All language subtitles for People Magazine Investigates Surviving A Serial Killer - S01E02 - Surviving the Railroad Killer

[reporter 1] He's a railroad
riding drifter

accused of being
a notorious serial killer.

[Alicia]
In the summer of 1999,

the FBI launched
a nationwide manhunt
for Angel Resendiz-Ramirez.

[reporter 2] It's one of
the largest manhunts
in the United States.

He was known as
the "Railroad Killer."

He was a ghost,
riding the rails.

[Chief Kennedy] He murdered
somebody that I loved.

It's hard to understand why.

[Curless] A lot of people
were on edge,

especially around
railroad tracks.

I keep the doors locked
and keep a pistol by my bed.

[Greg] Only one person
survived

the Railroad Killer's
brutal attack.

And she helped authorities
put an end
to his killing spree.

[train honking]

[theme music playing]

My name is Holly Dunn,
and I am from
Evansville, Indiana.

We grew up on 13 acres.

I mean, so much room
to play and have fun.

I thought it was
an amazing place to grow up.

My parents were super fun
and they loved each other,

which was amazing
to see as a child.

They gave us a great example
for what we wanted
in our lives.

I had a half-brother
that passed away
in a car accident.

And we all needed
to learn how to heal

and learn how
to deal with that.

But, my sister and I
always were so close.

She was only 19 months
older than me.

I always felt
very loved and safe.

I had lived a carefree life,

until I went to college.

[Alicia] In 1995,

18-year-old Holly Dunn
is excited to start
her freshman year

at University
of Kentucky in Lexington.

I loved Lexington.

I felt safe and at home,
just that I belonged.

And that's what
you want to feel
when you go to college.

My sister was in a sorority.

So, I decided
to go through recruitment,

and I joined
Kappa Kappa Gamma.

[Annie] I met Holly through
a mutual good friend of ours

who was also in our sorority.

She's just really funny.

She's just one of those people
that just cracks everybody up
when she's in the room.

[Holly] I'm kind of
the life of the party.

I walk into a room
and I want you to notice me.

I was feisty.

After her sophomore year,

Holly stays
in Lexington for the summer.

And one night,
they're out celebrating

her friend
Annie's 21st birthday.

I was just looking forward
to my first legal drink.

We walked in,
we kind of got a table
off to the side.

There was a group of guys
there too.

Holly went up to the guy group

and just started talking
to all the guys. [chuckles]

[Holly] We all started
just talking about
what was happening,

it was Annie's birthday
and you know we were Kappas.

They were also
in a fraternity

It became this conversation,
"Oh, we have
so much in common.

How have we not met before?"

[Alicia] One of them,
21-year-old Chris Maier

definitely catches
Holly's eye.

[Annie] Chris had a hippie-ish
vibe to him,

just laid back,
just like Holly.

They just instantly seem
to be hitting it off.

[Holly] I just noticed
that he was really tall,

and I thought he was cute.

He was personable
and could talk to me.

I just left that bar thinking,
"That guy's really cute.

I'd like to know him
some more."

I thought it was awesome.

I mean, Holly's personality
is boisterous,

and Chris was outgoing
and fearless, too.

And so, I thought to myself
that they could be
a perfect pair.

It was just a cute,
little budding romance.

The next day,
we wanted to have a picnic,

but it was raining.

And Chris went out
and jumped in the puddles.

So, I'm starting to see
that child-like spirit
that he had.

It was something
I'd never experienced
before in meeting a guy,

and I liked it.

He found a reason
to have fun every single day.

I don't think I had any idea
what love was.

I just knew that I wanted
to spend more time with him.

[Greg] A few months later,
school is back in session,

and on August 29th 1997,

Chris picks up Holly
and they go to a house party.

[Holly] It's 10 o'clock.

I remember Chris had put
some beers

and some different things
in his backpack.

And we get to the party
and an hour went by,

and we couldn't really talk,
I mean, it was too loud.

He's like, "Well, let's go
take a walk by the tracks."

I'm really excited to have
some time alone with Chris.

And we went
maybe like, half a block

to get to the railroad tracks.

Yeah, I've only been
back here twice.

To the actual scene.

Just how different it looks.

I mean, in the daytime,

it's like
a whole different place.

It doesn't look like
a terrible place.

[train honking]

[Holly] It was
a really dark night,

like, there was not
a moon lighting up
the night sky.

But, all I needed to see
was Chris.

You know,
I was gazing in his eyes.

We probably talked for
at least 30 minutes
at the tracks,

and then we decided
that we'd go back
to the party.

I don't think we realized
that anybody was around
or watching us

until this man comes out
from behind
an electrical box.

And he says,
"Do you have any money?"

I could hear in his voice
like, an accent,

that made me think this guy
is not from the United States.

I think maybe
he's from Mexico.

He had a weapon,

like some sort of ice pick
or screwdriver or something

that he was holding
on Chris the whole time.

Chris started
the conversations of,

"Hey, if you want money,

we could get you our ATM card
and we've got a car,

we could go
and get you money."

Or, "There's other stuff
in my backpack, if you--

What do you want?"

[Greg] It becomes clear
that he's not interested
in robbing them.

He's doing something
far more sinister.

[Holly] He made Chris
get down on his knees
to go through his backpack.

And then all of a sudden,

he was tying up Chris's hands

with the straps
from Chris's backpack.

I felt scared.

I felt like I didn't know
what was happening.

I didn't understand.

You feel such confusion.

You-You feel like you can't
do anything.

Because I wasn't gonna
leave Chris.

I-- He had a hold of him.

I wasn't gonna leave him.

And then the man
comes over to me,

and he takes off my belt

and he ties up my hands
behind my back with my belt.

Then he pulls Chris
by his shirt,

from the railroad track
into the ravine
beside the tracks.

So, I follow him down there.

It felt like
the only thing I could do.

He took us and laid us down
on our stomachs in the ravine.

And then I remember
hearing him rip a shirt

to tie up our legs
and make gags for us.

At that point,
our attacker was saying

"I just broke out of jail."
Just like, talking crazy.

He kept going
back up to the tracks

and leaving us
for a few seconds.

And then he'd come back,
and then he'd leave.

When he was gone,
I got my hands untied

and I got our gags loose.

My shoes had come off
and I was trying so hard

to get my feet untied,
and I couldn't get them.

I was trying to get Chris'
hands untied,

and I was trying
to get his legs untied.

Everything I was planning
to do,

it's like,
this is not working.

I was thinking,
"How are we gonna stop
this man from hurting us?"

I was in fear
and I was scared.

He was super calm
and peaceful.

At that time,
he probably had no idea.

But...

Chris' last words
to me were,

"Everything's gonna be okay."

That's when our attacker
picked up a 52-pound rock,

and I remember him
carrying it over

and it just felt like a dream.

I just remember him
struggling to carry it.

And he just lifted it
as high as he could

and dropped it
right on Chris's head.

[thuds]

[Holly] When he hit Chris,

Chris did like,
a gurgling sound.

I knew in my heart
that he had died.

[crying] I mean,
he was just-- I can't--

I-I cannot explain.

But I know that
at that moment,

I'm thinking like,
"Okay, I'm gonna die.

This is-- I'm gonna die."
[sniffles]

He comes over to me
after he hits Chris

and he climbs on top of me
and I realize he's gonna
rape me.

So, I'm trying to fight him.

I try to kick him
in the balls
and hurt him.

I'm screaming
and I'm punching

and I'm doing whatever I can.

And he takes
whatever weapon he had,

and he stabs me in my neck,

which I didn't feel,
but I knew he did it.

And he says,
"Look how easily
I could kill you."

And so I stopped.

I'm like, "Okay,
this is gonna happen."

So, he rapes me.

And...

I remember
floating above my body.

I mean, I was floating above

and didn't feel anything.

The one thing
that I could control

was memorizing his face.

Because if I do make it
through this,

I'm gonna know
every detail of your face

'cause I'm gonna
get you someday.

I don't know
how much time passed,

but he put my pants back on.

This is when I think
he picks up something
to hit me.

But, he didn't pick up
the rock that
he hit Chris with.

He picked up something else.

He hit me
five or six times in my face.

I think I put
my hand up to block it

'cause my hand was
uh, swollen.

I think I turned over because
I didn't wanna be hit
in the face,

and I think he hit me
five or six times
in the back of my head.

He knocked me unconscious.

I don't really know
how long the attack occurred.

I don't know how long
I laid there unconscious.

There was a lot of time
that I was just passed out.

And somehow I get up.

I didn't even know
I was really hurt.

The only thing
that I knew felt strange
was that my jaw felt wrong.

I couldn't bite
or talk properly.

The man who killed Chris
and attacked Holly
is nowhere to be seen.

But, there's no telling
if and when
the man will return.

Holly realizes
that she has to get up

and leave Chris behind
in order to get help.

She's bloodied, she's in pain

and she gets up and walks,

and about 100 yards
from where they were,

there's a house
with a light on.

[Holly] I don't know how
I got to the house

where I went to get help.

Especially with no marks
on my feet,

walking through
rocks and glass

and who knows what
on the railroad tracks.

I didn't ring a doorbell.

I didn't knock on the door.

I just walked straight
into their house.

And I remember seeing
somebody sitting at a desk.

I couldn't really talk,

but I know I said,
"Call 911,
my friend is still out there."

I remember feeling like
I just wanted to go to sleep.

And I mean,
I-I couldn't like,
think of anything else.

Within minutes,
police cars and an ambulance

arrived at
the young man's home.

[Holly] I was very
in and out of it.

I remember getting loaded
on the stretcher,

being on the ambulance,

and there's this guy
in the back

and he's doing things,
and beeping and...

I remember taking
a deep breath and going,

"Oh my God, I'm safe.
Like, I'm safe."

I was the on-call detective
who responded to the scene

on the side
of the railroad track,

where it was reported
that we had
a homicide victim.

There was a lot of
brush and trees.

It was very dark.

I walked down the tracks
and saw Chris

laying on the ground
with traumatic injuries.

He was bludgeoned to death
with a large rock

and created
massive injury to his head.

The patrol officers
informed me that

a living victim
by the name of Holly Dunn

has been transported
to the hospital for treatment.

There were several pieces
of evidence collected.

Shoelaces and shoes
and a possible stick

we thought was used
to assault her.

We didn't have fingerprints.

I needed to talk
to Holly Dunn.

She's the only person
that can identify a suspect.

Holly is rushed to the ER

at the University of Kentucky
hospital.

[machines beeping]

[Greg] She has
a broken jaw,
a broken eye socket.

She has multiple stab wounds
to the neck,

and there's blood everywhere.

She's in bad shape.

[Holly] I was really
in and out of consciousness
in the hospital.

I don't remember a whole lot.

I had these deep gashes
in the back of my head

from whatever he hit me with
that they stapled shut.

[Curless] When I went
to the hospital,

she was in horrible shape.

But, if she's talking,

I wanna extract
the information that I can

about our suspect,

before the doctors
start taking over.

I am automatically leery,
and I'm not feeling good.

My stomach doesn't feel good,

and I'm like, "You really
don't wanna talk
to me right now."

[Curless] It was taxing
for her to communicate.

I think it would be traumatic
and very troubling

to be restrained
and watch your boyfriend
be bludgeoned to death.

But, I ask Holly
to describe the suspect.

I told them he's like,
5'6", 5'7".

He had those black eyes

and he's wearing
a white shirt.

He's a Mexican person,
and he can speak English.

And he has glasses.

I was giving him
every detail that I could.

I knew that they were gonna
have to do a rape kit,

and I was not
looking forward to that,

especially after you've just
been traumatized.

But, I was okay with them
doing it,

because I'm like,
we need to collect evidence.

[Curless] Those swabs
would be very critical

in preserving DNA evidence
to identify our perpetrator.

[Alicia] After police collect
the suspect's DNA

from Holly's rape kit,

they let her rest.

[Greg] At that point,
the dark reality
of the previous few hours

begins to really set in.

[Holly] My parents got there
at five o'clock
in the morning.

My dad comes
and holds my hand,

and I mean,
I just look at him

and I say,
"Chris is dead, isn't he?"

And he said,
"Yes, he died."

It wasn't fair.

I didn't understand
why I was alive,
and he wasn't.

[Annie] When I saw Holly
for the first time
at the hospital,

the blood everywhere
and the swelling
of her face and...

her being unrecognizable.

She just did not look
like herself.

It was just awful.

I couldn't-- I just couldn't
imagine how she had--
[sniffles]

Holly was in the hospital
for five days,

and after she was released,

she went home to Indiana
with her family.

[Holly] I really started
to feel not only
the physical pain,

but the emotional pain
of everything
I had been through.

I was sleeping probably
20 hours a day.

In Lexington, police enter
the suspect's DNA
into CODIS,

the national DNA database.

But, there is not a match
to Holly's attacker.

So, investigators turn
to Holly for help.

[Holly] The sketch artist came
after I'd been home
for a couple of days

to do the drawing with me
of my perpetrator.

I knew that this was
gonna be a hard thing to do.

But, during the attack,

the one thing that
I could control
was memorizing his face.

And I'm like,
"You gotta do this
to the nose.

Put glasses on him.

Square lenses."

All of a sudden,
we got to where

I was like,
"This does look like him.

That is exactly
what he looked like."

We were able to focus
our investigation

on a suspect,
male Hispanic,

age range of 25-30.

[train honking]

The sketch is circulated
throughout Lexington,

and tips begin to pour in.

Lexington has
several industries

that rely on migrant workers.

The migrant workers will come
and go from this town,

using railroad
as transportation.

We had DNA
which positively links
the suspect to the crime.

We went around interviewing,

getting DNA samples
from Hispanics
traveling on the railroads.

We collected a lot of
DNA samples.

But, there wasn't
a positive match.

It was frustrating
because it's like

looking for a needle
in a haystack.

There's a trailer park,
Gibson Avenue Trailer Park,

a pretty good population
of Hispanics there.

We wanna pass around
some flyers.

We'll have joining teams
coming up.

We shouldn't be short
on manpower.

[Curless]
In the back of your mind,
you know

if the suspect can encounter
law enforcement

and-and get into the system,

then you have the potential
to identify them.

They told me
that maybe they thought

they were
never gonna catch him
until he did it again.

[Annie] That was very scary.

Just knowing
that he might strike again.

[Alicia] Just one month
after the attack,

Holly returns to school
in Lexington.

[Holly] I went back to school

because I needed
to get back into something

that I felt, you know,
that I could control

and be comfortable doing.

But, every man,
I'm-I'm like,

looking them up and down
and like, thinking,

"Are you the one?
Are you the one?
Are you the one?"

I was very hyper aware.

I didn't like being that way,
but I couldn't help it.

The triggers were hard
to work through.

I started hearing
trains at times

and-and I couldn't talk
anymore,

and I'd, like,
break out in a cold sweat,

and I'd like, hyperventilate.
I couldn't breathe.

I would go
to the police station
and meet my detective.

My detective had told me,

"You gotta keep
living your life.

Don't focus on all this.

That's our job,
and we're gonna do that

and we need you
to just keep on living
and doing your life."

So I tried
to go on with my life.

I started hanging out

with a lot of Chris'
old roommates and his friends

because we all
needed each other.

We'd cook dinner together
and reminisce
and talk about Chris,

and it was just
a really healing year.

[Alicia] As Holly
continues to heal,

time passes
without any progress

on identifying her attacker.

If they were
given information,
they did not share it with me.

I had graduated
from college,

and I still didn't know
really what was happening.

[Alicia] Then,
almost two years

after Holly and Chris
were attacked,

there is a knock
on Holly's apartment door.

[knock at door]

[Alicia] It's a detective
from the Lexington
Police Department.

He said, "We have been
submitting the DNA
from your case

to other cases,
and we have a suspect."

[Greg] The DNA
from Holly's rape kit

matches a man suspected
of committing four murders

in Texas
over the last year alone.

[Curless] There was a homicide
in Texas,

and that scene had
fingerprints and DNA evidence.

That DNA evidence
was linked
to our DNA evidence.

[Holly] He said,
"We're 99.9% positive

that the person
that did this in Texas

did this to you.

His name was
Angel Resendiz-Ramirez."

[Holly] When I found out
we have a suspect,

I think I felt scared
and happy,

all at the same time.

[Alicia] Holly learns,
over a year
after she was raped

and Chris was murdered,

in the fall of 1998,

an 87-year-old a woman
named Leafie Mason

was found bludgeoned to death
in her Texas home.

[Kennedy] Since
I was 16 years old,
Leafie was my friend.

One of the summer jobs I had
was to mow yards.

Leafie would bring me
some tea out to drink.

I'd finish drinking
the tea

and I'd finish mowing
the yard and...

Leafie, you know,
she was always nice to me,

and I enjoyed--
I enjoyed visiting with her
and talking to her.

Of course, I grew up
and graduated.

In '97, I took over
as the Chief of Police
here, in Hughes Springs.

[Alicia] Leafie was living
alone just across the street

from the railroad tracks.

And Randy Kennedy
checks in on her often.

[Kennedy] Leafie hadn't
been seen for a few days.

So, I decided to go
and see if she was okay.

[clears throat softly]
I'm sorry.

Well, it's just, um...

I don't know what else
I could have done,

but maybe...

I don't know.

It just feels like
I failed her.

Leafie...

She'd been beaten to death.

I saw the uh, antique iron

with the handle
missing from it,

in the chair
by the front door.

And then,
I found the iron handle

with bloodstains on her bed.

So, I knew then

that this was the instrument
that was used

to murder her with.

It was violent.

I mean, just the, uh,
the number of blows

to her face and head
and stuff,

I mean, this was
basically an overkill.

When I got to
the back of the house,

I found that the window
had been partially prised out

and palm prints
had been smashed up
against the window pane.

That was huge.

That-- that was
the number one link

to my suspect,
if we could ever find him.

[Greg] The palm print
also points to

how he entered the home,
which was through the window.

Police Chief Kennedy
makes an observation

that the window
faced the railroad tracks.

[Kennedy] I was reaching out
to a lot of other departments
and news media.

- And a few days later,
I was contacted...
-[phone rings]

[Kennedy] ...by
Sergeant Ken Macha
with the, uh,

West University
Police Department in Houston.

He said,
"There are a lot of things
in your case there

that match my case here
with Dr. Benton."

[Greg] On December 17th, 1998,

a month and a half
after Leafie was beaten
to death,

Dr. Claudia Benton

was found raped
and beaten to death

in her suburban Houston home.

The attacker had used a statue
that was in the house

to beat Claudia to death.

Claudia's home was also right
near the railroad tracks.

After attacking Claudia,

he stole her car.

The car was later recovered,

but authorities were able
to find fingerprints
on the car.

[Kennedy]
Sergeant Macha told me,

"We've got our suspect."

[Barkhausen] The FBI
has a nationwide
fingerprint database

that maintains fingerprints
for all agencies,

and, of course, immigration
fingerprints as well.

We knew that the fingerprints
at the Benton crime scene

matched someone who had been
crossing the border
from Mexico.

Fingerprints and DNA
ultimately connect

39-year-old
Angel Resendiz-Ramirez

to the murders
of Leafie Mason,

Dr. Claudia Benton,

and to the double homicide
of husband and wife,

Norman and Karen Sirnic
in seven months' time.

[Kennedy] It's just uh...

hard to believe

that Leafie
was the victim
of a serial killer.

[Holly] To have nothing
for two years
in Chris and I's case

and then to all of a sudden
just have a suspect,

I thought, "This is crazy."
You know?

I mean,
I just couldn't believe it.

And they just keep adding
cases on and cases on,

and it's getting
bigger and bigger.

It just helped me to know
that all the evil
I was thinking he was,

is exactly what he was.

[Barkhausen] In 1999,

I was working
on a task force

to capture
Angel Resendiz-Ramirez.

The FBI started developing
the criminal profile.

The method of murder
in these cases

was blunt force trauma
to the head.

And all the victims
had railroad tracks
right next to their homes.

Railroad drifters
know exactly where to go

when they jump a train.

They can hide
in this tiny space

on what's known
as a hopper car,

and no one would ever
even know they were there.

[train honks]

[Kennedy] He would
get off the railroad

and uh, murder people,

and then he would get back
on the railroad track

and, you know,
ride the rails
to somewhere else.

So, that's how he got the name
of the "Railroad Killer."

[Alicia] The FBI learns
that Angel Resendiz-Ramirez

had first entered the country
illegally,

21 years earlier in 1976

as a transient.

[Barkhausen] Over the years,

as he was riding
around the railroad,

there were crimes
that he had committed.

But, he would use a lot
of different aliases.

So, while he had
law enforcement contact,

it wasn't realized
that all of these crimes

were actually linked
to one person.

Resendiz-Ramirez had some work
as a migrant farm worker.

But, it wasn't like
he had a--

a place that
he was always at.

[Curless] It became a manhunt.

Trying to track
a transient person

is a lot more difficult

than someone who's living
and staying in one location,

or who has a phone,
a credit card, a car.

[reporter] They're also
watching from the sky

and looking under
and in between train cars.

[woman] My husband
leaves in the morning,

so I make sure my daughter
and I leave with him.

And we don't come home
until he comes home,

'cause we're sitting
right on top of tracks.

We take this very seriously.

Uh, this suspect is somebody
that needs to be in jail.

[Alicia] On June 3rd, 1999,

Resendiz-Ramirez strikes
twice in one day.

[Greg] In Houston,

he kills a school teacher,
Noemi Dominguez,

with a pickaxe.

It was a brutal attack.

And then he steals her car
and drives Schulenburg,
Texas.

Using the same pickaxe,

he kills a 73-year-old
grandmother,
Josephine Konvicka.

At that scene,
he left a toy train.

[train honks]

He also had
the newspaper article

talking about the Sirnics,

the couple he murdered
in Weimar, Texas,

sitting on her couch.

So, it appeared as though

as many serial killers
in the past,

he seemed to enjoy
letting the police know
that he's in charge.

He's proud of it.

You know, uh,
he's flaunting it.

"You couldn't stop me.

Look what I did."

[reporter] Resendiz-Ramirez
is wanted in questioning
in southeast Texas.

The fact that
he may be riding the rails

even has
train workers nervous.

Homeowners
are taking precautions too.

I keep the doors locked
and keep a pistol by my bed.

The speed of his murders
was increasing.

He was progressing
in his bravery.

We knew that if we didn't
get him into custody,

more people were going to
become victims.

Serial killers
don't just stop killing.

Lives were at stake.

There was up to $126,000
worth of reward

for information
leading to his arrest.

People in Mexico
were looking for him,

people in the-- in the US
were looking for him.

As hoped for, it brings in
lots and lots of tips.

-[phone rings]
-[Greg] One in particular
seems especially promising.

A person
who identified themselves

as the cousin
of Resendiz-Ramirez

provided information that

his sister Manuela
lived in Albuquerque,
New Mexico.

[Alicia]
While the FBI attempts
to track down Manuela,

her brother
is still on the run.

On June 15th,

DNA links Resendiz-Ramirez

to two additional murders
in Gorham, Illinois,

which is just a two hour drive
from where Holly Dunn
grew up.

There's all these cases
piling up

and it's really scary
and we don't know
where he is.

I started feeling
a lot of survivor's guilt.

He was breaking into
people's homes and like,

getting them in their sleep.

It did seem like
he was being more violent

with everyone else.

It's like he was saying,

"I made a mistake
leaving her alive.

I'm gonna make sure
that I don't do that again."

I kept thinking, like
"Was he coming to get me?"

I was so scared
that I was like,

"I'm going to Europe
for the summer

and I'll see you later."

Days after Holly
leaves the country,

FBI Agent Barkhausen
and her partner

receive a case-breaking
phone call

from Angel's sister, Manuela.

[inaudible]

She told us,
"He's in Mexico.

But, I think he's considering
coming back to the US,

and turning himself in."

And we were shocked.

I mean,
how many serial murderers

do you know
that turn themselves in?

It's unheard of.

And all we could attribute
that to

is the reward,
the pressure, the media,

the law enforcement,
all looking for him.

He didn't have the freedom
that he once had.

And he was looking
at being in prison.

And in a Mexican prison,

you don't have as many rights
as you do here.

[Greg] The next day,
there's a three way call

with Resendiz-Ramirez,
Manuela and the FBI.

And Manuela is translating
for her brother,

who ultimately agrees
to turn himself in
to authorities

right at the border
in El Paso, Texas.

[Alicia] Almost two years
after Holly Dunn was attacked

and Chris Maier was killed,

agents from the FBI,
Texas Rangers
and the US Marshals

descend on El Paso, Texas.

[Barkhausen] He was
supposed to be coming
across the border any minute.

And we were just,
"Please, let this happen.

Please let this happen."

[man over radio] Unit two,
move into position.

I mean, your heart
starts to beat faster.

[man over radio] Possible
targets approaching.

[Barkhausen]
And there's always
in the back of your mind,

"Is this a setup?

Something bad
is gonna happen."

[Barkhausen] We're standing
at the border in El Paso,

getting ready to arrest
the Railroad Killer.

And eventually,

we saw a pickup
driving toward us.

And we knew that was him.

And the door opens.

And he gets out.

A Texas Ranger
puts the handcuffs on him.

He was completely silent
the entire time.

And he didn't even...
blink an eye.

[handcuffs clicking]

[Barkhausen]
And we put him in the car,

and we take a sigh of relief,

that that part of
it's over.

[reporter 1]
He's a railroad riding drifter

accused of being
a notorious serial killer.

[reporter 2] It brought an end
to one of the largest manhunts

ever launched
in the United States.

Following his surrender,

Resendiz-Ramirez is taken
to Houston to face charges.

He's appointed a lawyer

and pleads not guilty
by reason of insanity.

He surrendered
and I was still in Europe.

I heard about it on the news,
just like everybody else.

I think I felt relief.

[reporter] The crime spree
took place between
1997 and 1999.

Investigators say
they have fingerprints and DNA

linking Resendiz
to the brutal work
of the railroad serial killer.

[Holly] I was almost
like, giddy,

because I was so happy

that he would never
hurt another person again.

[Alicia] Resendiz-Ramirez's
murder spree

spanned three states,
Texas, Kentucky and Illinois.

In Texas, he faces
capital murder charges,

which are punishable
by death.

[reporter] If convicted
of killing the Houston doctor,

the 40-year-old Resendiz

could face
death by lethal injection.

[Holly] I knew that Texas knew
how to do the death penalty.

So, I was happy that
he surrendered in Texas

and that Texas was taking
control of it all.

[Barkhausen]
When I testified at trial,

it was a very short part
of the testimony,

because I wasn't involved
directly with the murder case,

just with the arrest.

It didn't bother me to--
to look at him,

because... it's done.

His judgment is coming.

It doesn't come from me.

[Greg] On May 18th, 2000,
a jury convicts
Resendiz-Ramirez.

Then comes the penalty phase,

and Holly testifies
as a witness and a survivor.

The day before I testified,
I almost had
a complete panic attack,

screaming and crying
and saying that
I couldn't do it.

Because I couldn't be
in the same room
with him again.

I didn't wanna
see him again.

But I was like,
"You can do this, Holly."

My family was there
and my sister was there,

and everybody
just surrounded me again
and picked me up.

I did not look at him.

Then, I went through
the whole story.

They got to that point
where they said,

"Is the person
who attacked you
in the courtroom today?

Could you please tell us
what he's wearing?"

And so I looked at him,
and I mean,

he had an expressionless face,

almost a smirk on its face.

I said, like, "He's wearing
a white button-down shirt."

And the minute I said it,

my hearing
started going into my head

and I started breaking out
into a cold sweat,

and I--
I was gonna faint.

I mean, I--
I had felt that before,

like, that-- I was
this close to fainting.

The judge and everybody else
realized

that that was
about to happen, too,

because they quickly said,

"Defense, do you have
any questions?"

"No."
And the bailiff, like,

picks me up and carries me
out of the courtroom.

[Alicia] On May 22nd, 2000,

Holly returns home
to Indiana with her family.

I heard about the verdict
when we landed.

He was given
the death penalty,

and I thought,
"Thank you, Texas."

He never needs to go
to anywhere else
to do a trial.

[Alicia] Before his death,

Angel Resendiz-Ramirez
admits to committing
nine murders.

But law enforcement believes
that number is really
closer to 15,

after linking him
to six additional murders

in Georgia, Florida
and California.

Angel Resendiz-Ramirez
A.K.A. the Railroad Killer

was ultimately put to death

by the state of Texas
on June 27th, 2006.

I was told at the execution
of Angel Resendiz-Ramirez

that his last words were,

"I ask you to forgive me.

I ask the Lord to forgive me,

for allowing the devil
to deceive me."

It-It gives me, uh, closure

and uh, peace to know that

he's not gonna be able to kill
anybody else.

I believe that it was justice
in Chris and I's case,

and in everybody
that he killed.

It helped me
to feel safe again.

The way she persevered
and overcame it,

I remember thinking to myself,
"There is no way,

if this had happened to me,

that I would be
dealing with it

the way that Holly does."

She just, was amazing.

[Alicia] In 2008,

Holly partners
with a detective

from her hometown in Indiana,

to create a nonprofit
that's named Holly's House.

[Greg] It's an advocacy center

that helps victims
of sexual assault
and sexual abuse.

And we opened
right after Labor Day,

on September 2nd of 2008.

At 8:00 a.m.,
and probably at 8:30,

we had a domestic violence
victim walk in the door,

and we knew that
we did the right thing.

I think Holly Dunn
is one of the bravest people
I've ever heard of,

to go through what she did

and come out a good person
on the other side.

Holly has been able to build
a beautiful life for herself.

She lives with her husband
and her children.

[Holly] I have
my amazing husband

who has been through
all of my healing with me.

[people applauding]

And we have
two miracle sons

who are just
the light of our lives.

When I get home,

I cannot wait to get
a big, giant hug from them

and you know,
they're just like my...

my happiness.

I don't know if I'd be
the same person I am today

had this never happened.

There's times where I can
just feel Chris' energy.

And I mean, I feel child-like
myself at times,

especially with my kids now.

And it feels like I know
exactly how to be like them

because I am in touch--

so in touch
with my child-like spirit.

And that's all from Chris.

I mean, I knew what
that was because of him.

I know one thing,
that if Chris was still
in the world,

he would still be my friend.

So, you know, I'm--
I miss him.

[man] Old women, children...

it didn't matter to him.

Whoever was there
happened to be the victim.

[woman] He was Dr. Jekyll
and Mr. Hyde.

I didn't know from one moment
to the next

if i was going to be killed.

But I had to survive,
and I decided

to make the Casanova Killer
fall for me.

And it worked.