The FBI says it has received 2,500 calls to its command post in the last two weeks regarding railway killings suspect Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, also known as Angel Reyes Resendiz or Angel Resendiz Resendiz  MAP:   Map of crime trail  ALSO: Immigration officials held railway killings suspect but let him go How do serial killer suspects elude police? FBI wanted poster and information Description of suspect: Age: 38 (Born August 1, 1960) Height: 5-foot-7 inches Weight: 140-50 pounds Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Tattoo: Faded snake on left forearm Scars: Forehead, left arm and wrist RELATED VIDEO CNN's Aram Roston goes to Lexington, Kentucky, where police say Ramirez committed the first of eight murders. (June 25) Windows Media 28K 80K What are the motives of a serial killer? CNN's Susan Candiotti has the report. (June 23) Windows Media 28K 80K Have info? Call: 800-889-8161 (new) 800-252-TIPS 800-252-8477 713-693-5000 (Houston)

June 26, 1999
Web posted at: 8:21 p.m. EST (0121 GMT)

In this story: Eyewitness leads point to tattooed 'Angel' Authorities detained suspect at least twice RELATED STORIES, SITES

MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- The uncle of a Mexican drifter suspected of brutal murders along U.S. railways complained that officials are using the wrong name in their search, namely his.

The uncle's name is Rafael Resendiz Ramirez, nearly the same name authorities have been using, with a minor spelling difference, for the suspect in at least eight killings near railroad tracks in Texas, Illinois and Kentucky.

The FBI's Ten Most Wanted List identifies the suspect as Rafael Resendez-Ramirez.

The uncle says the real name of the suspect, known to have used 30 aliases, is Angel Reyes Resendiz or Angel Resendiz Resendiz.

Rafael Resendiz Ramirez, speaking by phone from his home in San Nicolas Tolentino, a farming village 65 miles southeast of Mexico City, expressed irritation at the confusion of the suspect's name with his own.

"I am becoming famous because of you," he told the Associated Press, saying he was being defamed by the reports. "I have not killed anybody."

Rafael Resendiz Ramirez said he doubts the guilt of his nephew, who lived with him for years. Yet he added, "Angel, if you have committed those errors, I beg you to confront them as men do" by turning himself in.

Eyewitness leads point to tattooed 'Angel'

Meanwhile, authorities in the United States continue to track thousands of leads but have had no luck so far in finding the suspect.

Some tips have come in from people who personally knew the suspect.

Farmers remember the suspect, who worked tobacco or tomato fields around Russell Springs, Kentucky, in 1996 and 1998, as an intelligent, hard worker known as "Angel."

One remembered him as hyperactive, but not as someone with violent tendencies.

"He was nice-talking guy, and you wouldn't think he would do something like that," said Collis Stephens, his former employer. "He was cleaned up, a sharp-looking Mexican."

Convenience store clerk Jamie Carter, who sold the suspect drinks and phone cards, recalled him as "real soft spoken, real quiet. What set me off most about him was that he wore glasses."

FBI officials say they are sifting through leads from the more than 2,500 calls they have received in the last two weeks. In Houston, FBI Special Agent Don Clark, who is in charge of the manhunt said, "about 50 percent of these phone calls are good quality."

Authorities detained suspect at least twice

The suspect had been detained at least twice before by authorities in the United States. On June 1, immigration officials had him in custody near El Paso, Texas. They returned him to Mexico as an undocumented alien.

It is believed that the Mexican citizen then re-entered the United States and committed four more murders.

Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said they were not informed by the FBI or by local authorities that he was a serial murder suspect.

INS computers are not connected to computers from the National Crime Information Center that would have alerted officials the man was wanted for murder.

Houston area police said the suspect was arrested in 1996 for riding the rails and possessing false Social Security and immigration documents. A local prosecutor dropped the charges.

The suspect has been implicated in eight murders beginning in 1997 but charged in only two - the killings of George Morber and his daughter, Carolyn Frederick, in Gorham, Illinois. Seven of the killings have come within the last six months -- four between June 4 and June 15, an 11-day period.

He is suspected in at least a dozen additional murders, according to FBI sources.

Most of the victims lived near railroad tracks, and authorities have said the alleged killer crisscrosses the country riding freight trains.

A $125,000 reward is posted for the suspect's capture.

Correspondent Charles Zewe and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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