Rosendo Rodriguez III (March 26, 1980 – March 27, 2018) was an American murderer

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and executed in Texas for the September 2005 rape and murder of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin in

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

. Rodriguez, a

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

reservist with no prior criminal convictions, was in Lubbock for training at the time of the murder, and was also found to be responsible for the murder of 16-year-old Joanna Rogers in the same city the preceding May (the killings were linked by Rodriguez's

modus operandi A ''modus operandi'' (often shortened to M.O.) is someone's habits of working, particularly in the context of business or criminal investigations, but also more generally. It is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode (or manner) of op ...

, as both victims were found stuffed into suitcases which ended up in the same Lubbock landfill). Rodriguez was executed at the

Huntsville Unit Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville or Huntsville Unit (HV), nicknamed "Walls Unit", is a Texas state prison located in Huntsville, Texas, United States. The approximately facility, near downtown Huntsville, is operated by the Correctional Ins ...

on March 27, 2018, the day after his 38th birthday.

Background

Rodriguez was born on March 26, 1980, in

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the seat of government of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita counties. Accordin ...

, northern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He allegedly faced abuse from his alcoholic and domineering father, Rosendo Rodriguez Jr. He attended

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

in Lubbock, and had worked as an office clerk and as a fast food worker, as well as serving as a Marine reservist.

Murders

On September 13, 2005, the body of Summer Lee Baldwin was found in a suitcase in a Lubbock landfill. She had been raped and suffered numerous beatings, but had died from

positional asphyxia Positional asphyxia, also known as postural asphyxia, is a form of asphyxia which occurs when someone's position prevents the person from breathing adequately. People may die from positional asphyxia accidentally, when the mouth and nose are blo ...

after being stuffed in the suitcase. Summer, a 29-year-old native of

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, was working as a sex worker in Lubbock when she disappeared two days earlier, and had also been serving as a witness in a federal

counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

ing case, bringing her murder to the attention of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

. Summer was also around 10 weeks pregnant when she was killed, which served as an aggravating factor at Rodriguez's 2008 trial. Rodriguez was linked to the killing via a UPC on the suitcase, and he had been arrested by September 15. He was also identified on CCTV footage as having bought the suitcase from a nearby

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

in the early hours of September 12. In addition, in Rodriguez's hotel room were found a tag from the suitcase, a used condom, blood spatter from Summer Baldwin and latex gloves with DNA from Rodriguez and Summer Baldwin on them. In October 2006, the remains of Joanna Kathryn Rogers were found in the same landfill as that of Summer Baldwin after an extensive search. Joanna had been missing since May 2004. During his interrogation, Rodriguez claimed that he and Summer entered a hotel room on the night of September 11, had consensual sex through the early hours of September 12, and that Rodriguez strangled her after she pulled a knife on him. He told a similar story regarding Rogers, who he claimed became violent after he refused to pay her for having sex with him.

Trial, appeals, and execution

Rodriguez was initially offered a plea deal that involved him pleading guilty to the murders of both women, but he refused at the last minute. He was convicted of the

capital murder Capital murder was a statutory offence of aggravated murder in Great Britain, and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, which was later adopted as a legal provision to define certain forms of aggravated murder in the United States. In som ...

of Summer, and he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. During his incarceration, he contributed to inmate blog ''Minutes before Six'' on matters of

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the Rehabilitation (penology), rehabilitation of o ...

and politics. Rodriguez's lawyer appealed the sentence based on a potential

Brady disclosure ''Brady'' disclosure consists of exculpatory or impeaching information and evidence that is material to the guilt or innocence or to the punishment of a defendant. The term comes from the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case ''Brady v. Maryland'', in wh ...

violation by District Attorney Matt Powell for failing to disclose information regarding activities of the medical examiner who performed one of the autopsies. On October 30, 2017, an appeal by Rodriguez to the US Supreme Court was denied. He was executed as scheduled on March 27, 2018. In his final statement he called for investigation of Powell and medical examiner Sridhar Natarajan, saying they had been involved in multiple wrongful convictions. He also called for a boycott of Texas businesses until

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

is ended there.

References

External links

Faces of Death Row: The Texas Tribune

Executions in the United States
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Rosendo 1980 births 2018 deaths 2005 murders in the United States American people executed for murder People convicted of murder by Texas 21st-century American criminals 21st-century executions by Texas 21st-century executions of American people American murderers of children American people convicted of sexual assault American people convicted of rape Executed people from Texas Military personnel from Texas People executed by Texas by lethal injection People from Wichita Falls, Texas United States Marine Corps reservists Texas Tech University alumni American male criminals Violence against women in Texas

Background

Murders

Trial, appeals, and execution

See also

References

External links