On March 14, 1989, The University of Texas in Austin student Mark Kilroy was kidnapped in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico while vacationing during spring break. 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. Kilroy was killed with a machete blow and then had his brain removed and boiled in a pot. His killers then inserted a wire through his spinal column, amputated his legs at the knees, and buried him at the ranch along with 14 other people who had been killed there before him Adolfo Constanzo the leader of the cult, told his followers that human sacrifice granted them immunity from law enforcement for their drug smuggling operations. The killing drew worldwide media attention and initiated an international police manhunt because of the unusual circumstances of the crime.
After the bodies were discovered on April 11, 1989, Constanzo fled to Mexico City. But was eventually tracked down. As the police surrounded his apartment complex, Constanzo died after ordering one of the cult members to kill him with a machine gun. Sara Aldrete another high-ranking member of the cult, was arrested at the scene along with several others. In 1993, the cult members were found guilty of several charges, including capital murder and drug trafficking. Several of them, however, claimed they were not guilty of Kilroy's murder and told the press they were tortured to confess Only two suspects remain at large.
Background
The Victim
Mark James Kilroy was born on March 5, 1968, in Chicago Illinois His parents were James "Jim" William Kilroy, a chemical engineer, and Helen Josephine Kilroy, a volunteer paramedic. They moved to Texas after their son was born. Kilroy grew up in Santa Fe Texas a small town outside of Houston for over 15 years along with his brother Keith Richard Kilroy. He was raised Catholic and his parents were frequent attendees at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in the adjacent town of Hitchcock Texas Kilroy excelled both in academics and athletics as a teenager, and played baseball, basketball, and golf with his friends at school. He was a boy scout and an honors student at his school where he was a member of the student council and was ranked 14th in a class of 210 students. Upon graduation in 1986, he attended Texas State University in San Marcos Texas before transferring to Tarleton State University in Stephensville Texas on a basketball scholarship. At Tarleton, he became a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity He then decided to give up his athletics and transferred to the University of Texas in Austin to be a pre-med student and prepare for his Medical College Admission Test (MCAT)
Profile of cult leaders
Kilroy's murderer, Aldofo Constanzo was a Cuban American who was born in Miami Florida in 1962. His father died when he was an infant, so his mother relocated to Puerto Rico with him, where she remarried. They returned to Florida in 1972 and his stepfather died soon afterward, leaving a large inheritance behind. His mother married again, this time with a man who was involved in drug trafficking and the occult His stepfather taught him a philosophy that Constanzo carried for the rest of his life: he told him that he should let nonbelievers "kill themselves with drugs" while he could profit from their foolishness. Around the same time, Constanzo's mother believed that her son had psychic abilities introduced him to Palo Maycombe an Afro-Caribbean religion that involves animal sacrifice. He also was introduced to Santeria when he was younger. He started as a "Palero", someone who practices Palo Mayombe, and eventually reached the status of high-priest, "Padrino". In 1984, he moved to Mexico City to start his life as and eventually developed a cult following. 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 His reputation for predicting the future and offering ritual cleansing became popular with some drug dealers, musicians, and police officers.
