The handsome young man in the picture above is Mark Kilroy, some of you may be familiar with his name and know his story, some of you may have just discovered him through my blog. Whatever the case, in this post I will be talking about Mark and the horrible way that he was just snatched off the street, tortured and murdered at the hands of a crazed cult who were obsessed with human sacrifice and believed that their sick rituals gave them immunity from the law. It's a twisted story of a madman, a cult leader (known as 'The Godfather of Matamoros') who brainwashed his followers (whom the media called ''The Narcosatanists'') and had connections to drug families as well as Mexican celebrities who also bought into his 'magical powers'.
I will go into more of the story but first I just have to warn you to be aware that I will be sharing some disturbing details so please keep that in mind.
So who was Mark Kilroy? Well Mark was what some people would describe as an all-American type of boy, he had it all, the handsome looks, the respectable family and he was highly intelligent. He was born in Chicago, Illinois on the 5th of March 1968, his mother Helen was a volunteer paramedic and his father Jim was a chemical engineer. He also had a brother called Keith. Not long after Mark was born the family moved to Texas to a small town by the name of Santa Fe outside of Houston. The family were close and attended church every Sunday and it's fair to to say that Mark was from a very loving home. His parents were always firm but fair with him and his brother, they always encouraged the boys to work hard and follow their dreams.
Mark was gifted academically and this would afford him the choices he would make later on when it came to his studies. At high school he was a social butterfly and keen sportsman. He was a member of the boy scouts and made the honour roll. He was popular amongst friends and teachers alike, Mark eventually graduated from Santa Fe High School being ranked 14 out of a class of 210 students.
As I mentioned before, Mark was very intelligent and at first he attended the Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos but decided to transfer to Tarleton State University on a basketball scholarship but soon realised that his heart wasn't really in it even though he was an excellent sportsman he had a passion for something else. He wanted a career in the medical field and arranged to transfer to the University of Texas in Austin to prepare for his Medical College Admission Test.
So Mark had the world at his feet, changing from one university to the other may seem like quite a lot of upheaval but he could do what he wanted thanks to his intelligence and he loved a challenge and he had a passion and zest for life.
With the changes of university and the upcoming exams and prospects of studying medicine you can imagine that Mark must have felt a little stressed out and so it wasn't a surprise that as Spring Break was fast approaching, he and his three high school friends, Bill, Brent and Bradley made plans to have a boys trip to have some fun and have a few drinks to let their hair down. All four of the boys had been studying hard at different universities and hadn't been in touch as much as they would have liked so this was really a chance to catch-up and have some fun before all of the hard work was to start again.
So at this point, Mark was in a really great place in his life, he was just about to take some important exams and a new career and a positive future awaited him. He had good friends who he'd known for years and he was just 21 years old and enjoying his life.
On the 10th of March 1989, having finished his exams earlier than expected, Bradley jumped in his car and went to Austin to pick up Mark for Spring Break. They then went to pick up Bill and Brent. Once everyone was in the car and their bags were in the trunk, the boys set out on a 9 hour car journey. It was a long ride but one can imagine the boys sharing stories, stopping off at cafes and catching up after months of endless studying. Eventually they arrived at their destination, South Padre Island which was a popular spot for young people on Spring Break. They checked into the Sheraton Hotel just before midnight and got settled in for the night, no doubt just crashing into bed after such a long car journey.
The next morning into the afternoon they spent the day taking advantage of the beach, sunning themselves and having a few drinks and some nice food before heading to Brownsville, they planned to party in a place called Matamoros in Mexico which was popular with spring breakers and tourists. It was well known for it's cheap drinks, bars and clubs and was always packed with people. Mark and the boys had a few drinks, chatted up some girls and enjoyed the nightlife that Matamoros had to offer. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, just 4 young guys celebrating their time away from studies and exams. In the wee small hours the boys decided it was time to make tracks back to their hotel.
On the 13th of March, Mark and his friends decided they wanted to go back to Matamoros again because they had such a good time and really enjoyed the bars and clubs. When they got there it was busy as usual but they still enjoyed themselves. At one point in the evening, Mark was seen talking to a few girls and seemed to disappear for a little while but his friends soon spotted him a little while later talking to another girl. With the street that they were on being so busy with people and loud music playing, it was hard to keep track of each other. The boys decided it was time to head back but could see how difficult it was going to be trying to make their way through the crowds. They decided to spilt up into two pairs (Brent & Bradley together and Mark with Bill) and agreed to meet up back at the car.
Brent and Bradley tried to make their way through the crowd and Mark was just about to walk with Bill towards the same direction when Bill suddenly announced that he needed the bathroom. Bill ran to a alley way and Mark decided to wait for him, there was no way that Mark was going to just walk off and leave Bill he wasn't that sort of friend, he was always thinking of others.
So Mark waited for his friend and Bill sorted himself out, when Bill had finished he looked for Mark to see where he was and he noticed that Mark had gone. Bill was confused and couldn't see Mark anywhere, he figured that Mark had possibly got lost in the crowd and headed back to meet Bradley and Brent. When Bill finally caught up with the others he was shocked to see that Mark wasn't with them. All three of them began to worry and started to look for Mark, there was no way they were going to leave without him.
The boys didn't give up, they spent hours looking for Mark in every bar and club right up until they closed and the streets were completely deserted. The boys were at a loss and thought that Mark was maybe waiting for them back at the car, when they got to the car he wasn't there either. They were trying to remain positive although they were very worried, they thought he possibly travelled back to the hotel, maybe met a girl or something and that he would show up eventually. Bradley, Bill and Brent got into the car and drove back to the hotel.
At the hotel the boys realised that something sinister was going on and contacted the police to report Mark missing.
What Bradley, Brent and Bill didn't know was that something sinister did happen to Mark, something very horrific and pure evil.
I just want to warn you that some of the details I will be sharing in the rest of this post will be quite disturbing so please bare that in mind.
What the boys and the police didn't know (but were eventually to find out) was that whilst Mark was standing in the street waiting for Bill, a van pulled up alongside him and a man asked him something, because of the noise, Mark moved closer to the vehicle and as he did so, two men jumped out and tried to pull him inside. Mark fought as hard as he could with the two men and was able to break free and make an escape however, another vehicle came along and threatened Mark at gunpoint. Mark was abducted off of the street, it all happened so fast.
Whilst his friends were frantically looking for him, Mark was driven out to a ranch called Santa Elena, he was tied up and kept in the car overnight. Eventually someone who was reported to be the ranch's caretaker, came out to offer him some food and water. One cannot begin to imagine what must have been going through Mark's mind during this terrifying ordeal, to be snatched off of the street, thrown into a car and just left there was already horrific but what was about to come next was even more sickening.
Sometime later about 12 hours after he'd been abducted, a man by the name of Adolfo Constanzo accompanied by some other men (who turned out to be followers of his cult) came out to see Mark. Adolfo was the leader of a following that was nicknamed 'The Narcosatanists' by the press, one of the sickest cults that I have ever come across. Adolfo managed to convince his followers that kidnapping innocent people and using them in sick human sacrifice rituals would bring them success and immunity from the law. They were heavily involved in drugs and Adolfo himself had clients who were drug lords and celebrities who also believed his nonsense about his magical powers and rituals.
Adolfo and his followers would target a certain type of victim, they believed that whoever they sacrificed that they themselves or a customer would then take on those attributes of the deceased person. For example, Mark because he was intelligent, good looking and athletic, they believed that killing him in their ritual would mean that they would gain those qualities from him whilst also gaining immunity from the law for their illegal activities.
As Mark sat there terrified in that vehicle, Adolfo and his followers dragged the terrified young man out with his hands still tied behind his back, wrapped his face and mouth tightly with duct tape and forced him to walk with them towards a cabin where they subjected him to endless torture and rape for hours on end.
When the monsters were finished subjecting Mark to this utter hell, they dragged him out to the field were they beheaded him with a machete. They then boiled his brain and cut off his legs before inserting a wire into his spine. The reason for the wire being inserted into his spine was reportedly because Adolfo wanted the bones either for one of his potions or to make a necklace that he could wear around his neck. Mark wasn't their first victim, they had carried out this routine with many others, 14 other bodies (or dismembered remains) were said to have been found in graves around where Mark was eventually found but Adolfo was suspected of many more murders. The wire was inserted into the spine to make it easier to pull the bones out once the body had fully decomposed.
Mark's body was buried with a hole for the wire to stick out, ready to be pulled up when they felt that the body had completely disintegrated.
The investigation into Mark's disappearance was quite rocky at first with investigators believing that it could have just been a case of a young man who'd had a bit too much to drink partying with friends too much and would probably turn up a few days later but Mark's friends and parents felt different and knew something was terribly wrong. A massive search took place and Mark's parents created and handed out 20,000 information leaflets to members of the public as well as offering a $15,000 reward to anyone who had some information to Mark's whereabouts.
As time went on investigators believed that Mark possibly fell victim to a robbery gone wrong but a breakthrough came when Mark's story appeared on the popular show 'America's Most Wanted', the phone lines buzzed with people giving tips and information. On the 1st of April 1989 the cops arrived at the ranch where Mark was murdered after following a car they believed to be suspicious as it sped through a checkpoint. At first the cops were focused on gathering the evidence they found at the ranch which was said to be cult and marijuana related and realised this was more than just a drugs ring. They took some of the followers into custody and questioned them. Because the followers were led to believe that they were powerful and could not be harmed by the law, they were relaxed and basically blabbed everything to the cops. The caretaker even took the investigators to the shed where Mark was murdered.
(Investigators stood in disbelief as they searched the ranch where Mark was held, tortured and murdered. The pot was used by the cult to cook animal and human remains as part of their rituals. Picture credit: rollingstone)
Other members led the police to where Mark's body and those of the other victims were buried. Apparently these victims had been murdered over a period of 9 months and when Mark's body was exhumed they had to identify him through his dental records.
Whilst all of this was going on, the leader of the cult Adolfo was on the run, he'd managed to escape with some of his followers and fled to Mexico City to an apartment he owned. Eventually he and his followers were tracked down and Adolfo saw the cops from his apartment window, he was involved in a shootout with the cops until he ran out of ammunition and ordered one of his followers (Alvaro De Leon Valdes) to shoot him and another follower by the name of Martin Quintana Rodriguez or risk going to hell. Alvaro shot the pair. The police got into the apartment and arrested the followers who were still alive, they were Sara Aldrete (who was said to have previously been an honour student and cheerleader at high school before falling off the rails. She reportedly became infatuated with Adolfo and was the cult's main recruiter who used her good looks to entice men to join. She played innocent with everything and said that she wasn't involved in Mark's murder), Omar Francisco Orea Ochoa, Juan Carlos Fragoso, Jorge Montes and Alvaro De Leon Valdes. Investigators confirmed the deaths of Martin and Adolfo.
The police also arrested two other cult members later that day by the names of Maria De Lourdes Guero Lopez and Maria Del Rocio Cuevas Guerra.
They were all denied bail because the judge said that they were each responsible for crimes that could add up to 50 years in prison.
Various cult members were given various sentences but I will mention the outcomes for some of the names I have mentioned otherwise this will be an even longer post as so many people were involved. Omar Francisco Orea Ochoa died of AIDS on the 11th of February 1990, he was said to have been another one of Adolfo's lovers along with Sara but she didn't test positive for AIDS. Sara was given 62 years despite her claims of not being heavily involved the police had evidence of her dealings with drugs and cult activities. She would later go on to write a book claiming that she had been taken hostage by Adolfo and that the police tortured her into confessing to things she hadn't done. Alvaro De Leon Valdes was sentenced to 30 years in prison in August of 1990.
Juan Carlos Fragaso and Jorge Montes were sentenced to 35 years in prison each. Two of the cult members, Ovidio Hernandez and Ponce Torres have never faced justice and have escaped capture so far.
After Mark's death his parents founded The Mark Kilroy Foundation which aims to teach young people the danger of drugs as well as provide all sorts of activities and support to help keep young people away from drugs. Check out this little video featuring Mark's parents here.
Further Reading & Sources:
- Mark Kilroy | Article, Rolling Stone
- Sacrifice | Book by Jim Kilroy & Bob Stewart
- Mark Kilroy Murder | Texas Archive
- Adolfo Constanzo | Wikipedia
- Adolfo Constanzo | Murderpedia
- Adolfo Constanzo | Article, Oxygen
This was a difficult case to cover, not only because of how horrific and gruesome Mark's death was and how this cult went about their business, but how complicated it was for me to research with so many people being involved. I had post-its all over the place with different names on trying to keep track. I hope I was able to break it down for you and keep it as brief as possible, I realised that if I had talked about every single cult member I would have had to go on and on but I think you got the picture from what I've written.
It's heartbreaking what happened to Mark and all those other victims and who knows how many there are for sure. Adolfo Constanzo was an evil and very dangerous man, he was even more dangerous because just like Ted Bundy and Charles Manson he had that charisma and charm, he was able to hoodwink people for his own gain.
Mark's parents are amazing people and have tried to turn the horrendous truth of the death of their beloved son into something positive by helping other young people as a tribute to him. Please check out their website, Twitter and Facebook
RIP Mark and to those many unnamed individuals who fell victim to Adolfo Constanzo and his followers.
Thank you for checking out my latest case, please feel free to connect with me on any of my social media platforms
