Narco-satanists and the Murder of Mark Kilroy

3/18/2023

In March, 1989, Mark Kilroy, a pre-med student disappeared from the streets of a Mexican town just across from Brownsville, Texas. What was left of him was discovered in a ranch on the outskirts of Matamoros and the horror that was unearthed there spawned books, and questions; many that have never been answered.

Bodies unearthed at ranch in Matamoros c.1989

Mark Kilroy was murdered in March 1989, and for those living along the border of Mexico and the U.S.A. the crime has not been forgotten.

The reason for the attraction of Matamoros are three international bridges linking Brownsville, Texas to the notorious city where the good times are cheap.

On March, 3, 2023, four Americans were kidnapped in Matamoros in broad daylight. Authorities found two of them dead, and the other two were recovered alive, however one of them was wounded.

Four American kidnapped by cartels in Matamoros c.2023

The story is being put out that they were caught in the crossfire of rival cartel groups, or that they were mistaken as Haitian drug smugglers. They claimed they had traveled from the Carolinas, so one of them could get a tummy tuck from a Matamoros doctor.

They were taken right after their white minivan, which they had driven from South Carolina crossed into the border town. It was crashed, they were fired on then hustled into a waiting pickup truck. The Mexican police frantically searched for them, but the cartel moved them around to several places.

They were found in a wooden shack east of Matamoros on the way to Baghdad Beach. They had been tortured, and two were dead.

Eric Williams who survived Matamoros kidnapping inside a shack where cartel had take him c.2023

The Scorpions, a splinter group of the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo – CDG) were blamed for the kidnapping and murder of the two American s on March 3 , 2023 in Matamoros.

However other facts have become known about the victims. In September, 2023 it was learned that Latavia Washington McGee's trip to Matamoros with three of her friends was to establish a drug connection for her husband Termario McGee. The "tummy tuck" story was a ruse to help her spouse, who was serving a 10-year prison sentence for trafficking drugs in South Carolina. Supposedly he needed Latavia to get the drugs, which would be snuck into prison where he could sell them. The couple had dating for 10 years and married for 3 years.

Despite the twist in the incident in March, Matamoros has had a bad reputation for murders, especially for tourists. One of the most notorious came to light in April, 1989, when twelve people were brutally slain in Mexico. A cult expert said the killing was likely the work of followers of a Cuban group called abakua. It has a folklore reputation for human sacrifices.

Initial report of the Matamoros massacre (Source - Dayton Daily News c.1989)

Initially authorities in Mexico and the United States were searching for Aldolfo de Jesus Constanzo, a Cuban-American believed to be the leader of a group of drug smugglers, who were accused of the murder on the Santa Elena Ranch, west of Matamoros. Corpses unearthed by authorities indicated signs of torture and dismemberment.

According to Thomas Wedge, who gave seminars to law enforcement organizations on cult murders, the Matamoros killing followed abakua rites. Based on the mutilations and the tattoos on one of the suspects, indications were that at least the leader was an abakua follower.

Victims being unearthed in Matamoros ranch c.1989

Wedge has written that members of the cult have distinctive tattoos that "resemble chalices emitting lightning bolts, arrows, the weeping face of Christ, likenesses of Saint Barbara or facial teardrops similar to those displayed by Hispanic gangs in the Southwest."

Some tattoos denote the role the individual plays in the cult, others denote sexual preference.

The Texas authorities were also looking for a Brownsville college coed, named Sara Maria Aldrete Villareal who identified as a priestess and was linked to Constanzo.

Wedge described where rites are conducted immediately before a drug deal, in order to make sure it's successful.

Miami police said they were aware of abakua followers who were tied to a number of grave robberies, for persons seeking skulls to be used in their rites.

Reward leaflet for Mark Kilroy c.1989

Detective Oscar Roque of Miami's Homicide Division considered the abakua cult "dangerous." He described where in Cuba when "abakua had their annual retreat, (people were told) you should not leave your children out, because they would take them for sacrifices." This date was June 24, known as the feast day of St. John the Baptist, which coincides with the summer solstice.

One of the victims found buried in the ranch was Mark Kilroy a pre-med student from Texas who had been missing since March. He had crossed the Mexican-American border during spring break to visit Matamoros.

His parents pressured the authorities in the U.S. and Mexico to search for him, and Mark's disappearance was featured on the show, America's Most Wanted. The investigation accidentally led to the other victims as well. Dozens of bodies were found mutilated and sacrificed.

Mark had been kidnapped because Constanzo known as "El Padrino" or "The Godfather" wanted a Caucasian Anglo as a sacrifice. Someone who was a doctor and intelligent.

Abakua ritual cauldron found at Matamoros c.1989

Kilroy's remains showed where the top of his skull had been cut open, and his brain removed. He had been raped, his legs had been chopped off below the knees, and his spine had been cut open and threaded with wire, since Constanzo wanted to make a necklace out of his vertebrae. His body had been buried in a shallow hole, waiting for it to decompose. The student had been killed with a machete. His brains were found in a shack — boiled in a pot with a roasted turtle.

Carlos Tampia, Chief Deputy of Cameron County, Texas said, "I thought in my twenty-two years of law enforcement I had seen everything. I hadn't. As we drew near, you could smell the stench... blood and decomposing organs. In a big, cast iron pot there were pieces of human bodies and a goat's head with horns."

Other victims who were offered as sacrifices were abducted off the streets, others were drug dealers themselves. Besides Kilroy, 14 corpses were exhumed. All of them had evidence of torture: decapitation, burning, castration, being skinned alive and removal of the heart.

A 55-gallon drum was found, which was used to boil victim's flesh off their bones.

Not long before Kilroy was kidnapped, sixty persons had been reported missing in the area.

Adolfo Costanzo, head of a narco-satanist cult

Constanzo had grown up steeped in the African-based religion of abacua and palo-mayombe, which was practiced by his mother and step-father. At one point, his mother was arrested for keeping 27 animals in her tiny apartment; the floors were covered in feces and blood. She would make him torture and kill animals, praising him for his cruelty when he did so.

In 1983, he pledged himself to Kadiempembe, the devil in the palo mayombe religion. By the time he was 21, he was a full-fledged priest and went to Mexico City where he was offered a modeling job, however he opened a shop in Mexico City's Zona Rosa known for being welcoming to gays like Constanzo. He derived his main income from the various rituals he performed as a palero. His clients included drug dealers, police officials and other wealthy and powerful people.

He started to work with drug kingpins assuring them he could cast spells to make them invisible to the law, and in return they paid him well.

Unknown to them, Costanzo was bribing the police to protect his clients, thus convincing them that he was a powerful palero.

Florentino Ventura

In 1986, the head of Interpol in Mexico at the time, Florentino Ventura, introduced Costanzo to the head of the Calzada family, one of the most powerful crime families in Mexico. Two years later, Florentino Ventura made headlines for a horrific act.

Ventura was known to be vain and mean, and had more enemies than friends. The 62 year old was nicknamed "El Tigre" (The Tiger), and ironically was known as a fearless crime fighter. He had a reputation for being efficient and cruel as well. He was not considered corrupt but it was evident he was living beyond his means. He was described by a DEA agent as "the most brutal man I've ever met".

His wife Maria Cira Villanueva was the first woman to serve in the Federal Judicial Police, and was 25 years younger than her husband.

To keep up with his wife, Ventura dyed his hair black and had cosmetic surgery done.

Two years before they married their romantic affair became public, and drove his first wife to kill herself in their new home in 1981. Some believed it was Ventura who hanged her.

He married Villanueva in 1984, and their relationship was rocky.

On September 17, 1987 the Venturas were traveling with Olga Trevino, Villanueva's childhood friend and her husband Elias Orozco Salazar. The four had gone to a bar to drink and when they left Ventura wanted to go to another bar, but he wanted to drive. His wife refused and got behind the wheel of their Grand Marquis.

Ventura pulled the keys out of the ignition and his wife got out of the car. Her husband followed her, and Trevino followed hoping to get her friend to come back to the car. As retold by Orozco the only survivor, before he could intervene Ventura pulled a .45 caliber pistol and shot his wife three times in the head, then shot Trevino in the face. His last act was to put the gun in his mouth.

However before he committed this act of self destruction he acted as an intermediary between Costanzo and the head of the Calzada cartel.

Slaughter of the Calzada family tied into black magic and drug deal vengeance c.1987

Costanzo then made a proposition to be made a full business partner in the Calzada cartel's operation. The cartel rejected his offer.

In April 1987, Guillermo Calzada and six members of his household mysteriously vanished.

A month after the disappearance of Calzada and his family, the bodies of three men and four women were pulled from the Grand Canal main sewage canal that flows north into the Tula River. This was the same place were the bodies of 11 Colombian bank robbers and a Mexican taxi driver were dumped in 1981 after being tortured.

The bodies were mutilated and weighed down. All seven were bound, gagged and stabbed numerous times wtih a double-edge instrument. One had a finger cut off and there were indications of a "black mass" or palo mayombe ceremony at the offices . This was not uncommon at murder scenes tied to vengeance over a drug deal.

On May 1, 1987 seven peopled gathered at F.M. Asociados a fire extinguisher maintenance firm located in an old building at 27 Barcelona Street (Mexico).

The choice of the date of May 1, was not coincidental since it has significant meaning as the celebration of Beltane which is the halfway point between the spring equinox and summer solstice. This is also the date when fire sacrifices are made to Moloch (aka Ba’al, Nimrod, Saturn, etc.).

Present were the company's owners, Jose Rolon, Arturo Sanchez Calzada, the secretary Celia Klein and the driver Federico de la Vega. Sanchez's wife Rosalia, his mother Maria and Gabriela Mondragon the 17-year-old family maid were also present.

Cocaine and scales were found at the premises. Many of the fire extinguishers sent to the company for filling were sent to the northern border leading to the suspicion they might have been filled with cocaine, before being crossed over into the United States.

The group had gather for a "cleansing" of evil spirits which is regularly done in Mexico. Eggs, garlic, red ribbon and two crucifixes were found at the premises.

Police believed the killers shot and stabbed de la Vega immediately, then kidnapped the others in the company van to be slaughtered somewhere else.

Five of the victims were gutted and the finger tips were cut off, possibly in an effort to prevent identification.

De la Vega's index finger was left in one of Sanchez's cars, wrapped in part of a $100 bill and a piece of adhesive tape that had "DEA" written on it.

Only the bodies of de la Vega, Klein and Mondragon were claimed by relatives. Those believed to Sanchez, his wife and mother and an unidentified man were at the morgue for more than two weeks. Police believed Rolon was also dead, but could not explain why his body was not recovered.

Sara Aldrete

Constanzo met Sara Aldrete Villareal a native of Matamoros in 1987. She was an honor student and cheerleader at Texas Southmost College, and was Gilberto Sosa's girlfriend. Sosa was a drug dealer linked to the Hernandez clan to which Constanzo wanted an introduction. Aldrete went on to become the main recruiter for the cult.

Later it was found that Constanzo and Aldrete were influenced by the 1987 film The Believers, which was about a New York City cult clearly based on rituals performed in palo mayombe, where children were sacrificed in order to gain money and power.

Rolling Stone magazine wrote: “[There is]…a story making the rounds that tells of the night Aldrete persuaded three male friends to screen a video of The Believers. After the film say the students, Aldrete stood up and began to preach in strange tones about the occult. ‘They had been drinking and they just thought she was trying to be spooky,’ says one student who knows the boys, ‘but they look back on it now and think she must have been serious.'”

In 1988, Constanzo took over a ranch owned by the Hernandez brothers, situated as a stopping point for the illegal drug trade. It was very close to Brownsville, Texas and the American border. It became known as the Devil's Ranch.

After the discovery on the ranch Constanzo fled with his lover and Aldrete, leaving all his followers to face the authorities. Police searched for the group, suspecting they might have escaped to the United States. In the meantime exhumations continued, and the body count mounted to 23.

Wanted posters and a reward were posted, but the weeks slipped by without either one being spotted.

The police asked an anthropologist who specialized in palo mayombe for help. He told them to televise the burning of the nganga and the shed where the ritual items and altars were at. A TV crew filmed the fire and the cauldron being dumped out and incinerated as well.

Costanzo dead with his most recent lover c/1987

Constanzo was living with Aldrete, Martin Quintana Rodriguez his current lover and bodyguard, and two more followers in a luxury condo in Mexico. He became distraught when he saw the nganga and the shed go up in flames.

Police responded to the apartment on May 6, 1989, after reports of a disturbance were received.

The source of the report was Constanzo who had started to act erratically. When he saw police at the door he began shooting at them. Police fired back, and a gunfight broke out that lasted 45 minutes.

When police finally entered the apartment, they found Constanzo and his lover dead in a closet. Constanzo had ordered one of his followers, Alvaro de Leon, who was a hitman known by the nickname of "El Duby" to shoot him and Martin Quintana.

Aldrete, de Leon, and Omar Francisco Orea Ochoa, who was Costanzo's other lover, were found unharmed and hiding in a bedroom.

Shack at Hernandez ranch where evidence of human sacrifice and torture were found c.1989

Later Aldrete told a press conference that Constanzo became desperate, urging one of his followers to kill him and his lover. "He was shouting, ‘Do it! Do it! If you don’t, things will go badly for you in hell.’"

Maria de Lourdes Guero Lopez, 29, and Maria del Rocio Cuevas Guerra, 43, who had been renting the apartment on behalf of Constanzo were arrested soon after.

Costanzo became known as "El Narcosatanico de Matamoros" (the Narcosatanist of Matamoros).

Sara Aldrete, Elio Hernandez and his brother Serafin were sentenced to over 60 years each. Aldrete's behavior was so contradictory, police believed she displayed symptoms of multiple personality disorder.

Omar Orea, Constanzo’s "wife" was convicted of the murder of Ramon Esquivel, a transvestite in Mexico City. However Orea died of AIDS before he could serve the 35 years he was sentenced to.

Eleven other cult members were charged with different crimes. Two remained at large.

Of the Mexican victims, only nine were identified, and police suspected there were others that were never found.

In 1989, Constanzo's body was shipped back to Miami and he was autopsied a second time. His body was riddled with 16 bullet holes. He had several strange tattoos.

Rumors were that his body was cremated. Another is that he was buried at Our Lady of Mercy, the only Catholic cemetery in Miami in 1989. The location is secret, for fear that it would attract individuals seeking to become one of his followers even after death.

Sara Aldrete was released in 2002 after serving about 13 years of her 62-year sentence. She changed her name to Sara Maria Aldrete Davila to distance herself from her past. She is still subject to potential prosecution by American authorities for the murder of Mark Kilroy if she ever enters the United States, or if Mexico ever agrees to extradite her.

As of 2025, Matamoros is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

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