Rosendo Rodriguez Capital Murder Trial - Day Three Wrap-Up

Wednesday morning, prosecutors showed a video tape of Rosendo Rodriguez's interview with police in Lubbock after his San Antonio arrest. During that interview Rodriguez himself admits that he stuffed Summer Baldwin's body into a suitcase and threw it in a dumpster.

Rodriguez, who was in Lubbock for Marine Reserve training, said he met Summer Baldwin for the first time on Saturday, September 10, 2005 and did not know she was a prostitute.

Rodriguez says after training, as he drove back to the Holiday Inn Civic Center, he saw a woman pacing on the sidewalk along Avenue Q. Rodriguez said he stopped and Summer Baldwin asked to go with him. They first went to 7-11 and then to Rodriguez's hotel room - number 609. There, Rodriguez's says Baldwin cleaned herself up and she asked to be taken home.

The next night, Sunday, September 11, again after training, Rodriguez's passed Baldwin on Avenue Q. Rodriguez says this time when they went to the hotel they had sex several times, but stopped when Baldwin seemed agitated.

Rodriguez says he went to the bathroom, and when he came out, he saw Baldwin lighting a crack pipe. Shocked, Rodriguez's says he took the pipe away, and that's when Baldwin pulled a knife. A struggle ensued that Rodriguez's says lasted three to five minutes. He says he used his military training - including a choke hold - to get the knife away from Baldwin. Her nose began to bleed uncontrollably she then fell limp and he left go.

Rodriguez told police that he sat in the bathroom, in shock, for several minutes, trying to decide what to do, though he did not use his military training to try to resuscitate the 29-year-old Baldwin.

With Baldwin on the ground, face down and bleeding badly from the nose, Rodriguez's left. He then detailed his trip to Wal-Mart to get the suitcase at 3:31 Monday morning and very graphically described how he disposed of her body. He says he then came back to the hotel around 8 o'clock in the morning and slept until the afternoon.

Rodriguez says when he got up, he drove across town to the Chick-Fil-A on Slide Road, ordered two number 1's, rented the movie Star Wars and went back to the same hotel room to watch the movie.

The next day, September 13, the same day Baldwin's body was found in a Lubbock landfill, Rodriguez says he drove back to San Antonio intending to tell his father what happened but says he never found the time to do so.

After prosecutors played the tape they called their next witness, Dr. Sridhar Natarajan, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Summer Baldwin, to the stand.

Dr. Natarajan testified that Baldwin's death was caused by blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. He then began a presentation of Baldwin's extensive wounds using graphics and pictures from the autopsy.

Dr. Natarajan will be in court again Thursday to finish his testimony. NewsChannel 11 will be there as well to bring you the latest on NewsChannel 11 at 5, 6 and 10.