Ángel Maturino Reséndiz
Written By: RA
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
One would think that public transit isn’t exactly a murderer’s escape route of choice. But for Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, famously known as The Railroad Killer, jumping out of moving trains around the US, Canada and Mexico was precisely how he evaded arrest for years. His chilling string of murders spread fear across railroad towns in the United States.
The Killings
Reséndiz’s crime spree began around the 1990s, when he made his first recorded murder in Texas. Motivated by bigotry, Reséndiz claims he bludgeoned 22 year-old Michael White to death because of his homosexuality.
One of his most publicized assaults was an attack on two college students coming home from a party. Christopher Maer, a 21-year old student from the University of Kentucky, was bludgeoned to death with a 52-pound rock. His girlfriend, Holly Pendleton, is the only known survivor of a Railroad Killer assault.
Over the span of the decade, his modus operandi of illegally crossing borders and jumping off of moving trains allowed him to escape arrest throughout the 90s. He did not only target people walking near the railroad tracks, but he also barged into homes near them.
He was known to stab and bludgeon his victims with multiple types of weapons or even rocks. On record, he committed a total of 15 murders.
It was the killing of Claudia Benton – a pediatric neurologist whom he sexually assaulted and killed after breaking into her home near the Union Pacific railroad tracks – that lead to his arrest and final conviction. He stabbed her 39 times with a butcher knife and beat her to death with a 2-foot tall statue.
Arrests and charges
At 1999, Texas ranger Drew Carter found Reséndiz’s sister, Manuela. At this point, the Railroad Killer had already been listed under the FBI’s Most Wanted. Eventually, Carter managed to track Reséndiz and get him to surrender to authorities.
Reséndiz was tried and found guilt for the murder of Claudia Benton.
On June 21, 2006, a Houston judge declared Reséndiz mentally competent to be charged with the death penalty.
Final fate: Execution
The Railroad Killer was finally put on death row.
As he was lined up for execution, Reséndiz brings up two additional murders which supposedly occurred in 1986. He claims he shot a woman four times for disrespecting him while on a road trip and that he also came for the woman’s boyfriend. There is no physical record of these murders as no body or names were found. It is said Reséndiz made this confession to speed up his execution.
Before his execution, he was denied a final meal. His final words end with, “I deserve what I am getting.”
He was killed by lethal injection on June 27, 2006, leaving a shadow of fear and caution for anyone who finds themselves walking near the railroads at night.
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