Angel Maturino Resendiz

Serial Killer

Angel Maturino Resendiz: The Railroad Killer

Overview

Angel Maturino Resendiz was a Mexican serial killer whose ability to travel secretly aboard freight trains allowed him to move across the United States without leaving the usual trail of tickets, vehicle records, credit-card charges, or hotel registrations. Known as the "Railroad Killer," he attacked people in Texas, Florida, Kentucky, California, Georgia, and Illinois. Many of the victims lived near railroad tracks, rail yards, or freight routes that provided him with both transportation and an escape route. Resendiz used numerous names, including Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, the identity under which he was initially sought by federal authorities. His birth name has been reported as Angel Leoncio Reyes Recendis or a similar variation. He repeatedly entered the United States without authorization, was arrested and deported several times, and accumulated convictions for burglary, vehicle theft, assault, immigration violations, and the use of false identities. His confirmed and suspected crimes stretched from the 1980s through June 1999. Resendiz generally selected residences close to railroad lines, entered through unlocked doors or windows, and attacked occupants with objects found at the scene. His victims varied greatly in age and background. They included students, elderly people, a physician, a minister and his wife, a teacher, and travelers who encountered him aboard a freight train.

Known, Confessed, and Suspected Victims

• Unidentified woman 1986, Bexar County, Texas: Resendiz later claimed that he shot an unidentified woman several times and left her body at an abandoned farmhouse. Human remains discovered on March 23, 1986, have been associated with his confession, although the woman's identity and exact date of death remain uncertain.
• Unidentified man 1986, between San Antonio and Uvalde, Texas: Resendiz claimed that he killed a man described as the unidentified woman's boyfriend and disposed of the body near a creek. No remains were conclusively located, and the account depended primarily on Resendiz's later statements.
• Michael White July 19, 1991, San Antonio, Texas: White, 22, was found beaten to death with a brick in the yard of an abandoned house. Resendiz confessed years later and reportedly supplied investigators with details and a map of the location. Authorities eventually concluded that his account corresponded with the crime.
• Jesse Howell March 23, 1997, near Belleview in Marion County, Florida: Howell, 19, was traveling with his fiancee, Wendy Von Huben. The couple encountered Resendiz while riding in a freight car. Howell was beaten to death with a heavy railroad air-brake coupling, and his body was left beside railroad tracks.
• Wendy Von Huben March 23, 1997, Sumter County, Florida: Von Huben, 16, disappeared after Howell was killed. Resendiz later admitted assaulting and strangling her before burying her in a shallow grave. In 2000, he directed investigators to the area where her remains were recovered.
• Roberto Castro July 5, 1997, Colton, California: Castro, 54, was a transient found beaten to death in or near a railroad yard. Resendiz was identified as a leading suspect, although the case was not the basis of a completed murder prosecution against him.
• Christopher Maier August 29, 1997, Lexington, Kentucky: Maier, 21, was walking beside railroad tracks with University of Kentucky student Holly Dunn when Resendiz confronted them. Maier was killed with a large rock. Dunn was sexually assaulted, severely beaten, and left for dead, but she survived and later became an important witness.
• Leafie Mason October 4, 1998, Hughes Springs, Texas: Mason, 87, was attacked inside her home, which stood close to railroad tracks. Resendiz entered through a window and beat her to death with an antique iron from the residence. Evidence ultimately connected him to the killing.
• Fannie Whitney Byers December 10, 1998, Carl, Georgia: Byers, 81, was beaten to death inside her home near a railroad line. A heavy metal object, commonly described as a tire rim or wheel component, was used in the attack. Other people were initially accused, but Resendiz later claimed responsibility. The murder remained one of the cases attributed to him through confession rather than a separate conviction.
• Claudia Benton December 17, 1998, West University Place, Texas: Benton, 39, was a physician and pediatric neurologist. Resendiz entered her home near railroad tracks, sexually assaulted her, stabbed her, and beat her with a bronze statuette. He stole property and escaped in her Jeep. His fingerprints were discovered in the vehicle, providing investigators with crucial evidence. This was the murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to death.
• Norman J. "Skip" Sirnic May 2, 1999, Weimar, Texas: Sirnic, 46, was the minister of the United Church of Christ in Weimar. He and his wife lived in a parsonage near a railroad line. Resendiz entered the home and killed Sirnic with a sledgehammer while the couple was in bed.
• Karen Sirnic May 2, 1999, Weimar, Texas: Karen Sirnic, 47, was killed beside her husband with the same sledgehammer. Evidence indicated that she was also sexually assaulted. Resendiz stole the couple's red Mazda, which was later recovered in San Antonio.
• Noemi Dominguez June 4, 1999, Houston, Texas: Dominguez, 26, was a schoolteacher living close to railroad tracks. Resendiz entered her residence, sexually assaulted her, and killed her with a pickax. He then stole her automobile and used it to travel away from Houston.
• Josephine Konvicka June 4, 1999, Dubina in Fayette County, Texas: Konvicka, 73, was killed in her rural home only hours after Dominguez. Resendiz used a pickax during the attack and left the weapon at the scene. Fingerprint and other evidence connected him to the residence.
• George Morber Sr. June 15, 1999, Gorham, Illinois: Morber, reported as 79 or 80 years old in different accounts, was killed in his home about 100 yards from a railroad line. He was shot with a shotgun during the attack.
• Carolyn Frederick June 15, 1999, Gorham, Illinois: Frederick, Morber's adult daughter, was also attacked inside the home. Resendiz sexually assaulted her and fatally beat her with the shotgun, striking her so violently that the weapon broke. The Illinois double homicide became one of the final known attacks of his 1999 crime series.

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Confirmed Victims: (16)

Unidentified woman , Date of Death: 1986

Survivors:

Holly Dunn Age: (21), Date of Attack: August 29, 1997

Ángel Maturino Reséndiz - Wikipedia