Born on August 1, 1959, Angel Maturino Resendiz, also known as "The Railroad Killer" was a Mexican-American serial killer suspected to have committed as many as 23 murders across Mexico and the United States during the 1990s.
There were also some involved with sexual assault. He had established his name as most of his crimes were committed near the railroads where he jumps off the trains he was riding to travel around the country.
He became the 457th fugitive listed by the FBI, to be included in the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on June 21, 1999, before turning himself in the Texas authorities on July 13, 1999. Then, he was convicted of multiple murders and was executed by lethal injection.
This criminal made a lot of nicknames but he was most known after as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez. His other nickname was Angel Reyes-Resendiz, which was very close to the name Angel Leoncio Reyes Resendiz on his certificate of birth. He was born in Izucar de Matamoros, Puebla, Mexico.
: His Mark of Killings (Methodology)
He illegally jumps on and off the trains within and across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Through this, he generally crosses borders to evade himself from the authorities for a considerable time. For the record, the United States government shows that he had been deported to Mexico more than five times since the first time he entered the United States in 1973.
Angel Resendiz has slain at least 15 people: 6 with rocks, a pickaxe, and other equipment he finds mainly in the homes of his victims. After committing each crime, he would stay in the house for a while to eat (apples), takes sentimental items like pieces of jewelry, and laying out the victims' driver's licenses to check their profiles. The pieces of jewelry that he took will be given to his wife and mother who lived in Rode, Durango, Mexico.
Some of the jewelry were sold or melted down. In fact, some of the items that were stolen were returned by his wife and mother after his surrender. Yes, you read that right. He surrendered but I will go deeper into that later. He raped some of his female victims. However, rape was just considered as a secondary intent. Most of his victims were found covered with a blanket or if not, left with an undesirable morbid view.
: Victims (1986 - 1999)
1. Unknown date in 1986
An unidentified woman was dumped in an abandoned farmhouse, She was shot four times with a .38 caliber weapon. According to Resendiz, he met the woman at a homeless shelter. They became close as they were hanging out on a trip together through riding a motorcycle. However, he killed the woman and shot her because of disrespecting him.
2. Unknown date in 1986
An unidentified man who was supposedly the boyfriend of the previous victim. His body was dumped in a creek somewhere in San Antonio and Uvalde. The man's body was never found and nothing is known about him except the information given by Resendiz to the authorities.
3. Michael White (22) July 19, 1991: San Antonio, Texas
Michael White was killed with a brick. He was beaten by it numerous times resulting in his death. His body was found in a front yard of an abandoned downtown house. Resendiz killed because Michael was homosexual.
4. Jesse Howell (19) March 23, 1997: Ocala, Florida
Strangled with an air hose coupling and left in a railroad track. Wendy Von Huben's fiance.
5. Wendy Von Huben (16) March 23, 1997: Ocola, Florida
Wendy was raped, strangled, and suffocated to death with duct tape. She was Howell's fiancee. The crime happened on the same day.
6. Robert Castro, July 5, 1997: Colton, California
Robert was beaten to death with a piece of plywood in a rail yard. Resendiz was not officially charged on this case but he was suspected as the prime killer of the victim.
7. Christopher Maier (21) August 29, 1997: Lexington, Kentucky
Christopher Maier and Holly Pendleton are both University of Kentucky students who were walking along nearby railroad tracks. The couple was attacked by Resendiz, who beat Maier to death with a 52-pound rock. Resendiz raped and severely beat Pendleton, who almost died. Yes, she survived. She's the only survivor of all the victims of Resendiz. Pendleton then appeared on a biography channel television program: I survived.
8. Leafie Mason (87) October 4, 1998: Hughes Springs, Texas
Leafie is an elderly woman who was beaten to death with a vintage flat iron. Resendiz entered the house through a window. Leafie was found covered with a blanket and her driver's license was laid out on a couch with a bitten apple placed nearby.
9. Fannie Whitney Byers (81) December 10, 1998: Carl, Georgia
Beaten to deah with a tire rim in her home, Fannie was found and located near the CSX transportation railroad tracks. In fact, there was a couple who have been charged with Byer's murder but according to the authorities, it was Resendiz who committed the crime which he confessed to an FBI agent.
10. Claudia Benton (39) December 17,1998: West University Place, Texas
7 days after committing a murder, Resendiz has done it again. Benton is a pediatric neurologist at the Baylor College of Medicine. She was raped, stabbed, and beaten repeatedly with a statue. Resendiz entered her home and bludgeoned her to death. Her driver's license was laid out and a bitten apple was found in her kitchen.
11. Noemi Dominguez (26) June 4, 1999: Houston, Texas
Dominguez was a school teacher at Houston Independent School District's Benjamin Franklin Elementary School. She was bludgeoned to death and was heavily beaten with a pickaxe in her apartment. Seven days after her murder, her car was found by state troopers on the International Bridge in Del Rio, Texas.
12. Josephine Konvicka (73) June 4, 1999: Dubina, Texas
The same day when Dominguez was killed, Resendiz found his 2nd victim using the same pickaxe he used to kill Dominguez. Konvicka is an elderly woman who lived in a farmhouse near Weimar.
13. George Morber, Sr. (80) June 15, 1999: Gorham, Illinois
11 days after his 2 murders, Resendiz did it again. Morber, Sr. was shot in the head with a shotgun. His car was found 60 miles south of Gorham. Resendiz's fingerprints were found on the steering wheel, positively identifying Resendiz as the killer.
14. Carolyn Frederick (52) June 15, 1999: Gorham, Illinois
Carolyn is the daughter of George Morber, Sr. She was shot to death with the same shotgun Resendiz used to her father.
: Arrest and Trial
Manuela, Resendiz's sister had seen her brother's FBI Most Wanted Poster and decided to help the police set him up because she feared that her brother might kill someone else again or be killed by the FBI. On July 12, 1999, Resendiz surrendered to Carter, a Texas Ranger.
On trial, Resendiz was sentenced to death for Benton's murder.
: Mental Health
A Houston judge (on June 21, 2006) ruled Resendiz that he was mentally competent to be executed. Upon hearing the judgment, Resendiz said "I don't believe in death. I am eternal. I'm going to be alive forever". He described himself as half-man and half-angel and even told the psychiatrists that the reason of his killings were because he's told by the archangel Michael identifying his victims as bad persons.
: Death
Resendiz was executed by lethal injection on June 27, 2006. In his final statement, he said "I wanna ask you to forgive me. you don't have to. I allowed the devil to rule my life. I ask the Lord to forgive me and I thank God for having patience in me. I deserve what I am getting."
That's scary to think he killed that many people OnO