Habla Hauz
The Secret Affair Behind a Celebrity Stylist's Murder · S1 E07
CriminaliaSeason 1 · Episode 07

Criminalia

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About Criminalia

Criminalia revisits disappearances and unresolved cases through timelines, testimony, and evidence that continue to challenge a definitive explanation.

Creator
Habla Hauz
Subject
Missing persons
Genres
True Crime
Languages
English · Portuguese · Spanish
Format
7 episodes · 1 season

Season 1

7 episodes
Episode 0221 minFourteen Days of The Railroad KillerJuly 13th, 1999. On a bridge over the Rio Grande, the most wanted man in America walks up to a lone Texas Ranger and shakes his hand. No guns, no struggle. The largest manhunt in the country ends with a handshake. For two years, Ángel Maturino Reséndiz had been killing people in homes beside railroad tracks — a pediatric neurologist in Houston, a pastor and his wife in a small Texas town, a college student in Kentucky — and then vanishing on freight trains that keep no passenger list. Police in three states were hunting him under a name that wasn't his. And six weeks before that handshake, U.S. Border Patrol had him in custody, in handcuffs — and let him walk out the door. Four people died in the fourteen days that followed. This episode traces how a soft-spoken, unremarkable man moved through the blind spots between three separate government systems, how a sister's phone call and a Ranger's patience finally brought him in, and how one survivor from the tracks in Kentucky refused to let him be the end of her story. Criminalia — Every crime leaves a story.
Episode 0323 minThe Sodder Children DisappearanceOn Christmas morning in 1945, the Sodder family home burned to the ground in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Five children were presumed dead—but the search uncovered no remains the family could bury. A missing ladder, severed telephone line, conflicting witness accounts, disputed bone fragments, and a mysterious photograph raised questions that George and Jennie Sodder pursued for the rest of their lives. This episode examines the evidence, the failures of the original investigation, and the enduring mystery of what happened to the five Sodder children.
Episode 0428 minThe Unsolved Death of Cindy JamesFor seven years, Cindy James reported threatening calls, break-ins, attacks, and a stalker no investigator could identify. Some believed she was being terrorized by a patient and calculating offender. Others suspected she was staging the incidents herself. Then, in 1989, Cindy disappeared and was found dead with her hands and feet bound behind her back and a nylon stocking around her neck. Was she murdered, or did the truth lie somewhere else? This episode examines the contradictory evidence, the growing police skepticism, and a death officially attributed to an “unknown event.”
Episode 0722 minThe Secret Affair Behind a Celebrity Stylist's MurderIn Woodland Hills, the murder of Fabio Sementilli initially appeared to be a burglary gone wrong. But a secret affair between his wife Monica and racquetball coach Robert Baker, combined with DNA evidence and surveillance footage, unraveled a conspiracy to kill for financial gain. This gripping episode reveals the truth behind the staged robbery and the complex betrayal that led to a life sentence for Monica.