'Suitcase Killer' Being Executed in Texas for Prostitute's Murder

"Suitcase killer" Rosendo Rodriguez was scheduled to be executed on Tuesday in Texas after being convicted of murder for suffocating a prostitute, placing her lifeless body in a suitcase and tossing it into a garbage dumpster. He admitted to a similar killing the year before.

Rodriguez, who turned 38 a day before the planned execution, was set to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the state's death chamber in Huntsville.

Attorneys for Rodriguez filed a last-minute appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking judicial review after they questioned the integrity and findings of medical examiners in Lubbock relating to the autopsy on the victim, Summer Baldwin, 29.

The body of Baldwin, described by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as "a drug-addicted prostitute," was found in a suitcase in a Lubbock landfill in September 2005. A police investigation found the suitcase was recently purchased and paid for by a debit card belonging to Rodriguez, court papers showed.

Baldwin's blood was later found in a hotel room where Rodriguez stayed. Rodriguez, later dubbed "the suitcase killer" was arrested and confessed to police, prosecutors said.

In a police statement admitted at trial, Rodriguez said he had sexual intercourse with the victim and placed her in a choke-hold until she lost consciousness and had no pulse. He then purchased the suitcase, stuffed Baldwin inside and threw the suitcase into a dumpster, prosecutors said.

He also admitted to murdering Joanna Rogers, 16, in 2004, stuffing her body in a suitcase and throwing the bag away, prosecutors said. His death sentence is for Baldwin's murder.

Lawyers for Rodriguez have asked for a new autopsy for Baldwin after it was reported that she may have died from blunt force trauma, saying her death could have come from a trash compactor and not from their client.

Lawyers for Texas said the exact manner of death does not matter because it was Rodriguez's actions that directly led to Baldwin's death.

"Demonstrating that Rodriguez did not cause the blunt-force injuries does not negate the fact that he asphyxiated her and then placed her in harm’s way," they said in court filings. 

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