Ángel Leoncio Reyes Recendiz was born in Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, Mexico. He grew up in a poor family and had a difficult childhood. Life was tough, and Recendiz faced many challenges during his early years. His family struggled with poverty, which greatly impacted his upbringing.

Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, also known as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, evaded capture by hopping on and off trains across Mexico, Canada, and the United States. He managed to avoid authorities for years, often crossing borders illegally. Reséndiz was deported to Mexico at least four times since he first entered the U.S. in 1973.

Reséndiz was responsible for killing at least 15 people. He used rocks, a pickaxe, and other blunt objects to murder his victims, mostly in their homes. Known as "The Railway Killer," he would often stay in the victims' homes after killing them, mainly to eat. He would take sentimental items, learning about their lives by laying out their driver's licenses. He also stole jewelry and other items, giving them to his wife and mother in Mexico. 

His family later returned some of these stolen items after his surrender. He sometimes left money at the crime scenes. Though he raped some of his female victims, it was not always his primary intention. He avoided attacking large victims who could overpower him, and most of his victims were covered with a blanket or hidden from view.

Reséndiz’s list of victims started with an unidentified woman and man in 1986 in Bexar County, Texas. He shot the woman four times and dumped her body in an abandoned farmhouse. The man, supposedly her boyfriend, was also shot and dumped in a creek. In 1991, Michael White was bludgeoned to death with a brick in San Antonio. In 1997, Jesse Howell and his fiancé Wendy Von Huben were murdered in Ocala, Florida. Howell was killed with a railcar air brake hose coupling, and Von Huben was raped and strangled. Reséndiz also killed Christopher Maier in 1997, beating him with a rock while his girlfriend, Holly Dunn Pendleton, survived a brutal attack.

Reséndiz continued his spree by killing elderly women in their homes. Leafie Mason, 87, was beaten to death in 1998, and Fannie Whitney Byers, 81, was bludgeoned with a tire rim the same year. Claudia Benton, a pediatric neurologist, was raped and murdered in her home in December 1998. Reséndiz also killed Norman and Karen Sirnic with a sledgehammer in May 1999. He murdered Noemi Dominguez and Josephine Konvicka with a pickaxe in June 1999. Later that month, he shot George Morber Sr. and beat Carolyn Frederick to death in Illinois.

Reséndiz was finally captured after his sister contacted the police, fearing he would kill again. On July 12, 1999, he surrendered to a Texas Ranger on a bridge connecting El Paso, Texas, with Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In court, Reséndiz claimed he was misled about being spared the death penalty. Despite various legal and mental health defenses, he was sentenced to death on May 22, 2000, for the murder of Claudia Benton. Reséndiz was executed by lethal injection on June 27, 2006, in Huntsville, Texas. In his final statement, he asked for forgiveness, acknowledging the pain he caused and blaming his actions on being deceived by the Devil.