Serial Killer of the Week - Continued - Angel Maturino Resendiz

Angel Maturino Resendiz, aka The Railroad Killer went on a two year killing spree before being captured. Here is the rest of the story.

December 17, 1998 - Victim number three, Dr. Claudia Benton, 39, of Baylor College was brutally raped, stabbed and beaten repeatedly when Resendiz broke into her home in Houston, Texas. Her home was near the rail lines that run through suburban West University Place. Police later discovered her missing Jeep Cherokee in San Antonio with Resendiz' fingerprints on the steering wheel. Three weeks later, a county judge signed a warrant for Resendiz' arrest on burglary charges, citing there was not enough evidence to prove murder.  

May 2, 1999 - Victims four and five, Reverend Norman J. "Skip" Sirnic, 46, and his wife Karen, 47 of Weimer, Texas were struck to death with a sledgehammer in the parsonage of the United Church of Christ. The church sat adjacent to the town's railroad. Their red Mazda was found in San Antonio three weeks later with forensic evidence that matched the killing of Dr. Benton in Houston.

June 4, 1999 - Victim number six, school teach Noemi Dominguez, 26, was bludgeoned to death in her apartment near the railroad tracks. Seven days later, Troopers found her 1993 Honda Civic abandoned near the international bridge at Del Rio, Texas.

June 4, 1999 - Victim number seven, Josephine Konvicka, 73, of Fayette County, Texas, was killed by a blow to the head with a sharp garden tool. She lived in a frame farmhouse not far from Weimer, where victims five and six were found, and near a rail yard. Her car had been tampered with, but the killer was unable to located the keys.

June 15, 1999 - Victims eight and nine, George Morber, Sr, 80, and his daughter, Carolyn Fredrick, 57, were found in their home in Gorham, Illinois. Morber had been shot in the head with a shotgun and Carolyn had been clubbed to death. Their house sat one hundred yards from a rail road track. The following day, a passerby spotted Fredericks' pickup truck in Cairo, Illinois, being driven by a man matching Resendiz' description.

Resendiz confessed to seven additional murders, which he stated were committed in Mexico. He was arrested by Texas Ranger, Drew Carter, when he agreed to meet Carter and his sister at the bridge connecting El Paso, Texas with Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He was subsequently charged and convicted for the murder of Claudia Benton and sentenced to death.

Resendiz was executed in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas on June 27, 2006, by lethal injection.

In his final statement, Resendiz said "I want to ask if it is in your heart to forgive me. You don't have to. I know I allowed the Devil to rule my life. I just ask you to forgive me and ask the Lord to forgive me for allowing the devil to deceive me. I thank God for having patience in me. I don't deserve to cause you pain. You do not deserve this. I deserve what I am getting." Resendiz was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT.

Serial Killer of the Week - Angel Maturino Resendiz

Angel Maturino Resendiz - The Railroad Killer

For almost two years, a killer literally rode the rails across the U.S., killing as he went and vanishing into the countryside afterward. His M.O. was consistent, always striking near rail lines that he illegally rode. Always staying one step ahead of the law.

Angel Resendiz, a 39 year old illegal immigrant, was finally apprehended in July of 1999 after eluding law enforcement for two years, and slipping through a two-month FBI net. After committing nine alleged murders, it was a determined Texas Ranger who finally captured him.

Known as "The Railroad Killer", Angel Resendiz was defined by the police, media and psychiatrist as hostile, angry, confused, and a man with a grudge. While most of his crimes were committed in central Texas, it is believed that he killed as far north as Kentucky and Illinois.

Resendiz did not fit the usual serial killer profile, such as the Boston Strangler or David Berkowitz, as he mainly killed for what he needed, such as drugs or money. He also raped, but this seemed to be secondary to the murder. 

August 29, 1997 - His first victim, Christopher Maier, was only 21 years old and a student at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. Maier and his girlfriend were walking along the tracks near the college when they were attacked. Maier was bludgeoned to death and the girlfriend was raped and beaten near death. Somehow she managed to survive.

October 4, 1998 - Victim number two, 87 year old Leafie Mason was hammered to death by a tire iron in her home in Hughes Spring, Texas.Her front door was only fifty yards from the Kansas City - Southern Rail Lines tracks.

TO BE CONTINUED