GUILTY TX - Summer Baldwin, 29, raped & murdered, Lubbock, 13 Sept 2005

[Sheromom]

Okay guys, I haven't read the local stuff yet, so forgive me if you already have read this. From the news this morning, they had the guy on tape from a 7-11 store with Summer at 11 pm Sunday night where a friend of Summer's placed them together and the Wal-Mart around 1 am where he purchased the suitcase. The dumpster he put her in is exactly one block behind the junior high that my oldest attends and 3 blocks from the elementary that my youngest attends. I don't care what kind of lifestyle she was leading, no one deserves what he did to her and I hope he pays dearly.
I don't think he is linked to the 2 previous murders, different mo, they were just dumped along dirt roads outside of town. But, they were also beaten to death, strangled, and nude when found.

How scarey for you! Sounds like they have him nailed at least!

 

[dannyodie]

http://www.kamc28.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1095



That was some pretty fast police work, getting the survailance camera tapes from the Walmart and matching the bar code on the suitcase.

This would be an excellent case for that "48 hours" show!

very well said. I would if I was you, contact the producers of that show.

 

[Kelly]

They also haven`t ruled out a connection to past unsolved murders. Cynthia Palacio, 21, and Linda Trevino Carbajal, 21, both prostitutes according to authorities, were found dead on dirt roads in Lubbock County. Palacio was strangled in July 2003, while Carbajal was beaten in April 2004. DNA results have linked the two murders to the same killer.

Meanwhile, Joanna Rogers, 16, and Jennifer Wilkerson, 26, are still missing one year after disappearing.

If there are any connections, I hope they will find them. These families deserve answers.

 

[vanillasky]

Wow, that is some impressive police work. I'm so glad her family didn't have to wait for years to find out who did this to their precious daughter.

I also hope that her body was in good enough condition to still find proof of the pregnancy and charge that piece of trash with 2 murders.

Obviously looks are deceiving - as we all know - that guy looks "normal", not one who would be so full of rage and beat a woman unmercifully like that. I bet he never dreamed he'd get caught, and especially so soon.

I hope Texas is swift in giving him the death penalty. :furious:

 

[Norma]

very well said. I would if I was you, contact the producers of that show.

I just wrote them! Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[*02]

http://www.kamc28.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1107

The suspect accused in the brutal murder of Summer Baldwin will learn next week he could face the death penalty. Rosendo Rodriguez III, 25, was arrested on September 15 in San Antonio. Lubbock police linked him to the suitcase Summer Baldwin was found in at the Lubbock landfill.

Police believe Rodriguez killed the pregnant Baldwin at the Holiday Inn Civic Center, stuffed her body into a suitcase and dumped it into a dumpster just a few block away.

Initially, Rodriguez was charged with murder, but, KAMC-28 has learned capital murder charges will be brought before a grand jury next Tuesday. That means Rodriguez could receive the death penalty.

Rodriguez` attorney, Albert Rodriguez claims he has key evidence that police didn`t know about.

"Exculpatory evidence I have, which consists of two knives belonging to Summer Baldwin," he says. "We have not turned them over yet because no one will talk to me."

When asked how he knows the knives belong to Baldwin, Rodriguez says, "I won`t tell you yet, but they belong to her."

Baldwin was five-weeks pregnant when she was killed. Besides DNA evidence, Lubbock police used surveillance video from Wal-Mart where the suitcase was bought and debit card transactions to link Rodriguez to the murder.

Rodriguez says he intends to try and bail his client out as soon as possible, "unless he goes to grand jury and is indicted for capital murder, which I seriously doubt.

"The 500 thousand dollar bond (that my client is being held on is)excessive."

 

[chicoliving]

So....she killed herself with her own knives, locked herself in a suitcase and got herself to a dumpster.....right. Will be interesting to see what happens in this case though cause there will be another murderous loser that will try to perfect this "plan".

 

[*02]

He's trying to say it was self defense

, she really could have done some damage to him you know. Wacko blew a fuse and went way to far and now is trying to C.H.A., she was beaten so bad that her eyes were bulging from the sockets- yeah self defense, um hmm.

 

[mysteriew]

On Thursday, investigators spoke with KLBK-13 about a link between Rosendo Rodriguez III, 25, and the disappearance of Joanna Rogers, 16.

Rodriguez was indicted in September for the murder of Summer Baldwin, 29.

Investigators believe Rodriguez and Rogers were acquainted through the internet. Both of their names were found on each other`s computers. Authorities say that was the beginning; now they say they have enough evidence to name Rodriguez as an official suspect in Rogers` disappearance.

Rodriguez still awaits his capital murder trial for Baldwin`s killing.

Late Thursday, Rodriguez was discharged from his position with the Marine Reserves. After an all day hearing, a non-partial military discharge board voted 2-1 that Rodriguez will no longer be allowed in the military. Government officials argued that Rodriguez should be discharged because officers believe there is enough evidence to show that he murdered Baldwin.
http://www.klbk13.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1231

 

[Bobbisangel]

This defense attorney is so "out there" that I just had to laugh. He really thinks he is going to get his client off from these murder charges??? Get real bud :banghead:

 

[mysteriew]

Late Thursday, a Marine Corps discharge board decided to discharge Rodriguez from the Marine Reserves. It took more than six hours for the panel of three to come to the decision. It was a 2-1 vote to remove Rodriguez, who will leave with a less than honorable discharge.

During the hearing, KAMC-28 heard more detailed information about what Rodriguez told police about the night Summer Baldwin died. He says he and Baldwin went to the Holiday Inn on Avenue Q to have consentual sex. After doing so, he says Baldwin pulled out a crack pipe. Rodriguez says he then grabbed it from her because he does not believe in drugs. According to him, that`s when Baldwin pulled out a knife and attacked him. Rodriguez tells police he then put her in a choke hold and that`s when she died.
http://www.kamc28.tv/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1194

 

[txsvicki]

Wow, I live in Lubbock and this is the first that I've heard of the two murders being related by DNA. I thought that someone confessed to killing one of the girls who had been involved in prostitution and then recanted. I've also thought that there is a serial killer around ever since hearing the first missing girl and I started researching unsolved murders in this town. There's a few other unsolved murders of young women that go back several years and some have been said to be unrelated but I wonder if they may be also related to the latest murders.

 

[Alice253]

"Rodriguez` attorney, Albert Rodriguez claims he has key evidence that police didn`t know about."
http://www.kamc28.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1107

This attorney sounds like he's been taking lessons from Geragos.

 

[mysteriew]

"Rodriguez` attorney, Albert Rodriguez claims he has key evidence that police didn`t know about."
http://www.kamc28.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=1107

This attorney sounds like he's been taking lessons from Geragos.

We have been having trouble doing direct links to the articles in that site. It helps if you post the headline, then people can go to the homepage and find it.

 

[Alice253]

Thanks, mysteriew. I'll do my best to remember that today. With my old-timer's I'm not making any promises, though!

I just realized this was an old article from October so might not come up anyway. I just took the quote from Jodieo's post of 10/5, and didn't actually go to the site.

 

[mysteriew]

Thanks, mysteriew. I'll do my best to remember that today. With my old-timer's I'm not making any promises, though!

I just realized this was an old article from October so might not come up anyway. I just took the quote from Jodieo's post of 10/5, and didn't actually go to the site.

Ok, it sounds as though that may the knives that he had, the reason he cannot represent Rodrigez in the trial is because he had some knives in his possession, and that made him a material witness in the trial. I believe that one is the trial for Summer Ship.

 

[Alice253]

Well, it sounds as though this trial may be interesting. I will be keeping an eye on this one.

 

[rbartz]

Sorry I wasn't able to get back yesterday on this, right after I posted this our internet crashed. Go figure.
I wasn't sure if this was the right forum for this or not.

Pook, I searched here locally for a missing persons report also, I believe, from what the news reports say, that with the lifestyle she was leading no one even knew she was missing.

Simonsays, is your friends name Heather?

When I first heard this on our news and they said her name was Summer it worried me, one of my dearest friends in middle and high school was a Summer and the age is right one the dot. When we grew up she got into a life of alchohol and drugs and the last I heard from her was in '99 when she was going up north somewhere to live with a guy she met at a bar. The picture even bears a resemblence to the girl I knew, until the news said her mother's name this morning I wasn't sure if it was her or not.

One question, did they search the trash that was in the general vicintity of the body for clues to the general location of the dumpster it may have come from? I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere.

My husband and I both think that we might have a serial killer in town, with all of the girls turning up missing or beaten to death. This is just speculation on our part and I truly hope that this is not the case. We see a pattern though and the 2 previous girls murders have been linked by DNA evidence.

I realize this is a public forum and you can only go by what you find published in the papers. I am a friend of Summer Baldwin, and I just would like to add, that even with the lifestyle she was involved with, we would have realized she was missing. She made regular visits home and kept in touch by phone. She was at home just a few days before her murder and thankfully she was found before she was truely lost.

 

[aussiegran]

rbartz. I am deeply sorry for your loss ,this is tragic for you and her family,please offer our condolences to her family .I hope they give the *advertiser censored**hole the death penalty.it sounds like the is a serial killer . The only people we judge on here are the scum that murder/rape or hurt others. I am glad for you all she was found and this scum was caught.:behindbar :behindbar

 

[*02]

http://www.kfdx.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=10552

A Wichita Falls man has been indicted in Lubbock on charges of capital murder and aggravated sexual assault. According to media reports, Rosendo Rodriguez III is accused of killing Summer Baldwin and her unborn baby and stuffing her body in a suitcase. The suitcase was later found in the Lubbock city landfill.

Authorities also say Rodriguez is the primary suspect involving the disappearance of a Lubbock girl. 18-year-old Joanna Rogers has been missing since May 2004, and the Lubbock Sheriff`s Department told television station KCBD that an anaylisis of computers taken from Rodriguez and Rogers proves the two have communicated. However, the Sheriff`s Department is still investigating. Rodriguez graduated from Wichita Falls High School in 1998. He is being held in jail on a $1 Million bond.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=4280022&nav=3w6yCU8t
Authorities have named a suspect in the disappearance of Joanna Rogers. An Amber Alert was issued for the sixteen-year-old on May 6th, 2004. Investigators are now calling Rosendo Rodriguez a primary suspect in the case. He's the same man charged with capital murder in the death of another Lubbock woman.
NewsChannel 11 first uncovered the connection between Joanna Rogers and Rosendo Rodriguez weeks ago, but we held the information at the request of the Lubbock County Sheriff's department so we would not hinder their investigation. Thursday, county authorities are talking on camera for the first time naming Rodriguez as the primary suspect in Joanna's disappearance.

Rosendo Rodriguez appeared in court Thursday for a hearing regarding the murder of Summer Baldwin. Summer Baldwin was the woman who was found dead inside a suitcase at the city landfill. But the charges against him in that case would be over-shadowed by news of his alleged involvement in one of Lubbock's most high-profile missing persons cases.

NewsChannel 11 asked Chief Deputy Paul Scarborough, "would you consider Rosendo Rodriguez a suspect in the Joanna Rogers case?" He Scarborough answered, "at this point I believe we have classified him as a suspect because of the nature of connections that we've made."

Scarborough is talking to Newschannel 11 for the first time about the tie between Baldwin's murder and missing teen Joanna Rogers.

NewsChannel 11 asked, "what exactly is the connection between Rosendo Rodriguez and Joanna Rogers?" Scarborough's answer, "there is a mention of him in some of her records and a mention of her in some of his that we've been able to make a connection with."

Investigators say an analysis of the computers taken from Rodriguez and Rogers proves the two have communicated. "The nature of this case has been stressful, but we don't breath a sigh of relief until the verdict," replied Scarborough.