Texas EXECUTES Serial Killer Marine | He Revealed How He Killed His Victims

The “Suitcase Killer”: The Crimes and Execution of Marine Rosendo Rodriguez

This is one of the most unsettling execution cases in recent American history. Rosendo Rodriguez, a serial killer with a disturbing fixation on red-haired women, eventually revealed everything with absolute coldness. His confessions exposed the mind of a predator who acted without a trace of remorse.

Here is the story of his crimes, the investigation that brought him down, and the final words he spoke before his execution.

The Perfect Facade

On the surface, Rosendo Rodriguez appeared to be an ordinary, upstanding citizen. He worked as an office clerk, held a second job at a fast-food restaurant, and proudly served as a reservist in the United States Marine Corps. To those who knew him, he seemed like a polite, highly functional young man who was always willing to help.

In 2004, Rodriguez moved to Lubbock, Texas, to study at Texas Tech University while continuing his military training. He had no criminal record, and there were no red flags to suggest he would soon commit crimes that would shake the entire community.

The Disappearance of Joanna Rogers (May 2004)

Arriving in Lubbock without knowing anyone, Rodriguez turned to AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to make friends. It was there he crossed paths with 16-year-old Joanna Rogers.

Joanna was an exemplary high school junior, deeply involved in theater, debate, and dance. She was active in her church and volunteered at a local wildlife rehabilitation center. Joanna grew up in a close-knit family with her parents, Joe Bill and Kathy Rogers, who strictly forbade her from dating—especially a man eight years her senior.

However, Rodriguez quickly became obsessed. Through daily chats and subtle manipulation, he sparked her interest and pushed for an in-person meeting. They realized they lived only 10 minutes apart.

During the early morning hours of May 4, 2004, the secret relationship reached a fatal climax:

• 3:13 a.m.: Rodriguez called the Rogers house and spoke to Joanna for 10 minutes to plan her sneak-out.

• 3:33 a.m.: He called again to say he was outside.

• Joanna’s father heard a noise and got up to check, assuming the dogs had knocked over a trash bin. Unbeknownst to him, his daughter was being murdered just outside.

The secret meeting quickly escalated. When Rodriguez tried to force Joanna into having sex, she refused. Using his Marine combat training, Rodriguez placed the 16-year-old in a chokehold until she stopped breathing. He stuffed her body into a suitcase and threw it into a dumpster, which was eventually buried in the Lubbock city landfill.

When Joanna’s family woke up, her car, clothes, and belongings were untouched. Lubbock police initially treated her as a runaway, but digital forensics eventually linked her AIM chats to Rodriguez. Though he became a person of interest, without a body or physical evidence, the case went cold for over two years.

The Murder of Summer Baldwin (September 2005)

Having gotten away with murder, Rodriguez developed a dangerous sense of invincibility. He began fantasizing about women who resembled Joanna, specifically redheads.

Sixteen months later, on the night of September 10, 2005, Rodriguez returned to Lubbock for his monthly Marine Reserve training. He spotted a woman who reminded him of Joanna: Summer Baldwin, a 29-year-old pregnant woman who had just been robbed. Playing the good Samaritan, he offered her a place to clean up at his Holiday Inn room.

His obsession reignited, he sought her out again in the early hours of September 12. He checked into another Holiday Inn under a fake name, and once inside the room, he unleashed horrific violence. Rodriguez strangled Summer but deliberately stopped before she died to prolong the attack. She suffered nearly 50 trauma injuries before finally succumbing to the brutal assault.

Because of her vulnerable circumstances, Summer was not immediately reported missing.

The Barcode That Broke the Case

On September 13, 2005, workers at the Lubbock landfill noticed an unusually heavy suitcase. Inside, they found Summer Baldwin’s severely beaten body. The initial clues were sparse: red hair and an ankle tattoo reading “Summer.”

However, the killer had made a fatal mistake. Detectives scanned the barcode on the brand-new suitcase and traced it to a local Walmart.

• Security footage showed a short-haired Hispanic man buying the suitcase at 3:30 a.m. on September 12.

• Holiday Inn cameras recorded the same man rolling the suitcase into his room.

• Rodriguez had paid for the suitcase using his own debit card.

When investigators searched Room 108, they found Summer’s blood, latex gloves containing Rodriguez’s DNA, and a used condom. Within three days, Rodriguez was arrested at his parents’ home in San Antonio. A search of his computer revealed recent queries about Summer Baldwin, dating sites, and crucially—searches for Joanna Rogers.

A Broken Deal and a Chilling Confession

In the summer of 2006, Lubbock County District Attorney Matt Powell offered Rodriguez an unprecedented deal, fully supported by both victims’ families: If Rodriguez confessed to Joanna’s murder, helped locate her body, and waived his right to appeal, he would receive life in prison instead of the death penalty.

Rodriguez accepted. He provided the exact location, allowing authorities to recover Joanna’s mummified remains from the same landfill where he had dumped Summer. The Rogers family finally brought their daughter home.

But just days before the deal was finalized in court, Rodriguez backed out, claiming he hadn’t understood the agreement. The deal collapsed, rendering his confession about Joanna legally unusable at trial.

He then attempted to spin a fabricated self-defense narrative regarding Summer Baldwin. He callously claimed that after they had consensual sex, she pulled a knife on him to rob him, and she accidentally died while he was restraining her.

Trial, Sentencing, and Final Words

With the plea deal voided, prosecutors pursued the death penalty for the murder of Summer Baldwin. During the 2008 trial, the medical examiner provided overwhelming evidence that Summer had been violently sexually assaulted. Furthermore, five other women, including his high school girlfriend, testified that Rodriguez had raped them.

The jury completely rejected his self-defense story and sentenced Rosendo Rodriguez to death.

After a decade of exhausted appeals, Rodriguez was escorted into the execution chamber at the Huntsville Unit in Texas on March 27, 2018—just one day after his 38th birthday. When asked if he had any last words, he used the moment to attack the prosecutors and medical examiner:

“First, I would like to say that I’ve been here since September 2005… I would like all of you to write to the people on death row because they are all good men and I’m very happy to have known them. Second, on February 14th, the medical examiner and the head nurse engaged in numerous false and illegal acts. They tried to cover up that thousands were wrongfully convicted by District Attorney Matt Powell. I urge the FBI to investigate…

Yesterday was my birthday. Today is the day I join my God and my father. The state may have my body, but not my soul. I want everyone to boycott each and every business in the state of Texas until enough pressure is placed on them to stop the death penalty. Lord, into your hands, I commend my spirit. Warden, I’m ready to join my father.”

At exactly 6:46 p.m., 23 minutes after the lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered, Rosendo Rodriguez III was pronounced dead. The families of Joanna Rogers and Summer Baldwin watched silently from the witness room, finally seeing justice served for the daughters they had lost.