Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "The Railroad Killer" Ángel Maturino Reséndiz Pt. 2

Episode Date: January 14, 2021

By the 1990s, Ángel Maturino Reséndiz was a seasoned murderer using America’s extensive railroad system to strike new victims, then flee. But eventually, authorities caught onto the pattern in his murders. In 1999, their investigation came to a surprising stop.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, rape, sexual assault, and necrophilia that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. It was after midnight on a balmy August night in Lexington, Kentucky. The tiny White House was quiet, but college senior Chad Gates was wide awake. He was studying while watching TV. thinking about pulling an all-night air. Classes for the new school year had just started,

and he was determined to get ahead. The night was warm, and Chad opened the front door to let the breeze through the screen door. He stood there for a moment enjoying the fresh air, but as he looked out across the yard, he did a double take. A shadowy figure was moving toward the house. Chad squinted into the darkness, thinking it might be one of his friends,

But then he saw that the figure was staggering and not from drinking too much. Chad backed away from the door as he tried to process what he'd seen. The screen door slammed open and the figure burst into the house. A young woman drenched in blood. Her face was so swollen with bruises that it looked disfigured. She was barefoot, her clothes torn. When she opened her mouth, all that came out, was a guttural scream.

Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is serial killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we're delving back into the story of the Railroad Killer, Angel Materino, present is. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free.

on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. In our last episode, we talked about how Resendez's American Dream became a violent nightmare. For years, he hopped easily across state lines by traveling in secret on freight trains, killing when opportunity struck. Today, we'll look at Resendez's escalating murder spree throughout the late 1990s and how his family helped finally bring him to justice. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter.

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Tickets on sale now at Yamavatheater.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. Angel Matarino Resendez's relationship with America defined his adult life. As a troubled young kid in Mexico, he dreamed of a fresh start north of the border in a land that promised freedom and prosperity for all.

But once he made it to the U.S., Resendez's dark nature took over. By the spring of 1997, 34-year-old Resendez had murdered five people across several states. He'd gotten away with it by living as a drifter, flying under the radar and traveling in secret across the nation's vast railroad system. By illegally jumping on and off trains across Mexico and the U.S., Resendez was able to go just about anywhere, leaving no trace behind. Resendez often took seasonal work on farms and orange groves, which is probably what brought him to California in the summer of 1997. and during that summer, his appetite for murder returned with a vengeance. On July 5th, he spent the night at a rail yard in Coulton, a suburb of San Bernardino, California. The place was empty except for one other man, Robert Castro, who struck up a conversation with Rescindez.

It's important to note that the majority of information about Rescendez's crimes comes directly from his confession, which means we have to take his word with a large grain of salt. We don't know much about recentes' interaction with Castro that night. It seems that like Vicentis, he was a drifter, so it's possible the two men found some common ground. Perhaps they even knew each other from work. But at some point, things took a turn. Maybe Castro said or did something that flipped a switch in Rescantz.

Or maybe no matter what, the violent outcome would, have been the same. Resendez was an opportunistic killer, so even if he wasn't provoked, he was volatile at best. When Castro was distracted, Resendez beat him to death with a metal rail car coupling. Based on the limited information we have, it doesn't seem like Castro's death was investigated. As a drifter, it's possible he wasn't even reported missing, and so Resendez's spree continued. Vanessa's going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Resendez didn't plan his murders in advance, and he didn't

have a consistent victim profile or M.O. He was an opportunistic killer, murdering whoever crossed his path with whatever murder weapon was at hand. He's a textbook example of what the FBI calls a disorganized killer. In the late 1980s, researchers at the Bureau's behavioral science unit came up with the organized, disorganized model to describe serial killer behavior. According to this model, disorganized killers are spontaneous. Their crime scenes are more muddled, and their crimes are opportunistic in nature. This is in contrast to an organized killer who carefully plans their murders in advance. There's very little, little evidence of planning with Rescindis. Despite his claim that he killed people he believed

were immoral, it seems more likely that he killed at random, whenever the mood and the opportunity struck. As a constant traveler, Resentis's opportunities were always in flux. In late August, after finishing his work on the tobacco harvest, Resendis stowed away on a freight train. He hopped off the train just outside the city of Lexington, near the University of Kentucky. The sun was just beginning to set as he walked the streets. That night, 20-year-old college junior Holly Dunn attended a party with her boyfriend, fellow junior, Chris Meyer. The couple had been dating for a few months and were smitten with each other. The party was a dud, and after a couple of hours, Chris suggested they take a walk,

Eager for more time with her new bow, Holly agreed. Chris knew the neighborhood well. He used to live here, and he liked taking strolls along the train tracks, which ran the entire length of the city. A couple of Chris's friends, Mike and Ryan, tagged along. They walked north along the tracks, watching carefully for oncoming trains on the horizon ahead. Unbeknownst to them, the real danger lay behind them. Resendez was watching from the shadows. His urge to kill was overwhelming,

but he knew he couldn't take on four college kids at once. So Resendez waited. He watched. He bided his time, never taking his eyes off the group, and eventually Mike and Ryan headed back to the party, leaving Chris and Holly alone. The couple stayed out for a while, talking about music, travel, and their hopes for the future.

And finally, when it was getting really late, they decided to head home. But just as they turned south to start walking back, Rescindis loomed out of the darkness towards them. He was holding a weapon that looked like an ice pick or maybe a screwdriver. He asked them for money, which they didn't have. They tried to reason with him explaining they were broke college kids. They offered him their credit cards, the keys to Chris's car. But Resendiz wasn't interested. Resendez tied up and gagged Holly and Chris, who were too afraid to resist.

He told them that he'd just broken out of jail, that his accomplice would be back soon. As far as we know, neither of these statements was true, but they work to scare the couple. Chris begged Resendiz to let Holly go. He said, Do whatever you want to me. Just please don't hurt her. The more Chris begged for Holly's life, the angry a Resentis became. He stormed away, leaving the couple alone for a moment, and then returned with a huge rock in his arms. As Holly watched in numb horror, Resendez lifted the over 50-pound rock and let it drop directly onto Chris's head, crushing his skull. After Chris was dead, Resendez stabbed Holly in the neck and raped her in a ditch beside the tracks,

as trains rattled past just yards away. Holly begged Resent is not to kill her, and he said he wouldn't. But after taking her jewelry, he picked up a wooden board and beat her repeatedly around the face and head, fracturing her eye socket and jaw. He left her for dead, lying in the ditch beside the tracks. But Holly survived. Bloodied and bruised, she forced herself to climb out of the ditch and walked back towards the lights of town. Through her blurred vision, she saw a little white house. house lit up in an otherwise quiet street. She staggered towards it, bursting into Chad Gates's

living room. Chad, a college senior, helped Holly into a chair, gave her a glass of water, and called 911. Terrified she was about to die. He tried to keep her awake, talking to her until the paramedics arrived. Luckily, Holly survived her ordeal with no permanent injuries. At the hospital that night, she was lucid enough to tell Lexington police the basic details of what happened. They also took a rape kit just in case a suspect ever turned up. After a few days in the hospital, Holly gave police a more detailed account of the attack. Despite her shock and trauma, she remembered Resendez's face clearly and described him in enough detail for a forensic sketch to be made.

But though the police had a good sense of who they were looking for, Resendis himself was long gone. Rescendez had already jumped onto a freight train headed out of town. He had no idea that Holly was still alive, but something about that night put him on edge, because it was a while before he killed again. Maybe he realized he'd taken a risk in picking Holly and Chris as victims. Up until now, Resendez killed mostly people who were either homeless drifters like himself or teenage runaways, like Wendy von Hubert and Jesse Howell.

However, Holly and Chris were college kids with a wide circle of friends, and he knew their attack would raise red flags. That might be why Resendez laid low for more than a year after the murder, spending time back in Rodeo, Mexico, with his girlfriend, Julietta. But the U.S. drew him back, as it always did. On October 2, 1998, Resendez stepped off a freight train on the Kansas City, Sucle. Southern Rail Line, the cross-border railroad between the U.S. and Mexico. He'd alighted in Texas in the railroad neighborhood of Hughes Springs. Resendez once dreamed of building his own life in the States. Now he only wanted to destroy other peoples.

And this quiet suburban enclave was a perfect place to start. For a while that night, he prowled the quiet streets surrounding the train tracks. He didn't know exactly what he was looking at. looking for, but was sure he'd know it when he saw it. Resendez's M.O. changed in a significant way on this night. Up until now, he had mostly killed people beside railroad tracks or in abandoned buildings. Though he previously attacked an 88-year-old man in his home, he had yet to kill anyone in their own home, but tonight that was all he could think about. Finally, his gaze settled on a house. It was nondescript. It was nondescript

modest red brick. Looking at it, Resendis felt something shift within him. There was something wrong with the house. In fact, he felt that it radiated evil, and whoever was inside had to die. After years of experience stowing away on freight trains, Resendiz knew how to be stealthy.

He crept around the back of the house where he found an open window. He climbed through. Inside, he found 87-year-old Leifie Mason asleep in bed. We don't know if Leifie woke up or whether she slept through Resendez's intrusion. Her neighbors knew her as outspoken, demanding, a force to be reckoned with. Maybe she confronted the intruder in her bedroom.

Whatever happened, Resendiz looked at her and saw red. He didn't have a weapon, but as an opportunist, he didn't need one. Resendez took hold of the first heavy metal object he could find, an antique flat iron and bludgeon Leifie to death. He covered her body with a blanket and left her on the floor of her bedroom. But he didn't flee. According to Resendez, he lingered a while, rifling through Leifie's belongings,

eating food out of her fridge, and then, as he'd done so many times before, Resendez slipped away into the night. A neighbor who will call Margaret was supposed to give Leifie a ride to visit her sister at the nursing home. When Leifie didn't answer the door the next morning, she knew something was wrong. Police chief Randy Kennedy was called to the scene and found Leifie's body on the floor of her bedroom. He noticed the open window through which Resendez had climbed, but his investigation soon hit a dead end. The small town was shaken by the news of Leifie's violent death, and by the disturbance.

lack of leads in the case. Meanwhile, Resentis was already miles away. After murdering Leifie, he'd walked the short distance from her house to the rail tracks and hopped onto a freight train headed back across the border. Perhaps he didn't need a life in the U.S. After so many years of trying to build a place for himself in this country, he'd found his purpose in destruction. Coming up, rescinds his new MO makes him a wanted man. Listeners, looking for something a little spooky to dig into? Then check out the Spotify Original from Parkast, superstitions. Every Wednesday, explore the varying beliefs people around the world fear and follow in this

eerie news series. Each week step inside stories that illustrate the horror, weirdness, and truth behind humanity's strangest codes of conduct. Why do black cats represent witchcraft? what's the point of carrying a rabbit's foot around with you? And how come certain films seem cursed and others don't? Each new episode of superstitions presents a story that unlocks the mysteries of unorthodox traditions and surreal phenomena. They may seem mystical or illogical or completely insane. But then again, do they? Follow the podcast series Superstitions free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The murder itself had been satisfying, of course. They always were. But this time, Resendez had lingered in his victim's home, eaten her food, gone through her belonging. trying her life on for size. After years spent on the fringes of American society, this glimpse inside must have been intoxicating, and Resentis wanted more. On December 11th, he boarded a train he hoped would take him to Florida. Before long, he realized it was going in the wrong direction, traveling north, and so he jumped off. When he got off the train, Resentis found himself in

Carl, Georgia, a tiny town with a population of less than 300. And although this wasn't where he'd planned to spend the night, Resendez was an opportunist to the core. He could go with the flow. As he wandered the quiet residential streets, he noticed 81-year-old Fanny Whitney Byers, who was in her front yard. The details of what happened next are sketchy. It's not clear if Resendez tried to engage Fanny in conversation first or simply snubly. into the house while she was distracted in the yard. But one way or another, Resentis ended up inside her house. When Fanny came in from the yard, she found Resentis there.

He killed her with a single blow to the head and slipped away. Just like with Leafy Mason in Texas, a neighbor became alarmed the following morning when Fanny failed to answer her door. When police arrived, they found Fanny's body crumpled on the floor, and no trace of her killer. Over the next week, Resenta's hitched rides on a series of freight trains traveling southwest. Finally, he arrived back in Texas on December 17th. He hopped off the train in West University Place, a wealthy suburb of Houston. Claudia Benton, a 39-year-old doctor, lived just down the street from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

That evening, she was at home alone, while her husband and two daughters were out of town. We don't know exactly why Rescindis set his sights on Claudia. Perhaps he saw her working in her yard and was attracted to her. Maybe he looked at her two-story brick home and simply felt that it was evil. Resentis claimed to be half man, half angel, a warrior on a mission from God to rid the world of darkness. It's possible he felt the divine pulling him towards this house. One police officer noted that the Benton family had a collection of distinctive artwork that was visible from the street. Perhaps to Resendez's eyes, the art looked evil. In the past, he often jumped to the conclusion that people were involved in the occult based on little evidence.

So maybe that's what happened here. In any case, by that evening, Resendez was staking out the Benton House. Inside, Claudia spent the evening preparing a presentation she was due to make the following. day. At 10 p.m. she called a colleague to discuss her work. It was the last time anyone spoke to her. Around midnight, Resendez slipped into the house. He looked around the Benton family's belongings and found statues that struck him as demonic. According to Resendez, he also found medical publications, which led him to believe that Claudia performed abortions. As ever, Resentis' logic is hard to follow, and we're reliant.

solely on his own account of his motivations. He often claimed that he killed people because he felt they weren't Christian enough, because they were involved in the occult, were gay, or practiced abortion. But in reality, Resendiz was just a murderer with a lust for blood. He had no remorse for the lives he took, and he seemed driven to kill. Maybe he did justify the murders to himself, believing that these people deserved to die. or maybe he didn't need any justification.

In the second floor bedroom, Resentis found Claudia asleep in front of the TV. We don't know much about their encounter, except that Claudia fought him hard. But Resendez overpowered her. He raped her, stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife, and then hit her 19 times over the head with a bronze statue. Investigators call this overkill. inflicting an excessive, unnecessary amount of violence during a murder. In a 2020 study, behavioral researcher Abby Marono and her colleagues

explored the associations between certain types of serial killer as well as their behaviors during murders and categories of child abuse. They found that physical abuse in childhood was associated with a greater tendency for overkill. Additionally, a different study by Marono and ex-FBI bi-profiler Joe Navarro showed a correlation between sexual abuse in childhood and over-killing. This tallies with what we've heard about Resendez's childhood, which involved beatings and sexual abuse. As an adult, it's possible that trauma was manifesting in incredibly violent ways. After Claudia was dead, Resendez tore through the house.

He was in a frenzy, grabbing electronics, jewelry, and various other trinkets he found. in cabinets, smashing pottery as he went. He made himself a snack, and finally he fled in Claudia's red jeep Cherokee, leaving a trail of destruction and bloodshed in his wake. Later that day, West University police were called to the ransacked house, where they found Claudia's body. All over the house, they found fingerprints matching those later found on Claudia's abandoned Jeep. A week later, the police ran the prince and came back to with a match. According to their database, they belonged to a man named Rafael Rescendes Ramirez, one of the many aliases Rescendez used on his travels. Now, 12 years after his first slaying,

Resendez was finally on the hook for murder, or at least he would be if the police could find him. By the time his alias popped up in connection with Claudia's murder, Resendez was long gone, back across the border in Mexico. Christmas was just days away, and he'd promise Julietta that he'd be home to spend the holiday with her. As his life in the U.S. grew darker and more violent, Resendez's life in Mexico was blossoming.

Five years after the couple moved in together, Julietta was pregnant with their first child. She gave birth in March of 1999 to a daughter named Lyria. According to Julietta, Resentis was a doting father who loved Lyria almost too much, and yet even as he cradled his newborn baby in his arms that spring, his mind was consumed by darkness. It's significant that Julietta never noticed anything amiss with Resendis.

Years later, he would claim that he had been experiencing intense religious delusions throughout this period, a symptom of the schizophrenia which had driven him to kill. That said, Rides' account of his mental state is hard to swallow. He claimed he was psychotic, yet seemed to have no trouble maintaining this double life. In Mexico, he was a devoted family man. In the U.S., he was a monster, stalking his victims from the shadows and killing at will. Two months after the birth of his daughter, Resendiz crossed back into the U.S. and landed in the railroad town of Weimer, Texas. Almost all of the town's residents lived within

walking distance of the tracks, which made it the perfect hunting ground for Rescindis. But on May 2, 1999, he was looking for something different. He wasn't interested in any of the houses he passed. Instead, he was drawn to the United Church of Christ on Main Street. In the absence of any real information about Rescindis' motivations, we can only speculate. We do know he was a religious man, and he claimed he was an angel sent to Earth by God. Had becoming a father given Rescindiz a new appreciation for the sanctity of life? Did he go to the United Church of Christ to repent?

Unfortunately not. By now, Resendis had a track record of breaking into homes to murder the people inside, and not even the house of God was sacred in his eyes. By the time Resendiz arrived at the church, it was closed for the night. There were only two people inside, the 46-year-old pastor, Norman Sernick and his 47-year-old wife, Karen. Resendiz found the couple in the church parsonage where they lived. The Sernics were beloved in the community, known as kind-hearted people who took their church

duties very seriously and went out of their way to help their parishioners. Perhaps Resendez took advantage of their kindness and presented himself as lost, either physically or spiritually. When their guard was down, he struck. Resendez bludgeoned both Karen and Norman to death with a sledgehammer. It's not clear where he got the murder weapon from, but based on his history, he probably found it inside the church. He raped Karen after killing her and then left the couple side by side on their bed.

After stealing their VCR and video game, Resendez drove away in the Cernick's pickup truck. The next morning, churchgoers became worried when Norman and Karen failed to show up for the morning service. Church President Ted Neely walked over to the parsonage where he discovered the Cernick's bodies. He returned to the pulpit visibly shaken and broke the news to the stunned congregation. A crime this vicious would shake any community,

but it was particularly jarring in Weimer, where homicides were rare. It sparked the attention of law enforcement statewide, and within weeks they'd made the link between this murder and that of Claudia Benton. Authorities flagged several similarities. In both cases, the victims died from head trauma and their bodies were covered by a blanket afterward.

The Cernick's pickup truck was also found in San Antonio, just like Claudia's Jeep, and both crimes were committed within yards of a railroad. Both also involved overkill, a level of violence beyond comprehension. Trusting their hunch, the police ran DNA test to see if there was a link. Quickly, they had their answer. The DNA at both scenes came from the man they knew as Rafael Resentes Ramirez.

The investigation gathered steam quickly after this breakthrough. The FBI began scouring its database of unsolved crimes, looking for links. At the end of May, they flagged the murder of Kentucky college student Chris Meyer. Kentucky detectives compared Resendez's picture to the forensic sketch of Chris and Holly's attacker. The resemblance was striking. Just a week later, the connection was confirmed. The DNA from Holly Dunn's rape kit matched the DNA taken from the Benton and Cernic crime scenes. The authorities now knew, beyond any doubt, that they were looking at a serial killer on a multi-state murder spree.

But while authorities worked to hunt him down, down, Rescindis seemed to have laid low. It's possible he knew the FBI were pursuing him, or maybe the right opportunity to murder, didn't present itself during the rest of May 1999. Either way, he was about to run into trouble. On June 1st, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested Resendez in New Mexico for entering the U.S. illegally. Remarkably, though, immigration authorities didn't find anything notable when they ran his fingerprints through their system. This was in part due to the fact that at the time the immigration and naturalization service system wasn't linked to the databases of other law enforcement agencies.

Looking at recentist that day, the officers saw nothing more sinister than a drifter with a long history of illegal border crossings. And so one of the most dangerous men in America was released and walked back to Mexico. But after so many deportations, this minor hurdle wasn't about to. to stop Resendez. He still had unfinished business. Up next, Resendez's luck finally runs out. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with Kayak and get your trip right.

Kayak, got that right. Now back to the story. In June of 1999, 39-year-old killer Angel Matarino Resendez evaded capture by the skin of his teeth. He was a chief suspect in at least four murders. On June 1st, he was arrested and immediately released thanks to a law enforcement slip up. Any rational person in his position would surely count their lucky stars.

But Rescindis just couldn't resist pushing his luck. In fact, he didn't even wait three days before crossing the border again. He was gripped by compulsion, and nothing could stop him. Late on the evening of June 4th, Resendiz broke into a duplex near the railroad line in Houston, Texas. In the bedroom, he found 26-year-old schoolteacher Noemi D'Ne M. Dominguez asleep. He raped her and bludgeoned her to death with a pickax. Resendez claimed that he killed Noamie because he found what he called abortion literature in her house. But as ever, we should take this with a grain of salt. He left Noamese body under a quilt and stole her car,

driving at some two hours west to the city of Schulenburg. There, Resendez broke into a rural farmhouse and killed 73-year-old Joseph. Josephine Convica, a widowed grandmother of six. He bludgeoned her to death with the same pickax he used to kill Noemi, leaving the weapon in her head. In a strange touch, Resendez also took a toy train set out of the closet in Josephine's room and left it on the floor. Some reports also state that he left a copy of a local newspaper

containing an article about his crimes. It seems Resendiz wasn't just unafraid of being caught. Now he was taunting the investigators, but before long, his cockiness gave way to panic. Six days after killing Josephine and Noamie, Resendez was at home in Rodeo, when he got a call that made his blood run cold. We don't know who the call was from, but it was likely a relative, who told Resendiz that the police were searching for him. Resendez turned to Julietta and told her that he had to leave.

he embraced their three-month-old daughter Lyria and said to Julietta, I have a problem, forgive me. Julietta was bewildered. Resendez told her that he was being pursued, but wouldn't explain by whom. He wouldn't even tell her who'd called. The last thing he said before he left haunted Julietta for years to come. If they find me, let them kill me. These sound like the words of a scared man,

desperate to avoid capture, but that doesn't tally with what Resendez did next, which was to go right back across the border to the U.S. Perhaps he thought it was safer not to be in Mexico, but that doesn't explain why he'd voluntarily go back to a country where he was a wanted fugitive. Resentis's desire to be in the U.S. was unexplainable. It was like there was a magnetic pull that lured him back across the border over and over again. No matter how much he was a moment. many times he was deported or imprisoned. And if he sensed his time was running out, maybe he simply couldn't resist returning for one last visit or one last kill. Despite his reckless behavior, Resendez did make one concession to caution when he arrived back in the U.S. He moved north away from

the border states where he was being pursued and landed in Illinois. On June 15th, Rissendez brought broke into a home in the tiny railroad town of Gorham. Inside, he found 80-year-old George Morber Sr. And his 51-year-old daughter, Carolyn Frederick. Resendez tied George to a chair and shot him in the back of the head. He sexually assaulted Carolyn and then clubbed her to death with the shotgun. And then, sticking to his pattern, Resendez stole Carolyn's pickup truck and escaped. It's not clear how long he drove the truck for,

but based on his history, it's likely he abandoned it before too long, and traveled back across the border to Mexico by train. But his trusty railroad was becoming more treacherous. The authorities had figured out how Resendez was traveling and began searching trains. Throughout the month of June, panic gripped Texas, Kentucky, and the surrounding states. And alongside panic came fear and prejudice. On June 21st, Resendez was planned. placed on the FBI's 10 most wanted list.

The day after, Ohio police halted a freight train and searched all 75 of its cars with sniffer dogs after a woman called 911 to report that she saw a Hispanic man on board. Meanwhile, the Texas police tracked down Resendez's half-sister, Manuela Maturino Karkovic, who lived in New Mexico. If you're confused by this sudden mention of a sister, you're not alone. Manuela isn't mentioned at all in any of the reports we have about Resendez's early life, and it's not clear whether they grew up together.

When Drew Carter, a Texas ranger, first approached Manuela, she was reluctant to cooperate. It's easy to imagine why. Texas is a death penalty state, and no matter what kind of relationship the siblings had, Manuela likely wanted no part in sending her brother to his death. But eventually, Manuela came around. She was afraid that her brother might kill again or be killed by the FBI as a fugitive.

At least if he was taken into custody, he'd have a chance at a fair trial. Manuela and Carter negotiated a deal that guaranteed visitation rights for the family and psychiatric treatment for Resendez. It's not clear exactly how she got in touch with Resendez or how she convinced him to turn himself in, but at some point in early July, she did both. On July 13th, Resendez walked across a bridge that connects Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua to El Paso, Texas, and surrendered to Carter. Resendez was immediately charged with the capital murder of Claudia Benton, though by the time of his arrest, police had evidence linking him to several more slayings. Soon after his arrest, a palm print at Leifie Mason's murder scene was also matched to Resendez, bringing the total count of murders he,

was suspected of to nine. On May 7, 2000, he took the stand in a trial focused solely on the capital murder of Claudia Benton. During this trial, the jury would also hear about his numerous other murders. He pled not guilty by reason of insanity, and his lawyers claimed that he was schizophrenic. They explained his belief that he was half man, half angel. If it's true that that rescindus had schizophrenia and was experiencing delusions, it's unlikely that the people around him wouldn't have noticed. Based on rescindus' own account, he experienced delusions, which is one of the symptoms of schizophrenia.

But as far as we can tell, no one ever noticed him exhibiting any of the other symptoms of schizophrenia outlined in the DSM-5. Psychiatrists testifying for the prosecution concluded that while Rissendez suffered from personality disorders, he was not insane. He knew that murder was wrong, they said, and the jury rejected his plea of insanity. On May 18th, after an 11-day trial,

Resendez was found guilty of murdering Claudia Benton. It was up to the jury to decide whether he would receive a life sentence or the death penalty. Resendez himself put a thumb on the scale, telling the judge that he wanted to be executed. Soon after, he was sentenced to death.

Shortly before his execution, Resendez confessed to a number of other murders that hadn't yet been linked to him. In all, authorities were able to link him to 15 murders across six states. But Resendez's true death toll will likely never be known. In addition to the 15 murders that were confirmed, he confessed to a number of others that couldn't be proven. After casting himself as judge, jury, and executioner to so many, Rescindis' his own judgment day finally arrived. On June 27, 2006, he was executed 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 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. Perhaps in his final moments,

Presentis saw himself clearly for the first time. He was not a man of God, not a righteous messenger, not an angel sent from on high. He was an agent of the devil. And if hell existed, he was going straight there. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers.

next week with a new episode. For more information on Angel Matarino Resentez. Amongst the many sources we used, we found Holly Dunn's book, Soul Survivor, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week.

Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler. designed by Anthony Valsick, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of serial killers was written by Emma Dibdin, with writing assistants by Joel Callan, fact-checking by

Adriana Romero, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial Killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. Bad omens, good fortune, pure luck. Take a closer look at what you believe in and follow the Spotify original from Parkcast, Superstitions. New episodes air weekly every Wednesday.

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