Episode #77
The Resendez Family - Moultrie, GA | The Highway 37 Murders: Five Lives and a Vanished Verdict
Episode 77: The Resendez Family - Moultrie, GA | The Highway 37 Murders: Five Lives and a Vanished Verdict Five people were murdered inside a Georgia home. A man received five consecutive life sentences; then, thirteen years later, he walked free. What happened to the case against Alexander Woods III, and where does that leave the family still fighting for answers? Episode Summary On November 8, 2004, five people were murdered inside a home along Georgia Highway 37, just outside Moultrie, Georgia: Jaime Resendez; his wife, Tina Resendez; their three-year-old son, Juan Carlos Resendez; Tina’s mother, Betty Faye Watts; and the family’s housekeeper and nanny, Liliana Alegria Aguilar. When several of the Resendez children returned home from school that afternoon, they discovered a scene that would follow them for the rest of their lives. Investigators initially considered whether the killings were retaliation connected to an earlier drug investigation. As the case developed, however, prosecutors presented a different theory involving a drug debt, an attempted intimidation, and a search for money that ended in five deaths. Jerry Johnny Thompson eventually pleaded guilty to murder and became the prosecution’s central witness against Alexander Woods III. In 2013, Woods was convicted of five counts of malice murder and sentenced to five consecutive life terms. But Thompson was the only witness who directly placed Woods inside the home and years later, questions about the information Woods’s attorneys failed to use when challenging Thompson’s credibility placed the entire conviction in jeopardy. In 2021, the Supreme Court of Georgia vacated the order denying Woods a new trial and sent the case back for further review. A trial judge granted Woods a new trial in 2022. In August 2026, Woods was released after prosecutors determined they could not retry him without Thompson’s cooperation and without fingerprint or DNA evidence connecting Woods to the crime scene. Woods was not acquitted or legally exonerated, but his 2013 convictions no longer stand. Thompson remains imprisoned following his guilty plea. More than two decades after five people were killed, the legal system has been left without a current verdict deciding Woods’s guilt, and the victims’ surviving family members have once again been denied the finality they believed they had received. Anyone with firsthand information may contact the Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office at 229-616-7430, its Investigations Division at 229-616-7460, or submit information through the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s confidential online tip form. Click here to check out our new merch! A percentage of all proceeds is donated to Safe Alliance, Charlotte. Connect With Us: • Instagram: @TrueCrimeUnwind • TikTok: @TrueCrimeUnwind • Facebook @TrueCrimeUnwind Support the Show: • Rate & review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify • Share with fellow true crime fans • Tag us while you listen and let us know your theories!
