Note: George Benton, Claudia's husband, said, "It's been hard. There's nothing harder I can do in life than tell my daughters their mother's been murdered."

Maturino Resendiz had admitted to brutally killing and raping the Houston-area geneticist in her upstairs bedroom in 1998. Strong DNA and fingerprint evidence linked the rail-riding killer to the case.

The coroner who performed the autopsy on Benton testified that the victim died of stab wounds and blunt trauma.

"There were three stab wounds from the back that went through the front of" Benton's body, Harris County Medical Examiner Dr. Joye Carter said. She said the stabs were so forceful, they broke several of Benton's ribs and collapsed her lungs. Her body was bruised and two bones in her right forearm also were broken, apparently while fighting off her attacker.

About three weeks later, investigators said evidence found in the Sirnics' home linked Resendez-Ramirez to the Benton case.

The Sirnics' stolen pickup truck was found May 28 by police in San Antonio.

"I saw her feet [protruding from blankets]," Frederick testified in court. "I took my right hand and hit the wall to try to get some arousal. Then I ran back and called the Jackson County sheriff."

Frederick had gotten a brief glimpse at his wife, a mother of three who cleaned for her retired parents each week. She was killed after Maturino Resendiz attacked her at the front door. Donald Frederick never saw his father-in-law's body. George Morber was tied to a chair with a telephone cord and shot in the back of the head with his own shotgun.