Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of assault and murder. Reader discretion is advised.
An episode of People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer, titled “Surviving the Railroad Killer,” will air on ID on Sunday, May 12, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET. It will feature the crimes of the Railroad Killer with significant accounts from Holly Dunn, the killer’s sole survivor. A synopsis of the episode reads, “A new romance between two college students derails when a sadist attacks them during a nighttime walk by the railroad tracks; only one of them lives, and she turns out to be the sole survivor of a serial murderer known as the Railroad Killer.”
Angel Maturino Resendiz, who is widely known as the Railroad Killer, was linked to at least 15 murders of people who lived in railroad towns across the country during the late 1990s. Holly Dunn was the sole survivor of the serial killer and was the primary witness during his trial. However, Resendiz was only convicted of first-degree murder in relation to one of the murders he was accused of, and the court subsequently sentenced him to death, according to Fox News.
On August 28, 1997, Holly Dunn, who had just enrolled at the University of Kentucky, was out with her new boyfriend, Christopher Maier. The couple had attended a party, after which they were walking by the rail tracks. However, the Railroad Killer suddenly attacked them, which resulted in Christopher Maier’s death, but Dunn survived the attack. This was one of the many attacks on the railroad tracks that Resendiz was responsible for. After his trial, in which Dunn was an important witness, he was sentenced to death. He was executed in 2006, as per a report by ABC 13.
How did Holly Dunn survive the Railroad Killer?
The outlet reported that the Railroad Killer tied the couple up and hit Maier on the head with a rock repeatedly. Maier was killed on the spot. He then sexually assaulted and stabbed Dunn. He assumed she was dead and left her there, but Dunn survived. She was reportedly covered in blood, had her jaw broken, and could barely talk. She made it to a house nearby, and they called for help. An ambulance arrived and she was rushed to the hospital where her parents were called.
CBS News reported that Holly Dunn spent five days in the hospital before she returned home. At the crime scene where Dunn and Maier were attacked, police found her belt, which the killer used to tie her hands. He also tied her feet together. While she reportedly managed to free her hands, she couldn’t untie her feet. In a ditch near the crime scene, authorities also found one of her sandals. She then walked barefoot on a rocky path that also had broken glass on it. Dunn did this until she found help after Resendiz left.
Holly Dunn then became an active advocate of victims’ rights and shared her experience of surviving a violent attack widely. She encourages victims to seek justice and speak out about their experiences. According to Fox News, she also talks about the nuances of surviving a brutal attack and how that could affect the victim. She wrote a book titled, “Sole Survivor,” in which she talks about her experience of recovery and healing from the incident.
People Magazine Investigates: Surviving a Serial Killer will air on ID on Sunday, May 12, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET.
