Narrator: A grim discovery...
You're dealing with something
that's very evil.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
Narrator:
...Leaves a family broken.
It really just
hit me really hard.
[ Sirens wail ]
Narrator: As police hunt
a sadistic k*ller...
[ Sputters ]
[ Grunts ]
Is everyone a suspect?
Yes.
Margie: She was with some guy
that I had never seen before.
Narrator:
...There's only one witness
they can trust.
Sutton:
A video camera doesn't lie.
It tells you what it saw.
♪♪
Narrator:
Tuesday, September 13, 2005.
Every day, the lubbock, Texas,
landfill takes
in the trash of a quarter
of a million souls.
But they do have
some restrictions,
which is why they screen every
load for hazardous materials.
The horrified
foreman calls police.
911 emergency.
Detective Chris breunig
takes the case...
[ Sirens wail ]
...and rushes to the scene.
Breunig:
You could tell by the sound
of the 911 call,
the nervousness in his voice,
this was something well
beyond the scope
of their day-to-day activities.
He was upset.
[ Sirens wail ]
I had preliminary information
saying that a body
had been found inside
of a suitcase in the landfill.
You cannot jump
to conclusions
in an investigation.
But, in your mind,
you're already thinking, "okay.
This is probably
going to be a homicide."
Narrator:
At the scene, breunig meets up
with fellow
detective Doug Sutton.
Black suitcase
contains a body,
found by these guys
about an hour ago.
The human being that would do
that to another human being
is probably the lowest form
of life, in my opinion.
Narrator: The D.A., Matt Powell,
also attends the scene.
Morning, Matt.
[ Insects buzzing ]
Powell: The first thing
that hit you
when you go there
are the smells.
You know, it's 100 degrees.
There's bugs.
There's flies.
There's all kinds of trash
and everything else
that you can imagine
is out in this one area.
The body was
in a fetal position
inside of the suitcase.
There were some injury
that obviously, at that time,
not knowing whether it was
created by the landfill or by...
by whatever the act
was that caused the death.
Powell:
When you start trying to imagine
what her last minutes
and hours of her life
were like and the injuries
and the pain
she must've suffered,
then... then you can't help
but be, uh,
angered by that.
Narrator:
The medical examiner estimates
a time of death
Anybody that could put another
human being in a suitcase
and dispose of them
like a piece of garbage,
you're dealing with something
that's very evil.
And obviously the things
that you worry
about are contamination.
If there is any type
of forensic evidence,
if there is any type of DNA,
any type of blood,
any type of fluids,
this is not a sanitary place.
It certainly is not
the best place
to try to obtain
forensic evidence.
Breunig:
Preservation of the suitcase
is Paramount
because that is
the only physical evidence
we have other than
the body itself
and any DNA
that may have been left on
or in the body.
Narrator:
That's where investigators
get their first break.
The medical examiner,
they were able to identify
a tattoo on the left ankle
that had the word "summer."
Narrator: Her fingerprints
are sent to the lab.
Breunig:
The identification officers
will take an impression
of their fingerprints
and insert it into
what is called AFIS,
the automated fingerprint
identification system.
♪♪
Going back through
police records,
we were actually able
to utilize
the tattoo of summer
to quickly determine
that the deceased individual
was a female named
summer Baldwin.
Narrator:
Now comes the painful task
of notifying her mother,
in roswell, new Mexico.
[ Telephone rings ]
I got it.
Okay.
Who's on the phone,
darling?
John?
I was in the kitchen
fixing dinner.
And my husband
came in the kitchen.
And he goes,
"you need to sit down."
I says, "well,
I don't have time to sit down."
I says, "I'm busy.
I'm trying to get dinner
on the table."
And he goes, "no.
You need to sit down."
He says, "that was
the police on the phone."
[ Voice breaking ] And he says,
"they just found summer's body."
And so it really
just hit me really hard.
And, uh, so, uh
[ Clears throat ]
I kind of collected myself
and called the police back.
And I says,
"are y'all positive?"
And he says, "yes.
We are positive."
Narrator: Summer was a bright
and bubbly child.
I came across the name summer.
After she was born,
it really fit her
because she had
long auburn hair,
and she was just this
little chubby thing
and just, uh, so good-natured.
And so it was
like summertime.
[ Kids laughing ]
Narrator:
Summer grows up in new Mexico.
She eventually studies
cosmetology
and moves to lubbock, Texas,
to be near her aunt Terri
and make a life for herself.
I was devastated.
Um, she was like
one of my own children to me.
I was closer to her
as she got older, um,
because she was able
to come around more.
It was like it was
one of my own children
that had been taken away.
Narrator: But it's a life now
tragically cut short.
I think she was here,
like, three or four days.
And that was the last time
I saw her.
Narrator: Summer's body
is sent to the morgue
to determine
the cause of death.
They begin with an external
examination of the body.
And, of course, every bit
of this is photographed
for records of court.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
There were lots
of blunt-force injuries,
lots of bruising,
lots of contusions,
uh, some scrapes,
very obvious injuries
that were present on her body.
She had put up a fight.
Narrator:
A fight she appears to have
lost to a violent b*ating.
Back at the landfill,
police puzzle.
Which dumpster did
this victim come from?
That the route list?
You were driving
Monday morning?
That means interviewing
every driver on duty
that morning.
In a homicide investigation,
early on, no one is excluded
from being a suspect.
So is everyone a suspect?
Yes.
Narrator: One of the drivers
thinks he remembers the suitcase
from a dumpster he emptied
that morning.
Police race over
to check it out.
Sutton: We were able to go
back to the alley,
check the dumpster,
check around it to see
if any discarded clothing items
or anything could be
still in the area.
Narrator:
Instead, they find something
even better...
a witness...
Hey.
Look at the camera.
A witness that never lies
and might have seen it all.
♪♪
Narrator: 29-year-old
beautician summer Baldwin
has been found dead
in a suitcase,
thrown out like garbage.
Anybody could've done it.
We didn't have,
you know, any ideas.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
I cried a lot
and just kept thinking about
what a horrible, horrible death
she had been through.
Narrator:
Now investigators have found
a security camera
from a nearby home
that might have
captured summer's k*ller.
Lubbock pd.
The homeowner cooperates
fully and shows the police
what his cameras captured
from the day of the m*rder.
♪♪
They zoom into the alleys
but can't see the dumpster.
Then, at 5:01 P.M.,
they spot movement
in the yard.
But it's just
a neighbor doing laundry.
It's no good.
The footage is useless.
And what police learn next
will only compound
the tragedy.
Bart, you wanted
to see me?
Top of page four.
You sure?
They were able to determine
that summer was approximately
Thereby, when she was m*rder*d,
her unborn child
was m*rder*d, as well.
Narrator:
In Texas, that means this
is now a double homicide.
Darling, that's
wonderful news.
Oh, I'm so excited.
I'm gonna be a grandmother.
She told me
how far along she was.
And we were gonna
start hunting her
some little baby clothes.
Breunig:
When you have a young woman
that is in the prime
of her life,
and then that life
is taken from her
and is taken, um,
from her unborn child,
that, uh, that is traumatic.
Narrator: An unborn child means
there's a father
out there somewhere...
All right, guys.
Listen up.
Narrator:
...And a potential suspect.
This is now
a double homicide.
I want us talking
to her friends, her family.
I want to find out
who the father is.
Breunig:
So we go into
summer Baldwin's past
and begin making contact
with her nearest family
and friends residing
in the city of lubbock.
Narrator: One name comes up
repeatedly...
Margie estrada.
Everyone describes Margie
and summer
as inseparable friends.
Margie estrada?
Margie.
You Margie?
Can I help you?
I'm sorry to be the one
to tell you this.
But your friend
summer Baldwin is dead.
Narrator: Margie is shocked
at the news...
You know of anyone
that would want to hurt summer?
And is quick
to offer a suspect.
A guy named laquincy Freeman,
also known as q.
Uh, they used
to fight a lot.
And it would get
pretty violent sometimes.
Margie suspects he could be
the father of the child.
She also explained that...
that they were boyfriend
and girlfriend,
so to speak, uh,
but that their relationship
was dotted with stints
of physical altercation,
verbal altercation.
[ Sirens wail ]
Narrator:
He's definitely someone
police need to question
if they can
track him down.
Detectives spend hours
trolling every one
of laquincy Freeman's
known hangouts.
Every minute that passes
gives summer's k*ller
more time to escape.
And, finally,
police inquiries pay off.
Uh-huh.
You do?
And a friend of q
spills an address...
All right. Thanks.
Got it.
...which makes q
easy to pick up for questioning.
♪♪
At that point,
he was what we would
consider the prime suspect.
Narrator: For a man whose
pregnant girlfriend
has just been found m*rder*d,
he seems strangely calm.
He swears he wasn't
anywhere near his ex
at the time of her m*rder.
He gave us detailed information
of his whereabouts
from the time before
summer went missing
until well
after the body was found.
Narrator: Police ask Freeman to
take a lie-detector test.
The pressure may force him
to drop his guard.
♪♪
Laquincy Freeman passes
the polygraph
with no signs of deception.
With no evidence to tie him
to summer's m*rder,
police must let him go, for now.
It's a dead end...
Until police realize
who has just walked
into the station,
someone they've
talked to before.
What can I do for you?
I think there's some stuff
that I forgot
to say before.
Um, so I think
the last time
I saw summer was on Sunday,
um, around 11:00.
P.M.?
Yeah.
Best friend Margie
has just added
an important detail
to her earlier story.
She now remembers
spotting summer outside
a convenience store
the night she was m*rder*d.
Margie: I went to the 7-Eleven
on the corner of 8th.
I went to, uh,
grab some cigarettes.
And she was there,
sitting in a truck.
Hey, girl.
Summer, hey.
Hey.
She jumped out
and came to see me.
What you doing?
Are you with q?
No.
No.
I actually met
somebody else tonight.
Yeah.
Oh.
Narrator:
It's a little suspicious
that Margie's
just telling this story now.
But investigators
find her credible.
Breunig:
Sunday evening, two days
before her body was found,
some time between
Margie is able to say
summer was alive.
Narrator:
Alive and with a man Margie
had never seen before.
But I'm gonna go. Okay.
Okay. Have a good night.
Bye.
Margie: I think he was hispanic
but light-skinned, clean-cut.
And then they
just drove off.
The truck, do you remember
what the make was?
No. I don't know
the make of the truck.
But, um, the truck
was red, bright red.
I actually met
somebody else tonight.
Narrator:
Margie's new story raises
new questions,
a mystery man with summer
in a red pickup.
Lubbock is awash
in red pickups.
But when police hear the name
of the convenience store,
they know
that means one thing...
cameras.
They head over
to the 7-Eleven
with a photo of summer.
Maybe someone can help them
back up Margie's new story.
You the manager?
You remember seeing this woman
Sunday night,
Narrator:
Next, detectives turn to
their real target...
the cameras.
They got cameras everywhere,
and one pointing to the door.
Can we have a look
at your cctv cameras?
We immediately obtained
consent from the business
to give us the video footage.
Narrator: If Margie saw summer
outside in the pickup,
then surely the camera
will have caught a glimpse
of her companion.
All right.
You pull up Sunday?
The security system
only records
one frame of video per second.
Pause it there.
♪♪
Narrator:
Police have caught a break
and are watching footage
from a 7-Eleven,
footage that might reveal
the last movements
of summer Baldwin
and the mystery man
in the red pickup.
All right.
Just play it from there.
Detectives spool carefully
through the video.
All right.
Hold it there.
Take it back about
And then let it
play again for me.
At 11:38 P.M., just when
the witness claimed...
...detectives spot
a red pickup truck
in the parking lot.
♪♪
Stop it there.
Zoom in again.
A few seconds later,
a man in a yellow shirt emerges
from the truck
and walks into the store...
...but quickly disappears
out of sh*t.
One minute later,
he approaches the counter.
Hold on. Hold on. All right.
Pause it there.
This could be the same man
summer's friend described.
Looks hispanic.
Yeah.
I don't know.
He's looking away
from the camera.
And a baseball cap
conceals his face.
They turn their attention
to the truck.
But it's obscured
by the reflections
from the store's window.
And then zoom in
again for me.
It looks like a dodge ram.
But it's impossible
to be sure.
And they can't see
if summer is inside.
It could be him.
There must be a thousand
red pickups in lubbock.
Detectives cannot confirm
that this is the same truck
summer was seen in,
nor can they I.D. The driver.
It won't be the last video
clue that police will get.
But for now,
there's little to go on.
With the clock ticking,
detective Sutton turns
to the only piece
of physical evidence
they have...
the suitcase
that contained summer's body.
Although the suitcase appeared
very dirty on the outside
since it had been
discarded into a landfill,
the inside was very clean.
Sutton: The suitcase
appeared to be new...
...which immediately raised
some eyebrows for us.
Was it just recently
purchased somewhere?
Narrator:
That's when police noticed
something inside the suitcase
that, at first, seems innocuous.
Inside the suitcase
and underneath the flap
was a very small upc code
that identified the name brand
of that suitcase
and the manufacturer.
Narrator: That simple bar code
could reveal a wealth
of information
about where this
suitcase comes from.
Detective Sutton quickly
traces the upc code.
The only one
to stock it is Walmart.
But there are 300
Walmart stores in Texas alone.
There must be a way
to narrow down the search.
Walmart's the only one
that stocks that model.
Okay.
I'll be right there.
Normally, trying
to dispose of a body
is an impulse behavior.
So you have to use
whatever's at hand.
And if you don't have
something, you go buy it.
So our mind-set was that
it was possibly bought locally.
Narrator:
Fortunately, there are only
two walmarts in lubbock county.
Detectives start
at the store
closest to the 7-Eleven,
where summer was last seen.
I'd like to look
at your security cameras
from two nights ago.
Powell: And so they went
to Walmart
and found that
that particular suitcase
had been sold
a couple different times
on the time frame
that we were looking at.
And, uh, one was
in the afternoon.
One was about 3:00
in the morning.
Who the hell's shopping
at 3:00 in the morning?
Can we, uh,
see the footage?
Narrator: The store recently
sold two suitcases
like the one that
held summer's body.
The first video available
is from the purchase
made at 4:00 P.M.
The day after the m*rder
at checkout stand number 33.
Detectives hold their breath.
The camera angle is high,
and they're unable
to see much.
At 3:58 P.M., there it is.
The black suitcase
appears on screen.
But they can't
see the buyer.
They watch intently.
It could be the k*ller.
♪♪
Pause it there.
It looks like a female.
Yep.
Caucasian.
♪♪
Hold it.
Freeze it there.
Some kind of card.
Yeah.
Any way we can get an idea
of how she was paying?
It looks like it was
a Walmart loyalty card.
Narrator: The Walmart card
makes it easy
to determine who this is.
All right.
We got Diane appleton.
And it's, uh, 510 beecher,
beecher road.
Police call the name in
to see if the shopper
has a criminal record
or arrest warrants.
And it comes back clean.
♪♪
By now, the video is ready
from the purchase
of the second suitcase
bought nearly 12 hours earlier
in the middle of the night.
We able to skip ahead
to the one around
This late-night purchase
will be very different.
♪♪
Narrator:
Police in lubbock, Texas,
are watching the purchase
of a suitcase
in the middle of the night,
a few hours after the m*rder
of summer Baldwin.
♪♪
At 3:20 A.M...
...a man enters wearing
a distinctive
green-and-white-striped shirt.
Sutton: What is a person doing
in a Walmart store
at 3:00 A.M.
in the morning?
We always say that normally
only cops and criminals
are out at that time
of the morning.
♪♪
at checkout number 19,
a glimpse
of the same shirt...
♪♪
...followed by a full sh*t
of the same man
dragging a black suitcase
through checkout.
♪♪
Oh, pause it there.
Now to see if this man
matches the description
from the witness
who last saw summer alive.
Stocky build to him.
Dark hair.
It's a unique haircut,
as well.
As he goes through and makes
his purchase of the suitcase,
you can see, once again,
he's not rushing.
This in itself
would not provide
sufficient probable cause
to obtain an arrest warrant
because all you see
is a hispanic male
with the m*llitary haircut
buying a suitcase.
Just play that back again.
Mm-hmm.
Narrator: They carefully watch
for any clues
that will set this purchase
aside from the other one.
That's when police spot
something else.
This customer hasn't just
bought a suitcase
in the middle of the night.
He's also bought something
in a small cardboard box.
Police go backward on the tape
and watch him shop.
♪♪
They locate him in
the cleaning goods section.
Are you able to
zoom in there?
Sutton: When I saw the box
that looked similar to tissues,
I thought,
"could that possibly
be latex gloves?"
Latex gloves was consistent,
in our mind,
with someone trying not to
leave evidence or fingerprints.
Narrator:
A suitcase and latex gloves
may have seemed like
innocent purchases at the time.
But in hindsight, they make
for a chilling combination.
So now we're beginning
to identify
what we believe to be,
uh, a prime suspect
that we want to really focus
more attention and...
and law-enforcement efforts on.
Narrator:
But they need to tie him
to a red truck.
Now detectives can use Walmart's
extensive surveillance system
to track this
individual out of the store
and maybe even to his vehicle.
♪♪
He actually pauses
a little bit
to let another customer
come in...
Narrator:
He seems relaxed as he reaches
the parking lot.
Powell:
...And then calmly walks out,
dragging the suitcase...
Narrator: He heads towards
a dark-colored pickup truck.
But the two cameras covering
the parking space
can't identify
the truck's color.
Powell:
...Gets in his truck and drives
out of the Walmart parking lot.
Do you have something that
maybe, um, when he enters?
Narrator:
Hopefully one of the cameras
recording his arrival 10 minutes
earlier will yield
a clear view of the truck.
If it's red, police
will have their man.
♪♪
It's a hit, a bright-red dodge.
The time line and the witness
account all match up.
Same truck.
Yep.
We have summer Baldwin
disappearing 4 hours
before that,
last seen with an individual
with a red truck.
We have an individual
with a red truck
showing up at Walmart,
purchasing a suitcase that is
the identical brand, style,
size, and upc code
as the suitcase
that her body was found in.
Narrator:
Police are certain they are
looking at their k*ller.
But who is this man?
They zoom in on
the license plate for an I.D.
That's where
their luck ends.
The footage is too blurry.
Police return to
the Walmart footage.
There's one more trick
they can use to identify him.
There.
Pause it there.
He's using a card.
Do you see that?
♪♪
Narrator: In lubbock, Texas,
the suspect
in summer Baldwin's m*rder
has bought a suitcase
and latex gloves at Walmart
with a debit card
the night of her m*rder.
And it's all been
caught on camera.
Sutton: We were able to get
a search warrant
from the bank
that produced that card.
And they were able
to provide us
with the name of the owner
of that debit card.
Breunig:
That debit card was tracked
to an individual we identified
as rosendo Rodriguez.
Narrator: The 25-year-old
makes his permanent residence
in San Antonio, Texas.
But the debit card
has also recorded
another purchase
that places Rodriguez in lubbock
the day of the m*rder...
$18 spent at a 7-Eleven.
It's the same 7-Eleven
summer was spotted at later.
We had pulled up that footage
approximately 4 hours prior
to the time
of her disappearance.
♪♪
Narrator: At 6:32 P.M.,
a figure enters the store.
He approaches the counter.
The clothes are different.
But the haircut matches
the man seen in the Walmart.
It's Rodriguez.
Sutton: The footage is crucial
because it gives us a time stamp
and proves that he was
in the general vicinity
of that area.
Narrator: So what's a man
who lives 400 miles
away doing in lubbock?
Yeah.
This is detective breunig.
The debit card
gives that away, too.
Really?
It's a card reserved
for members of the armed forces.
He was currently a reservist
with the us marine corps.
His reservist unit was
based in lubbock, Texas.
So we were able
to put him in lubbock, Texas,
during the period
of the disappearance
of summer Baldwin.
Narrator:
Police check with his unit
and learn Rodriguez
didn't stay on base
while visiting lubbock.
We were also informed
that he normally
would stay at 801 Avenue q,
which was
the holiday inn.
Narrator:
A holiday inn that's directly
across the street
from the same 7-Eleven
where Rodriguez
made his purchase
and where summer Baldwin
was last seen alive.
You got this guy
staying here?
Investigators race to the scene.
Rosendo Rodriguez had actually
already checked out
of the holiday inn.
Narrator: But they are able
to search his room
and call in the forensics team
for assistance.
In room 609, they discover
what looks like
a patch of dried blood,
then a clincher.
Breunig:
Investigators were actually able
to find a Walmart bag
with the actual receipt
from the purchase
of the suitcase
as well as
the disposable gloves.
Narrator:
It's time to arrest Rodriguez.
And he isn't hard to find.
He's fled to his mother's
house in San Antonio.
Go, go, go.
Freeze.
Police.
Freeze.
Sutton: When he came outside,
they stepped out,
took him into custody,
put him in the van
and drove away.
Happened literally that quick.
Narrator: Rodriguez
ultimately talks
and tells
a very self-serving story.
I had just finished
training for the day.
And I decided to go
for a drink at a bar downtown.
And that's where I met her.
Rodriguez then takes summer back
to his room at the holiday inn.
That's when he claims
an argument broke out.
Powell: He said that, after they
performed consensual sex,
uh, she just, you know,
out of nowhere,
pulled a Kn*fe on him.
Powell: He said he had
to defend himself
and put her in a choke hold.
And because of his choke
hold, she d*ed.
Um, but we knew from
the medical examiner's testimony
that that wasn't the case.
He... he was just a liar.
Narrator:
He even has an excuse
for the blood found
at the scene.
Breunig: His explanation
of how he k*lled her
was totally inconsistent
with what the blood-stain
physical evidence showed us.
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
[ Grunting, shouting ]
Narrator: In march of 2008,
rosendo Rodriguez goes to trial
for the murders
of summer Baldwin
and her unborn child.
And, shockingly,
he confesses
to the m*rder of another woman,
Joanna Rogers,
k*lled the same way
as summer in 2004.
Rodriguez has an excuse
for that one, too.
Reporter:
Rosendo, you want to say
you're sorry now?
Want to say anything
to the families?
Narrator: On April 1, 2008,
rosendo Rodriguez
is found guilty
and sentenced to death
on two counts of m*rder.
For summer's family,
justice is bittersweet.
[ Voice breaking ]
I just think about her
all the time, you know,
wishing she were still here,
that I still had her.
It still just,
you know, really upsets me
and stuff.
But I'm just...
I'm just waiting
for his execution day.
03x06 - m*rder at Sunrise
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See no Evil is a ground breaking new series about how real crimes are solved with the help of surveillance cameras.
See no Evil is a ground breaking new series about how real crimes are solved with the help of surveillance cameras.