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`Railroad killer' up for execution

Freight trains clack dozens of times a day through this sleepy southern Illinois village, bringing life to the century-old town.

But locals still wince when they think of the day Angel Maturino Resendiz brought death.

Scheduled to die by lethal injection in Texas yesterday, the drifter known as the "Railroad Killer" needed only a few hours in town to leave his bloody mark.

He blasted George Morber in the head with the retiree's shotgun before bashing Morber's daughter to death with the butt of the weapon when she came by to clean her father's home.

Resendiz helped himself to Morber's food and pickup truck, which was later found 113km away. The Mexican national preyed on those he happened upon while riding the rails. His surrender a month after the Gorham killings ended a spree that authorities say left at least 15 dead in Texas, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky, California and Georgia.

Resendiz has confessed in the Gorham slayings but was never charged. He was sentenced to death in Texas for the 1998 rape and slaying of a doctor.

"He just bounced in and committed a wicked crime. Just kill him," said Sharon Sargent, 48. "This town has always been known for its frequent trains. But who knows what's going to come through now? It's happened once. Who's to say it's not going to happen again?"

Before Resendiz dropped in on this bucolic place tucked among rolling hills near the Mississippi River, locals say, killings were the stuff of big cities like St. Louis, about 145km to the northwest.

George Morber enjoyed the good life as a retired prison worker and Army veteran. The 80-year-old's trailer skirted a 1.2 hectare, fish-filled pond he enjoyed trolling for catfish and bluegill. His 51-year-old daughter, Carolyn Frederick, lived on the water's other side.

Although he lived fewer than 100m from the tracks, Morber did not mind the incessant thunder of passing trains or the uninvited guests the rails brought his way -- hungry, train-hopping hobos who often traipsed across his land. Morber fed them and they moved on.

Then came June 15, 1999.

Resendiz bedded down among trees behind Morber's home, watched Morber drive off, and climbed through a window, according to Morber's friend, Don Frederick. But Morber surprised the intruder when he returned just moments later with the morning newspaper.

The drifter used a telephone cord to bind Morber in a recliner, then blasted him once in the head with a shotgun. When Morber's daughter stopped by, Resendiz bludgeoned her so forcefully the shotgun broke in half.

Resendiz snacked on Morber's food, took down family photographs, perused the morning paper and lounged about, Don Frederick says. The drifter left his fingerprints everywhere before quietly driving off in Morber's truck.

"He was in there four a half, five hours. He took his time," Frederick said.

The death toll could have been greater -- Morber's wife was not around that day because she had been admitted to a hospital just a day earlier due to chronic heart trouble.
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