[77], Two weeks after the bodies were exhumed from Santa Elena, the Mexican Federal Police returned to the ranch early in the morning to burn down the shack and lay a wooden cross above the ashes. How Sarah Rector Became The 'Richest Black Girl In America' In The Early 20th Century, Who Was Ted Bundy? [90] Both were also indicted by a state jury in McAllen, along with 11 other cult members from Contanzo's organization, for importing marijuana, conspiracy to import marijuana, conspiracy to possess with the intent of distributing, and possession with the intent of distributing. After the ceremony, Kilroy's friends stated that they wished they had stayed in Texas to party instead of going to Mexico. [140] Helen Kilroy died in 2014 from ALS, aged 70.[141][142]. Businessmen and cartel members paid him for palo mayombe sacrifices, which supposedly protected them from spirits and nurtured their careers. His cult rapidly grew, with his most loyal devotee Sara Aldrete a 24-year-old student from Texas Southmost College. After learning about the Mexican cult sacrifice of Mark Kilroy, read about Richard Ramirez and the twisted Night Stalker murders. He admitted that his family grew cannabis at the Santa Elena Ranch outside of town, where Comandante Juan Benitez Ayala, of Mexicos Federal Police, discovered 75 pounds of marijuana. ' Huddleston recalled. Mark Kilroy Disappears From The Streets Of A Mexican Border Town As it turned out, one person thought they remembered seeing Mark Kilroy talking to a Mexican man who motioned him toward his truck. The policemen then proceeded to spray gasoline around the shack before setting it on fire. Helicopters and terrain vehicles of the United States Border Patrol were called to look on the Rio Grande River, but his body was not found. [91][104] Fearing that Constanzo might have purposely faked his own death, investigators conducted fingerprint analysis. [5] Reyes Bustamante, the ranch caretaker, was accused in court of cover-up; he was released from prison on 11 December 1990, after paying a bond of US$500. When the house was raided, investigators found ritualistic candles, an altar, and paperwork with Rivera's name on it. In addition, she stated she was held prisoner during Constanzo's hiding in Mexico City. The Mark Kilroy Foundation was one of the five non-profit organizations in Galveston County that receives proceeds from a bingo place in La Marque, Texas. [3][78] The Mexican government offered no official explanation for their actions, but a source close to the investigation stated that the police's motives were supernatural in nature. friend of Mark Kilroy gives haunting warning | kiiitv.com Today's post is a guest article by Andrew Orillion. Kilroy was killed with a machete blow and then had his brain removed and boiled in a pot. University of Texas student Mark Kilroy was butchered in Matamoros, just across the U.S.-Mexico border near Brownsville, Tex. In September 1999, the foundation signed an agreement with the U.S. Federal government to receive ten yearly grants of $100,000. Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe cauldron containing Kilroys brains. [29], On 10 March 1989, Kilroy's childhood friend Bradley Moore finished exams early at Texas A&M University and headed to Austin to pick him up. en.m.wikipedia.org 651 86 86 comments wings_of_predation 3 yr. ago Together they questioned informants, potential witnesses, and worked on tips provided by their sources. The police chief, however, defended his stance and stated that Alarcn's involvement with Constanzo was merely religious; he said that he was possessed with spirits at a young age and sought Constanzo for help. An average of 550 youth participate in these programs every summer. [28], Martnez Salinas, on the other hand, stated that he was forced to confess because he was a neighbor at Santa Elena and driver of the Hernndez family. [83] Rumors began to surface that Constanzo was seen in Chicago, Illinois;[5] other rumors suggested that Aldrete was spotted in schools throughout the Rio Grande Valley and that she had vowed to kidnap children for every jailed cult member. [21] His brain was then boiled in a nganga, an African metal pot that Constanzo used to stew human and animal remains. [100] He also stated that he participated in Kilroy's murder and in other killings at Santa Elena, but both agreed that Constanzo did most of the killings himself. We had warned ourselves about this many times and still didn't believe it. The checkpoint-runner then traveled out to the Santa Elena ranch outside Matamoros. [3][46], Hernndez Garca said that the slayings had been ordered by Adolfo Constanzo, a cult leader who practiced a ritual form of human sacrifice in the belief that it provided supernatural protection for the drug gang. Houston police believed that Constanzo was probably hiding in Houston because he was linked to a $20 million failed cocaine operation that was busted there in June 1988. However, it is rare for alcohol sellers to ask for an ID or deny a purchase. [m][71] Three out of the 15 bodies were never identified. The officers decided to make their move on the ranch. One of Mark Kilroys friends spoke with ValleyCentral and is still shaken about what happened to his friend. As the police surrounded his apartment complex, Constanzo died after ordering one of the cult members to kill him with a machine gun. Constanzo, of Miami, Florida, was raised practicing witchcraft, and began profiting from it after emigrating to Mexico City. [28], Two months after Kilroy was confirmed dead, his parents founded the Mark Kilroy Foundation which promotes drug awareness, education, and prevention through the "Just Say No" campaign. They wrapped his face and mouth with duct tape and walked him through a field to a storage cabin with his hands still tied around his back. [27][28] Elio reportedly offered Constanzo half of his family's drug proceeds in exchange for his criminal contacts and supernatural protection for his family. [t][103] The police also arrested Mara de Lourdes Gero Lpez and Mara del Roco Cuevas Guerra, other cultists under Constanzo, in Mexico City later that day. [1] They moved to Texas from the Midwest after their son was born. [3][32][12] They ended up at Los Sombreros, a bar with rock music and bright neon. [12] About twelve hours after Kilroy was kidnapped, Constanzo and his men came to see him. At Santa Fe High School, Kilroy excelled academically and became lifelong friends with his basketball teammates, Bill Huddleston, Bradley Moore, and Brent Martin. The women then followed Moore's car from Port Isabel to Brownsville and parked their cars close to the Gateway International Bridge before crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by foot. [105] Constanzo's 9mm Uzi submachine gun and his supposed suitcase were never formally presented by the police as seized items. Mark, by all means, sounded like a good man with a bright future. It's . Kilroy's father spoke about the murder and told the press that they were not angry with the killers. The Matamoros Cult Killings - Medium Kilroy's mother told others to pray for the murderers. They praised the efforts of the government in asking citizens what could be done to improve their country. [g][46] The vehicle had crossed the international border from Texas and sped through Mexican Federal Highway 2, which connects Matamoros and Reynosa, Tamaulipas. The individuals arrested that day were held for homicide, criminal association, wounding an officer, and damage to property. [21], The key break in the case came on 1 April 1989. [99][5] De Len later confessed that Constanzo had lost his mind and was saying that "everything was lost" and that "no one was going to have [his] money" when the police raid forced him to barricade himself in his apartment. [43] People from Kilroy's hometown travelled to Matamoros and issued fliers offering a reward to anyone who could provide information on his safe return. [11] His charisma, physical attractiveness (he previously worked as a male model), and claimed psychic talent granted him the opportunity to mingle with Mexico City's upper class. Serafn also stated that he had never met Constanzo and had no idea his family ranch was a gathering place for his cult. They argued that Constanzo used Palo Mayombe for his own financial, illicit, and psychological needs by convincing his cult members to help further his drug trafficking operations. [7] Students and teachers at her college in Brownsville recalled her as a friendly and studious physical education student who showed no signs of abnormal behavior or involvement with a religious cult. Since Kilroy's dream was to become a doctor after college, his parents decided to help others and continue his dream through this program. The police department sent 16 officers to search the area. [10] In 1984, he moved to Mexico City to start his life as a tarot card reader and eventually developed a cult following. This information was false. Friends recount spring break murder of Mark Kilroy in 1989, Deborah Wrigley reports. [7][133] For the most part, the U.S. media labeled the group as Satanist and gave little mention to the drug-related violence that was widespread in northern Mexico, thus failing to provide a wider picture of what happened at Matamoros. [126] Her version of Constanzo's death was different than the official one; she stated that Constanzo was executed by the police when they raided the apartment. Living in the same state well into college, all four remained close. He said he had known Aldrete years before, since he had dated one of her sisters when he was young. [5] This prompted the police to question people in Mexico City's homosexual community to see if they had any leads on Constanzo's whereabouts. [3][46], When the excavation was concluded, the suspects had unearthed 15 mutilated bodies including Kilroy's, all males who had been killed over a period of nine months. They believed that Kilroy's body was probably dumped in a remote location. Fenley gives safety seminars in Kilroy's memory. What a horrible way to die. [88] In the Cameron County sheriff's office, authorities released a wanted poster of Constanzo stating that he was "extremely dangerous",[89] and indicted him and Aldrete for aggravated kidnapping. [36], When the police interrogated Hernndez Garca separately, he confessed that several people, including Kilroy, had been killed over the course of several months at Santa Elena. A wire was inserted in his spinal column so that, once the body had decomposed, the bones could be pulled up from the soil easily. By the tenth year, the government intended to stop the funding and expect the foundation to be self-supporting. [80][81] He escaped with Sara Aldrete, Martn Quintana Rodrguez, Omar Francisco Orea Ochoa, and lvaro de Len Valds ("El Duby"). Sacrifice: The Tragic Cult Murder of Mark Kilroy in Matamoros : a The men left Kilroy inside the car overnight. It took a month for police to find his mutilated body. They then crossed the border thinking Kilroy may have crossed to Brownsville and was perhaps waiting near their parked car. He was taken by his abductors to a ranch where he was tortured and sodomized for hours before being murdered in a human sacrifice ritual. Serafn Sr. cooperated with U.S. officials and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. [134] Reports concluded that because human body parts were found inside a large metal pot, the group practiced cannibalism. Orea Ochoa confessed to the press that Constanzo had ordered the killing of infants and children since 1983. The Kilroys, wisely, are addressing the root cause of the living hell that so much of Mexico has become: the ravenous appetite of the United States for mind-altering drugs. Aldrete claimed to have thrown a written note from Constanzo's apartment saying she was being held prisoner and asked whoever read it to call the police. She survived to assist police in putting her attackers behind bars, but the news that those responsible were not much older than the two pre-teen girls shook the state. When they first arrived at South Padre Island, there were few people because it was very early in the five-week spring break season. [3][36] His friends searched for him for hours, even after the establishments had closed and the streets had cleared at around 4:30a.m. CT. Cult members Elio, Serafn Jr., Martnez Salinas, and Serna Valdez, received 67 years each. Some media outlets mentioned that Constanzo's cult practiced cannibalism. At a supermarket, they interrogated a shoemaker who claimed to have seen a woman who matched Aldrete's description. This bar was louder and wilder than Los Sombreros, and Kilroy and his friends stood at the bar while other tourists threw beer from the balcony. At Tarleton he became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. The film was announced in 2014, focusing a . Ponce Torres was once pulled over by sheriff deputies in Brownsville who were investigating a house. Nobody thought much of it until the three friends finished their business and realized Kilroy was gone. Some journalists made the error of attributing cannibalism with the common mistake of satanist groups sacrificing and eating human remains. He said he was not arrested at the ranch, but rather at Elio's in-law's house in Matamoros. [75], On 13 April, a religious ceremony initially intended to revive hope for Kilroy's safe return turned into a memorial service a day after his body was discovered. [137], When media coverage and allegations of Constanzo's affinity towards Satanism died down, several Afro-Cuban scholars stated that Constanzo's actions were fueled by his personal conviction and psychopathic involvement with Palo Mayombe. An FBI agent stated that the purpose of the drug indictments was to create a probable cause for a legal arrest in the U.S., so they could be extradited to Mexico for murder. Copyright 2023 KTRK-TV. [12] After a foggy, 9-hour drive to South Texas, they arrived at South Padre Island shortly before midnight. Within 48 hours, their dream vacation turned into a nightmare.
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