Aurora Phelps, who lured older men with dating apps, sentenced to 37 years in retiree’s disappearance
MEXICO CITY — Aurora Phelps, a 44-year-old American who used dating apps to attract older men and then plunder their finances, was sentenced to 37 years in prison in a Mexican court for the disappearance of an American retiree whose body was found dumped on a road outside Guadalajara.
Phelps, a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, used Tinder, Plenty of Fish and other dating apps to connect with divorced and widowed men decades her senior on both sides of the border.
Authorities say she sometimes drugged the men, gained access to their finances and depleted their savings and retirement accounts.
Phelps was originally charged with murder in the death of 67-year-old Robert Erbach, but this month a judge in Guadalajara found him guilty of a crime known as “disappearance committed by private persons.”
Under Mexican law, the penalties for this crime are likely harsher than for murder (there is no death penalty in Mexico), and the judge preferred the crime of disappearance.
Prosecutors had asked for a 75-year prison sentence. The judge convicted and sentenced him on June 5.
Tens of thousands of people have disappeared in Mexico in recent years; This explains the emphasis on the law of disappearance, which is used in cases where a person or criminal organization deprives a person of his liberty and conceals the fate or whereabouts of the victim.
Erbach spent decades in the Bay Area and owned a concert staging company in the United States before retiring to a former community near Guadalajara. In December 2021, Erbach went with Phelps to the Hard Rock Hotel in Guadalajara and then disappeared.
Mexican authorities found Erbach’s body on the side of a road outside the city two days later and determined that he had drowned. More than 2 years would pass before his remains were identified.
After Erbach disappeared, Phelps drove his BMW SUV north to Las Vegas, where he opened a bank account using Erbach’s information and emptied the accounts of $50,500, according to court documents.
Phelps was born in Arkansas and spent part of his youth in Guadalajara. He eventually moved to Las Vegas, where he met an elderly American man who was later found dead in Mexico, according to the FBI.
Last year, the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas charged Phelps with 21 crimes, including identity theft and fraud, as well as two kidnappings, one of which resulted in death.
“Aurora Phelps targeted elderly men by drugging and stealing from them,” the FBI said in a statement following her conviction. “The FBI believes there may be additional victims who may have been impacted by Ms. Phelps. If you have information or know someone who may have been a victim, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at: tips.fbi.gov.
Christopher Delzotto, the FBI special agent in charge of Las Vegas, described Phelps as a psychopath in a profile of Phelps in The Times. “He really believes his lies,” he said. “He visualizes all this. He believes it. It has become his reality.”
Mexican authorities have already approved his extradition to the United States, but it is unclear when such a transfer would occur.
