Casefile True Crime - Case 123: Mark Kilroy

Episode Date: September 7, 2019

When 21-year-old Mark Kilroy and a group of his friends headed to South Padre Island in Texas for Spring Break, all they had in mind was sun, sand and celebration. However, when they crossed the border into the Mexican city of Matamoros to party with their fellow college students, things soon took a dark turn. --- Episode narrated by the Anonymous Host Episode researched by Erin Munro  Episode written by Elsha McGill and Milly Raso Creative Director: Milly Raso For all credits and sources please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-123-mark-kilroy

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Music Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. 21 year old University of Texas student Mark Kilroy was excited about spring break. 1989 had been a busy year for the pre-med student and he was looking forward to some downtime before taking his upcoming medical college admission test. Mark had made plans with three old high school friends to head to South Padre Island on the southern coastal tip of Texas. A trip he had made for spring break twice before.

Bordered by the Gulf of Mexico to the east and to the long shallow Laguna Madre to the west, South Padre Island boasts a warm subtropical climate typical of the area. After sustaining severe damage from Hurricane Bula in 1967, the island's town was rebuilt with resorts and condos cropping up along the coastline. A tourism boom in the late 1980s established South Padre Island as a popular vacation destination, especially for young spring breakers. In March 1989 alone, the island's population rose from 1,000 to 250,000 as students from all over the United States arrived for a week of beachside partying. Mark Kilroy and his friend Bradley Moore had been discussing spring break since the beginning of the fall semester. The pair attended different Texas-based universities but maintained their friendship by phoning each other at least twice a week. On Friday, March 10, Bradley picked Mark up from his campus in Austin to begin their journey to South Padre Island. They then collected Bill Huddleston and Brett Martin.

All four were longtime friends having played basketball and baseball together in high school before disbanding after graduation. They hadn't seen much of each other since and the trip afforded them a long-awaited catch-up. During the four-hour drive to the island, they discussed their upcoming plans for the summer and reflected on how it would likely be their last time in Texas together. The group checked into the Sheraton Hotels and Resorts around mid-morning on Saturday, March 11. Spring break had only just begun and the hotel was still quiet but staff had removed the furniture in the lobby in preparation for the influx of students. Their first two days were spent at the beach behind their hotel, taking advantage of the free entertainment on offer including concerts, movies and parties. Four days into the break on Tuesday, March 14, Lieutenant George Gavito was on duty at the Brownsville Sheriff's Office in Southern Texas when three young men arrived wanting to speak to somebody about one of their friends.

Bradley Moore, Bill Huddleston and Brett Martin informed the Lieutenant that Mark Kilroy was missing. On the second night of their vacation, Mark's group ventured to the city of Matamoros in northeastern Mexico. Located in the state of Tama-Lepus on the bank of the Rio Grande River, Matamoros is directly across the border from the city of Brownsville on the southernmost tip of Texas. With a population of over a million people, Matamoros was a hotspot for drug trafficking but was considered a safe destination for travelers. The area offered cheap alcohol and lax drinking laws, drawing America's youth to the festive local bars, nightclubs and restaurants. Moving between Brownsville and Matamoros required crossing over the Rio Grande via the Gateway International Bridge, an official port of entry along the two countries' borders. On Sunday, March 12, 1989, Mark Kilroy and his crew drove to Brownsville where they left their car before walking across the Gateway International Bridge into Mexico. They spent the night socializing at Sergeant Pepper's nightclub until around 2.30am when they returned to Texas and made their way back to South Padre Island.

The group decided to venture back to Matamoros the following night of Monday, March 13. The city was a hive of activity, with approximately 15,000 spring breakers traversing the crowded main streets. The four friends wandered down the first thoroughfare after the bridge, the nightclub-lined Avenida Álvaro Obregon. Bill Huddleston described the area. It was like an amusement park but without the rides. It was one big thrill, the energy that was created by thousands and thousands of students. They entered the bar with the shortest line out front, Los Sombreros, then headed to the Hard Rock Cafe where Mark met some girls and separated from his friends. The crowds were dispersing by 2am and Bill suggested to Bradley and Brent that they go back to their hotel.

The trio exited the bar and spotted Mark talking to a girl he had befriended on South Padre Island days earlier. He rejoined the group as they slowly made their way down the few blocks towards the Gateway International Bridge. The four tried to stay close to one another in a shoulder-to-shoulder formation but inevitably split into pairs as they navigated the thousands of intoxicated students moving aimlessly around the street. Bradley and Brent were ahead with Bill and Mark a few yards behind. When they reached the front of Garcia's, a one-story red and grey brick building that served as a local watering hole and gift shop, Mark stopped to say goodbye to the girl he'd been speaking to as Bill ran off to find somewhere secluded to urinate. When Bill re-emerged, Mark was nowhere to be seen. Assuming he must have continued onwards, Bill reached the bridge where Bradley and Brent were waiting. They called out for Mark but he didn't appear.

They were immediately concerned. Mark wasn't the type to abandon the group or go elsewhere without telling them. Thinking Mark may have already crossed the bridge, his friends returned to Brownsville but he wasn't waiting by their car as anticipated. After waiting several minutes, they headed back into Matamoros to search for him. They scoured the nightclubs and bars until 4.30am by which point the streets were mostly empty but they couldn't find Mark anywhere. The trio drove back to South Padre Island hoping he had returned to their hotel on his own but there was no sign of him there either. The group considered the possibility that Mark had been thrown in jail and returned to Matamoros the following day to check the local police stations but to now avail. Officers expressed little concern as visiting students were often reported missing while partying in town but typically reappeared unharmed a few days later with nothing more than a hangover. Certain this wasn't the case with Mark, his friends went back to Brownsville to speak with police there.

Lieutenant George Gavito suggested that Mark may have left with the girl he had spent the night talking to but his friends insisted he was not that type of person and would never leave without telling them his plans. Lieutenant Gavito filed a missing persons report and Bill, Brent and Bradley visited the US consulate while intermittently returning to their hotel to check if Mark had returned. When Mark hadn't shown up by 11pm on Tuesday night they contacted his parents, James and Helen. The Kilroy family were close knit with Mark the eldest of two sons. Bill Huddleston recalled feeling a tremendous sense of loss breaking the news as the reality of the situation sunk in. Mark's unexplained disappearance was of great concern to his parents as their clean cut firstborn was not a big partier nor was he a loo for careless but a leader who always gave 110%. He excelled both academically and athletically as a former boy scout, honours student and student council member who was skilled at basketball, baseball and golf. Following high school, Mark earned a basketball scholarship that he put aside to focus on his goal to become a general practice doctor.

His former high school basketball coach Terry Ray stated, You always knew whatever he was doing out there, if it was Mark, it would be okay. Mark's uncle worked at the US Custom Service in Los Angeles and to use his connections to draw more attention to his nephew's disappearance. A task force to front the search was established in Brownsville despite American police having no jurisdiction to investigate in Mexico. Mexican police attempted to shift blame by alleging Mark had disappeared in Texas even though his friends firmly denied these claims. Realising the incident made discourage spring breakers from returning to Matamoros, government officials pressured local police to act. Within 48 hours of Mark's disappearance, the Mexican federal and state judicial police joined the US task force as investigators on both sides of the border checked hotels, hospitals, jails and morgues. After three days of unsuccessful searching, Mark's friends were asked to re-enact the events leading to his disappearance.

As the last one to have seen Mark, Bill Huddleston was placed under hypnosis to see if his subconscious memory had retained any key details. He described walking past Garcia's and sighting a Hispanic male with a cut on his cheek and wearing a blue plaid shirt. The stranger motioned to Mark in English and he stopped to talk. Later, Bill told the Washington Post newspaper that he heard the man ask, Hey, don't I know you from somewhere? Bill clarified, it was just a glimpse. I don't even know if Mark answered him. Within days, texts and newspapers were reporting on the baffling case. The Kilroy family offered a $5,000 reward for information with James and Helen voicing concerns that their son may have been abducted.

Helen explained, I'm extremely worried about him because he's pretty responsible. Being the person that he is, he would have contacted us or his friends. Mark was of legal drinking age and had joined his friends in consuming alcohol, but he had no interest in drugs. A devout Catholic, he took his faith seriously, often carrying a Bible that he'd read between studying. Although outgoing and fun, he was cautious and safe. Brent Martin, quote, I've known the guy ever since kindergarten. He wouldn't go off and just not call us. He's really smart. That's why this whole thing is so weird. Because as smart as he is, he would figure out a way to get in touch with us.

Police were starting to suspect Mark may have been attacked, robbed or fallen victim to drug-related violence and checked Matamoros' shanty towns and colonies known for their high crime rates. Bill Huddleston's hypnosis-induced memories led some to theorize Mark had been murdered as part of a botched kidnapping for ransom plot. As many tourists were still coming and going from the city, authorities were urged to solve the case quickly to ensure no one else felt victim to a similar fate. James Kilroy arrived in Brownsville, spending long hours each day speaking with investigators, developing strong connections with local reporters and handing out missing person flyers in South Padre and Matamoros, assisted by volunteers. Helen Kilroy remained by their home phone in nearby Santa Fe in case it rang with any news. Convinced that her son was being held against his will, she felt a haunting sense that he was being harmed every time she read her Bible. Quote, I've really felt strongly that somehow he's being hurt right now. I kept reading that nothing is impossible with God.

I feel like Mark's going to come back to us. Whoever has him, I just don't want them to be so frightened that they would fatally hurt Mark. We don't have any anger toward that person. We just want Mark back. With everyone praying like this, I don't see how the Lord can refuse us. By Saturday, March 18, 80 officers were involved in the search. A police helicopter scanned the banks of the Rio Grande River as officers in four-wheel drives combed the brush-covered countryside on both sides of the border. 15 criminals known to operate in the area were questioned, including pickpockets and drug dealers. Possible links to other crimes committed over the spring break period were examined, including the murder of a Mexican truck driver, the abduction and sexual assault of a young American woman, and the violent robbery of another student, all of which occurred within five blocks of the Gateway International Bridge. In Brownsville, fundraisers increased the reward pool to $15,000, which was a significant amount in Matamoros, where daily wages averaged around $2 to $3.

But despite the reward and investigative efforts, leads were already drying up. Almost two weeks after Mark vanished, his disappearance was featured in a 10-minute segment of Fox Television's America's Most Wanted that was broadcast in the U.S. and Mexico, generating a total of 2,000 calls from the public. A Mexican woman called to implicate her boyfriend, a Matamoros police officer who spoke of arresting a drunk American, fitting Mark's description. After a failed attempt to extort money from the American, the officer shot him. As police corruption was a serious problem in Mexico, investigators honed in on an officer with ties to the criminal underworld, but he was ultimately ruled out. Calls placed Mark at various Mexican beaches, while some saw him in the company of a woman, and others claimed he was restrained. Investigators noticed that references to occult rituals and sacrifices kept cropping up, including a letter delivered to police that was covered in scribblings of pentagrams and other symbols. It featured a single sentence in Spanish that translated to, Mark was not the first.

Helen Kilroy received a collect call from a man identifying himself as Danny, claiming to have seen Mark at a drug dealer's house in the city of Houston, Texas. Danny demanded $10,000 for all the information he knew. Helen agreed and arranged to meet him outside a gas station at 5pm the following day. Covert police officers overseeing the exchange noted several suspicious people milling around, but Danny did not approach. Another call came later that night, this time from a man calling himself Junior, who had noticed the police presence at the drop site. A second exchange was arranged for the next day at a nearby cemetery. Junior threatened to cut off Mark's fingers and send them to Helen if the police were notified this time. At 5pm on April 6, Helen went to the cemetery as arranged, once again under covert surveillance, but no one came forward to collect the ransom.

Investigators traced the calls to phones inside the Galveston County Jail in Texas. They were positioned in the souls of two inmates, Robert Miller and Wilton Smith, and were only supposed to be used to contact family and attorneys. Both men were serving time for burglary, and Miller had previously been charged with extortion after attempting to scam money from the family of missing teenager Shelly Sykes, who had disappeared three years earlier. Assured by government officials that efforts to find his son would persist, James Kilroy returned home. Mayor Jack Long encouraged Santa Fe residents to wear yellow ribbons in support of the Kilroy family, with benefits, auctions, garage sales and bake sales held to increase the reward pool. US customs agent Oren Neck told the media, This is definitely one of the most difficult cases I've ever dealt with. There appears to be no motive, no nothing. On Saturday, April 1, police in Matamoros set up a routine traffic stop on Mexican Federal Highway 2 to check passing cars but narcotics.

In the late afternoon, a red pickup truck traveling from Texas sped through the checkpoint, with the young, dark-haired driver ignoring the signs and armed officers alerting vehicles to pull over. One of the officers recognized the pickup's driver as a regular at bars downtown, 20-year-old Seraphine Hernandez Rivera, described as a loud-mouthed punk. The Hernandez family had been in the drug trade for over a decade and had ties to powerful dealers, but were only considered mid-level smugglers themselves. Seraphine was a US citizen and lived in Brownsville, where his father ran the American side of their operations, including the transportation of a thousand pounds of marijuana from Mexico each week. He was close to his Matamoros-based uncle, 22-year-old Elio Hernandez Rivera, the organization's leader. Undercover officers in an unmarked police vehicle tailed Seraphine 20 miles west, arriving at a small cattle ranch titled Rancho Santa Helena. They pulled off the main road and kept a watch from a distance. When Seraphine left the property 30 minutes later, they drove down the half-mile-long dirt driveway and pulled up to a large, corrugated steel warehouse with a red-brown wooden shack to its left, pens for livestock, and a number of new and high-end cars and trucks parked out the front.

A man approached and introduced himself as Domingo, the ranch's caretaker. The officers pretended they were lost and in need of directions. As one spoke with Domingo, another got out and examined a blue Chevrolet Suburban SUV that was parked nearby. It was fitted with a car phone, which was a luxury feature in 1989, and contained traces of marijuana. There was also a cement statue in the vehicle with an evil-looking pointed head and facial features made of seashells. Sensing the caretaker was becoming nervous, the officers left the scene. Although they had been under the impression that Hernandez family's drug-smuggling network was on the wane, the expensive vehicles at the ranch led police to believe they were back in business. The property was put under surveillance and agents were sent out to determine the group's activities, size, and connections.

Meanwhile, the statue in the blue Chevrolet was identified as a legua, a guard from Palo, an Afro-Cuban religion devoted to earthly powers and the worship of spirits. A legua was considered a trickster and a deity of the roads. Worshipers believed making offerings to him would protect them on their travels. Just over a week later on Sunday, April 9, police stormed Rancho Santa Elena and found 64 pounds of marijuana and several firearms. Seraphine, his uncle Elio, and two other men, David, Serna, Valdez, and Sergio Martinez Salinas, were placed under arrest for drug trafficking. The four men were interrogated into the early hours, but each maintained relaxed demeanors and refused to answer questions. The ranch's caretaker, Domingo Bustamante, arrived for work that morning unaware that his employers had been arrested. When questioned by police, Domingo said roughly three to four weeks prior, a tall blonde-haired young man was in the back of the blue Chevrolet suburban, bound and blindfolded. The captive spoke English, which Domingo couldn't understand as he only spoke Spanish.

He was kept in the vehicle overnight, and feeling sorry for him, Domingo fed him and gave him water. The bosses took the prisoner away in the morning, and Domingo didn't know what happened to him after that. When shown a photo of Mark Kilroy, Domingo stated, Yes, that's him. Following this revelation, police intensified their interrogations of the four men in custody until Seraphine finally cracked. He explained that the group belonged to a religious sect led by a Cuban-American sorcerer named Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, referred to as their godfather. Over the previous months, Constanzo had ordered his followers to conduct several sacrificial rituals, believing they would bring strength, abundance, immunity from injury, and protection from law enforcement. In a calm and deadpan manner, Seraphine revealed that Mark Kilroy had been killed as part of these rituals.

Quote, It was our religion. Our voodoo. The following day of Tuesday, April 11, investigators from Mexico and the United States descended on Rancho Santa Elena. They escorted Seraphine to the property, whose ongoing, relaxed demeanor irked Mexican officers, who beat him with their clubs and hands, believing he lacked remorse or fear of consequences. Investigators approached the wooden shack alongside the warehouse and were met with the stench of death. The Mexican police expressed hesitancy to go inside due to their fear of witchcraft. Superstition and belief in the occult were fairly widespread in Mexico, with people from all backgrounds believing in witches, shamans, and sorcerers, as well as negative auras, curses, and spells.

Herbs, potions, charms, and magical amulets were sold in markets, and rituals were performed to cure or repel a variety of afflictions and dilemmas. Seraphine was taken into the shack, where officers found two lit candles on the floor, indicating that someone had been inside as recently as that morning. Near the candles, four kettles contained a dead rooster, a goat's head, a turtle, coins, twigs, and an alegua statue. The floor was littered with tequila bottles, coins, half-smoked cigars, and chili peppers. Dried blood was spattered everywhere, and two bloody wires hung from a beam above, which Seraphine explained were used to hold people by their wrists while their blood was drained. An iron cauldron sat in the centre of the room, later identified as an nganga, a religious receptacle central to the Paolo religion, believed to be inhabited by a spirit of the dead who acts as a guide for all ceremonies performed with the nganga. The rancho Santa Elena nganga was filled with what was described as a soup, made from sticks, a goat's head, chicken feet, bones, a turtle, herbs, a horseshoe, coins, blood, strands of hair, and what appeared to be human remains. Seraphine said Mark Kilroy's brains were in the pot.

The Mexican investigators forced him to drag it outside, and to then immediately conduct a ceremony to drive away the evil spirits, firing their machine guns into the air before rushing into the shack to destroy its contents, dousing everything in holy water. American investigators were stunned by the actions of their Mexican counterparts, and their lack of concern for maintaining the integrity of the crime scene or photographing it before its destruction, but were reluctant to intervene. After the shack's contents had been destroyed, the police asked Seraphine where Mark was buried. He gestured to a spot in one of the livestock pens and said, over there, in the corner. Protruding two to three feet out of the dirt was a long piece of wire, which Seraphine claimed was attached to Mark's spinal cord, so that once his body had decomposed, they would be able to pull it out and wear it as a necklace. Seraphine was handed a shovel and forced to dig up Mark's remains himself. As it worked, he remarked, I don't know why they're making such a big deal of this one here. There's another guy buried over there, and another guy buried over there. When asked to clarify this statement, Seraphine responded, oh yeah, we have other people buried out here. The Mexican migraine pain two ways. Introducing new Advil Plus Acetaminophen. It combines two of the most trusted pain fighting ingredients into one convenient tablet.

Ibuprofen targets pain at the source, and Acetaminophen blocks pain signals, providing fast, effective pain relief for up to eight hours. Conquer headaches fast with the dual action pain fighting relief of new Advil Plus Acetaminophen, now available across Canada. Mark Kilroy's mouth had been taped shut, and there was a gaping wound at the rear of his skull, which had been emptied of brain matter. His legs had been severed at the knees. Seraphine explained this was to make burial easier. Investigators noticed other lumps of dirt throughout the pens, and soon realized they were standing in the midst of a killing field. The four suspects were forced to dig up the remaining bodies at gunpoint, with officers telling them, you'll do it with your hands if you have to. A press conference was held in Brownsville, where County Sheriff Alex Perez explained, it was horrible, it was like a human slaughterhouse. Lieutenant George Gavito added, I've been an investigator for 15 years, and it's one of the worst things I've ever seen.

In total, seven victims were uncovered in the pen, and six more throughout the property. All were male and had been severely mutilated. Several had been skinned, and one was charred. A second farm owned by the Hernandez family called Rancho Los Leones, located two miles south, was also searched, resulting in the discovery of two more bodies. Within 48 hours of news breaking about the mass grave, all the hotel rooms and rental cars in the Rio Grande Valley were booked out, as reporters from across the world flocked to cover the story. Journalists described to those involved as satanic drug smugglers and cannibals, reporting that the cauldron in the shack was used to prepare brains, hearts, and other organs for consumption. On Wednesday, April 12, the four accused, Seraphine Hernandez-Garcia, Elio Hernandez-Rivera, David Cerno Valdez, and Sergio Martinez-Selinas, were paraded across a balcony at the Mexican Federal Judicial Police headquarters in Matamoros. The informal press conference turned into a raucous affair, as the men fielded questions from the hundreds of international reporters gathered below. Elio explained they acted because of their religion, describing himself as his cult's ordained executioner priest.

A police officer pulled down Elio's shirt, revealing carvings across his arms, chest, and back, which Elio said represented his license to kill. The perpetrators sincerely believed their rituals had made them impervious to the police, with Seraphine challenging an officer to shoot him then and there. Go ahead, your bullets will just bounce off. Arrest warrants were issued for other alleged cult members, including its ringleader, 26-year-old Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo. A paper trail revealed that the morning after Seraphine and his co-accused were taken into custody, Constanzo and three of his followers boarded a flight from Texas to Mexico City, but their current whereabouts were unknown. Constanzo was born and raised in Miami by his Cuban mother, Dalia. Throughout his childhood, Constanzo travelled with his mother to Haiti, where he'd learned about and developed an interest in voodoo. By age 14, he apprenticed a local practitioner of Mayambe, a branch of the Paolo religion, considered to be the world's most powerful and feared form of black magic. Constanzo's neighbours in Miami, who fell foul of the family, started finding headless goats and chickens on their doorsteps, believed to have been left by Dalia, who they suspected to be a witch.

Constanzo eventually relocated to Mexico City, where he pursued modelling work while supporting himself financially by reading tarot cards. He amassed followers from all walks of life, several of whom became his lovers. By the time he was in his early 20s, Constanzo had established himself as a powerful godfather, performing spells for people down on their luck. His customers included physicians, politicians, models, film stars and police officers. His spells often required animal sacrifices, ranging from roosters, goats and snakes to zebras and lion cubs. The latter cost him upwards of $3,000. He even raided a graveyard to obtain human bones to use in his potions. Constanzo had learnt from his own occult godfather, who had earned his riches from drug dealers, discovering he could profit from the foolishness of others. He dedicated himself to spirits associated with criminals and criminal activity, and began offering drug cartels, spells of protection from rivals and law enforcement.

This earned him large amounts of money and clout. In 1987, he approached one of his biggest clients, requesting to become a full business partner with a 50% cut of sales. When his request was denied, the cartel leader and six of his family members and associates were found floating in the Rio de Zampango Canal with multiple body parts missing, including toes, ears, parts, testicles, brains and in one case, a spine. In July 1987, Constanzo met a college student named Sarah Aldrete, who had romantic links to drug dealers, and soon indoctrinated the 22-year-old into his religious practices. Aldrete's classmates noticed a dramatic shift in her personality, as the otherwise polite, straight A student had seemingly become an expert on witchcraft and black magic overnight. She started wearing black clothing and preaching the powers of darkness and light. At her parents' house in Matamoros, she decorated her bedroom with a cult paraphernalia, including an altar she prayed before every night. Constanzo made Aldrete a high priestess and his second in command, the godmother of his cult, and in November that year, she put him in touch with the Hernandez family.

The Hernandez family turned to Constanzo following the murder of their ringleader, Saúl Hernandez Rivera, who had been gunned down presumably by rival drug dealers. Constanzo told the family that dedicating themselves to Palo Mayombe would grow their business, eliminate their enemies and make them invincible to law enforcement. In exchange, he required 50% of their profits and co-ownership of the business. They agreed, and in early 1989, Elio, Seraphine and several others were initiated into Constanzo's cult, undergoing rituals involving animal sacrifice. Business increased, strengthening their belief in the practice. Constanzo moved his headquarters to Rancho Santa Elena, where the rituals escalated to include human sacrifices. Constanzo told his flock that mutilation and pain were essential to Palo Mayombe and that the spirits he worshipped would be further appeased if their sacrifice died in agony. He then introduced Sodomy to their list of torches.

Over a nine-month period, the cult killed mostly rival drug dealers and others who had crossed them. In one instance, they planned to sacrifice a former member, but he pulled out a gun and was promptly shot dead. Angered by this botched ritual, Elio ordered his men to abduct the first person they could find so the sacrifice could still go ahead. They brought him a boy with a burlap sack over his head, and Elio hastily decapitated him, only to discover that it was his 14-year-old cousin. In February 1989, Constanzo stole 800 kilograms of marijuana from a rival gang. To ensure its safe shipment across the Rio Grande, he ordered another human sacrifice. On Monday, March 13, a drug dealer was taken to Rancho Santa Helena, with each cult member taking turns cutting and kicking him, but their captive didn't make a sound during the attack. The silence irritated Constanzo as he believed suffering and pain were essential to gain power from the ritual, so he started skinning the man alive.

When he still refused to scream, Constanzo executed him with a machete, deeming the sacrifice worthless. He demanded his followers bring him another victim, someone with a good brain that he could feed to the spirits that lived inside his engaga to make them smarter. He told his followers, bring me someone I can use, someone who will scream. At around 1.30 am on March 14, Seraphine and another cult member drove into Matamoros and reached the main strip of Avenida Alvaro Obregon, where they spotted Mark Kilroy outside of Garcia's. They pulled up alongside him and asked if he needed a ride. Mark admitted he was drunk and requested a lift to Brownsville to meet up with his friends. Seraphine agreed and Mark climbed into the pickup. As they approached the Gateway International Bridge, Seraphine made a right turn onto a bumpy road framed by a high dirt levee that ran parallel with the Rio Grande.

He stopped the car in a parking lot and Mark was left alone as his two companions got out to urinate. Realizing something wasn't right, Mark scrambled out of the truck and took off in the direction of the border, even though the levee made it impossible to cross. As he ran, David, Serna, Valdez and Sergio Martinez-Selinas arrived, following behind in the blue Chevrolet suburban. They chased Mark down and ordered him to freeze, telling him he was under arrest for public intoxication. Mark stopped and was bound and blindfolded with duct tape, then forced into the back of the Chevy. By the time the group returned to the ranch, it was almost 3am. Seraphine gave Mark some crackers and water, reassuring him that nothing was going to happen. He then phoned his godmother, Sara Aldrete, telling her,

We've done what he asked for. Early the next morning, Mark was removed from the truck and placed in a hammock between two trees. By midday, eight more cult members had arrived to participate in the sacrificial ceremony, including Constanzo, Elio and Aldrete. Constanzo believed women were bad luck for worship, and as the other men would be naked during the ritual, Aldrete was required to stay outside. Mark was taken into the wooden shack where he was forced to kneel before Constanzo and endure extreme acts of torture and sexual assault. Seraphine claimed he was outside when he heard a heavy thudding sound akin to the slicing of a coconut. He was then ordered to go inside the shack and, quote, take him out. Upon entering, he saw Mark Kilroy's naked body alongside a bloody machete, his head cracked open.

Seraphine could see his brain had been removed and placed inside the Anganga. He alleged Constanzo was the one who carried out the murder. Another member cut out Mark's heart, holding it up and declaring, My soul is dead, I am not a human being. Constanzo ordered Mark's legs to be cut off and he was buried in a shallow, one-metre deep grave. On Saturday, April 15, Mark Kilroy was farewell at his family's church, Our Lady of Lords. His younger brother, Keith, told the crowd of one thousand mourners. Mark loved life, he loved society, he was very trusting.

And that same society that he loved so much has taken him away from us. And because of them, we have to spend the rest of our lives without him. Reverend John the Fork declared Mark's death was not in vain, quote. God allows us to see the ugliness, the depraved and the senseless killing, so we might open our minds and hearts to become an answer to these horrible problems in the world. The Kilroy family derived comfort knowing that Mark had time to pray before his death, which had ultimately put a stop to the senseless killings. A family friend later told producers of the documentary Deadly Colts,

They honestly really, really felt like everything happened for a reason, that this was genuinely God's plan. This happened to Mark because without them finding Mark, who knows how long it would have taken to find all the other bodies. Mark was the instrument to show the evil of what this cult can do. Mark was laid to rest in the Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Dickinson, Texas, with his headstone reading. We are proud of Mark and we thank God for the way Mark was and the way we were when with him. Mark is with God.

Do not be sad for Mark, be sad for yourselves and us, because another good man is missing from our world. He was a best friend to all. The families of other victims were left equally broken. Although many suspected their loved ones had met with foul play when they vanished, it took the disappearance of an American tourist before the case received police and media attention. Despite this, the parents of the youngest victim, 14-year-old Jose Luis Garcia Luna, harbored no resentment. Jose's mother told a reporter for the Brownsville Herald,

If it weren't for the Kilroy boy, none of the other men, including my son, would ever have been found. Meanwhile, an international manhunt was underway for those responsible for the killings, with reported sightings coming from as far away as Chicago. A radio broadcast warned that Sarah Aldrete had been spotted near a school in southern Texas and had promised to kidnap and murder 10 children for every cult member that was captured. Fearful parents kept their children home from school until the threat was determined to have arisen from a prank phone call. As the cult had operations on both sides of the border, it was difficult to determine where exactly the fugitives were heading. Although records showed Constanzo and his crew had flown from Texas to Mexico City following the initial arrests,

authorities believed the leader was ultimately heading for his hometown of Miami, or perhaps to Houston, where he had links to a $20 million cocaine operation that had been busted the year prior. This speculation was leaked to the press and printed in newspapers, raising concerns that would cause the fugitives to change their plans. The homes of all members were searched and in Sarah Aldrete's bedroom, police found an altar covered in black candles with blood spattered across the wall. Using information provided by Elio, the police were able to pinpoint two apartments in Mexico City that were owned by Constanzo. The first was in Addis Aben de Saragosa, a municipality located 15 miles out of the city. It contained expensive electronics, furniture, clothing, and two clean altars. Two journals found in a desk drawer detailed the prices of Constanzo's spells, along with other indecipherable symbols.

The second apartment was in the affluent Mexico City neighborhood of Colonia, Roma. A room at the rear of the property contained an altar similar to the one at Rancho Santa Elena. Cigars, peppers, and liquor bottles were strewn across the floor, and the room reaped of death, with bowls containing the remains of chickens, goats, and turtles. A purse and other items belonging to Sarah Aldrete were also found, leading some to speculate whether Constanzo had murdered her prior to fleeing. Others believed these items were intentionally left behind to throw investigators off track. Police also found a clothing receipt addressed to another of the wanted cult members, Omar Orea. They went to the address listed on the slip, a tall building of luxury condos in Colonia, Roma, arriving to Orea's apartment on the 10th floor. Inside, they caught a young woman packing a suitcase.

She introduced herself as the sister of one of the fugitives, saying that Constanzo and his followers were heading to Miami. But investigators were skeptical that this was a ruse to divert their attention. A shaman advised the Mexican federal police that destroying Constanzo's anganga would take away his power and likely lure him out of hiding. On Sunday, April 23, a cleansing ritual was carried out at the wooden shack at Rancho Santa Elena, where a pitcher of Constanzo was placed inside the anganga. Bags of salt were sprinkled on the floor, and gasoline was splashed on the walls. An agent lit a torch and threw it inside, engulfing the shack in flames. As the fire took hold, agents tossed salt into the air to drive away the evil spirits. Once the shack was reduced to ash, police placed a large wooden cross to mark the spot where it once stood.

Photographs and video footage of the ritual were published in newspapers and televised on news programs across the United States and Mexico. After consulting local witchcraft practitioners and sorcerers, the police concluded Constanzo was likely hiding in the cosmopolitan Mexico City neighborhood of Colonia Cuauhtemoc. Locals were questioned, with one reporting seeing a woman in the area matching Cerro Aldrete's description. Police then witnessed a man with pink dyed hair at a supermarket trying to buy a large amount of groceries using a US $100 bill. They followed him to an apartment building on Rio Center and kept the area under surveillance for a week, believing the man was wanted cult member Alvaro De Leon Valdez and that he was purchasing groceries for Constanzo. At around 2pm on Saturday, May 6, four plainclothes detectives pulled up to the apartment where they noticed an abandoned vehicle parked outside. As they approached to examine it, they were suddenly peppered with bullets. They took cover and called for backup as a man wielding an Uzi submachine gun shot at them from the window of the adjacent apartment building.

Bullets shattered shop windows and cracked the sidewalk as the man screamed at the police. He started throwing American $20 and $50 bills and gold coins to the street below, yelling. This is for you, you poor animals. Some officers and bystanders rushed to grab the money, only to scatter as they were shot at. 180 police officers and federal agents descended on the scene, establishing barricades and roadblocks while clearing the area of civilians. After an hour, Sarah Aldrete ran out of the building, followed closely by another of the fugitives, Alvaro De Leon Valdez. Aldrete shouted, don't shoot, don't shoot, I'm coming out, I've escaped and told police that Constanzo was inside the apartment and had ended his own life. Suspecting Aldrete's surrender was a ploy, police cautiously entered the apartment, where they found Omar O'Rea hiding under a bed.

The bloody bodies of Constanzo and another cult member, Martin Quintana Rodriguez, lay side by side on the floor of the bedroom closet with fatal gunshot wounds. The three survivors revealed Constanzo, after noticing the police presence outside, began firing from the window. He had decided he would rather die than be arrested, believing he would be resurrected. He ordered Omar O'Rea to shoot him, the others, and then himself. When O'Rea expressed reluctance, Constanzo demanded, do it or I'll make things tough on you in hell. Alvaro De Leon Valdez carried out the killing instead, shooting Constanzo and Quintana, but the slaughter ended there. A cult paraphernalia was found throughout the apartment, including two swords, black candles, a wax skull, and a blindfolded doll. $3000 in cash had been burned on the stovetop, allegedly destroyed by Constanzo during the gun battle, who told his followers, no one's going to have this money.

After the group initially fled from Texas following the raid on Rancho Santa Elena, they disguised themselves by dyeing their hair and wearing sunglasses and hats, and kept a low profile in the outskirts of Mexico City. When Constanzo saw the news footage of his engarga being destroyed, he screamed and fired his machine gun at the television, fearful that his powers had been diminished. On April 25, the fugitives returned into Mexico City, moving between the apartments of their associates, before finally taking refuge in their final hideout in Colonia, Cuauhtemoc. Hours before the shootout on May 6, Sarah Audrette threw a handwritten note out the window, which read, Please call the judicial police and tell them that in this building are those they are seeking. Tell them that a woman is being held hostage. I beg for this, because what I want most is to talk, or they're going to kill the girl. The note was found by two young men walking on the street below. One looked up and made eye contact with Audrette, but he thought it was just a joke, and didn't hand the note to authorities until after the shootout. Sarah Audrette, Omar O'Rea and Alvaro de Leon Valdez were placed under arrest.

Audrette portrayed herself as a victim of the cult, claiming she had been taken hostage and forced to go along with the group's demands. She denied any involvement in the sacrificial rituals, saying she felt sorry for the Kilroy family, and revealing she had volunteered to help James Kilroy hand out his son's missing person posters. Yet, evidence indicated Audrette was a willing participant in the cult's activities. She was able to describe several of the murders in detail and failed to provide any proof that she had been abducted. Each of the seven arrested cult members faced different charges based on their involvement in the 15 murders, including those of cult members Constanzo and Martin Quintana Rodriguez. Some also faced charges for drug trafficking, criminal association and cover-up, as well as burial, narcotics and weapons violations. The trials commenced in July of 1989, but given the huge amount of paperwork the presiding judge had to examine, it took years to reach a conclusion. Omar O'Rea died from AIDS mid-trial in February 1990.

In August that same year, Alvaro de Leon Valdez was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murders of Constanzo and Quintana. In May 1994, five years after the cult was uncovered, Sarah Audrette, Seraphine Hernandez Garcia, Elio Hernandez Rivera and the two men who captured Marc and drove him to the ranch. David Serna Valdez and Sergio Martinez Salinas were each sentenced to 67 years. A federal court later reduced their sentences to 50 years after the court ruled it was the maximum they should have received under Mexican law. If they are ever released from prison, American authorities plan to prosecute them for the murder of Marc Kilroy. Sarah Audrette quote I am sorry because of all the things that happened. I'm sorry because of all the killing. I don't know how I got into this without knowing what it was. Constanzo would order you to do something and you would do it, but I don't know why. He was like a leader or something. We were like followers.

As life sentences and the death penalty did not exist in the Mexican judicial system, the Kilroy family and US officials expressed satisfaction with the outcome. Helen Kilroy told reporters quote We were concerned that maybe they weren't going to get sentenced, that they were going to let things quiet down and be released, but I'm glad those fears were unfounded. I think we and the people of Mexico can feel safer. Brownsville Sheriff's Lieutenant George Gavito, who was the first law enforcement official to learn of Marc's disappearance, said I just really commend the Mexican government for doing it. I think it sends a message over here to us that justice was done over there. Three of the cult's victims were never identified, and Mexican authorities suspect Constanzo had ritualistically murdered another 16 children. A pair of children's shoes were uncovered at the ranch, and baby's belongings, including photographs, were found near the bloody altar in Sarah Eldrette's bedroom. There were also unsubstantiated reports that a small human skull was found in Constanzos and Gaga. Although the media followed the more sensationalist Satanism angle, the Kilroy family believed the real problem was drug-related violence in northern Mexico.

In May 1989, they founded the Marc Kilroy Foundation, which provides drug education to young people. They met with then-president George Bush and made appearances on talk shows in churches and on the steps of Austin State Capitol to promote their cause. Helen Kilroy told The New York Times, We've stopped and wondered what we were doing several times, but I think we were meant to do this, because at every bad moment we hear from somebody, an addict, a parent that has lost a child, somebody who says they want us to keep going. In 2009, as the 20th anniversary of Marc's death approached, the Kilroy's visited Matamoros and the Rio Grande Valley to thank the locals who helped find their son. In December 2014, Helen Kilroy passed away at the age of 70. Her funeral was held in the same church where Marc had been farewelled 25 years earlier. She is buried alongside her son in a family plot, with memorial bricks featuring their names on permanent display outside the Santa Fe Independent School District Building.

As of 2019, the Marc Kilroy Foundation is still active. In April, the Foundation announced that it awarded $6,000 in scholarships to three graduating seniors. Rancho Santa Elena stood abandoned for years after the crimes came to light, slowly overrun by wildflowers and grass. A year after Marc Kilroy's death, local police reported that fresh holes appearing on the site had been dug by residents desperately seeking missing loved ones. The Mexican government eventually took ownership of the land and tried to turn it into a corn and sorghum farm, but were unable to find any staff willing to work there. Thank you for watching.