[Music] hey guys welcome to my channel and today we're going to take a look at another horrible case with you the summer Baldwin case buried in suitcases in the world of criminal investigations when two or more crimes share similar characteristics experts often link them as part of a series it can take years to identify and apprehend serial criminals most criminals have experienced violence and abuse as children and some have varying degrees of mental illness nevertheless they are aware of their actions to the outside world these people often seem perfectly normal so much so that those
around them don't notice that they are facing a ruthless killer such was the case with Rosendo Rodriguez an outwardly unassuming young man who served in the US Marine Corps Witnesses who knew him personally and testified at his trial described him as a friendly responsible and good-hearted man who wouldn't hurt a fly however it emerged that he had brutally taken the lives of two young women and disposed of their bodies in a particularly extravagant and unusual way looking ahead I will say that this man was justly punished for his heinous Deeds but let's start from the
beginning to understand this loud and complex case learn about his Vicor and dive into the childhood of the criminal to understand how he turned into a monster a naked Beauty in a suitcase this chilling tale began on September 13th 2005 in the outskirts of Leck Texas a City utility worker performing routine duties at a local landfill noticed an unusual object amid the typical array of colorful trash a large black suitcase that seemed oddly intact and bulky curiosity peaked he opened the suitcase hoping perhaps to find find something valuable to his horror the first thing he
saw upon unzipping it was a woman's manicured hand initially he couldn't believe it was a real human body and not a doll or mannequin on fully opening the suitcase he discovered the naked body of a young woman her knees drawn up to her chest arms crossed around her neck the worker immediately halted the garbage truck that had brought the grizzly suitcase and called the police the landfill was quickly cordoned off and the truck and its contents were thoroughly examined finding any clues in a vast City Dump was nearly impossible but the investigators hoped to at
least uncover hints about the woman's identity and how she ended up there in such a state no identification or personal items were found in the suitcase the only distinctive feature on the body was a small tattoo on the leg with the word summer the medical examiners now faced the task of determining the cause of death while forensic experts needed to identify the victim vitim and track down her killer an autopsy revealed multiple injuries inflicted while the woman was alive including signs of sexual violence however the cause of death was positional asphixiation she was still alive
when placed in the suitcase but suffocated due to the confined space By the time her body was found she had been deceased for approximately a day fingerprint analysis uploaded to the National Database in the United States identified the victim as 29-year-old summer Lee Baldwin who was summer Baldwin summer Baldwin born in 1976 in Washington was known for her sweet kind and open Nature she was a bright student with a vibrant personality and many friends dreaming of an acting career summer had high aspirations for her life after graduating from high school she enrolled in community college
but university studies were difficult for her friends invited her to Texas for a change of scenery and opportunities summer moved to Leck with the support of her parents hoping to start her life with a clean slate it is unknown when Summer's life spiraled but she gradually became addicted to alcohol and illicit drugs without seeking help from her family over time her addiction worsened leading to job loss and connections with people with criminal records her acting dreams were dashed and she eventually began working as an escort to support herself unaware of their daughter's problems Summer's parents
thought she was leading a successful life they were devastated when the police informed them of her tragic death in September 2005 the information they provided about Summer's friends and hangouts was limited notably a few months before her death summer was a key witness in an important Federal counterfeiting case this suggested that her murder may have been a contract killing by a criminal gang which drew the attention of the FBI and put the investigation under special scrutiny the investigation and the first suspects the first person called in for questioning by the police was Rebecca best friend
of the deceased summer Baldwin Rebecca shed light on Summer's occupation and mentioned several of her boyfriends one of whom behaved aggressively often raised his hand to her and persistently stalked her after their breakup that man became the first suspect in the case Summer's ex-boyfriend was detained and brought to the station the same day but he categorically denied his involvement in the cas case moreover he seemed genuinely surprised and upset by the news of her death he had a solid Alibi the night before the tragedy he had been involved in a drunken brawl in a bar
and spent the night in a cell with another Troublemaker as a result the police had to release the first and only suspect at the time another friend and so to speak colleague of the deceased provided the investigation with much more important information according to a woman named margerie she saw samur the evening before the murder and they even exchanged a few words they met on September 11th in the parking lot of a convenience store margerie recounted that a red van pulled up to the store from which a young fit man of Latino appearance got out
and went inside presumably to shop in the meantime summer seeing her friend came out from the passenger side to greet her she told margorie that he was her client with whom she had been meeting for the second time in recent days after the man came out of the store he got behind the wheel and summer hurried back into the van margerie then went about her business and didn't see which direction the van drove off nor did she know where the couple planned to have their rendevu she added that she had never seen the man before
and assumed he was not a local the only description she could provide was that he had very short hair like a military man due to the darkness outside and her inability to see him clearly what's wrong with the suitcase the suitcase which became a young woman's coffin appeared quite odd externally it was smeared with garbage and waste yet it wasn't worn out and its Wheels looked new inside all tags were in perfect condition and the lining seemed as if the item was brand new moreover even the plastic attachment for the price tag was intact suggesting
that the person who bought the suitcase hadn't removed it it was established that suitcases of this brand were sold in dozens of stores throughout the city but this particular large model was available only in two stores thanks to the perfectly preserved barcode it was discovered that a pair of identical suitcases were sold the day before the Grim Discovery at a Walmart store in the same area of the city where the girl was last seen alive the first purchase was made afternoon and the second around 2: in the morning which was quite strange and suspicious police
officers immediately mediately went there and requested the store's surveillance camera footage upon reviewing the material they found that the First suitcase was bought by an elderly couple these people were not initially suspicious but they were located and they could present the suitcase and explained that they bought it for a vacation trip the second suitcase however was bought by a young man of Latino appearance athletic build and with very short hair like a military man's suspicions arose that this was the person mentioned by the witness who saw him in the company of the deceased girl in
the parking lot of the supermarket moreover the man also bought a pair of disposable gloves at the checkout further information was provided by the external surveillance cameras installed in the stores parking lot they showed the man exiting with the suitcase in hand and loading it into a red van too many coincidences led the police to believe they had found their man and all that remained was to establish his identity locate and bring him in for questioning hunt for the stranger the man was extremely cautious using cash instead of a card to avoid leaving any personal
data however he didn't account for the surveillance cameras in the parking lot which captured his vehicle's license plate number perfectly police quickly identified the vehicle as a rental in the name of Rosendo Rodriguez a US Marine Corps reservist Rodriguez had no criminal record and hadn't previously come to police attention he was in lck for a few days with his unit for training finding Rodriguez immediately was challenging as he wasn't at the hotel where his unit stayed however police had his details and discovered he had withdrawn a large sum of cash from an ATM at another
hotel likely the money used to pay for the suitcase and gloves Rodriguez hadn't stayed at the hotel where he used the ATM instead someone named Thomas Rodriguez matching rosendo's description had checked in on September 11th it turned out to be the same person using a different name for for unknown reasons luck favored the investigation the hotel room rented by Rodriguez which he had already checked out of hadn't been cleaned yet yielding crucial evidence there were brown stains and splatters on the carpet bed and walls that resembled dried blood a tag from a new suitcase was
found near the bed and the trash contained used contraceptives and disposable gloves forensic analysis confirmed the dried blood in the room belonged to Summer and DNA on the contraceptives and gloves matched both summer and Rodriguez there was no doubt they had found the murderer but by then Rodriguez had already left the city however with all necessary information tracking him down was straightforward Rosendo Rodriguez III was born on March 26th 1980 in Witchita Falls Texas into a poor family of Mexican immigrants reports suggest that he experienced violence and harsh treatment in his early childhood his father
described as domineering and aggressive struggled with alcoholism and frequently abused his wife and children during his childhood Rosendo also displayed aggression often getting into fights at school however as he Grew Older he learned to control his anger After High School he attended Texas Tech University and moved away from his parents living independently he worked various jobs including at a pizzeria as a courier and as an office clerk before deciding to serve in the US Marine Corps colleagues in the military described Rodriguez as quiet balanced disciplined and responsible he was seen as a good friend always
ready to help well educated and physically attractive making him popular with women Rodriguez was arrested on September 15th at his home in San Antonio when police arrived he was calm and seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation during the search a striped shirt and shorts were found matching the outfit he wore when purchasing the suitcase caught on surveillance footage additionally his laptop and mobile phone were seized interrogations and Rodriguez's version for the first few weeks Rosendo remained silent and denied involvement in summer Baldwin's murder however the evidence against him was overwhelming so following his
attorney's advice he started giving statements with his version of events which differed significantly from the scenario IO built by the forensic experts Rodriguez began by explaining that he had accidentally booked a hotel separate from his fellow servicemen he knew only the name of the hotel chain they were supposed to stay at chose a hotel randomly and only after checking in did he realized the rest were at a different location he chose not to relocate as the military leadership indicated it wasn't necessary he failed to explain why he registered under a different name on the morning
of September 10th Rodriguez rented a van for convenience around the city that evening he claimed to have met summer Baldwin by chance according to him he saw a blonde woman sitting on a bench by the road covering her face with her hands as if she was crying intrigued and concerned he stopped to check if she was okay and needed help they struck up a conversation she calmed down and then they went to his hotel room where they talked and drank a bit but did not become intimate the next morning Rosendo drove her home but they
agreed to meet in the evening he picked her up at the same place around 9900 p.m. and went to a supermarket where summer saw her friend Marjorie they then returned to the hotel where Rodriguez said there was consensual intimacy between them afterward however Rodriguez said summer became aggressive and demanded money which surprised him because he did not realize he was with a call girl when he refused she allegedly pulled a knife out of her purse and began threatening him he dis armed her and punched her in the face causing her nose to bleed Rodriguez claims
he did not intend to harm her but acted in self-defense moments later summer collapsed on the bed and convulsed foaming at the mouth he stated that he tried to help her but refrained from mouth to- mouth resuscitation because of the blood and foam on her face after a minute she stopped breathing realizing she was dead he panicked he went to the nearest store bought a suitcase and gloves returned to the hotel put her body in the suitcase and threw it in the dumpster knowing that it would be taken to the landfill the next morning he
then checked out of the hotel returned the rental car and drove home to San Antonio as if nothing had happened inconsistencies in the suspect story investigators immediately realized that Rosendo Rodriguez was lying because there were numerous inconsistencies in his story for example margerie who met summer in the parking lot the night of the crime claimed that summer told her explicitly that the man was a client of hers with whom they had previously had a paid meeting Rodriguez claims that everything between them was consensual but evidence on Summer's body indicates that she was taken advantage of
it is likely that their first night was indeed consensual which is why summer agreed to meet him again moreover Rodriguez claimed that he only hit summer in the face once to calm her down but she died of a seizure however an a tosy found about 30 fresh bruises on Baldwin's head and body on the night of the crime and several stab wounds in addition she was alive when he packed her in the suitcase contradicting his claim that she was already dead another girl in a suitcase during an investigation at Rodriguez's residence police seized his laptop
computer a review of his search history revealed a disturbing pattern in the 3 days prior to his arrest Rodriguez had been actively searching for information about a girl named summer paying attention to whether there was an ongoing search for her and whether her body had been found in a landfill interestingly Rodriguez also frequently searched for Joanna Katherine Rogers a 16-year-old girl from lck who went missing a year and a half ago when authorities offered Rodriguez a plea bargain in exchange for information about Joanna's fate a deal that included a reduced sentence and avoided the death
penalty he reluctantly accepted and told his story he met Joanna a high school student in lck in late April 2004 after a few meetings they went to his hotel room on May 4th the situation turned tragic when after an argument over money and threats of a lawsuit for rape Rodriguez panicked and covered Joanna's mouth to silence her and inadvertently caused her death in a desperate attempt to dispose of the body Rodriguez put it in his own suitcase and threw it in a dumpster this method replicates the disposal of Summer's body a year and a half
later Rodriguez initially confessed to these actions but later recanted his testimony claiming coercion realizing the need to find Joanna's body to strengthen the case police undertook a massive search of the city dump more than a year later they miraculously found a suitcase containing Joanna's remains despite severe decomposition DNA testing confirmed the identity of the remains this evidence allowed authorities to charge Rodriguez as a serial offender committing similar heinous crimes crimes with a consistent modus operandi trial verdict and execution despite the overwhelming evidence and the gravity of his crimes defendant Rosendo Rodriguez hoped to avoid the
death penalty until the last moment expecting a life sentence with the possibility of parole however the court decided otherwise the decisive Factor was the fact that summer Baldwin was 3 months pregnant at the time of her tragic death this aggravating Factor was decid decisive and the court found Rodriguez guilty of first-degree murder sentencing him to death by lethal injection Rodriguez and his lawyers filed multiple appeals citing errors and misconduct by investigators but all were rejected while in prison awaiting execution Rodriguez even maintained his own blog on criminal justice and policy issues on March 27th 2018
nearly 10 years after being convicted of his heinous crimes Rosendo Rodriguez was finally executed Ed this occurred the day after his 38th birthday the death sentence was carried out in the Huntsville prison in Texas this execution was the fourth in Texas and the seventh in the United States for the year 2018 thanks for watching guys subscribe to the channel and also don't forget to click the Bell there are many shocking stories [Music] ahead
