By illegally jumping on and off trains both within and across Mexico, Canada and the United States, generally crossing borders illegally, Ángel Maturino Reséndiz was able to evade authorities for a considerable time. He also had no fixed address. US government records show that he had been deported to Mexico at least four times since first entering the US in 1973. Reséndiz killed as many as 15 people with rocks, a pick axe, and other blunt objects, mainly in their homes. After each murder, he would linger in the homes for a while, mainly to eat; he took sentimental things and laid out the victims’ driver’s licenses to learn a bit about the lives he had taken. He stole jewelry and other items and gave them to his wife in Mexico. Much of the jewelry was sold or melted down. Some of the items that were removed from the homes were returned by his wife after his surrender/capture. Money, however, was sometimes left at the scene. He raped some of his female victims; rape served as a secondary intent. Most of his victims were found covered with a blanket or otherwise obscured from immediate view.

The police tracked down Ángel Reséndiz’s sister, Manuela. She feared that her brother might kill someone else or be killed by the FBI, so she agreed to help the police. A Texas Ranger, Drew Carter, accompanied by Manuela and a spiritual guide, met up with Reséndiz on a bridge connecting El Paso, Texas, with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Reséndiz surrendered to Carter. During a court appearance, Reséndiz accused Carter of lying under oath because his (Reséndiz’s) family was under the impression that he would be spared the death penalty; however, Reséndiz’s ultimate fate would be decided by a jury, not Carter. In 1999, former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox – wary of the controversy miring the many confessions and recantations by Henry Lee Lucas – remarked of Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, “I hope they don’t start pinning on him every crime that happens near a railroad track.” Ángel Reséndiz would be tried and sentenced to death for Benton’s murder.

Despite an appeal pending with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Reséndiz’s death warrant was signed for the murder of Claudia Benton. He was housed in the Polunsky Unit in West Livingston, Texas. Ángel Maturino Reséndiz was executed in the Huntsville Unit in Huntsville, Texas, on June 27, 2006, by lethal injection. In his final statement, Reséndiz 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. 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 in me. I don’t deserve to cause you pain. You do not deserve this. I deserve what I am getting.” Reséndiz was pronounced dead at 8:05 p.m. CDT (01:05 UTC) on June 28, 2006. Claudia Benton’s husband George was present at the execution and said Reséndiz was “evil contained in human form, a creature without a soul, no conscience, no sense of remorse, no regard for the sanctity of human life.”