1989 Sacrifice in Spring Break RGV!!!!
- jessetorres358
- Oct 13, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 23
As Halloween approaches, everyone is getting ready for the celebrations with their children. But what is the true meaning of Halloween? It is a holiday celebrated annually on October 31. In 2024, Halloween will be on a Thursday. The tradition originated from the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, where people dressed up as ghostbusters and lit bonfires.
Celebrants of Samhain believe it is a time when the barriers between the physical world and the spirit realm fade, allowing for enhanced communication between humans and otherworldly entities.
Occurring halfway between the fall equinox and the winter solstice, Samhain was regarded by the ancient Celts as the most significant of the four quarterly fire festivals. During this period, as the harvest was collected, hearth fires in family homes were permitted to burn low.
As I started to ponder why we all celebrate Halloween, several thoughts occurred to me. I recently discovered the story of Mark Killroy, a college student who traveled to Matamoros in 1989.
Based on what I've read and learned, individuals were resorting to witchcraft to evade capture for drug trafficking, which was their belief. Reading about this story made me feel awful. How could anyone inflict such harm on another person? As a child, I heard tales about a white van, which many today would dismiss as an urban legend. Unfortunately, the story of Mark Kilroy is not a legend.
Mark Kilroy was a college student who, unfortunately, would never reunite with his family or friends after opting to spend spring break with his friends on South Padre Island in 1989. Mark's friends chose to head to Mexico to party like many other teenagers.
Kilroy was killed by a machete strike, and his brain was removed and cooked in a pot. Following this, his killers cut his legs at the knees, threaded a wire through his spinal column, and buried him at the ranch alongside the 14 other victims who had perished there before him.
The cult leader told his followers that their drug-smuggling activities would be protected from law enforcement thanks to their human sacrifices. The unusual nature of the crime drew international media coverage and initiated a global police search.
Mark James Kilroy was born on March 5, 1968, in Chicago, Illinois. Following his birth, his family relocated from Chicago to Texas. They made their home in Santa Fe, a small town close to Houston, where Kilroy was raised.
Adolfo Constanzo, who was accountable for Kilroy's death, was a Cuban American born in Miami, Florida, in 1962. Following the death of his father during his infancy, his mother moved with him to Puerto Rico, where she later remarried. She believed her son had psychic powers.
She introduced him to Palo Mayombe, an Afro-Caribbean religion that includes animal sacrifices. During his younger years, he was also exposed to Santería. In 1984, he relocated to Mexico City to pursue a career as a tarot card reader and eventually gained a cult following.
At first, Kilroy's case was treated as a typical missing person's investigation. Students reported missing in Matamoros frequently resurfaced after a few days, usually inebriated and with hazy memories of their time away. In the early months of 1989, Kilroy was one of 60 people who disappeared in Matamoros.
The crucial moment of the case happened on April 1, 1989. A vehicle drove through a drug interdiction checkpoint without halting, as reported by the Mexican federales present. After crossing the international border from Texas, the car sped along Mexican Federal Highway 2, connecting the Tamaulipas cities of Matamoros and Reynosa.
Instead of halting the truck and turning on their sirens, the police decided to follow it in an unmarked vehicle. The checkpoint runner then proceeded to the Santa Elena ranch, situated outside of Matamoros. The police stayed back to observe from afar. After roughly thirty minutes, the truck driver departed from the ranch and headed back to the city.
At the ranch, the officers decided to take action. After a short search, they discovered marijuana residue and items related to a cult. The police identified Serafín Hernández García, the nephew of a local drug lord who operated primarily in the ranch area, as the truck's driver.
On April 9, they came back with additional police officers and arrested Hernández García, his uncle Elio Hernández Rivera, David Serna Valdez, and Sergio Martínez Salinas, who were members of the cult, along with Domingo Reyes Bustamante, the caretaker of the ranch.
"Yes," the caretaker informed the police. "I saw him," he said, pointing toward the shack at the ranch. When the police questioned Hernández García alone, he admitted that multiple individuals, including Kilroy, had been murdered over several months at Santa Elena.
Hernández García stated that the cult leader, Adolfo Constanzo, believed that performing human sacrifices would grant the drug gang supernatural protection. Constanzo was convinced that sacrificing victims would ensure strength, abundance, and protection from both authorities and harm for those making the offerings.
Two months after Kilroy's death was officially declared, his parents founded the Mark Kilroy Foundation. This foundation promotes drug awareness, education, and prevention through the "Just Say No" campaign. Kilroy's parents chose this initiative to honor his aspiration of becoming a doctor after completing his college education.
The foundation has sponsored Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE), a non-profit community organization dedicated to raising awareness about substance abuse and drug prevention, since 1994.
Following the official declaration of Kilroy's death, the media depicted the drug group's religious practices and beliefs as Satanist.
It's been thirty years since Mark's death, yet the fact that he died so young will always be remembered by future generations. Everyone's life is unique, and that's perfectly fine, as long as each person is treated with love and the respect they deserve. Causing harm to another person is never acceptable.
May Mark Kilroy's passing serves as a lesson that life is meant to be cherished, and if you possess a talent, use it positively. Strive to avoid causing harm to others, and I hope all parents can instill in their children the pursuit of greatness. No one should endure harm due to another's religion.
This Halloween let's all appreciate the beauty of life and share smiles with our loved ones, no matter where we are.
Story By, Britney J Torres
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