Killer Suspected in 200 Unsolved Cases
By TERRI LANGFORD, AP
HOUSTON (AP), More than 200 murders cases are being reviewed for possible ties
to the Mexican drifter already charged in four slayings and linked with five others, the
FBI said Thursday. The FBI has gotten calls, letters and faxes from police agencies
around the country that believe murders in their jurisdictions could be the work of
suspected railroad killer Angel Maturino Resendez.
So far, the 39-year-old drifter is tied to nine slayings and charged in four.
Houston FBI agent Brian Loader said Thursday that most of the 200 cases will be
eliminated because ``some of the crime scenes don't match.'' Still, all clues are being
considered, and cases are coming in as quickly as old ones can be ruled out, Loader
said. Most of the requests, which came from police in practically every state, had
to be put aside during the intense six-week manhunt for Maturino Resendez. The illegal
immigrant surrendered Tuesday to a Texas Ranger in El Paso.
``The FBI had to put all of their emphasis on the manhunt,'' Loader said. ``We
knew after he was caught we would have time and go back and see if they can provide any
evidence.''
Already, the FBI has helped Lexington, Ky., police connect Maturino Resendez to
a 1997 slaying of a college student, based on evidence that was similar to that collected
at the scene of recent killings in Texas.
The FBI maintains a database that logs and compares violent crimes by possible
forensic evidence and by similar characteristics, such as the type of weapon used and how
the crime scene appears.
Forensic evidence, such as DNA and fingerprints, have been collected from the
nine slayings linked to Maturino Resendez and are being matched with samples taken from
him shortly after his surrender.
He is charged with capital murder in the east Texas town of Hughes Springs and
murder in Illinois and Kentucky. He could get the death penalty in the Hughes Springs
case, the slaying of an 87-year-old woman.
He is also charged with burglarizing the home of a Houston-area doctor killed in
December. If Maturino Resendez's DNA matches evidence left in her home, Houston
prosecutors plan to also charge him with capital murder.
Maturino Resendez, who was called by one of his aliases, Rafael
Resendez-Ramirez, during the manhunt, is being held without bond at the Harris County Jail
in Houston. He surprisingly surrendered to American authorities instead of those in
Mexico, which routinely refuses to extradite people subject to the death penalty.
Allen Tanner, one of two court-appointed attorneys for Maturino Resendez, said the Mexican
consulate would be contacted to work on the accused man's behalf. A consular official had
no comment Thursday.
``We're hoping that the Mexican consulate helps, and any persuasion they might
bring, to keep the state from seeking the death penalty,'' Tanner said. ``He and his
family understood that he would be treated humanely, and he doesn't think that if they're
going to seek the death penalty, that that's humane.''
