Maturino Resendez in a court appearance after his surrender last week

July 20, 1999
Web posted at: 1:26 p.m. EDT (1726 GMT)

HOUSTON (CNN) -- DNA taken from suspected serial killer Angel Maturino Resendez matches that from evidence taken in five murder cases, sources close to the investigation have told CNN.

Laboratory tests conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety at its Houston laboratory links Maturino Resendez to four slayings in Texas and one in Kentucky, the sources said.

The 39-year-old Mexican drifter, who surrendered to authorities last week, is a suspect in at least nine killings. He has been formally charged with one murder in Texas, one in Kentucky and two in Illinois.

According to the sources, the DNA results tie Maturino Resendez to the December 17, 1998, slaying of Dr. Claudia Benton, who was found beaten and stabbed to death inside her Houston-area home near railroad tracks.

The sources said that DNA matches were also found in the killings of Christopher Maier, a University of Kentucky student, killed in August 1997; minister Norman Sirnic, 46, and his wife, Karen Sirnic, 47, found dead May 2 inside their home near railroad tracks in Weimar, Texas; and Noemi Dominguez, a 26-year-old Houston schoolteacher, found beaten to death June 5 in her home.

Sources also told CNN that fingerprints tie Maturino Resendez to the June 4 killing of Josephine Konvicka, 73, found slain inside her Fayette County home about three miles from the Sirnics' residence. The sources said that a TV taken from Konvicka's home was recovered by authorities from a home Maturino Resendez shared with his common-law wife in Mexico.

Houston prosecutors have said they will file capital murder charges against Maturino Resendez once the DNA tests are available. There has been no comment so far from the prosecutor's office on when those charges will be filed.

To date, Maturino Resendez has been charged with one count of murder in Texas, in the death of Leafie Mason, 87. Mason was found slain inside her Hughes Springs home last October. Authorities have said they identified his palm and fingerprints inside the woman's house.

Maturino Resendez surrendered to authorities last week in El Paso, after a nationwide manhunt that put him on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. He is suspected in a string of slayings that occurred near railroad tracks.

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