Hey weirdos, Elena here. If you're looking to kick back and relax with Morbid, Wondery Plus is the way to go. it's like having a cozy seat in our haunted mansion no ads just you and early access to new episodes You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.
Listening on Audible helps your imagination soar.
Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, You can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities and new ways of thinking.
Listening can lead to positive changes in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being.
Audible has an incredible selection of over 1 million audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals all in one easy app.
Find the genres you love and discover new ones.
Explore bestsellers like my sister's title. new releases, plus thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and originals that members can listen to all they want with more added all the time.
I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.
She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.
And let me tell you, it did. I've been listening to it while I walk, and I am absolutely loving it.
I love all the Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen.
Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. visit audible.com slash morbid.
Sherwin-Williams Super Sale is coming up from August 8th through the 14th.
That is seven whole days to save big on paints and stains.
We're talking 40% off big. It is the perfect time to start that paint project you've been thinking of.
Whether you're looking to revamp your interior or your exterior, they have you covered with bold hues, soothing neutrals and everything in between.
So mark your calendars for August 8th through the 14th and get ready to bring your color to life.
We'll see you next time. available on qualifying orders retail sales only some exclusions apply see store for details Hey weirdos, I'm Ash.
And I'm Elena. And this is Spooky Season Morbid.
Hey, yo, it's officially spooky. It's always been spooky.
I mean, it's really been spooky. It's officially.
Like we're in October. October is here. Alina went apple picking today. apple picking today.
I'm going to a harvest fair tomorrow. I'm ready to bake all the apple things.
You got enough apples so that I can also be ready to bake all of the apple things.
I sure did. I walked into Alina's kitchen today and how many apples did you get?
John said like, I have like 40 pounds of apples.
I'm pretty sure. I was like. Can I have six?
I need to bake something. Well, I figured everyone around us bakes, like, loves apple things.
So we're like, well... Anybody who comes through the house, we can just feel like you want some apples.
And that's just what happened. when I walked in today and I was like, yeah, I'll take some apples.
Yeah, you know what? I do want some apples.
Oh, it's just, this is the time. I love it so much.
It's the time. It just feels good. The air is crisp.
I wore a sweater. Some like everybody's like, you know, like during the holidays and like usually they're referring to like Thanksgiving and like christmas or hanukkah they're like i feel so warm inside as soon as it turns october i'm like I am a bundle of happiness and joy.
That's literally how it turns something like just awaken something within me. me yeah and I just like I don't know I just like want to dress like a fucking witch all the time now Oh, yeah.
And I just I totally forgot. And then I got reminded that Halloween Wars on the Food Network is coming back.
I was here when she realized that. I mean, that's like one of my favorite things.
The best. And now the girls watch it with me, which is like...
Hello. There was like another wicked cute show last year on the Food Network for Halloween and it was like Kristen Chenoweth was in it.
Do you remember what that was? Oh, I don't remember.
I know that there was, you know, they have all like the Halloween baking championships that I love.
I'm like a sucker. I hope that show comes back.
I'm a sucker for Halloween and baking together.
Bring it to me. The show was like Candyland.
You're like, I'm not getting rid of this.
I'm just trying to remember what it was called.
But it was cute. That is cute. I love the Food Network.
I'm ready for all the Halloween things to come back.
And then like. when it's all over, which I'm not ready to talk about yet.
Yeah, don't talk about that. But then I love, like, November Food Network and all that stuff.
Oh, yeah. This is the start of the holidays for me.
Oh, it certainly is. And I don't know if you guys ever watch those shows that are like... crazy outrageous Halloween decorations, or like crazy haunted houses across the nation.
Yes. I will watch the same one every single year and be like, wow, like sometimes they shock me every time.
Oh yeah, sometimes they have the same one from like 2006.
I'm like, I remember that guy. What's he up to?
And I'm like, it's the same episode. It's the same one.
What's he up to in this episode that I've seen a hundred times?
Yeah. Tell me how long it takes to put that stuff up.
Tell me what your electric bill is. I need to know.
I gotta know. But yeah, so we're excited.
I don't know if you can tell. I also saw this TikTok just like really quickly.
This woman has like a son and he asked her if the giant pumpkin really exists.
It's like from a book. It's from a book you just said?
Yeah, The Peanuts, Charlie Brown. Yeah, the great book. it's like from a book I don't know whatever It's the wholesomeness is about what this woman did.
She got this like massive fricking pumpkin And then she took this video of her and her family setting it up, and then finally it blows up in her child's face.
I was like, spooky season is like the wholesomest thing in the world.
I love that. It was so beautiful. She made the great pumpkin.
She did. It was huge. Wow, get it girl.
It was like bigger than her whole house.
Wow, that's a lot. Like taller. Yeah. Oh, so it was like a blow-up pumpkin?
Yeah. Because when you first said, and then they blew it up, I was like, that sounds mean.
I was literally looking at you like, this doesn't sound wholesome.
That doesn't sound good at all. No, it was like a...
Like one of those like lawn things. Yeah, that makes sense.
I love that. It was awesome. I also need to know where she got it.
So wholesome. It is spooky season because my microphone just fell on me.
That just goes along with it. It just was like, whoop.
It slowly just was like, and I'm done. I keep thinking that it's doing it again, but it's not.
You know what? It's probably... That was freaking weird.
I said it's not and it was like, bitch, I might be.
I guess I'll just hold it. Yeah, you probably need to.
Well, I think it was probably trying to... end this whole thing because this case is a rough one.
Oh, it's a really rough one. I told you during the Holly Dunn episode, the Survivor episode, which was like... really tough, but also had that good ending that Holly was a survivor, that she keeps Chris's memory alive. that she's doing this amazing stuff with her story and like helping other people.
That was like uplifting. But then I told you, I told you that we were going to talk about the asshole who did that to her.
Yes. And here we are. This is the episode.
This one's really rough. It's a really rough one.
It's very, very brutal. There is sexual assault.
There's rape. I don't even know if this is a specific thing, but there's a lot of old people involved in this.
Oh, that's kind of a bummer. Yeah. Like, I know that bumps me out a lot, so just so you know, it's coming. yeah it's this one's a rough one so just you know strap in because here we are So we're going to talk today about the railroad killer.
His name is Angel. Actually, his given name. is Angel Leonicio Reyes Resendez.
Okay. but you probably know him better by now, now that we've mentioned him, and he's known in the press and all that.
As Angel Matarino rescinds. Yeah. Now, he was born August 1st, 1959 in Izucar de Matamoros, Puebla, Mexico.
A Leo. And a Leo. There you go. Is that true?
I was going to say, is that true or is that false?
People like when I get it wrong. What'd you say?
I love when you get it wrong. You said August 1st.
August 1st. I'm pretty sure it's a Leo. I'm getting better at it.
You are getting better at it, which I don't love.
I kind of always want you to get it wrong.
It just feels right. Well, I'm getting way more into it, but watch me say that and be wrong. oh i'm not yeah no he was a leo but he's on the cusp yeah he's a leo uh I don't, there's not a ton about his childhood, which honestly at this point, it's like, that's probably about like who gives a shit about him.
He sucks. Yeah, he's the worst. I was able to find a good amount about a lot of the victims. which I feel like in this case, they're the most important.
It was great to be able to find out who those people were.
So I'll give you a little overview what I could find about his childhood and then we'll move on.
Now, he was born August 1st, 1959 in Mexico.
He was dropped on his head within minutes of being born.
Whoa. Knocked unconscious. Thank you. Within minutes of being born.
Any idea what happened there? Oh, I have no idea.
But his, but it's confirmed, like his mother literally confirmed it.
Oh, so head trauma immediately upon the arrival on this planet.
I had trauma before even getting a birth certificate, I'm pretty sure.
Yeah, that's sad for him. Oh, I can't fathom dropping an infant directly from birth.
No. No, I can't remember. I can't fathom dropping an infant, but dropping, I'm not really sure.
He also fell off of a building when he was three years old.
How does that even happen? Sustained severe injuries.
I tried to find out how. how high it was, why he was on the top of a building at three years old.
I tried to find all of this. There's no real information, but it's just something that's in a lot of sources that his mother did mention.
It is so interesting. I mean obviously it's like very duh that when you fall on your head, it causes trauma.
And then like your brain can turn into like a really scary person.
But it's so interesting how a lot of serial killers do have head trauma.
Yeah. I mean, it's just, hey, yo. There it is.
Let's figure out how to treat that. Yeah, I don't know.
The brain is a very delicate organ. It's very hardy, but it's also very delicate at the same time.
The brain is a fickle bitch. It is a fickle bitch.
Now, at six years old... He unexpectedly went to live with his aunt and uncle because his mother got remarried.
And I don't know what happened there. I don't know why he was just at six years old sent to live with his aunt and uncle.
A lot of people said he was like spoiled there and he had a great time.
Okay. But then there's also these And a lot of sources I found said that he could have possibly been sexually abused in this house.
Oh. But again, no real confirmation. It's just heavily reported.
Sounds like his childhood was just like ridiculously chaotic from day one.
Very chaotic. He actually ran away at 11 years old and lived on the streets.
At 11 years old, living on the streets, he was attacked by a gang of kids with bricks.
And he was hurt so badly that he was found bleeding from his ears and nose.
So we have another... very traumatic brain injury for bleeding from ears and nose seriously um and at this point he would come back and forth home And he would leave for a long period of time, just show back up.
And every time he would show up, his family members said they were like, kind of freaked out because he was getting like very like he was He was talking about scary things like the apocalypse and he was like, getting very preachy and very aggressively religious, and they weren't even sure what kind of religion he was preaching.
He was just like, talking about the end of days and all that like it was just and people were like where is this coming from like what what's happening yeah and later they said that they were like he but we'll also see everyone said he was never really aggressive.
But then they were like, he was really aggressive.
Well, they know like aggressive, like physically or angry.
Oh, okay. He just was aggressively religious.
Like, he would literally, like, shove it down your throat.
Right, right, right. Like, you need to listen to what I'm saying and this is real and you're not.
You're not a believer. But when it came to his manner and his way of being, they said he was gentle and calm. weird so it's very strange because then obviously as we know he is not literally the farthest thing that like he is the epitome of evil in fact somebody I think actually described him as that one of the investigators said he is the epitome of I mean, yeah, going into this, we already know what he did to Chris and Holly.
Oh, yeah. And wait until you find out the other stuff.
Oh. Morbid is sponsored by Squarespace.
Squarespace is the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online.
Who doesn't want to stand out and succeed?
Get you a girl who can do both. Every dream needs a domain.
Squarespace domains make it easy to find the best name for your business at one fair all-inclusive price.
No hidden fees or add-ons required. Every Squarespace domain comes with advanced privacy and security tools included to ensure that your domain remains online and protected.
Plus, Squarespace provides everything you need to bring more of your dream to life. whether that means building a website or adding a professional email service.
Squarespace gives you everything that you need to offer services and get paid all in one place.
From consultations, events, and experiences, showcase your offerings with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. plus streamline your workflow with built-in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools.
Head to squarespace.com slash morbid for a free trial.
And when you're ready to launch, use offer code morbid to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.
You know what's even more stressful than a packed calendar?
Realizing you're out of coffee right before a meeting.
That actually happened to me the other day.
And it's exactly why I stocked up during the Thrive Markets back to school sale.
Even if you're not going back to school, I'm not, it's the perfect time to reset.
Thrive makes it easy to shop for high-quality pantry staples, snacks, vitamins, even skincare. without the errands or the ingredient label deep dives. stocked with Aloha protein bars, Simple Mills crackers, and my favorite poppy drinks.
I love them so much. Everything is delivered super duper fast, and I saved up to 25% on all of that.
Their filters make shopping by diet or lifestyle a breeze and their healthy swap tool actually helped me upgrade my usual buys with zero label stress.
I love the Lesser Evil popcorn. I get my chomp sticks from there.
I love Thrive and you will too. Now's the best time to try Thrive Market.
You'll get up to 25% off select items. New members get 30 percent off their first order plus a free gift.
Who doesn't love that? Go to thrivemarket.com slash morbid to start saving.
The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. So delicious.
They have flavors like lemon-lime, strawberry, watermelon, my personal favorite passion fruit. my second personal favorite, guava.
There's also pina colada, Literally every flavor that I've tried is delicious.
And I swear every single time I try a new one, I'm like, oh, that's my favorite.
Liquid IV contains five essential vitamins.
It has more vitamin C than an orange and as much potassium as a banana.
And it's so much healthier for you than like sugary sports drinks because there's no artificial flavors or preservatives.
And there's less sugar in it than the sugar in an apple.
It's made with clean ingredients, so there's no GMOs, it's vegan, it's free of gluten, dairy, and soy.
So you're definitely gonna feel so good about drinking it.
The company is donating 4 million servings in response to COVID-19 and products are being donated to hospitals, first responders, food banks, veterans, and active military.
So not only is this good for you, this company is amazing and they're making life better for other people.
Liquid Ivy has donated over 11 million servings globally.
I am obsessed with liquid IV and you will be too.
Grab your favorite liquid IV flavors nationwide at Walmart. or you can get 25% off when you go to liquidiv.com and use code MORBID at checkout.
That's 25% off anything you order when you get better hydration today using promo code MORBID at liquidiv.com.
So about later in his early teens, He ran away again, and this time he crossed the border into Texas, into the United States.
He was finding work on farms and other places where people would hire undocumented workers at that time.
Yeah. He apparently crossed back and forth over the border a lot.
It is very impressive. Just all the time.
He came and went as he pleased. That's like one of the most dangerous things.
Have you ever? Who's the guy that you love?
And he had the show on Netflix, David Ferrier.
Yes, David Farah. I love David Farah. Remember the episode that he did where it showed like what a terrifying track it is.
Oh, yeah. Wow, the fact that he just did that multiple times.
Yeah, and he did it all the time apparently.
Because at age 16, he was apprehended trying to cross into Brownsville, Texas.
That was 1976. Or he was sent back to Mexico, but I think he also like voluntarily went.
Okay. And so now, obviously at this point, he's on the radar a little bit.
So he realizes, you know, I gotta make sure that I can fly under this radar.
Yeah. So aliases are obviously a thing you're going to do because otherwise you're just going to keep getting caught.
Right. So this is when that begins. He starts using trains to get around because at the time you could just like sneakily hop aboard a freight train and ride it wherever you wanted to like Karl Panzram. and if you're doing it in like a wholesome way how fun does that sound oh it's it's It sounds adorable.
Like just somebody jumping on a train and being like, just take me wherever you will and I'll jump off.
But it also is super dangerous. Well, and you think about like these horrible demons that do this just to get wherever they can go and then get right back out as quick as they can.
Scary. It's horrifying. It's Karl Panzram.
That's all I think of. And you said he had like more than like 30 aliases, right? over 30 aliases and he had five different birth dates that he used.
Wow. Yeah. Now, in 1979, he came back into the United States and he was convicted of grand theft auto in Tampa, Florida.
You would think that if you were going to go back and forth, you'd be quiet about it while you were in either place.
That's what nobody understands. Nobody understands what this method of this madness is.
Were you trying to get caught? And some people think that it was because he kept getting caught. with what he was doing, that he was getting angry and thinking that like something was against him.
So he decided to like punish people. And I don't, none of it makes sense.
He's come up with about a million different reasons.
None of them make sense. Well, it also just sounds like his brain was just completely kaput at this point.
The reason is he's an evil person. He really is.
When you hear what he's done, it's truly evil.
So in June 1979 that year, he broke into a Florida home.
An 88-year-old man was in there. The 88-year-old man tried to fend him off, but he beat him unconscious and fled in his stolen car.
He did live. Okay, okay. But he passed away, I think, like shortly after that.
And there's nothing that says it was directly related to this, but...
Obviously it didn't help. I'm sure he had some complications.
Now in April 1980, he was caught and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Whoa. In 1980. So what happened there? 1985.
That summer. The year of Elena. The year of me.
After only five years into that 20-year sentence...
He was released on parole. Was the prison overcrowded or like? what the i have no idea 20 and they're like yeah five's pretty close five seems about right like You beat an 88 year old man unconscious.
And we're just going to let. let you back out into, and not only that, you have a rap sheet that's like a mile long at this point.
That's like a CVS receipt. Like, what is going on right now?
Here's your extra bucks. So he was deported back to Mexico.
Oh, man. 1986 the next year stop i mean obviously he's right back into texas duh he was starting at this point to get super, super religious and not the good kind.
I have to stress that. He was talking about how certain people don't deserve to live.
It was very like hateful speech. Yeah. Very judgy.
Very like, I'm above all. And he also had this thing where he believed that he was like, sent here to like rid the world of like just people who didn't belong but he was doing crimes at the same time.
Okay, got it, makes sense. This is when the first victim happens.
This victim is unnamed to this day. They met at a homeless shelter.
They went on a motorcycle ride together and they decided to go to an abandoned farmhouse. to do some target practice together.
This was a young woman. They everything was going fine, according to him and his confession later.
I mean, like, and then he said she disrespected me.
So he ended up killing her, shooting her four times with a .38 caliber gun.
Oh. And he left her body in that farmhouse.
Oh my god. He then found her boyfriend and killed her boyfriend.
And he has never been found. What? Resendez said he dumped his body in a creek somewhere between Uvalde and San Antonio.
He also said his motive was that they were just bad people and he thought they practiced black magic.
No, you just whipped that out of your ass.
Well, he even says, several times he says, I just think they did this.
Like there was no proof. He just would be like, yeah, I just think that.
Okay, good. So he jumps on a freight train right out of town.
He ended up going back to Mexico because he got caught for another offense involving like falsifying documentation.
Now in 1988, he's back in the States, just floating around, kind of getting any work he can at this point.
Just trying to make money, just trying to keep it.
For a little bit, he tried to fly under the radar.
Are you sure? By a little bit, I mean like months later.
So in November of that same year, he tried to apply for a social security card with falsified documents and boom, prison again and then deportation. it again and also it's like okay he's in prison again after they let him out for five years and they see that he's still doing these things.
So it's like, why are you just letting him out?
That's what nobody understands. No, I don't.
How he was able, but make it make sense.
He used tons of aliases, and he was able to fly through that.
And that's the other thing. If he was falsifying that, then I guess...
Maybe he wasn't in prison under the same name before.
I guess it was hard to trace him. So July 19th, 1991. in San Antonio.
This is when he met 33-year-old Michael White.
I don't know a ton about this victim. I could not find anything about him.
All I know is that somehow, because this is only from Resendez's confession...
He ended up in an abandoned house with Michael White again.
And he beat Michael White to death with a brick and then left him there.
In his confession, he said he killed White because he thought he was gay.
Yep. I literally like... Yeah. He later drew a map to the...
Yeah, he said, I think he was gay. Either way, even if you know versus thinking.
Yeah. I don't even have words for that.
I really don't. Yeah. It's outrageous. How does that affect your fucking life in any way?
Answer. It doesn't. It doesn't. So there you go.
He later drew a map to the crime scene during his confession, and that's how they were able to find Michael White.
Um, he went back to Mexico. He started teaching English classes at a local, like he was like tutoring.
Because at his time in the United States, he was picking up, he was like fluent in English by this point.
So he was able to use that. In Mexico, he was teaching.
He was settling down a bit in Mexico. In the early 1990s, he met Julieta Dominguez.
This was by 1994 that he met her. He still spent time in the US, he would still come back and forth, but he would also send money back to her when he worked in the US.
So for a while, it seemed like he was actually settling down.
Right. Like, he was actually like doing a thing with a family yeah yeah and she said Like there was no indication that he was this like violent, horrible person.
Like she said, he was very like calm and kind and like, chill but that happens all the time it does it happens all the time even like like bundy in court when you see him like he's totally that's snap And then that, exactly that snap right there.
You can see the flash in the eyes and you see the second that they turn into the monster that they really are, that the like veil falls.
Yeah. You can see it. And that's what happens with these guys.
It's so wild that there can just be like two people inside of one person.
And that's exactly what it is. There's a curtain hanging over, and once that curtain drops, you can catch it.
And it's like, ooh. Because that one, we've talked about it like a few times before.
That one video just... is so chilling to me when he just snaps and you're like, that's what everybody saw.
And a lot of people that like, that's one of the quotes is like, I realized like what those girls saw.
Yeah, exactly. So she also said, though, that he was starting to... preached to her as well and it was starting to come off very hateful like she was like he she said she was worried that he was part of a hate group Oh.
Like in the United States. So she was saying like some of the stuff he was saying, she was like, I just kind of tried to like... just ignore it and move on, not engage with it.
But I don't know. She even said it was starting to bother her.
And probably scare her. Yeah, of course.
Because you're like, what is that? Right.
Like, those are your views. cool yeah so march 21st 1997 in baldwin florida near a railroad track He saw a young, newly engaged couple, 19-year-old Jesse Howell and 16-year-old Wendy Von Huben.
They were runaways from Woodstock, Illinois, and he noticed them because he said they were holding a book related to the occult.
Mm-hmm. Which, take it with what you will because who knows if they were.
Who knows what they were because we're talking to him.
Why the fuck does it matter? Yeah, it doesn't matter.
It's not your business. like they're not saying any or doing anything to you so keep fucking walking because they that that's what they believe and you're not allowed to believe anything that isn't what I believe, apparently.
Right, yeah, that's what makes the world go round.
So he talked to them like pals. He was like, hey, what's going on?
Are you traveling too? And he told them, you know, they kind of mentioned to him, like, they had run away from home.
They were... looking to get some work so they could kind of stay away from having to go home.
They didn't want to like go back to their old lives.
So he was like, hey, if you're looking for work, I'm going to get a job.
And he said, you know, like in another place in Florida.
Mm hmm. And they were like, oh, that sounds great.
That's what we're looking for. That sounds way too good to be true.
So they got on a train with him. They just hopped on the train.
The train made a stop in Bellevue. and Jesse and Resendez got off.
Not sure why. Uh, So he walked with Jesse, chatting with him a little bit behind him, and then he walked up behind him and beat him over the head suddenly. with the air hose coupling on a piece of railway equipment.
Oh, my God. Yeah. Then he got back on the train without Jesse.
Probably covered in blood. Yeah. But the next stop was Sumter County, Florida.
Resendez tied her up, raped her, and strangled her before suffocating her to death with duct tape around her face.
Oh my God. Then he covered her with a blanket and left her beside the tracks in a shallow grave and then just jumped back on the train.
Yep. Now, July 1997, these happened quick.
They happened like boom, boom, boom. He was like one after the other.
July 1997 in Colton, California, a man named Robert Castro was at a railway yard and he was alone.
And Resendez arrived that night on the train.
He saw him, they met, they talked. According to Resendez, he waited for Castro to turn around and then he beat him to death out of nowhere with a piece of wood. he found on the ground.
Jesus. Are you seeing that he has a pattern of weapons of convenience, just whatever is lying around? and violent attacks near railways.
Yes, I am seeing that. That's his thing.
That's also just so scary because he's capable of anything anything because he literally is like you said like just uses anything around in nature Well, and it gets scarier because he starts entering homes near railways and he just uses whatever is around him in the house.
So that's fucking scary. That's even scarier because it means he doesn't give a shit.
Well, that's like you've always said, if somebody breaks into your house, they literally don't give a fuck.
Yeah, you don't want to mess with that person because anyone who can enter a house without knowing what the fuck is inside of it.
Because you have no idea who lives there. and you don't wanna go anywhere near that, you lock yourself somewhere and you call the police.
Don't fuck with that person. You fucking hit your SimpliSafe button that is louder than Led Zeppelin and alert your neighbor.
You alert, you press that siren and you call the police.
You hit the panic button next to your bed.
Yeah. Because people, cat burglars and people in the middle of the night.
No, no, no. No, you don't want to deal with it.
Then on August 29th, 1997, I don't know if that date sounds familiar, Lexington, Kentucky.
This is the death we talked about in Holly Dunn's episode.
We talked about it in episode 266. I'm not going to rehash it completely because I would love for you to listen to that episode.
It's a really great episode. it's about Holly and I think and then about Chris and I think like it can do a lot better than me just quickly going over it here.
But this is when Christopher Meyer, 21 years old, was killed.
And his girlfriend at the time, Holly Dunn, was sexually assaulted and beaten almost to death.
Savagely. Yeah, when Resendez attacked them while they were walking outside of a party on the railroad tracks.
He tied them both up and dropped an over 50 pound rock on Christopher's head.
Every time you say that instantly, my eyes just like. shut and it's horrific but like i said holly has done amazing things since this wrote a book you should buy she wrote a book i'll link it again because why not oh she also um emailed us and she's going to provide Provide us with a signed copy of her book to give away.
Yeah, so we'll let you guys know what we're going to do for that and when that'll happen.
But yeah, she's... She's amazing. Like such a nice person.
We love Holly. She's, she was great. And that's why I want you to listen to episode 266 about her.
It's really important. Her story is really important here.
She's the only survivor of this entire thing.
Can you imagine? Yeah. Her book is called Soul Survivor.
Yeah, it's called Soul Survivor. So that was on August 29th, 1997.
Wow. After this murder and attack, he jumped right back on a freight train, just like Holly had said in her book.
She didn't know what happened because she blacked out after he beat her with what she thinks is a piece of plywood. she was totally blacked out and when she woke up, he was gone.
So she said, I assumed he just maybe jumped on a train.
And that's exactly what he did. Yeah. He thought Holly was dead.
So he jumped on a train and out he went.
The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.
But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.
The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.
His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.
Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.
I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.
Mr Mayor. As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.
Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.
Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery+.
Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts Spotify or the Wondery app premium essentials to outfit you in comfort.
Recently, I ordered a few new cardigans from Everlane since fall is here, baby.
And that in and of itself was an adventure.
I got the chunky cardigan in white. It is super soft, super comfortable.
I've washed it a couple of times and it has not gotten pilly at all.
I also got the cashmere polo because polos are back and better than ever according to Gen Z. and sometimes I'll take a little bit of their fashion advice particularly when it comes to this polo because it is Again, so soft.
I not only want to wear it every day, I also like to sleep in it.
And I already ordered four more. I love shopping Everlane because they have made quality clothing with ethical factories and radically transparent pricing since 2010.
They do extensive research and vetting to use ethical factories that provide fair wages and reasonable hours to the skilled people who craft their clothing.
Each piece has such a timeless design, and it's made from the finest sustainable materials So you can wear them for years to come.
Like I said, I've washed that sweater like so many times at this point and it's perfect.
It's still in mint condition. Most retailers hide their markups, but Everlane believes their customers have the right to know how much their clothes cost to make.
In fact, they share exactly how much their products cost to produce at each stage.
They accept returns within 30 days of ship date. and all uniform clothing comes with a 365-day guarantee.
Go to everlane.com slash morbid and sign up for 10% off your first order plus free shipping and get easy returns within 30 days of your ship date.
That's 10% off your first order when you go to everlane.com slash morbid and sign up.
Now, people think at this point that maybe he had been bothered by this one a little bit.
Because he waited a while for the next one.
Do you think that is the case? I wonder... So here's my thing.
I think... these were two college kids and were going to be like, big news well that's the thing and that so I think Holly did become big news yeah I think think he realized that he had didn't he wasn't sticking with his like Typical victim MO, which is just anyone he could find at a railway track that was like seemingly drifting through town, you know?
Right. So there's that, but there's also the fact that Holly did a great job humanizing herself during that ordeal to him.
I don't think he's a human, so I don't think he has a conscience.
Something in me, though, is like, did it maybe?
I don't know. I don't know. For me, I would think that it would be because that case obviously got a lot of coverage and the fact that Holly survived, obviously he must have seen that.
Yeah. And then wanted to I think probably just wanted to lay low for a while so that he didn't get caught.
That's more what I think. But maybe because like you said, she did do such a good job.
She did a great job of humanizing herself. like very quick thinking and very like smart thinking with how she was able to do it but he's so evil but he's so evil but then it's like what we find out too is he had a baby with julietta and a baby girl and he was apparently like smitten with her and that was after yeah and very like gentle with her Interesting.
The duality of that kind of behavior. Yeah.
I can't wrap my brain around. I try to figure, I can't figure it out.
I can't. that you can't wrap your brain around it.
But I just need to know how they compartmentalize these parts of themselves.
Some people just can. Yeah. Because I mean, you look at like BTK.
Right. He had a full ass family that he was just like, doing things with some people's brains too are just like like more equipped than others to compartmentalize yeah and I think it's easy looking on the outside to be like how did his family not know you know like in any of these cases, but then you look at it and you're like, no, they didn't because he wasn't that person with them.
Right. And like, I... I constantly think of like Carrie Rawson, like BTK's daughter.
She didn't fucking know. She had no idea.
She was as victimized by everything as anybody else was.
And it's like... But it's so easy for all of us on the outside to sit there and think like oh like how do you how how wouldn't you know but i'm telling you like there's There's these kind of cases where you're like, they were a completely different human being with their family than they were on the outside.
It's so many of the cases that it must...
That's the thing. I wish there was some way to just figure out how the fuck that happens.
That's the thing. I just need to know. There's got to be some connection in the brain.
It's a fascinating part of the human condition, especially the criminal human condition that People are able to do that.
It's just like wild to me. But either way, he did take some time off here.
And he went back to Mexico and spent time with his family, and he worked there for a while.
Now, remember, that was in 1997. It wasn't until October 2nd, 1998 that he struck again.
Wow. It was in Hughes Springs, Texas and he stepped off the train That evening and just stalked the neighborhood waiting to strike at random.
Oh, man. Because there was a neighborhood right next to the railway.
Okay. He found a red brick. This one's tough, by the way.
They're all tough, but like this one old people just really bummed me out.
He found a red brick home and chose it at random, saying later that he just felt it radiated evil.
He snuck through. That's the dumbest fucking shit.
Shut up. It's also just bullshit. Right.
He also he says about 100 different reasons for it.
So it's like, okay, that was the one you landed on. evil so I had to kill the person inside.
Yeah. He snuck through an open window in the back of the home and inside was Leafy Mason who was 87 years old.
87 years old. You live 87 years on this earth.
And that's what happens to you. Some asshole like this is the reason you're gone.
She was asleep in her bed alone. Leafy apparently was a character to her neighbors.
I love that name. Everyone's like she was a... freaking character.
Those who knew her said she was feisty, she was not one to back down, Oh, my God.
Her father was a sheriff's deputy who was killed in 1919 in a train accident. and her mother died soon after so she had her like fair share of like and she was left with her sisters like she was at her fair share of shit she had to like get through.
Yeah, troubles. She very likely confronted Her attacker that night, everybody said they were like, I think she woke up and like fought. him because like she was that kind of woman right she would would not have just a coward or anything.
And she was found, unfortunately, beaten to death on the floor of her bedroom.
She had been killed with her own antique iron that he found.
I can't even fathom that. Literally just the closest thing he could find to him.
He then, after he had killed her, the 87 year old woman that he killed, he then ate food from her fridge.
Went through her stuff and then just left.
Very Night Stalker-esque. Yep. And then a neighbor who was supposed to give Leafy a ride to visit her sister in a nursing home that next day.
Oh, my God. was the one who reported it when she didn't answer the door.
She knew something was wrong as soon as she didn't answer the door because she told police chief Randy Kennedy, that Leafy was very timely.
She was not one of those people that would have kept you waiting.
And she said she was annoyed when people didn't respect punctuality.
Like that. So I was like, I don't know. I get it.
I get it. Leafy. So when this neighbor came to pick her up and bring her to the nursing home to see her sister, She said each time that I came to pick her up to do that, she was up ready and waiting.
Like she would literally be like, I've been waiting, let's go. let's go, like all business.
And this worried her. So Chief Kennedy showed up that day on October 2nd to check things out when he was And her poor sister, like she just never arrived again.
And he later told the Houston Press. close, excuse me, the Houston Press quote, she was always very nice to me.
She would bring me a glass of iced tea or lemonade when I was working because he apparently would mow her lawn when he was younger.
So this was like a very close like he was like shit.
Yeah. And he said she had a reputation for being pretty demanding and outspoken.
But I really liked her. I love that. Yeah.
And in the same article, a source from the nursing home where her sister stayed said her sister was her life.
Every day, promptly at two in the afternoon, she came here to visit Birdie, which I love that name.
That's my favorite name. Leafy and Birdie.
Tell me those aren't the cutest sisters you've ever heard.
Their parents must have been the coolest people ever.
Leafy and Birdie. Obsessed. So she said she'd always cook something for her and would sit and talk with her and sing her songs that were popular back in the 40s.
And she would always stop by my office to leave a recipe or bring a copy of the latest poem she had written.
Just sounds like an amazing human being.
Leafy. Now, unfortunately, this case went kind of cold because there was really no leaf.
Hopped on a fucking train, I'm sure. He was in and out.
Left nothing. Initially, they believed...
They were like, this has to be someone who knows her because it was so brutal that they were like... this must be someone angry.
Like it has to be that, but no. And do you think maybe they assumed because like they said, she was so like, That she was like a character and maybe it pissed someone off, they thought.
And like, I don't know. So they... But...
There was an open window. So I don't know why he snuck through an open window.
Oh, man. That freaks me the fuck out. Her house was also less than 50 yards away from the Kansas City Southern Rail Line.
Oh, wow. So she was just the first house.
I can't imagine that. He left on the train again and off to Mexico he went.
So on December 11th, he was trying to get to Florida again, and he got on the wrong train.
So he ended up in Carl, Georgia. And when he ended up there, he was like, alright, I'll just go with this.
He stalked the neighborhoods again. While he was creeping, he saw Fanny Byers, who was 81 years old in her front yard.
Why all of a sudden did he just like totally want to like switch up and murder elderly people?
Yeah. Does he ever say anything about that?
He just, because it changes too. He has no victim profile at all.
And one of her neighbors, Patty Nocera, later said that she was often outside in the yard with Fanny.
And that Fanny was never really alone. She was like, there was always people around her, people would visit her.
And she said this just happened to be a time where she was in her yard outside.
Somehow he ended up sneaking into her home without her knowing it, and when she came back into the house from being outside, he killed her with a single blow to the head.
Oh my gosh. And was this during the daytime?
This was a little like late afternoon into evening.
Okay. She was found bludgeoned to death in the house.
It was the neighbor who called because she was scared when she didn't answer the door, just like leafy.
Again, she was never alone. She just happened to walk into her home alone for a minute. and he jumped out and beat an 81 year old woman to death for literally no given reason Which there never is a reason.
No, but no given reason either. Right. No evidence left. left here.
So charges were actually put against another man at this point.
Oh, wow. But they were dropped later when Resendez provided like information that was not released to the media about this and he was like no i did it Why did they think that it was the other person?
I'm not sure exactly because I didn't want to name this guy because the charges were dropped.
I don't want to like... bring it up no but they must have had some kind of reason for this guy i don't know but All I know is that Resendez later was like, here's some information that wasn't in the media. about the case that only I would know.
And they were like, oh, you're telling the truth.
Wow. Now, he traveled southwest for a few weeks at this point.
Right back on the train. Right. And he ended up in West University Place, Texas.
This was on December 17th, 1998 that the next murder occurred. down the street from the railroad tracks, very close to them.
That's also literally six days later. Yeah.
And this is where a doctor named Claudia Benton was home alone.
Her husband and two twin daughters were out of town in Arizona.
They just left. Oh my God. Yep. She was a pediatric neurologist at Baylor College of Medicine. and that night she was preparing for a big presentation the following day.
Her home was near the Union Pacific Railroad.
All we know is he latched on to her. And that night he prowled around watching her through the windows until about 10pm. and then she went to bed.
Now that's when he snuck in He found statues that he later said he believed were demonic.
They were not. And also some medical publications because she's a doctor.
Right. And he assumed from these medical publications that she performed experiments on fetuses and performed illegal abortions.
He's just, like, making shit up. He's just an asshole.
Right. And he just makes shit up. It's like, just admit that you're a fucking monster.
Right. wanted to kill this woman. Not that you're so holier than thou.
These people who are like bright lights in society. that's what you just want to fuck with people who are like good people that's that's the thing it's like just fucking say what you are yeah So Claudia, he attacked her while she slept in bed.
She fought. back, like, fought. I guess investigators said, like, she must have gone in a few good licks because they were like, she could have, she almost got away and how incredible is that yeah that she was asleep and then wakes up and is able to just yeah fight back like that Well, he ended up raping her.
He stabbed her several times with a kitchen knife in her hands and back.
Oh my God. beat her with one of the statues.
It was a bronze statue that was two feet tall. holy he hit her 19 times with it oh my god The other thing is like you're so religious and like clean.
No. You think you're amazing. He's none of that.
No, I know he's not, but he's claiming to be. and you're raping people?
Yeah. Well, so many of them do that. What fucking sense does that make?
It doesn't make any sense. So many of them do that.
They just claim this religious thing. And it's like, but that literally goes against, isn't that supposed to go against everything?
Murdering and raping people. No, it doesn't make any sense.
How could you sit there and say that, though?
I don't even understand. No. Because they're idiots.
He also left her head partially in a plastic bag.
She had a broken arm from the attack. and several bones in her face were completely shattered.
He then ransacked her home he stole a guitar a banjo a stereo jewelry, pieces of ivory she had in a collection.
And he was just on foot. Yeah, he was just on foot.
And then he, well, he was on foot getting there, but you'll see.
He also broke all of her art and statues, just whatnots.
He then made some snacks with her food. Ate it in her house and then stole her red Jeep Cherokee.
That's how he got out. Oh, yeah. No, police came to the home and they found fingerprints everywhere.
Good. Those fingerprints were then matched to those on her Jeep when it was discovered abandoned in a San Antonio motel parking lot on December 18th.
I'm so glad he was that fucking stupid. That parking area was right next to train tracks so he just left it there and jumped on a train.
Thank you. Now, Debbie Benningfield, who is the deputy administrator of the latent prints section of the Houston Police Department, that is a long term. title, but that's what she is.
She took those prints on the steering wheel of Claudia's Jeep And she put them into the Texas Department of Public Safety's automated fingerprint identification system, which is Texas Just that.
I don't know. Most of you have probably heard of like APHIS.
Yeah. This is just Texas's specific APHIS.
So on December 26, 1998, They got a match.
It was apparently matching Carlos Clouthier Rodriguez, who had been arrested in Carson County, Texas in 1993.
I also like love the dedicate. Well, I don't love it.
The dedication, though, of, like, even the middle name.
Oh, yeah. You just changed all of them. And he got really like unique with it.
He did. Yeah. Which is boo to you. So this is obviously a known alias of Resendez.
So now they got the Carson County Sheriff's Department on this, too.
And they got the original fingerprints they had taken from Resendez when he was arrested in 1993 as Carlos Cruz.
Clouthier Rodriguez. Now that they had these original prints that were taken when he was arrested in 1993, They figured they should check to see if that was really his name or if he was connected to other crimes.
Right. So on December 28th, yeah, my birthday, 1998, had the Texas Department of Public Safety put the prints into the Western Identification Network. to search for any other matches.
So while this is happening, The California Department of Justice's APHIS database, which is connected to win was like, oh, hey, we have a match for those.
I love it. Just like in my head while I was reading this, it's like, ding.
I was just picturing the United States and it's just like ding, ding, ding.
The price is right. It's just all matching up.
They're like, yeah, we have a match for those.
He had been arrested August 15th, 1995. San Bernardino for trespassing on the railroad property and having a loaded gun on him and then something related to theft.
Just all kinds of bad shit. December 19th, the original prints that they took the first time were sent to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division to see if they came up in the NCIC database.
And on January 5, 1999, they were a hit. they finally saw his long CVS receipt of a criminal record.
Yeah. Now On January 5th, 1995, the Harris County District Attorney's Office They told police that instead of going directly after murder charges for Claudia Benton, they should get him on burglary at her home because they could definitely get him on that. but they wanted to make sure they had concrete evidence of murder.
Because they wanted to make sure once they had him, they had him.
He wasn't going anywhere. So a warrant for burglary was issued on January 5th, and it was entered into NCIC.
It made sense because there was overkill in all of these cases.
They were all weapons of convenience. They were all near a railroad thing.
They make sense that they were connecting.
All the red dots are connecting. Now, already back in Mexico after this, This is when Julieta became pregnant with their first child.
Oh my goodness. And it was in March 1999, the same year that he had his daughter Lyria.
That's a pretty name. I know, it's really pretty.
I also believe Lyria is the name of the lady in the craft.
It is. The shop lady. The shop owner. He was apparently a very present and very loving father, like I said. according to julietta to be like a father and like welcome a new baby and also I would just think that you would just have images of like all the people that you murdered while a new life came in.
Who were somebody's baby at some point. Right.
Like I would think that you would think of that.
No, of course not. Now, two months after her birth, he went back to the United States.
He was just like, bye. He arrived in Weimar.
I'm going to look that up. I looked it up.
It's Weimer. Not Weimar. Weimer. Wommer.
Well, I was going to say that I liked your subtle accent, and then you were like, Wommer.
Wommer. It's Wommer, Texas. That's very convincing.
Thank you. For a second, I was like, ma'am?
You were like, have we transported? I was like, what?
Wommer, Texas is apparently like a very small town. it's people feel safe there the residents said it was one those places where you just like hear about that no one locks their doors i was just gonna say You don't lock your doors.
No one's afraid to walk at night. Everyone knows each other.
Everyone looks out for each other. It's a cool little place, it sounds like.
I don't know anything else about it. I hope it's still a cool place.
Me too. But on May 2nd, 1999, it became a very scary place.
So Resendez got off the train, of course, and he immediately noticed the United Church of Christ. on Main Street.
And he was intrigued by that. Now, Weimar has 13 churches, and it worked out to one for every 150 residents.
So... Wow. Yeah. So I was like, wow, that's really interesting.
Hashtag church. So this is a very close knit, very religious place.
When Resendez rolled in, he saw this church, but it was closed. but inside of the parsonage, I believe it's called.
I've heard that. Near the church. That's where 46-year-old Norman Skip, Cernik was, and his wife Karen Cernik, who's 47.
Norman was the reverend at the church. But he never wanted to be called Reverend.
He insisted on being called Skip. Iconic.
Only. I guess when he first started there, he was very unconventional, but people immediately soon fell in love with it.
Yeah. Like at first they were like, who is this guy?
He just had his own way of doing shit. Yeah.
He would like joke and sing during sermons.
He would bring kids up to the front of the church to take like part in the whole thing with him.
And like, I guess he was like amazing with kids.
I was going to say that's awesome though.
Because then if your religion is important to you, it's a good way to get them into it.
Yeah, he made it an event. Like he made it like a fun thing to do.
Instead of like, you know, some people like I remember my friends going to church being like, oh, like I have to get ready.
Yeah. Like these kids probably looked forward to it.
Exactly. And according to a great article about their life in Texas Monthly, I'll link it.
Skip told his father about Weimer and the church when he got settled into town and he said he loved that town And he loved that church and its people.
He was like, this is where I'm supposed to be.
He and his father said that he said, quote, Skip said that in other towns they had put him up on a pedestal.
But in Weimar, he could go to picnics, chase the kids, play volleyball, and have a beer if he wanted.
Hell, he loved that. Yeah. Now, church member Kelly said he was just family.
And he also said at picnics, Skip was the one who slipped the ice cubes with plastic bugs into someone's tea. and filled the balloons with water.
A gifted thespian in high school and college, he was the ham who organized church plays. usually playing the villain he sounds awesome he and his wife karen who was a biochemist when they met Yeah, yeah, Karen.
We're also called compassionate above all else.
Apparently they started a group called Caregivers for the Church that made sure every single person who was in need of it had someone in the congregation who would check up on them regularly and help them out.
Skip was also a marriage counselor and neighbors said literally everyone went to him for advice.
And they went to him for counseling because they said he felt like he like he made you feel like he actually cared about what you were saying.
Sounds like he did. And they said he didn't just give you blanket answers.
He didn't give you generic answers. They were like tailored to you.
But he also had all the tea. I'm saying so residents said that Karen was his light.
They said when they came to town, Karen immediately began planting flowers everywhere around town.
Stop it. Around buildings and public areas when they arrived in their own garden behind the church. had vegetables and roses and they were constantly working on it together.
They lived behind the church and that's where Resendez came across them.
That's where a fucking demon walked in. Yeah, that Sunday they didn't show up for Sunday service and people were immediately worried.
So the entire congregation showed up on Sunday to the church and were waiting. and then i guess his assistant reverend like started doing the sermon because they were like oh maybe he's just like caught somewhere imagine having to do that to you while you're just sitting there like, where is he?
Yeah, they're like, I don't President Ted Neely, president of like the congregation, Ted Neely was like, you know what, I'm going to go check on them in their house.
So he went there during the service because he said something didn't feel right.
He found them dead in their home. He came back to the church and announced to the entire congregation that something terrible had happened and they called the police.
Oh my goodness. so when police arrived they saw that the home had been ransacked next they found skip and karen Their heads were crushed with a sledgehammer while they slept.
Oh my. Oh, okay. The bodies were then covered with blankets and the couple's truck was not in the garage, but it soon turned up in San Antonio three weeks later.
Before Resendez had left their home, he stole their VCR and a video camera and obviously stole their truck.
This got lots of attention, this double murder.
Suddenly it became linked to Claudia Benton's murder after the truck was found in San Antonio.
Did they find prints? So DNA found was tested and compared to the Benton case and it matched.
Ding, ding. This is when they're starting to try to link it to other crimes, and this is when Chris Meyer's crime his murder and Holly's attack came up and that's when they started connecting all this.
And that's when the officer must have gone and said, we've got the guy.
Exactly. And that's in episode 266. I tell you the story of...
This is going to be interesting actually because you're hearing this side right now.
If you go to 266 and listen to it from Holly side, this is when the police officer came and said, we got the guy.
Holly's rape kit was tested against the DNA they had for Resendez and it matched.
And now it's a manhunt. Hell yeah, let's go.
So June 1st, 1999, he was arrested. but not for these crimes he was arrested in this time yeah he was arrested in new mexico And immigration authorities came up with nothing when they ran his name that he gave him.
Yeah, because I'm sure it was like just one knee made up that day.
This was also apparently when it wasn't linked to any other law enforcement agency systems. so he was just released and brought back to mexico and like sent back to mexico literally this close yep and that didn't stop him so june 4th 1999 three days later no in Schulenburg, Texas, right back to Texas, where he just terrorized them.
He killed Josephine Convica, who was 73 years old and a widowed grandmother of six.
He killed her in her home where she had lived her entire life. in her home that it was 3.5 miles from the Cernax home and only a mile from the railroad tracks. that must have been so scary for that community oh they they said it they went into just panic mode yeah He killed her while she was sleeping.
He beat her in her head with a grub, a grubbing hoe.
Apparently it's like a pickaxe kind of thing.
The grubbing hoe was left embedded in her head when they found her.
Oh, okay. Yep. In a back room of her house, police found two items they thought must have been left by the killer and it was clear that they were leaving.
Like he was leaving a calling card kind of.
Oh. What an asshole. Yeah. A Schulenburg newspaper article that they wrote about these crimes said, It was a toy train that he had found in her closet and likely belonged to her grandchildren. toy train and it was also an article about the crimes that just sent shivers up and down my body to think of like a little kid playing with that train.
And then the horrible monster that murdered his grandma used it as a calling card.
And? How bold of him to leave the train to be like, yep, this is how I'm doing it.
Yeah, like... Like they're not going to take that.
Like they haven't already thought of that too.
They're already... They know these people are all around train tracks.
They already know that's how he's getting along.
But at that point he realizes that. And he's just so brazen he doesn't give a fuck.
He thinks he's untouchable. He's just dumb.
So, it's just so frustrating. People who knew her said she was the sweetest, dearest little old lady, her neighbor said, and she said she wouldn't not have heard a fly.
My goodness. Also, 73 is not even old. Now, within 36 hours of killing Josephine, He crossed back into Houston and he killed again.
The same night. The same night on June 4th, 1999, he broke into a duplex near the rail line in Houston.
And he found Nomi Dominguez, who was 26 years old and asleep in her bed.
So that is like the way that he just doesn't give a heck who it is.
Nomi was a teacher for the Houston Independent School District's Benjamin Franklin Elementary School. and she was pursuing a master's degree in education.
He raped her and killed her with a pickaxe in her bed.
He then covered her with a blanket and left, stealing her car and driving it two hours west.
Now, quick side note about Nomi Dominguez, when the new elementary school was built in the town, Recently, they named it Nomi Dominguez Elementary after her.
I love that. It was the first local school to be named after a Mexican-American.
That's amazing. Which is very poignant. But it's so sad that it took her being murdered for that to happen.
Her being brutally murdered for that to happen.
He then went back to Mexico. He just jumped on a train.
See you later. Six days after that, he got, according to Julieta, he got a phone call at home and he was very stressed out and clearly upset.
Someone must have called him and tipped him off.
We still don't know who that is. I wonder if he, because remember with Holly's attack, he was like, I have a friend over there.
I didn't believe that at the time but now I'm like I still don't believe it Who called him?
Who would have known that he was doing this?
I think it's just maybe someone that knew about what he was doing, but I don't think anyone helped him. know what he was doing and call him and be like people are terrible like i hate elderly murderer guys Well, his like photo was being put up in certain towns in Texas and stuff.
Somebody might have known him and been like, hey, they're looking for you in Texas.
Let's not do that. And remember, he's not being put up as a murder suspect quite yet.
But still, if somebody's wanted, let's not tip them off.
Well, yeah, that goes without saying, but I bet it was somebody who knew him, saw his photo, and was like...
Hey, they're looking for you in Texas. Because he wouldn't tell Julieta who it was or what they had said.
He just said, I have a problem. I would say so.
And then he went back to the US, which you think if they called him and were like, hey, they want you here, he'd be like, yeah, I should stay out of there.
Nope. I just wonder what he was telling her, why he had to leave so often.
He kept saying he was going to do work. He was getting jobs.
Is he coming back with money? On June 15th, 1999.
June 15th. This is only days later. Yeah.
He arrived in Gorham, Illinois. And he broke into the home, which was only 100 yards away from a railroad track, and of George Morber, who was 80 years old.
According According to an article in the Eagle, George was a retired prison guard and was an army vet.
He loved to fish, and he did so frequently in the pond next to his trailer.
He was happy and he lived only a few houses away from his daughter, Carolyn Frederick, who was 51.
George was known to give food to anybody who hopped off the train near his home if they wandered through his property.
My goodness. out and give them like a sandwich wow because he was like well they were passing through so they probably needed to eat Yeah.
Like he was just that person. Just like a kind soul.
When Resendez came upon his home at the end of the long driveway, he climbed through an open window and waited because George had just driven away and he had watched George drive away.
And then he entered the home. George came back with the morning paper and he was immediately ambushed by Resendez.
He attacked and tied George to a chair and then shot him in the back of the head with his own shotgun.
Oh my God. His daughter Carolyn came by to help her father clean, as she often did. and he attacked her as well.
He struck her over the head with the shotgun, sexually assaulted her, and then beat her to death with the shotgun. so brutally that the shotgun broke in two.
Oh my god. Yeah. He then ate some of their food in the fridge and he left in Carolyn's truck.
He also abandoned that truck and then went back into Mexico.
And it was Carolyn's husband who came across the scene to call police.
I can imagine. Yeah. Now, Texas Ranger officer Drew Carter, who comes back importantly in a moment.
He said, quote, what makes this so scary is that these victims were in their own beds behind locked doors.
Every one of these victims was like the average citizen, and therefore the average citizens could view themselves as victims.
This guy was the boogeyman. Yeah. Now, at this point, they had discovered, partially thanks to his need to leave that toy train, that he was using the railroad to get around undetected.
Yeah. So investigators started stopping trains and searching them.
Oh, wow. It was like a multi-agency situation and they named it Operation Train Stop.
Which I was like, that's not very creative, but cool.
So June 21st, he was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
Yeah. This is when they found a half sister that he has.
What? She was in New Mexico. I didn't know you were going to hit me with that.
Her name was Manuela Maturino-Karkowitz, I believe.
She was contacted in New Mexico and Officer Drew Carter of the Texas Rangers talked to her.
And she was not cooperating at first. She was like, nope, I don't know anything about that.
Uh-huh. but he was like listen like we can we can strike a deal here we can we can make this worth everybody's while, like there's people's lives in the balance, like maybe, I don't know, help me out here.
So she ended up talking finally. She didn't know anything.
Well, the thing is, she must have been like really sad. scared she was just she was basically just being like no I'm not going to talk about my brother she didn't know anything though But they struck a deal with her, and he agreed to him getting humane treatment when he was captured, and that he would get psych treatment.
Okay. That's what she wanted. She said, I want him treated humanely and I want him to get psychologically evaluated and treated. and she said if you can promise me that in writing she said I will get him to turn himself in But why should he be treated that way when he literally brutalized people's grandparents?
Exactly. It's her brother, though, and I would feel exactly the same if it was my brother, I'm sure.
And they were also like, sure. So on July 13th, after she had convinced him, He drove across a bridge and he surrendered to police.
Wow. Thanks to her, she convinced him to do it.
Wow. Now, he was immediately charged with capital murder for Claudia Benton.
Yeah. Then he was immediately linked to others as well.
There was a palm print left at Leafy Mason's scene that matched to him.
There were nine in total. that they had on him now.
They were also able to find DNA and stolen items from victims in his home in Mexico.
Oh my god. His family was apparently stunned. said, like I said before, he was a quote, very loving, calm man, especially with children.
That's so scary. It's just so scary and crazy.
Now, it was on May 7, 2000 that he took the stand in the Benton trial.
Oh, wow. He pled not guilty by reason of insanity. and he claimed he was half man and half angel and was sent here to cleanse the world of those that God deemed lesser.
The defense was claiming he was also schizophrenic, but psychologists testified that he was not insane, not schizophrenic. and definitely had personality disorders, for sure.
And they said likely caused by severe trauma in his childhood and head trauma, but they rejected his insanity plea.
Mm-hmm. At various times, he claimed he killed because God told him to. because the devil took him over, because the homes of the victims radiated evil. because he saw that they were medical professionals and figured they must... examine and I don't even know, experiment on fetuses because atrocities in Serbia upset him.
What? And because he was upset over what happened with the Branch Davidians in Waco. what all of it at various times so none of those are true because all of it none of it at the same time actually
FBI crime analyst Alan Brantley testified that the killer's attacks were, quote, eroticized violence. intended to punish his victims.
And Drew Carter, the Texas Ranger, who helped arrange the surrender.
He said he was, quote, a walking, breathing form of evil. yes yeah uh West University where um West University Texas where Claudia Benson was killed um It's the sergeant Ken Macha there who was actually one of the first investigators to go on to the Benton scene. said, quote, it was terrible overkill.
It was out of this world, very much out of this world.
I have been to suicides, gunshot suicides are gruesome, but never anything like this.
I never imagined what human beings could do.
It really is terrifying. If anything... like I'm just realizing throughout having this podcast what human beings can do is just earth shattering.
Wild. It's really, really like eye-opening what people can do to each other.
Now, George Benton, Claudia's husband, said it perfectly when he said about Resendez, quote, he had a kind of gift of really taking some of the best people from society.
And it's so true. all of the victim descriptions like he did chris claudia yeah leafy the cernax All of them just sounded like the most amazing people.
Now on May 18th, 2000, he was found guilty.
Yeah, I think so. In May 2003, his conviction and sentence was upheld in a court of appeals and all other appeals failed.
Good. he told the judge he wanted to be executed which to me should be automatic life in prison yeah Oh, you want to be executed?
No. Now you're going to sit in prison forever.
Honey. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Okay. He did confess to more murders, and he's linked to 15 so far that they can confirm.
He confessed to more, though. In addition to the above crimes, San Antonio Police Detective George Sadler said that he was told... by Resendez himself that there are two murders that he did that he will never talk about.
And he took them with him. Why even say that?
Because he's an evil asshole. Exactly. And he wanted to... Who knows if there are even two more murders?
Or you just... Or he just wanted to fuck with everyone.
Now, they also think that he could be connected to murders in Mexico.
Because he's spending time there too, why are we not even thinking about that?
And particularly in Ciudad Juarez, where he lived, There was a time where bodies were found by railroad tracks, and they think he could be connected to those.
Yeah, I mean, it's not... But they haven't, nothing's happened with that so far.
Now in June, on June 27th, 2006 is the day he was executed.
It was actually delayed two hours though, because there were like last minute appeals and shit.
Right. And you tried to claim insanity again, but he was not.
Yeah. When he walked in, they said he chanted, forgive me Lord, over and over again.
No. And his last words were, I want to ask, and he spoke to, there were many family members of victims present.
And he 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.
Such an excuse. That's the thing. It's like, no, you made choices.
You had free will. 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 with me.
I don't deserve to cause you pain. You did not deserve this.
I deserve what I'm getting. We know. So yeah, he was pronounced dead at 8.05 p.m.
He was 46 years old. Which he seems like he should be a lot older.
I know, when you just said that, I was like, come again?
It's like Karl Panzer. It is. Weird, weird.
When you get to the point where you're like, yeah, and he was this this much years old, you're like, no, no.
He's 100,000 years old with all he's done.
Seriously. Again, Claudia Benton's husband George was there for the execution and he said he was there to make the statement that people have to understand what evil really is.
Yeah. and he said what was executed today may have looked like a man, walked and talked like a man, but what was contained inside that skin was not a human being. not human behavior, but something I can only say is evil contained in human form.
A creature without a soul, no conscience, no sense of remorse, no regard for the sanctity of human life.
I really think that is like what it comes down to is just some people are soulless.
Not human. He didn't... But this is just such a wild... I...
The brutality of his crimes. And a lot of people had not heard about this case.
Yeah. So like, because when I mentioned it in the first episode about Holly, everybody was like, a lot of people were like, wow, I didn't know about that one. intrigued to hear about it.
I definitely didn't. And it's like, how did we not hear about this? this right it's so intense he's one of the worst by far yeah and like like by far very prolific So prolific, so brutal.
See you later, goodbye. Yeah. I hope that all those family members of the victims have some kind of peace.
I don't, how could you ever though? I just, yeah.
I mean, I think it was Holly who said like after he was executed, like at least he's not, he can't he can't ever destroy anyone's life again and at least he's gone like at least we don't have to think about him just existing or like worry that he's even because that's the thing like Again, with the death penalty, we talk about being so like in the middle and it's not black and white.
The thing with that is, I can't imagine the families of his victims. sitting there worrying what happens if he escapes?
Yeah, if he gets like parole hearings and stuff, you just don't know.
That's why it's kind of like, okay, in this case, I can understand it.
Yeah, he's just, to me, he just doesn't seem like he has a soul.
No, not at all. He was so angry and so just brutal and so over, like all of it was overkill.
I think the thing is he destroyed these people even after he had killed them.
Right. I think unfortunately, the thing here, too, is that he had so many instances of trauma that there was something wrong.
Something just went, like some kind of switch either turned off That's what it seems like to me is just like some kind of empathy switch in his brain just got destroyed.
And you wonder, I wish they could have looked at his brain.
I know. You know, like this is one of those situations I would love to know what his brain looks like.
That's a thing. But... Here we are. He's gone.
Hopefully in the future, too, because we've talked about that before.
It's like something must happen in the brains of these people. that's different than like people who don't do these things.
Yeah, and they'll find like lesions or like, you know, they'll find different things or like that one part isn't as active as the others or is like more active.
Right. But, there seems to be no like consistent that's the one thing that we can trace back to all of them and I think it's because we can't look at all of them Right.
So I feel like we need to look at more. I wish we could.
But the only way to really look at a brain is to hold it in your hand. yeah and you gotta kill the person for that or you gotta wait until they die yeah It's very true.
It becomes hairy. Maybe we could do like a case study when these people do die of like their brains.
Just wait them out. Wait them out. Yikes.
But yeah, so that was that. And I'm glad it's over.
And again, go read Holly's book because she's the real.
She's the real one here. She really is. Well, we hope you keep listening because it's been a tough few weeks.
It has, and we hope you keep it. Weird, but not so weird that you have a bunch of aliases and you're like, I'm just going to go and kill everybody in the world and blame it on the devil.
Yeah, don't do that. Don't hop on trains and do that either.
I just like take trains for transport. Yeah.
Take turns to nice places to do nice things.
Thank you. Goodbye. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music.
Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.
