Catching Killers Season 3: Every Real-Life Sniper, Bomber, And Killer Explained
Netflix's "Catching Killers" is a true crime docuseries that focuses on real life serial killers throughout North America, and the grueling effort it took for police to track them down and bring them to justice. The series has covered some of the most infamous serial killer manhunts in history, including the decades-long investigation into the Green River Killer, and 30 year search for the BTK killer.
Where the two previous seasons of "Catching Killers" focused almost exclusively on high-profile serial murderers, Season 3 also explores one of history's most infamous bombers, and a pair of snipers who went on an unprovoked shooting spree throughout the United States capital. The criminals featured in Season 3 include "The Railroad Killer," the "New York Zodiac Killer," the "Olympic Park Bomber," and the "DC Sniper," each of whom committed heinous acts of violence and found themselves on the receiving end of an extensive police investigation. Here's everything you need to know about the real life killers featured in "Catching Killers" Season 3.
The Railway Killer traveled the continent by train-hopping
Season 3 begins with "The Railroad Killer," Ángel Maturino Reséndiz, a serial murderer and rapist who was active during the late 1980s and the entire 1990s. Reséndiz earned his nickname due to the fact that his crimes all took place near railroads and his frequent habit of illegally hopping on and off trains that traveled through Mexico, the United States, and Canada.
Reséndiz murdered at least 15 people all across North America and was a suspect in 23 different murders; most of the victims were bludgeoned to death with a variety of different weapons and items, or shot with a shotgun or pistol. Reséndiz's train-hopping prowess allowed him to murder indiscriminately across the entire continent, and before his arrest, he appeared on the FBI's list of "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives." Despite U.S. Customs raids that targeted boxcars across the nation, Reséndiz evaded police capture for nearly a decade before eventually turning himself in. Reséndiz was executed via lethal injection on June 27, 2006, bringing his continent-wide killing spree to an abrupt end.
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The New York Zodiac killed people based on their astrological signs
The second murderer featured in "Catching Killers" Season 3 is Heriberto "Eddie" Seda, who was known as "The New York Zodiac" and who killed three people in New York City during the early '90s. Seda earned his nickname for his habit of targeting victims based on their zodiac signs, something he confessed in one of his many taunting letters to police.
The nickname also draws comparisons to the Zodiac killer, who some believe served as an inspiration to Seda due to his letters and apparent obsession with zodiac symbols. Eddie Seda shot eight different people from 1990 to 1993, critically wounding five and killing three, and using a self-constructed "zip gun" that he believed would help him evade police detection. The investigation (as chronicled in "Catching Killers") eventually tracked Seda to his mother's home in Eastern New York City, after he shot his half-sister in the buttocks during a heated argument.
Seda barricaded himself inside and endured a brief standoff with police before surrendering, and was described as a "recluse obsessed with guns and the Bible" in a subsequent news story by the New York Times. Eddie Seda's strange astrological agenda and homemade firearms certainly make him one of the oddest serial killers to be featured in "Catching Killers," and one who was thankfully brought to justice before he could terrorize the city any further.
The Olympic Park Bomber injured 100 people and killed two during the 1996 Summer Olympics
"Catching Killers" Season 3, Episode 3, moves away from serial killers to focus on the domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph, who would become known as the "Olympic Park Bomber" for his actions at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
On July 27, 1996, Rudolph ignited a pipe bomb at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, in what would become known later as the "Centennial Olympic Park bombing." The bomb killed two people and injured more than 100 other attendees. Rudolph has since claimed that the attack was politically motivated, having chosen to bomb the Summer Olympics as a protest against abortion and "the ideals of global socialism."Rudolph perpetrated three more bombings during the mid to late '90s. These included two attacks on abortion clinics in Sandy Springs, Georgia, and Birmingham, Alabama, respectively, and the bombing of an Atlanta-based lesbian bar.
Rudolph's investigation and subsequent arrest are particularly significant due to the wrongful accusations the FBI leveled at security guard Richard Jewell, which were chronicled in Clint Eastwood's 2019 biopic, "Richard Jewell," and Discovery's "Manhunt: Deadly Games." A nationwide manhunt ended in 2003 when Rudolph was captured and arrested by police, and he will spend the remainder of his life behind bars in Colorado.
The DC Snipers went on an indiscriminate rampage in 2002
The final killer to be featured in Season 3 of "Catching Killers" is "The DC Sniper," a supposed shooter who went on a murder spree throughout the Washington metropolitan area during 2002. In actuality, "The DC Sniper" was two separate people: expert marksman and Gulf War veteran John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo.
Having murdered seven people and injured seven more in sporadic, unpredictable shootings earlier in the year, in October 2002, the duo began a three-week murder spree throughout Washington D.C. that left 10 more people dead and three more injured. Targets were seemingly chosen at random and robbed after they were killed, with both men killing people of all ages, races, and genders. The police investigation detailed in "Chasing Killers” eventually tracked the duo to an inconspicuous Chevrolet Caprice that they were sleeping in. The Caprice had been modified with a hidden firing port bored through the car's trunk, which allowed the duo to snipe their victims in broad daylight without detection.
Also discovered in the car was a Bushmaster XM-15 assault rifle that was used during the shootings. Several possible motives were proposed during the trial, including Malvo's claims that Muhammad wanted to kidnap children and create a terrorist army and his subsequent claims that Muhammad intended to kill white people exclusively. In the end, there was never a confirmation of Muhammad or Malvo's motivation for these heinous, random crimes, and their story in "Catching Killers" is perhaps the most frightening due to the sheer chaos they created.