A Tiny Town, Scarred By Horror

In Weimar, Texas, residents have stopped looking over their shoulders. The face in the "Wanted" poster – Raphael Resendez-Ramirez, now officially identified as Angel Maturino Resendiz - is wanted no more. CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod reports.

They had more reason than most to worry during the hunt for the suspected railway killer. Weimar was only a small town, say investigators, where he killed and returned to kill again.

"[I] couldnÂ't enjoy anything – no kinda nothinÂ'. You [were] just afraid – afraid to go to work – afraid of everything. WeÂ're just relieved that they caught him," resident Betty Jones said.

The people there havenÂ't cared a whole lot for the way theyÂ've been living lately: doors locked, and the lights on. That, they always believed, was for big-city folks.

Last month, Larry Wicks said heÂ'd sold 61 guns – five times his usual number. Chances are heÂ's the only gun-dealer in Texas savoring the thought of fewer sales.

"The business was good, but thatÂ's not the way I want to get it," Wicks said.

They may be at ease again in Weimar, but the trains canÂ't transport their troubles. Three cherished lives have been lost: a minister, his wife - Norman and Karen Sirnic - and a 73-year old widow - Josephine Konvicka.
"For months weÂ've been working on nothing but the case trying to find this individual. Well, now you sort of change modes. You know weÂ've lost three fine citizensÂ… and thatÂ's tough," Chief Bill Livingston of the Wiemar Police Department said.

ThereÂ's been a train whistle as long as thereÂ's been a Weimar. It may never be heard there quite the same way. But at least now itÂ's no longer the sound of terror in Texas.

In Hughes Springs, Gail Rowe only has to glance out her front window to be reminded of the beating death of her elderly next-door neighbor.

What she sees across the street from her tiny wooden home is the train station along the Kansas City-Southern rail line. It makes her think of 87-year-old Leafie Mason, whom prosecutors say was bludgeoned by Resendez.

"We're all relieved, but we're not satisfied yet," said Rowe, who knew Mason for more than 20 years. "We want justice. I think the death penalty's too easy. I think he should suffer."

The 2,500 people in this old railroad town have yet to recover from last fall's killing, one of four Resendez is charged with in Texas, Illinois and Kentucky. He is suspected in five other Texas slayings.

Rowe's strong feelings are typical among residents here. Hughes Springs, nestled in the rolling hills about 30 miles west of Arkansas, has never witnessed such a gruesome attack.

Mason was struck repeatedly in the head last October with her own antique iron by someone who entered her home through a window. She apparently struggled with her assailant, who probably surprised her while she slept. She was left to die i a pool of blood on her bedroom floor.

Investigators say her body was covered by a blanket, as were the bodies of several other people believed to have been killed by Resendez.