted people to know this could happen to anyone, and that intelligence is not protection against such calculated predation.
“I’ve become very close with each of these families and victims. You share in their sadness, and because of that, you come to love them as fellow human beings,” Agent Franklin said. “It’s amazing that the FBI did such wonderful work and brought him home.”
The family of John Weens has scattered his ashes at sea, as he requested. For other families still waiting for answers, the FBI urges anyone with information to come forward, stressing that the public is their eyes and ears in bringing closure to those who have suffered at the hands of an alleged predator who showed no mercy.
