was driving. there was a pickup, the pickup appeared to be a red color. the man bought the suitcase with a credit card. we discovered the name of rosinda rodriguez as the man who had used this kred card. and records showed that same card was used just minutes later to buy gasoline. investigators noticed there was a hotel across the street from the gas station. a female there that works at the front deck recognized rosendo from a driver s license photo. she said he registered under thomas rodriguez. the hotel room key provided investigators with some important information. it doesn t show when you leave your hotel, but every time someone enters and uses one of those card keys when they enter into a hotel room, a record is kept of that. the hotel key revealed rodriguez entered his hotel room
the sheriff s office did a fantastic job getting the body and bringing her back so she can have a proper burial. it s important to the family. i think that s important to her and her memory. rosendo rodriguez went on trial for the murder of summer lee baldwin. the case with the strongest forensic evidence. he was convicted and sentenced to death. this case would never be solved, but for the forensic evidence, the dna evidence, the blood evidence, the forensic computer evidence, the trace in the suitcase. rodriguez eventually confessed to joanna rogers murder. somebody will always try to figure out a way to get away with a crime. but that s what we try to do is catch those people. there is no perfect crime. forensics is always going to be there. it s just like a warrant. you can try to outrun it but it s always going to be there.
at 3:46 a.m. less than an hour after buying the suitcase. we were able to find what appeared to be blood on the carpet on the boxspring and on the bed sheet. outside the room, in a hallway was a trash can and inside that trash can was a holiday inn bag. inside it was a walmart bag. inside the walmart bag was a set of latex gloves. but where was rodriguez? a check of his cell phone records gave police the answer. within hours after he had disposed of the body he s on a bus and during this trip, he takes a picture of himself in the green and white shirt that he had worn smiling at the camera as if nothing had happened and sending it to one of his girlfriends saying i m on my way back to an antone. in san antonio, police proceeded to rodriguez parents
body in a suitcase which was later found in a city landfill. based on information found in rodriguez s computer, investigators also suspected he have been involved in the disappearance of 16-year-old joanna rogers who had been missing for the last 18 months. he was going from news story to news story to news story regarding specifically summer baldwin. and then later on joanna rogers. he was trying to see if all the pieces were together at that point. rodriguez s computer also revealed another troubling coincidence. he had been in contact with joanna before she disappeared. and joanna bore a striking resemblance to summer baldwin. there might be profile here
just two days to tie rosendo rodriguez to summer baldwin s murder. i guess of the things i ve learned on this case are that the smallest piece of evidence sometimes can come out to be or make the biggest difference in a case. so you never overlook anything. it came back to that upc code inside that suitcase that tracking code and that s what led to everything. based on the evidence, prosecutors believe rodriguez picked up summer baldwin and they went to the holiday inn hotel. they had sexual relations and at some point, there was an argument that turned violent. the money you re going to pay me. the forensic evidence shows rodriguez can he beat summer until she was unconscious. blood spatter hit the floor.