Ángel Maturino Reséndiz
Encyclopedia
Angel Maturino Reséndiz, aka The Railroad Killer/The Railway Killer (August 1, 1960June 27, 2006), was an itinerant
Mexican
serial killer
responsible for as many as thirty murders across the United States and Mexico during the 1990s. Some also involved sexual assault. He became known as "The Railroad (or Railway) Killer" as most of his crimes were committed near railroads where he had jumped off the trains he was using to travel about the country. On June 21, 1999, he briefly became the 457th fugitive listed by the FBI
on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list before surrendering to the Texas
authorities on July 13. He was 39 years old.
Reséndiz had many aliases but was chiefly known and sought after as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez. One of his aliases, Ángel Reyes Reséndiz, was very close to the name Ángel Leoncio Reyes Recendis given on his birth certificate from Izúcar de Matamoros
, Puebla
, Mexico.
Reséndiz killed as many as 15 people with rocks and other blunt objects, mainly in their homes. After each murder he would linger in the homes for a while, mainly to eat; he took sentimental things and laid out the victims' driver's licenses to learn a bit about the lives he had taken. He stole jewelry and other items and gave them to his wife in Mexico. Much of the jewelry was sold or melted down. Some of the items that were removed from the homes were returned by his wife after his surrender/capture. Money, however, was sometimes left at the scene. He rape
d some of his female victims; rape served as a secondary intent. Most of his victims were found covered with a blanket, or otherwise obscured from immediate view.
2. Resendiz stated that soon after killing the homeless woman, he shot and killed her boyfriend - a Cuban - and dumped his body in a creek somewhere between San Antonio and Uvalde. Reséndiz said that he killed the man because he was involved in black magic. This man's body has never been found, and nothing is known about him except what Reséndiz told authorities. Reséndiz confessed to these first two murders in September 2001, in hopes that doing so would speed up his execution.
3. On July 19, 1991, the body of Michael White, 33, was found in the front yard of an abandoned downtown house. Reséndiz also confessed to this murder in September 2001. He drew a map of the crime scene and said that he killed White because he was homosexual. Police concluded in April 2006 that Reséndiz did in fact kill White. He was bludgeoned to death with a brick.
4 and 5. March 23, 1997, Ocala
, Florida
, Jesse Howell, 19 years old. He was bludgeoned to death with an air hose coupling and left beside the tracks. His fiancee Wendy Von Huben, 16 years old, was raped, strangled, suffocated with his hands and duct tape and buried in a shallow grave in
Sumter County
, Florida
.
6. In July 1997, an unidentified transient was beaten to death with a piece of plywood in a rail yard located in the City of Colton, California. Colton Police detective Jack Morenberg worked non-stop to prove Reséndiz committed the crime but due to a lack of resources he was unable to do so. Reséndiz is still considered the prime suspect in this case.
7. August 29, 1997, Lexington
, Kentucky
, Christopher Maier, 21 years old. He was a University of Kentucky
student walking along nearby railroad tracks with his girlfriend, Holly, when the two were attacked by Reséndiz, who bludgeoned Maier to death with a 52 pound rock. Reséndiz raped and severely beat Maier's girlfriend, who nearly died as a result. Holly Dunn Pendleton, the only known survivor, went to appear on the Biography channel television program "I Survived," and "48 Hours: Left for Dead" and currently helps other victims of rape, sexual assault, and crime. She also founded "Holly's House" in her native Evansville, Indiana to benefit those victims of rape, sexual assault, and crime as well as working closely with RAINN. She was featured in the June 19, 2009 issue of People magazine.
8. October 4, 1998, Hughes Springs
, Texas
, Leafie Mason, 81 years old. She was hammered to death with an antique flat iron by Reséndiz, who entered through a window. Fifty yards outside her door was the Kansas City-Southern Rail line.
9. December 17, 1998, West University Place
, Texas
, Claudia Benton, 39 years old. Benton, a pediatric neurologist
at the Baylor College of Medicine
, was raped, stabbed, and bludgeoned repeatedly after he entered her home, which is near the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Police found her Jeep Cherokee in San Antonio
and found Reséndiz's fingerprints on the steering column. After the murder, Reséndiz had a warrant for his arrest for burglary, but not yet for murder. She was bludgeoned to death with a statue.
10 and 11. May 2, 1999, Weimar
, Texas
, Norman J. Sirnic, 46 years old, and Karen Sirnic, 47 years old. The Sirnics were bludgeoned to death by a sledgehammer in a parsonage of the United Church of Christ, where Norman Sirnic was a pastor. The building was located adjacent to the Union Pacific railroad. The Sirnics' red Mazda
was also found in San Antonio
three weeks later, and fingerprints link their case with the Claudia Benton case.
12. June 4, 1999, Houston
, Texas
, Noemi Dominguez, 26 years old. Dominguez, a schoolteacher at Houston Independent School District
's Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, was bludgeoned to death with a pickax in her apartment near the rail tracks. Seven days later, her white Honda
Civic was discovered by state troopers on the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas
.
13. June 4, 1999, Fayette County
, Texas
, Josephine Konvicka, 73 years old. Konvicka was killed by the blow of the same pickaxe used to kill Noemi Dominguez on the head while she lay sleeping. Her farmhouse is not far from Weimar. Reséndiz attempted to steal the car but was unable to take it away since he could not find the car keys.
14 and 15. June 15, 1999, Gorham
, Illinois
, George Morber Senior, 80 years old, and Carolyn Frederick, 52 years old. Reséndiz shot George Morber in the head with a shotgun and then clubbed Carolyn Frederick to death with a tire iron. Their house was located only 100 yards (90 m) away from a railroad line. Later, an onlooker saw a man matching Reséndiz's description driving Carolyn Frederick's red pickup truck in Cairo
, Illinois
, which is located 60 miles south of Gorham.
16. Reséndiz is suspected in the death of Fannie Whitney Byers, 81, who was found Dec. 10, 1998, bludgeoned to death in her Carl, Georgia
home located near CSX Transportation railroad tracks with a tire rim. A Lexington couple was charged in this Barrow County
murder, but Reséndiz admitted to an FBI agent that he killed Byers, according to authorities.
He confessed to seven other killings as well, which he said took place in Mexico.
, Drew Carter, accompanied by Manuela and a spiritual guide met up with Reséndiz on a bridge connecting El Paso, Texas
, with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. (Manuela was originally reluctant to cooperate, but Carter convinced her otherwise.) Reséndiz surrendered to Carter.
During a court appearance, Reséndiz accused Carter of lying under oath because his (Reséndiz's) family was under the impression that he would be spared the death penalty; however, Reséndiz's ultimate fate would be decided by the jury, not Carter.
In 1999, former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox
wary of the controversy miring the many confessions and recantations by Henry Lee Lucas
remarked of Reséndiz that "I hope they don't start pinning on him every crime that happens near a railroad track."
Reséndiz would be tried and sentenced to death for Benton's murder.
He received the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
ID#999356.
and told psychiatrists he couldn't be executed because he didn't believe he could die.
Statements like the above have led specialists to conclude that Reséndiz was not competent to be executed. In the words of a bilingual psychiatrist
who evaluated Reséndiz on two occasions in 2006, “delusions had completely taken over [Reséndiz’s] thought processes.”
in West Livingston, Texas
.
He was executed in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas
, on June 27, 2006, by lethal injection
. In his final statement, Reséndiz 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." Reséndiz was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT
(01:05 UTC
on June 28, 2006).
Claudia Benton's husband George was present at the execution and said Reséndiz was "evil contained in human form, a creature without a soul, no conscience, no sense of remorse, no regard for the sanctity of human life."
; Infamous Murders, "Death in the Country", on The History Channel
; and The FBI Files, "Tracks of a Killer", on the Biography Channel (2003). Reséndiz also featured on the December 11, 2010, episode of 48 Hours Mystery (CBS), "Live to Tell: The Railroad Killer", when Holly Dunn shared the story of her attack.
In the episode of Criminal Minds
, "Catching Out", features a serial killer named Armando Salinas who appears to have been based on Reséndiz (Like Reséndiz, he was a Hispanic drifter who travelled along railroads and killed the majority of his victims by bludgeoning them).
Itinerant
An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....
Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
responsible for as many as thirty murders across the United States and Mexico during the 1990s. Some also involved sexual assault. He became known as "The Railroad (or Railway) Killer" as most of his crimes were committed near railroads where he had jumped off the trains he was using to travel about the country. On June 21, 1999, he briefly became the 457th fugitive listed by the FBI
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, 1990s
The FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives during the 1990s is a list, maintained for a fifth decade, of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.-FBI 10 Most Wanted Fugitives to begin the 1990s:...
on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list before surrendering to the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
authorities on July 13. He was 39 years old.
Reséndiz had many aliases but was chiefly known and sought after as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez. One of his aliases, Ángel Reyes Reséndiz, was very close to the name Ángel Leoncio Reyes Recendis given on his birth certificate from Izúcar de Matamoros
Izúcar de Matamoros
Izúcar de Matamoros is a city and its surrounding municipality of the same name located in the southwestern part of the Mexican state of Puebla. The city serves as the municipal seat of the municipality. At the census of 2005 the city had a population of 41,042 inhabitants, while the municipality...
, Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....
, Mexico.
Murders and methodology
By jumping on and off trains both within and across Mexico, Canada and the United States, generally crossing borders illegally, Reséndiz was able to evade the authorities for a considerable time. He also had no fixed addresses.Reséndiz killed as many as 15 people with rocks and other blunt objects, mainly in their homes. After each murder he would linger in the homes for a while, mainly to eat; he took sentimental things and laid out the victims' driver's licenses to learn a bit about the lives he had taken. He stole jewelry and other items and gave them to his wife in Mexico. Much of the jewelry was sold or melted down. Some of the items that were removed from the homes were returned by his wife after his surrender/capture. Money, however, was sometimes left at the scene. He rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d some of his female victims; rape served as a secondary intent. Most of his victims were found covered with a blanket, or otherwise obscured from immediate view.
Victims
1. In 1986, an unidentified homeless woman was shot four times with a .38-caliber weapon. Her body was dumped in an abandoned farmhouse. Reséndiz stated that he met the woman at a homeless shelter. They took a motorcycle trip together, bringing a gun along to fire for target practice. Reséndiz said that he shot and killed the woman for disrespecting him.2. Resendiz stated that soon after killing the homeless woman, he shot and killed her boyfriend - a Cuban - and dumped his body in a creek somewhere between San Antonio and Uvalde. Reséndiz said that he killed the man because he was involved in black magic. This man's body has never been found, and nothing is known about him except what Reséndiz told authorities. Reséndiz confessed to these first two murders in September 2001, in hopes that doing so would speed up his execution.
3. On July 19, 1991, the body of Michael White, 33, was found in the front yard of an abandoned downtown house. Reséndiz also confessed to this murder in September 2001. He drew a map of the crime scene and said that he killed White because he was homosexual. Police concluded in April 2006 that Reséndiz did in fact kill White. He was bludgeoned to death with a brick.
4 and 5. March 23, 1997, Ocala
Ocala, Florida
Ocala is a city in Marion County, Florida. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 53,491. It is the county seat of Marion County, and the principal city of the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated 2007 population of 324,857.-History:Ocala...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Jesse Howell, 19 years old. He was bludgeoned to death with an air hose coupling and left beside the tracks. His fiancee Wendy Von Huben, 16 years old, was raped, strangled, suffocated with his hands and duct tape and buried in a shallow grave in
Sumter County
Sumter County, Florida
Sumter County is a county located in the state of Florida, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the population was 53,345. The 2006 Census estimate puts its population at 68,768 . Its county seat is Bushnell, Florida and the largest incorporated municipality is Wildwood, Florida. The Villages,...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
6. In July 1997, an unidentified transient was beaten to death with a piece of plywood in a rail yard located in the City of Colton, California. Colton Police detective Jack Morenberg worked non-stop to prove Reséndiz committed the crime but due to a lack of resources he was unable to do so. Reséndiz is still considered the prime suspect in this case.
7. August 29, 1997, Lexington
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, Christopher Maier, 21 years old. He was a University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
student walking along nearby railroad tracks with his girlfriend, Holly, when the two were attacked by Reséndiz, who bludgeoned Maier to death with a 52 pound rock. Reséndiz raped and severely beat Maier's girlfriend, who nearly died as a result. Holly Dunn Pendleton, the only known survivor, went to appear on the Biography channel television program "I Survived," and "48 Hours: Left for Dead" and currently helps other victims of rape, sexual assault, and crime. She also founded "Holly's House" in her native Evansville, Indiana to benefit those victims of rape, sexual assault, and crime as well as working closely with RAINN. She was featured in the June 19, 2009 issue of People magazine.
8. October 4, 1998, Hughes Springs
Hughes Springs, Texas
Hughes Springs is a city in Cass and Morris Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 1,856 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Hughes Springs is located at ....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Leafie Mason, 81 years old. She was hammered to death with an antique flat iron by Reséndiz, who entered through a window. Fifty yards outside her door was the Kansas City-Southern Rail line.
9. December 17, 1998, West University Place
West University Place, Texas
West University Place, often called West University or West U for short, is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area and southwestern Harris County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the population of the city was 14,211...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Claudia Benton, 39 years old. Benton, a pediatric neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
at the Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine, located in the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, USA, is a highly regarded medical school and leading center for biomedical research and clinical care...
, was raped, stabbed, and bludgeoned repeatedly after he entered her home, which is near the Union Pacific railroad tracks. Police found her Jeep Cherokee in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
and found Reséndiz's fingerprints on the steering column. After the murder, Reséndiz had a warrant for his arrest for burglary, but not yet for murder. She was bludgeoned to death with a statue.
10 and 11. May 2, 1999, Weimar
Weimar, Texas
Weimar is a city in Colorado County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,981 at the 2000 census.In 1873 the town was founded as Jackson, but subsequently called Weimar in tribute to the German city of Weimar....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Norman J. Sirnic, 46 years old, and Karen Sirnic, 47 years old. The Sirnics were bludgeoned to death by a sledgehammer in a parsonage of the United Church of Christ, where Norman Sirnic was a pastor. The building was located adjacent to the Union Pacific railroad. The Sirnics' red Mazda
Mazda
is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...
was also found in San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
three weeks later, and fingerprints link their case with the Claudia Benton case.
12. June 4, 1999, Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Noemi Dominguez, 26 years old. Dominguez, a schoolteacher at Houston Independent School District
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and insular municipalities...
's Benjamin Franklin Elementary School, was bludgeoned to death with a pickax in her apartment near the rail tracks. Seven days later, her white Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
Civic was discovered by state troopers on the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas
Del Rio, Texas
Del Rio is a border city in and the county seat of Val Verde County, Texas, United States.. Del Rio is connected with Ciudad Acuña via the Lake Amistad Dam International Crossing and Del Río-Ciudad Acuña International Bridge...
.
13. June 4, 1999, Fayette County
Schulenburg, Texas
Schulenburg is a city in Fayette County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,699 at the 2000 census.Known for its German culture, Schulenburg is home of the Texas Polka Music Museum.-Geography:Schulenburg is located at ....
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Josephine Konvicka, 73 years old. Konvicka was killed by the blow of the same pickaxe used to kill Noemi Dominguez on the head while she lay sleeping. Her farmhouse is not far from Weimar. Reséndiz attempted to steal the car but was unable to take it away since he could not find the car keys.
14 and 15. June 15, 1999, Gorham
Gorham, Illinois
Gorham is a village in Jackson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 256 at the 2000 census. It is known locally for its near-annihilation during the deadly Tri-State Tornado of 1925....
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, George Morber Senior, 80 years old, and Carolyn Frederick, 52 years old. Reséndiz shot George Morber in the head with a shotgun and then clubbed Carolyn Frederick to death with a tire iron. Their house was located only 100 yards (90 m) away from a railroad line. Later, an onlooker saw a man matching Reséndiz's description driving Carolyn Frederick's red pickup truck in Cairo
Cairo, Illinois
Cairo is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The rivers converge at Fort Defiance State Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, which is located 60 miles south of Gorham.
16. Reséndiz is suspected in the death of Fannie Whitney Byers, 81, who was found Dec. 10, 1998, bludgeoned to death in her Carl, Georgia
Carl, Georgia
Carl is a town in Barrow County, Georgia, United States. The population was 205 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Carl is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
home located near CSX Transportation railroad tracks with a tire rim. A Lexington couple was charged in this Barrow County
Barrow County, Georgia
Barrow County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 46,144. The 2007 Census Estimate placed the population at 67,139...
murder, but Reséndiz admitted to an FBI agent that he killed Byers, according to authorities.
He confessed to seven other killings as well, which he said took place in Mexico.
Arrest and trial
The police tracked down Reséndiz's sister, Manuela. She feared that her brother might kill someone else or be killed by the FBI, so she agreed to help the police. A Texas RangerTexas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
, Drew Carter, accompanied by Manuela and a spiritual guide met up with Reséndiz on a bridge connecting El Paso, Texas
El Paso, Texas
El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...
, with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. (Manuela was originally reluctant to cooperate, but Carter convinced her otherwise.) Reséndiz surrendered to Carter.
During a court appearance, Reséndiz accused Carter of lying under oath because his (Reséndiz's) family was under the impression that he would be spared the death penalty; however, Reséndiz's ultimate fate would be decided by the jury, not Carter.
In 1999, former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox
Jim Mattox
James Albon Mattox was a Dallas lawyer and Texas Democratic politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as state Attorney General, but lost high profile races for Governor in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1994, and again as attorney general...
wary of the controversy miring the many confessions and recantations by Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas
Henry Lee Lucas was an American criminal, convicted of murder in 189 cases and once listed as America's most prolific serial killer; he later recanted his confessions, despite professing information only the assailant would know and flatly stating "I'm a liar" in a letter to researcher Brad Shellady...
remarked of Reséndiz that "I hope they don't start pinning on him every crime that happens near a railroad track."
Reséndiz would be tried and sentenced to death for Benton's murder.
He received the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain...
ID#999356.
Mental health
On June 21, 2006, a Houston judge ruled that Reséndiz was mentally competent to be executed. Upon hearing the judge's ruling, Reséndiz said, "I don't believe in death. I know the body is going to go to waste. But me, as a person, I'm eternal. I'm going to be alive forever." He also described himself as half-man and half-angelAngel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
and told psychiatrists he couldn't be executed because he didn't believe he could die.
Statements like the above have led specialists to conclude that Reséndiz was not competent to be executed. In the words of a bilingual psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...
who evaluated Reséndiz on two occasions in 2006, “delusions had completely taken over [Reséndiz’s] thought processes.”
Death
Despite an appeal pending with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Reséndiz had the death warrant signed for the murder of Claudia Benton. He was housed in the Polunsky UnitPolunsky Unit
Allan B. Polunsky Unit is a prison in West Livingston, unincorporated Polk County, Texas, located approximately southwest of Livingston along Farm to Market Road 350. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates the facility. The unit houses the State of Texas death row, and it has a maximum...
in West Livingston, Texas
West Livingston, Texas
West Livingston is a census-designated place in western Polk County, Texas, United States, located along the eastern shore of Lake Livingston west of central Livingston. The population was 6,612 at the 2000 census. West Livingston has the Livingston Municipal Airport and the Texas Department of...
.
He was executed in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville, Texas
Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 35,508 at the 2010 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area....
, on June 27, 2006, by lethal injection
Lethal injection
Lethal injection is the practice of injecting a person with a fatal dose of drugs for the express purpose of causing the immediate death of the subject. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broad sense to euthanasia and suicide...
. In his final statement, Reséndiz 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." Reséndiz was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT
Central Time zone
In North America, the Central Time Zone refers to national time zones which observe standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC , and daylight saving, or summer time by subtracting five hours...
(01:05 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
on June 28, 2006).
Claudia Benton's husband George was present at the execution and said Reséndiz was "evil contained in human form, a creature without a soul, no conscience, no sense of remorse, no regard for the sanctity of human life."
Media
The Reséndiz case was featured in three criminal documentaries: Crime Stories on the Discovery ChannelDiscovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
; Infamous Murders, "Death in the Country", on The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
; and The FBI Files, "Tracks of a Killer", on the Biography Channel (2003). Reséndiz also featured on the December 11, 2010, episode of 48 Hours Mystery (CBS), "Live to Tell: The Railroad Killer", when Holly Dunn shared the story of her attack.
In the episode of Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, "Catching Out", features a serial killer named Armando Salinas who appears to have been based on Reséndiz (Like Reséndiz, he was a Hispanic drifter who travelled along railroads and killed the majority of his victims by bludgeoning them).
External links
- Article on Ángel Maturino Reséndiz
- Biography of Ángel Maturino Reséndiz and timeline of his life
- Article about Reséndiz's admission to two murders
- PolkOnline article about Reséndiz's admissions
- Railroad Killer returns to Houston
- Texas Department of Criminal Justice profile of Angel Maturino Resendiz
- http://darkday.tripod.com/skaz/encyclopedia.html
- Angel Resendiz
- Execution date set for man known as 'railroad killer'
- Appeal of killer's execution date is sought
- 'Railroad Killer' Suspected In San Antonio Cold Murder Case
- 'Railroad Killer' faces execution
- Article by the International Justice Project re Reséndiz's mental health
- 'Railroad Killer' begs forgiveness before dying
- Angel Maturino Resendiz's last words.