The Raid and Caretaker Confession

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash. I'm Eena. She's back. I'm back. And this is Morbid. This is morbid. Oh,. I'm alive. I'm alive. We made it through We just had one of those things that You know, the stomach bug it just rolls right through. And then it paused and came back which really It paused before it hit the last of us and then it hit the last of us. And then we cleared it on out. That's bullshit. And We say goodbye. Glad you cleared it up though. I appreciate that. We did. We made it through, but man, everybody Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Make sure your kids are washing their hands as much as possible. I know sometimes that doesn't do it, but Trust me, H were handwashing house At least it's getting hot out again. likeike I feel like I feel vuses they don't do as well. Don't thrive. Well, some of them do. I don't know if this one does. I feel like tummy bugs don't necessarily Yeah. This one thrives in like Yeah, f ye, which of course, it's literally about to get cold again. Of course like hotter than Satan's butothole outside. It's true I got to announce this solo and it didn't quite feel so right. So we just wna remind you one more time that we have a game. We have a fucking game with Huntter Killer. This feels so much better that you're here and we can talk about it together. I'm real excited. It's nuts becausecause I was saying when I announced it That was our first sponsor Yeah that we ever had on the pod. They were the first ones that reached out Hunt A Killa. I was always a big Hunt A Killer girlly and I'm being so for real. I need I to find The boxes somewhere, like the early boxes and it was when they came in those like black plain boxes. Y In the early days, me and John used to love them, especially like before we had kids. Oh yeah, we love that kind of thing. That's really cute. You played games together. Yeah we loved games. N Drew love games. The only games that Ne and Drew play are like Mario Yeah, we love Mario. love Mario. We're an equal opportunity game fan. Not like a board game house, but I would like to become a board game. Board games are really fun with kids. I was just playing a board game. Yeah kid. Yeah. Yeah, I got that like reading board game. Yeah it was helping me. I was learning how to read. There you go. Good. I'm glad. But yeah we're fucking stoked about The Salem Slicer. Salem Slicer, it's very eighties themed. It's very New England. Salem Salem. It's very like a fake true crrimey. You're gonna there's a special exclusive podcast episode in the gamer Howking cool is that whichich is really fun and it was really fun to do. They've been great to work with. We had a blast partart of the whole thing for beginning to end I know it's crazy that it's actually like hitting stst now because it's been it's been a while. It's been a while. And it's just like if you ever wanted to be a detective, now you get to do so. It is, honestly. Hunt of Killer is so fun that way. It there's like real evidence in there, this Things you can touch, things you have to unlock, things like you really have to get into it. It's fun as how. through all the evidence. So rightight now it's available for preordder at Walmart So definitely go preorder it please. Do it. And do we have any other Biz nasty b Biz nasty? I would say u hey You're looking for a signed copy of the Butcher Legacy? Speaking of pre orers. Speaking to pre orers. Hey U go to Premiere collollectibles. I have the link is on my Instagram. Go click it. Premiere collectibles. I'm sure if you type in the Butcher leegacy on there, it'll come up.. I'm signing things for them Sing copies and I will continue until you guys say, Hey, you dumb bitch, we don't want any more signed copies. I doubt people will say that Ibt I doubt the true blues will say that. I doubt the good people will say that. I have been reading your book all afternoon and like I read like a little bit last week I was reading it out of pedicure and I was like I' probably scaring everybody around me. was just like I was just like There's just blood dripping off the off the coupoard. People were like, what are you reading? What's going on there? Is that a cut? I love it. Yay. I Elena always has me read like when she's writing. I do the first two, I read a lot. of chapters before the final product. Yeah, but I obviously then still read the books and that was fun and I still loved them. But with this one, you didn't have me read as much as you were writing. So it's like a completely different reading experience. I love that That's been really fun. because I forget the twist. Yeah, that's I know you were like, I know there's a twist, but I't and I'm like, haa I know. I was like, I'm not gonna to tell you. I know I' very excited about it. getting Ver close to the end. I'm like more than halfway through. I'm very excited. It's if you guys I'm telling you Get into it, man. Get into it, y. G into it. It's fun. I swear and I'll love you forever. That's nice. Make sure you go preorder the but your legacy. period. And for some reason, you're like, fuck that, I don't want to sign a copy, but I would like a copy of the book I get it Sure. why not? Okay. if you want to do that, go to u put your leegacy. comot buuy it anywh you want to. get it anywhere the fuck you want. You can reorder it anywhere you want. The world is really your oyster. It is. and I'll keep making sure it's your oyster. You can't We should be specific. You can't buy it at like an ie hOop No. or like But Denny, hey, that's an idea. Okay. there you go. See if you can talk to your literary agent about that one. I'm gonna try to get it in anywhere. Okay. So Dl has the pancakes, here she comes. Here I come We are slop happy because this is late we are and I feel like we never record this late. No, we don't, but life happened. Life sure happed. Life has continued to happen. Yeah Itool't happen. I like that life keeps happening. Yeah, that's great. but sometimes it gets community. But sometimes it's just hard to fit everything in the day All right everybody, so look at your stopwatch. The episode's about to start Okay. You can say that it's about to start now. Okay, there you go. There's your minute markark. Thanks so much, whoever you are. So we are going to be talking today. This is going to be a tupata. A tupataupa. It is true crime. Yeah It's true crime.uee. Yeah So this this is a very tragic case. veryery interesting though. I I don't know this case. I didn't know this case before. Dave found this and was telling me all about it and I said, please do that one And we've started looking into it and I said, whoa. A lot is going on here So we're going to go over a lot in part one. We're going to be talking about Mark Kilroy and who he was and how he found himself to be missing and We'll get into right when they're getting hot on the case, but not quite there yet. And then we'll pick up again in partart two. Oh, I love that. So let's talk about Mark Kilroy first. He was born on march fifth, nineteen sixty eight in Chicago, Illinois, Chicago. He was the oldest of two children, born to Jim and Helen And not long after he was born, his parents decided they wanted to leave the city for a slower pace of life, and they ended up moving to Texas, Santa Fe, to be specific For his entire life, Mark Hilroy was the kind of kid that parents can only dream of. He went to church regularly with his parents. He was an active member of the community especially the church community. His father said, when he was around, he always lifted people up. He went in the right direction all the time. He was a real good guy to be around. He also was always a good student. He avoided drinking, he didn't do drugs When he was in high school, he joined the Santa Fe High School Baseball and the basketball team And he was involved in student government, he was involved in boy Scouts But he always made sure to spend enough time on his studies at the same time. So he' wass like involved in all these different extracurriculars, but also managing to be a good student. Yeah which is time Not easy. No, it's not Now when he graduated from high school in nineteen eighty six, he was accepted at Southwest Texas State University, and he had a brief stint there before he ended up transferring to Tarleton State University, and that was on a basketball scholarship Okay. Sports had always played a really big part in his life But after a few years, it became clear to him that this wasn't going to be his whole life. L he wasn't going to be in the NBA. Yeah. So he transferred to a third school, this time, the University of Texas, and he ended up deciding to study medicine there. Oh wow. Yeah, that's a big deal. It is Now even though their lives had led them in separate directions, Mark and his core group of friends from high school still managed to stay in touch through their college years And whenever they were home on school break or anything like that, they always got together. Now in late winter of nineteen eighty nine, Mark and his friends Bradley Moore, Bill Huddleston, and Brent Martin started planning details for their spring break vacation. Okay. They were stoked about this. Yeah. As soon as the semester ended, they were going to be back in or they were going to meet back in Santa Fe and take off together for a few days on South Padre Island, which is a resort town not too far from the Mexican border For Mark, that year was more exciting than the usual spring brereak trip because it also coincided with his twenty first birthday. Oh what a What a lucky thing. And remember, he didn't really drink or do drugs or anything like that. So he's twenty one now. He's wait for it to be legal. Yeah, he can have a little drinky poo if he wants to. And what better time to have a drink than spring break? Of course They had all attended spring break festivities in Saouth Padre before, but this was the first time also that Mark and his four high school best friends were going to be visiting together. So that was also like an exciting thing As soon as Bradley finished up his exams around noon on march tenth,ed he jumped in his car and dumped in it two And he drove to Austin to pick up Mark and they headed to Santa Fe to meet up with Bill and Brent. Okay. It's also very funny to me that there's Bradley Bill Brent. Yeah, it's just Now along the way they caught up on the things that they'd missed in each other's lives about their plans for the future, just boy talk, just vi them Just hanging. Just hanging Bradley said, we talked about how it would probably be our last summer at home together whichich is like that's really sad. It's sad, but it's also like, okay, so like let's make the most of this trip. L yeah, there's a there's like a tension there almost where you know this is like kind of the end of a chapter. Well, it does it feels like one of those like you know, those shows are movies you see where it's like the group of friends and it's their last summer at home before they all head off in different directions. Yeah. And you want it to end well like this is supposed to be like you know, a summer where you get like you have fun and you let loose. Yeah, it's like supposed to end with this like happy ending. It's supposed to end all together. And I now that you're beginning to talk Do know this? Okay. I do know this. I think we talked about it on crime countdown. You know what? That actually makes sense because then I believe. I think you're right, the name sounded really familiar to me. Yeah And all of a sudden, I was like, wait a minute. We talked about so much on crime countdown and there was like such little bursts of information, like snippets exactly. So every now and again, I'm like, did we talk about that? Yeah I'm like, did we do whole episode on that? And then I'm like, no, we didn't. I know, exactly So It was late by the time they reached Santa Fe, but the four boys decided they didn't want to waste any time. So they started making their way to South Padre around midnight In total, it took about nine hours for them to get there, including two stops along the way. But there was really no time to rest. As soon as they checked into the hotel, they showered, they ate, and they hit the beach. Yeah, This is their last trip. Let's gotta make the most of it Now With roughly a quarter of a million students expected at South Padre that spring break The entire area had been transformed in anticipation of all these kids' arrivals According to journalist Gary Cartwright, the weekend attractions and offerings included beer companies sponsoring an unprecedented variety of entertainment, including free movies, free concert Free calls home, which like please just think about that. Yeah, which is wild. And surf simulator rides. Religious organizations from as far away as Madison, Wisconsin were handing out pamphlets and free Sntan lotion, urging students to pray rather than to party A beer company offered the free use of a swimming pool to students who didn't mind being filmed for part of a commercial and the boys took advantage of it. Yeah. So it's just like all kinds of things go. Yeah. again, it's just like let loose. It reminds me of like like just that little like snippet. reminds me of saved by the Bell when they go on that like beach vacation Oh my God, yes. Right? Yeah For some reason that episode sticks out of my head. It might have been a series of episodes. It's like save by the Bell and then it made me think of Gilmore Girls when they go on spring break. I don't even remember that when they can count on a girl. You can count on Alina to pinpoint a specific Gilmore Girls reference. Absolutely. Wild Yeah So Mark and Brad took advantage of the free phone calls home, and they let their parents know that they all had got there safely and they were just hanging out on the beach Later that night, they met up with a group of girls who traveled from Purdue University. and they just spent the night drinking and hanging out and they' joining hotel rooms until dawn getting to know each other, just having a good time. Yeah withithin a couple days of their arrival The four guys had kind of settled into a routine of waking up early, hitting the beach going back to their hotel rooms for a little nap before ending or before starting the evening's round of drinking. Typical vacation. Yeah Occasionally, the routine was interrupted by an event like the Daily Miss Handline contest, Miss Hanline. I love it. But for the most part, it was just a lot of fun, a lot of drin and a lot of fun. So this was pretty much what they expected. But none of them had expected it to get old quite so fast And by Sunday, march twelfth, they decided they wanted to change it up a little bit. Like they were like, okay, why don't we go to like sightsea? Why don't we go to Maamoros, Mexico just over the border? We're so close to Mexico, it would be so fun to travel. Yeah So that night Mark and his friends stopped at the Sonic Drive in importort Isabel for dinner. There they met a group of girls from the University of Kansas who were also on their way to Madamoros. So they all decided, okay, let's go together and the girls followed behind as Brett drove to the border. After parking their cars on the Brownsville side of the bridge, they all walked across the border into Madamoros, and they just spent the night kind of bar hopping and they specifically landed at one bar called Sergeant Peppers. Okay. Once they got back to their cars early the next morning, the two groups said their goodbyes and they went their separate ways. Now they all had so much fun in Madamoros that night So after a day at the beach the next day, they all decided, why don't we go back into Mexico? again? like that was so much fun. Yeah. So they did, and they arrived a little after ten PM It turned out that Mark and his friends were not the only one with that plan though By the time they arrived in the small border town, the sidewalks were crimmed with nearly fifteen thousand students. Holy shit, all of whom had come to party and celebrate spring brereak. So looking for the bar with the shortest line, they ended up at a place called Los Sombreros, described as a spot with a lot of neon and music loud enough to shatter brick Whoa Yeahah, sounds like my worst name. I was just gonna say I hate everything about that. I will say though, if I was twenty one. Dream Like let's go. would have loved it. Now couldn't pay me. Couldn't no Music loud enough to shatter brick is actually so scary to me. Yeah it actually is. We went to dinner together one time. I forget where we went, but I just remember sitting down at the table with you and the music was really loud. You looked like you were going to crawl inside yourself. I was so I remember that vividly. Yeah. And I know exactly where is I think you literally looked at me and said How are we gonna to get through this? I said I was like, I can't hear anything. Like I don't know what's going on. What if I agree to something crazy? Yeah, I could not. Yeah Loud music is a lot, especially if it can split brick Yeah So after a few hours with music splitting brick at Lasemburros, they traveled deeper into the city, ending up at the London pub. which I feel like you wouldn't expect to see. No. It had just rebranded itself actually as the Hard Rock Cafe, which has no relation to the American Chain. Really? Yeah. Wow. The group, apparently we all just have good ideas All right. The group stayed there until about two in the morning, and then Bill decided it was probably time to head back across the bridge back into the US, technically So by that point, the four boys had separated. when they walked in when they walked out of the bar, Mark's friends saw him leaning against a car outside talking to a girl who he had met earlier that day at the Missed Hanline contest. But seeing him and getting to him were two very different things entirely at this point. becausecause remember, I just said there's fifteen thousand people outtering the streets. like I'm stressed out. All I can picture now like just to relate this to us and maybe anybody else in Boston is like the St. Patty's parade Yeah or like Pride or something like so O like or when it's like, Fourth of July on the Eesplalade. Yes. like B That's what I'm thinking about. Just like shoulder to shoulder. Yeah. So getting to him was going to be tough So rather than try to fight the movement of the crowd, Brad and Brent figured it would be easier to just go in the direction of the bridge that led back to Texas, and then they could all just meet there. Yeah They figured why wouldn't we all just do that? Yeah, why not? By that time, Mark had caught up with Bill, and so they assumed that they would find their friends. But as they neared the border, Mark told Bill to go ahead of him because he had to relieve himself, so he ducked behind a tree to do that A short time later, Bill met up with Brad and Brent, and the three of them were sitting around waiting for Mark, who they figured would emerge at any second. But minutes passed and he still wasn't showing up And eventually they started to get concerned By then nearly all the bars had closed and all of the tourists had flowed back over the border, and there were still no signs of mark. So they spent hours roaming the town looking for him. They went back over the border but it was like he vanished without a trace he was just gone. And honestly, you don't think and I know like you don't think about this happening with like a man. No, you know what I mean? Like when it not your first thought. Like when it's like a group of men together, you would assume Nothing cch them like they're invincible essentially. You know what I mean? I know that's not true. I'm just saying that's the initial thing we're kind of like conditioned to think with these kinds of stories. like a group of young men One of them suuddenly going missing is like, what? You like how did L he wasn't safe What It's just like very shocking. It is. It's And it's chilling. Yeah, it is chilling. That's the perfect way to describe it So they spent all night searching the increasingly empty streets of Madamoros for Markc, growing more and more concerned with every single hour that passed. Finally, when the sun came up and they still hadn't found any sign of Markc The three decided maybe he had just gotten a ride back to South Padre with someone that he met at the bar. Maybe that girl that they saw them talking to earlier. They're like, hopefully we're overreacting here. Yeah. becausecause the alternative that their friend had now disappeared in a foreign country was way too frightening to accept at the time. And like, who takes a grown man? Well, when you don't I don't think you initially go to that. L obviously when you're looking for your friend for hours and hours and you can't find them, like panic starts to set in But then after a little bit, you're like, okay, let's be a little logical here. Maybe he did just get a ride Yeah. L you don't doesn't want to believe that Y a scenario. Yeah. Right Unfortunately, though, when they got back to the Sheridan later that morning back in Texas, they discovered Mark's bed was empty. It didn't look like it had been slept in, and there was nothing in the room to indicate that he returned. exhausted though from their night of party and searching, they went to bed hoping that when they woke back up, he would be back. Remember, this is the eighties, like we're not all super wellformed in how to respond to a situation like this. And honestly, I think what you were just saying as men They just weren't thinking They're not thinking like. Yeah because they're not conditioned to think like. And again, remember, like back then, it's not like they were listening to true crime podcasts or watching documentaries on the dateline and seeing this kind of shit happening all the time. Exactly. was not something that anybody was thinking about No, you know Here's the thing, when they woke up several hours later, Mark still wasn't back and they decided that Under the circumstances, it didn't seem wise just to keep waiting for D to show back up So that afternoon, march fifteenth, they all together went to the South Padre Island Police Department and they filed a missing persons report including every relevant detail that they could remember from the night before No During spring break, the usually quiet South Padre community had learned to brace itself for an increase in everything that comes with the increase in the number of visitors, from hotel bookings to also reports of criminal activity. So Mark wasn't necessarily the first person to be reported missing during sppring brereak He wasn't even the first person actually reported missing that week. That's wild. It's yeah. Spring brereak scares the shit out of me. I never was allowed go and spak never was either. and I will not allow my children to go and spr break. and I know that. I know that there's like all these things that you say before you have kids that you're not like, I'm not gonna to do this and I'm not gonna to do that. That's one I know I' be standing ten toes down on. As someone with kids I'm not even happ It's just not happening. but we need to take a family vacation. So while the police took the report seriously, they they still were confident that he would show back Yeah. they thought he was drunk and passed out somewhere. Exactly.. But when Mark's friends mentioned Mexico, the detectives did become somewhat more concerned Author Jim Schutz, and we will link his book in the show notes, he said, no matter how casually the kids themselves took this business of crossing into Mexico to raise hell, no one in law enforcement in South Texas took Mexico cases lightly. Be you're in a completely different jurisdiction. Yeah, of course. And don't yeah. a completely different area Now throughout the nineteen eighties specifically, drug trafficking and organized crime had spiked in Mexico due mostly to a massive economic crisis that put a lot of people out of work and led to few options for legitimate employment Criminal gangs that were once very poorly organized and focused mostly on predty crime had become a lot more formal. and now there were lots of different networks for trafficking, guns, drugs, people you Gang violence was a problem all over the country. But it was particularly challenging at the American border. Oh Im sure, because large amounts of drugs and other illicit substances were flowing into the country there. So it wasn't that uncommon for tourists or unlucky American workers to get kidnapped and ransomed back to their families. So this is what the investigators in South Padre had been thinking when they got the report about Mark going missing in Madamoros And if that was what happened to Mark The small police department in South Padre did lack the resources to deal with m like this. I mean that's a big deal. Yeah So that afternoon, the case was forwarded to Cameron County Sheriff Alex Perez in Brownsville, Texas, which You do have to respect how quickly these police forces moved. Yeah. That doesn't always happen. No, it definitely's not often that a small police department realizes that they don't have the resources reaches out. So when they do, like you got to snap on Yeah Now, if Mark had been Kidappp for a ransom, the county sheriff would have had the resources and the regional knowledge necessary to resolve everything hopefully, without getting on the wrong side of Mexican authorities So Perez assigned the case to his most reliable deputy, George Gavido, who immediately recruited the help of Deputy Lupe Limas, a former Brownsville police officer who had recently started working with the shheriff's deepartment. And he had a lot of experience working on cases that crossed over into the border. So this is kind kind of that's what you need. A perfect duo, right? Yeah So Gavito and Limas were aware of the potential implications of Markc having gone missing, especially over the border. He was one of sixty Americans to have been reported missing in Mexico in just three months. Whoa. Yeah However, they were also familiar like we were just saying with the chaos And you know, just the drunken vibes going on on spring break So neither of them were ready to assume the complete worst. Yeah, because this could just be debauchery. Exactly. And honestly, I'm sure you're hoping it was. Yeah, that's the thing. You're hoping this is just a lesson learned. Exactly. you know So instead of going to worst case scenario, they decided to proceed as they would with any other missing persononss case, operating on the assumption and the hope that Mark had simply caught a ride with a girl that he met at a bar and he would turn back up soon enough That's how they plan to approach the case, but Before the day was over, that plan changed dramatically After Mark's friends filed the report with the South Padre police, they returned to the hotel and they called Mark's parents, obviously to let them know that he was missing. The call no parent wants to again and the call like It's got to be so stressful to send your kids on spring break. like And also here's the other thing. Th these aren't kids. He's a twenty one year old. So they' have a lot of say in if you went or they didn't. It's their kid. and it's like you go you sit there and you're like, it won't happen to my kid. Right. And then when you The worst happens. I don't even know how brain you wrap your brain around. It must just not feel like No. Be you're like, no, this is literally the worst case scenario. How is it actually happeningight So they had heard the news reports of people going missing along the Mexican border as it was all happening, and they immediately worried that something bad had happened to their son once they realized he was one of those inocent people. So rather than wait to hear from the police, Jim called his brother Ken, who is a US customs agent, which wow. greatreat contact to him. He was based in L.A. and he asked for his help Now, Ken knew his nephew pretty well and he knew that, while Mark might have had a few beers now and again and you know, maybe partied too hard every now and again, he wasn't a drug user and there wasn't anything else on that side of the border that he would have gotten caught up Yeah Plus, his car was still on the American side of the border and all of his belongings were inside. and they knew that he wouldn't have just abandoned all of that So in just a few hours, the missing personss case had escalated from a local matter to now a federal investigation. Damn. Yeah, fast. By the time, which is honestly a good thing. that it got leveled this high. Yeah. By the time Ken Kilroy and his partner, Or in Nck got in touch with George Gavido Several calls had already been made to the Cameron County Sheriff's Depart, and a large team of law enforcement officials was assembled to search for Mark At the same time, Mark's father, Jim was on his way to Brownsville to help in the search however he could Cabido remembered later about Mark's father He came into the shheriff's office and he never left the sheriff's office. He was there for thirty days. E single day, Saturdays and Sundays too, he begged me to help him look for his son Oh my God, that just destroys my heart. I now. That's a parent, right there That's a full That's a dead parent. The problem was, while Gavido and the rest of the investigators assigned to the case obviously desperately wanted to find Mark Kilroy They had no evidence and there were no leads to work with. And even if they did have those leads and did have that evidence, none of them had jurisdiction to launch an investigation in Mexico. Yeah. So that's really really really complicated And you're not thinking that as a one year old on spring break crossing over the border. No. But now that we have that information, it is something that you have to consider. you do. And something happens to me. It's not that easy for people to get the resources and the jurisdiction and the warrants and this and the that and the share information. And that's why I think it's so important that we share stories like this. Yeah, because you need to know that you have to at least be aware of these things It's o it's obilary Because this is anywhere.were that's not where you're based and where all your shit is Well it's just like hard to find you. Yeah, just like when we were talking about the Amy Bradley case, like Innational Waters. It just becomes more complex. The web becomes tighter and that's hard. It's awful. And it sucks because people should be able to go on vacation, should be able to let loose you juststers preying upon. Why can't people just stop being shitheads. It's never happened in all of humanity I don't. So sick. if we could all just agree being assholes. I would love that. everyveryone. I would love that. I would what peace on Eth is a real I'm like, damn That is you wish somebody would get that that wish and actually have it happen. honestly. because it would be real nice if everyone was just chilling Yeah.agine if everyone was just chilling. I can't even picture it to be hon. That everybody was just minding their own business. No, Helping I brethren when they could. Yeah. I mean, that's how I try to live my life. I obbviously everybody can be an assole sometimes like to thisgree, No At this point in my life, I'm just trying to chill. Yeah. She just threw up I'm trying to chill I'm trying to chill. I am. I'm just trying to chill So but no, that's like I said, I really do think that's why we should be telling these stories So aware of the restrictions on law enforcement interational in an international case, the Kilroys turned to the nearby communities for help. In the early days, Jim went down to the bridge that crossed into Madamoros and handed out missing flyers from morning until night, just hoping that somebody he was going to run into and hand that flyer to would know something give them some kind of lead they could work with. That truly breaks my heart. It's awful family friends also joined the search. Mark's former basketball coach, Joe Rodriguez spent the first week traveling back and forth to Madamoros, interviewing what are called Velidores. and those are the men who provided security for local businesses and bars, kind of like a bouncer Jim said of the Rio Grande Valley communities that help search for Mark They were just absolutely wonderful. how they coddled us and took care of us. which is really sweet.'s This case does not end up No in a in a this is not a happy ending. which I obviously hate But At the very least, it's nice that these communities were able to work together. Oh yeah. And sure people were supported in the search. Yeah Now while the family and the community continuue to search on both sides of the border for Mark, the Sheriff's Department took two more atypical methods of investigation A few days into the search, Gavito brought Brad Moore into the sheriff's office to be hypnotized. hoping that it might jog his memory and reveal some critical clue about the night that Mark went missing When I first read that, I was like Okay maybe'll like sure, but you know, Sometimes these things work. Hey, we don't know everything there is to know. We really the human mind about what this shit happen. so if something could potentially help And especially I would as a parent, I would do fucking anything. Absolutely. Nothing would be off the table. Absolutely So Willie Cannet of the U.S. Customs Service said, it's kind of an unusual situation because there's really nothing to go on So when Brad was unable to come up with anything new, they moved on to Bill Huddleston. And while he was under hypnosis He describes seeing Mark walking near a quote, Hispanic man with a cut on his cheek right before he disappeared which is like Pret to have the cut on the cheek to go on, that's a little more than just your typical description of something, you know So Bill said he didn't recall Mark talking to the man, but when he looked back, he said he saw the strange man motion towards Mark Interesting, right? Yeah So when more than a week passed and there was still no sign of mark, the cers were getting desperate. and they turned to another outlet for help that was kind of a newer outlet Just one year earlier the TV program America' Most Wanted made its debut, which like Wow, Isn't that crazy? I just feel like that's always been a thing for know not in my life, it always has been. Yeah. and pretty much your life too. like Yeah for most of our of your life and all of mine it has. Yeah.. And the thing was, it had debuted a year earlier before this case, and it had already led to the capture of many violent criminals. Yeah. So the producers of America's Most Wanted agreed to feature the story on the program, and they immediately traveled out to Brownsville to record a recreation of of the night that everything happened and Mark went missing to air on the show Okay. While they were taking a break from filming the segment, a woman staggered up to one of the cameramen, Scott Judy She was clutching a crumpled missing personss poster in her hand, and she told him, He's dead, you know. They found him shot in the head. What the fuck? Out of completely nowhere That's horrifying and just like What What? It turned out that rumors had already started circulating among the spring brereakers in South Padre that Mark had been found dead Moments later, one of the producers angrily escorted the women out of the area and made sure she didn't come back. It got everybody thinking. Yeah Now the segment was rushed to completion and it aired on the show a few nights later, along with a twenty second PSA recorded both in Spanish and in English, telling viewers how they could help The episode did result in more than one hundred and fifty tips called in by viewers Claiming everything from Mark was dead to Mark was seen working in a convenience store in California, notot true None of the tips really led to anything, but according to Jim Shouts, it allowed investigators to see into the Mexican side by tracking what the Mexicans were doing with tips from the show They didn't have jurisdiction there, but now community is able to kind of talk to them a little bit. Yeah. So there's it's giving them something. Yeah, for sure. They really hadn't made any more progress on the case than the American counterparts But detectives in Texas could see that the Mexican investigators were taking Mark's disappearance very seriously, and they also were running all these tips down So that was nice. Yeah. so things are in motion. They are But by the end of the month, investigators on both sides of the border weren't much closer to finding Mark Hilbroy than they had on the day he went missing, and it was starting to feel like he was never going to be found. In order to feel like they were doing something productive and proactive, Jim and Helen withdrew Mark from school Jim told repeporters, we're trying to find out what things we can do because we don't really know. We're holding up well, but it's a matter of what you can do, how much can you do, and you start to run out of things you can do to try to find Mark. Yeah It's just awful. It is. Now just as everybody was starting to lose hope that Mark would ever be found There was a break in the case, and it came in one of the most unexpected and innocuous forms On the end, this is where we really take a hard left. So bear with me everybody. All right, I'm here. We're going into a completely different area here So in the afternoon of april first, Mexican police were conducting a checkpoint on Highway two. That's the main road that connects Madamoros to Texas. Okay. The setup was a simple drug checkpoint, like countless others along the border, basically attempting to stop drugs from coming into or out of Mexico. Now they're sitting there on this on this stop and they spot police spot a red truck they recognizeed coming down the highway And they quickly ran the plate and discovered that it belonged to Serfine Hernandez Garcia Now att the time, the Hernandez family was well known to the police in Madamoros. For decades, they had been one of the better organized gangs in the region, responsible for a lot of drug trafficking and smuggling. In more recent years though, the organization had expanded to include several members of the family living across the border in Brownsville, Texas. So they were kind of like working dual sides of the border. Okay.. Unlike more of the hardcore gangs that had been recently established in the region, the Hernandez family mostly just ran marijuana back and forth from Texas to Mexico, so The police they had run into the police a lot, but they weren't like supererous or anything like that. Despite that, they had been successful for many years, due in large part to their charismatic leader, Saul Hernandez But when Saul was killed by machine gun fire in nineteen eighty six. the family business started to fall apart Now Paul Paul's brother, Seraphine tried to step into his brother's role and keep everything together But within a month, he was arrested by US. officials, which left their entire operation in disarray. Yeah. No. Without the charisma of their former leader, the Hernandez business wasn't just in danger of losing money, but they were also in danger of being taken over by one of the other organizations in the region. because that was happening too. They would just walk in and be like, well, you're part of us now and you're gonna be paying us everything that you're making. And that's it. deal with it. like otherwise we can just shoot you So in order to fend off any potential takeovers, which would have inevitably ended in the murder of those higher up in the family, like I just said. What remained of the Hernandez leadership turned to Adolfo Constanzo, the Cuban American leader of the criminal organization that was dubbed Los Narco Satanicos, the Narcco Satanists As one of the more feared and dangerous gangs in the region, Adolfo Constanzso's group operated Less like a criminal syndicate and more like a religious cult. o? Yeah And it was all oriented around Constanzo, who was known as the gofather and his quote unquote highigh priestess, Sarah Maria Alldrette V Arial. I really hope I'm saying these pronunciations correctly. I looked them up So yeah Interesting. Okay. Now at first, the deal that was struck between Constanzo and the remaining Hernandez family members was just for simple protection But before long, the remaining Hernandez family members basically were absorbed into the narcco Satanist. Okay So as soon as they received the report about Mark Kilroy who had disappeared in Madamoros, it occurred to investigators that he could have been kidnapped by one of the local gangs. That was one of the first things on everybody's radar. Absolutely. Publicly, Mexican authorities, quote, tried to claim that Kilroy must have vanished in Brownsville because they were aware that news of another kidnapped tourist was going to hurt the local economy, which was already hurting. But behind closed doors, more than a few people brought up Adolfo Constanzo and the Hernandez family. And sadly, they knew that if Mark had been kidnapped by the Narcosatanists There was very little hope that they would get him back alive if they ever even got him back at all. That's worst case scenario. It really. L truly worst case scenario. T not even get to think that you wouldn't even get his body. You ever get him back? Like that's like, oh God, I can't So now back to the afternoon of April first Agent Rul Morales had been stationed at the checkpoint on Highway two. He'd been an agent in the area for many years, and he was familiar with the various members of all the gangs, especially their Hernandez family. So when he saw the compact red pickup coming down the highway, he knew right away that he would find little seraphine behind the wheel And that was confirmed when they managed to check the plate. And since Little Serafhine had blown through the checkpoint without stopping, they also knew that they had ample reason to stop him and even arrest him if they needed to Morales and all the other officers had been through that before. They'd stop one of the gang members as they came across the border. They'd try to get information Inevitably the gang members would stay silent and the whole thing was kind of just a pointless exercise in frustration. So instead, he had a better idea. The way that this all works out, I was like There's some kind of divine intervention here because the fact that he was like, you know what I'm not gonna to do that tonight. Yeah It all worked out. Yeah. not And I t on it kind of way, but it worked So rather than hitting the sirens and forcing Hernandez to pull over, he and his partner jumped in an unmarked Ford Bronco, and they followed Seraphine at a safe distance, hoping that he would lead them somewhere or give them a lead on whatever it was this family was up to. So they ended up following him to the Santa Elena Ranch, which was Elenas me It was an old farm about twenty miles outside Madamorne Morales and the other investigators had figured Constanzo's organization had been headquartered somewhere just outside of the city. And later that would be confirmed by a raid. and information that they obtained from U. S. customs officials In their report, customs agents estimated that there were up to twenty four people smuggling dr drugs for Constonzo, and they were all coming and going at the ranch But they wrote that no more than twelve were involved in the kidnappings and the slayings that eventually took place at the ranch. Oh Jesus. So at the time, Morales and the other investigators had no proof of what they suspected was going on between this gang here. Yeah. They had only really just learned about the location of the ranch when they followed Seraaphine So rather than risk losing valuable evidence, Marelles chose to hang back and stake out the ranch hoping that they could gather some kind of compelling evidence to justify a search warrant for the property. This is great detective work. So the next day, he returned to the ranch pretending that he was a lost traveler looking for directions back into town. Wow. It was like brave. I was just gonna say that's terrifying. Yeah So he spoke with an elderly man who said that he was the caretaker. And the man did seem to be tending to the animals that day. So he was like, maybe you aren't caretaker. what's the fo? The man said his name was Domingo, but he said he didn't know who owned the ranch. He just showed up every day to do his job and he didn't ask questions. I mean Hey, I don't blame him. Yeah So Morales could tell the man was lying to him. He was like, I definitely think he knew more than he was lying on, but he also didn't want to blow his cover. so he didn't push Also, his job that afternoon was to keep the caretaker busy while his partner poked around the property trying to stay out of sight. This is This is scary. This is like terrifying, but a lot of police work happening here. Yeah, and really good police work. Yeah So as the other agent corptor on the property, he spotted what looked like a brand new Chevy suburban, which was not exactly the type one would expect to find on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Probably not. Now peering into the back of the car, he could see a layer of dark dust covering almost the entire backseat, which he immediately recognized as the resin dust that shakes off of dried marijuana plants. So it's like caked on in that car Okay. And as he started to turn away from the truck though, something else caught his eye On the floor in the backseat of the car was a gray cement statue of what looked to the agent like some kind of demonic figure H, N not wanting to raise any alarms. He just went back to the car and waited for his partner, Moralice, who came back a short time later Now back at the station, the two agents checked in with their supervisor, Commander Juan Benitz and gave him an update on what they had all seen at the ranch. banitas had been raised in the traditional, I hope I say this correctly. a Wahacan community And he was more familiar with folk religions than the other agents were. Oh, wow. That's good that they had somebody that actually knew shit. It really worked out because we're pulling on a thread here Yeah, for sure. So when Benitz heard the description of the statue in the back of the car, he immediately recognized it as the statue of Alag Gua, who's a trickster god in Santora and this god is recognized as the messenger to the suupreme Creator, Ala Wufi. Oh, again, I really hope I'm saying all that, right So Benitz explained that the trickster was a favorite among the drug traffickers to kind of worship and like ask for protection especially those who wanted to curse their enemies. According to author Edward Humes, among the legends was the belief that If the proper offerings were made to Alagua He could make you bulletproof and invisible. Whoa. So that being the case, the promise of those powers would have made some of the greatest criminals in the world. Yeahah, I would say so. And for that those criminals felt like there was nothing too valuable to sacrifice. So it was obvious that there was drug smuggling going on at the ranch, but they needed something a little bit more and because they knew something much worse was going on. Yeah, this is not looking good. I know So Benitez himself had overseen the downfall of the Hernandez family in the last few years. So he knew that whatever was happening at the farm, they weren't working alone, and they probably weren't running the show anymore either which meant that another cartel was involved. And that's a big deal. Yeah. So he ordered that the ranch be monitored day and night. And in the meantime, he placed a call to his contact at the DEA to find out whether they knew anything about the operation at the ranch Now the DEA had also been monitoring the Hernandez family since before they expanded beyond the border But that focus became more intense when the family expanded into Brownsville, Texas. It was as Benitas had expected Something haded changed in the family's fortune since the elder leaders had died So for decades, like I said, the Hernandez family had been trafficking small amounts of marijuana back and forth, but their operation was not that impressive, especially compared to the newer cartels. And after the death of Saul and the failure of his brother, it was expected that they would kind of just be on their way out But that was hardly what the DEA had seen. Edward Humes wrote the Hernandez boys were living in a fine home, driving a fleet of brand new trucks and walking the streets like swaggering feudal lords. Whoa What a description. Exactly. And they said, obviously that kind of money and confidence didn't come from selling small amounts of weed or even cocaine at that point to tourists. Yeah. There was something a lot bigger going on here So the agent pretty much confirmed what Benitz already knew The remaining Hernandez family must have hooked up with a more powerful cartel But he mentioned one more thing that Benitez didn't know According to the DEA agent, there had been rumors circulating lately about the Hernandez boys talking about how they had all the protection they needed and that they had bought off the local cops All of which they attributed to, quote some weird religion that made them invincible Okay So it was the common about the religion that started to bring everything into focus for all of these agents here. The statue of the trickster god that Morales' partner had found in the back of a suburban the fact that Little Serapfhine had just blown through the police checkpoint without the slightest hesitation. And the fact that he didn't even seem to think about being followed when he led them directly to the ranch, like that wasn't on his radar. Yeah. it all started to make sense. Now Little Serapfine had never been the brightest member of the family But even he wasn't so stupid as to openly defy the police that brazenly unless he thought he was untouchable and protected. Oh Yeah. you see what happ. Oh my God. That makes so much sense. Yeah Damn And that means they're making the ultimate sacrifice in their mind of this God. Yep. So by the morning of april eighth, nineteen eighty nine, Commander Benitez had gathered enough information from his agents and from all his other sources to confirm pretty much every suspicion he had. Fortunately for him and the other agents, whatever religious beliefs that the family had, and their connections had, it had made them confident to the point of carelessness. After getting a warrant for a wire tap a few days earlier, agents started listening in on the phone calls that were coming in going out of the ranch during which one of the Jenerernandez boys in their contacts didn't even bother to use codeenames or obscure the subject of their conversation at all. That'sz they were They're invincible. They're protected, yeah So they think That morning, Little Seraphine was to receive a very big amount of marijuana at the ranch. And that was exactly the kind of information that Benitz needed to justify a raid on the compound.ly shit So before Little Seraphine hung up the call, He also said something about El Padrino Benitz didn't know what or to whom Seraphine was referring because it was the first time he heard the reference But for the time being, that had to wait, but that will come back later. Okay. So later that day, several agents descended on Seraphine's house in Madamoros, where they found him with another known drug dealer, Sergio Martinez Upon searching the house, they didn't actually find any drugs, but they found more than enough evidence of a drug operation thousands a foot. Yeah. There was res dust everywhere, there was guns, there's paraphernalia, there's a lot going on So when he was questioned about the large quantity of marijuana that they'd just received, seraphine was silent But rather than continue to press him, Benitas threw them both in the back of a police car and drove them both out to the ranch. the bigger ranch Now, after breaking a lock on one of the large sheds, the agents discovered sixty pounds of marijuana, along with a significant cache of weapons. and the Chevy suburban that Morales and his partner had seen earlier that week. Whoa Now back in Madamoros agents watching Sarapfhine's house managed to grab a few more members of the gang as they arrived. including one of the older members, Ellio Hernandez like Serapfine and Martinez, none of the men really seem to be too concerned about having just been arrested they all kind of presented with like Hy certainty that it was all going to be fine. Yeah because they're blinely protected. Exactly. S's gonna to happen. It was deeply frustrating for the investigators because it must have been the freaky because it's like, oh, they genuinely believe Yeah that this is This is This trickster God is protecting them. And what sacrifice must they have made to him? them for them believe that they are so protected. That honestly would be the thing that would send chills down They believe that they're invisible. Yeah N not just invincible, invisible. So they had to have felt pretty confident with the sacrifice they had made. Yeah. or sacrifices. Yeah. Benita said later, they weren't worried at all. They thought we couldn't hurt them. They thought they were protected. Damn. Now, although they were pretty profoundly irritated by the confidence, they also knew that they'd eventually got a confession one way or the other. Yeah So Here's the thing. we've told stories before. There's been cases where officers resort to violence to get answers. Of course, we've seen those. And that was especially common in this area in the nineteen eighties. I'm sure. There were the more common tactics, like we've talked about beatings, threats, but there were also more extreme tactics Dave found one that I said, excuse me, what? hold the phone. Oh Lord One of the most effective techniques at this time involved adding large quantities of hot sauce to soda water. which was then shaken up and shot up the suspect's nostrils. Oh my God. sauce and soda water shoved into your nostrils All I can think of is the sensation when you get the bubbles in your nose if your're like drinks it and you're like, oh, that h's that hot and spicy. Add it with hot sauce and have it shot directly into your nose. Yeah. Holy shit. Yeah Edward Humes wrote, as you're thinking about that, he described it irst comes a hideous sensation of drowning as the foaming liquid floods breathing passages, followed by an indescribable searing pain as the peppery liquid scores sensitive nasal tissue. Oh my go ye So not too shocking. this one was particularly effective. Oh, yeah, that I'd tell you shit. I'd tell you tellit I didn't do. I would make up stuff that you didn't even know about. Yep. Oh my God, that hurt. my nose hurts Can you even? No So in this case, it turned out that the hot sauce soda technique would not be necessary. Okay. The rumors of it alone would suffice when it came to Domingo Bustemante, the caretaker at the ranch. He was like, you know what? I heard that that's a thing and I'm not gonna to do with it. I think they were like, I could do that. And he was like, you know what? You know just chat. Why don't I just tell you what's going on? And remember, he was the one who had already talked to one of the guys. he said I don't know nothing about nothing. I just came and did my job Precisely Now he had been picked up by the Feds when he got to work on the morning of april ninth. and a short time later, he was sitting across from Bonitz in the interrogation room Now from the moment they met, Benitz could tell that he wasn't a drug smuggler or some hardened criminal. He was clearly just a man trying to make enough money to support his family, and he had gotten caught up in something, yeah, much bigger than him More importantly He didn't believe in witchcraft or the trickster gods. so he didn't have any of the confidence and the smug cockiness that kept the others from talking. He said, I know I'm not invisible. So He said, I know you can see me right here right now. Yeah. Basically, he would be easy to break. Yeah, just easy to get information out of So it turned out that Benitez's assessment of the caretaker was right. Within just a few minutes of the interrogation, he was telling agents everything he knew He confirmed that the ranch was the headquarters of the Hernandez smuggling operation. And then he began rattling off all the names of the smugglers at the ranch, at least all the ones he knew He told them People come and go all the time at the ranch. Some are friends of the bosses or workers, but there are others. They're treated very badly. Oh He began to say something about an American who he had seen at the ranch recently And then he kind of trailed off, almost seeming to realize that he said something he shouldn't know. No, keep talking So the other agents and Benitas were aware of the disappearance of Mark Kilroy, and several of them had been involved in the case on the Mexican side But it wasn't until that moment that they all assumed the case they were working on was a separate matter entirely. Oh shit. they had thought that. and then they were like, oh, this is dam, this is not It was when the caretaker brought up the American that it occurred to all of the agents that this case could be related. So Vanita is pressed further Domingo, the caretaker hesitated, and then he started talking about a day a month earlier when he saw a young man tied up in the back of the blue Chevby suburban at the ranch men at the ranch had left him tied up like that in the truck overnight Domingo said, I felt very sorry for him. I made him something to eat. I brought him some eggs and water for breakfast. And then the bosses came and took him away Oh my Godd, this makes my stomach hurt. It's horrific He estimated that this had occurred two or three weeks earlier And he said the young man was white with blonde hair which matched the description of Mark Kilroy. But that was all he knew. he said So Benita, thinking quickly, went back to his desk and rummaged through the drawers until he found the glossy black and white photo of Mark Kilroy that was being used in all the missing posters He slapped the photo down on the table in front of Domingo, and Domingo immediately recognized the man in the picture He told the detectives, Yes, that's him, the Garro Oh and Girro is, um is like slang in Mexico talking about like a white blonde person. Oh man And that is where we are going to end for part one. shhit So it took you what we probably felt like on a hard l, but then we kind of got back our original d dig Oh man. yeah, that's really sad. Part two gets even Saturday. Yeah. I feel so fucking hard for this family and this group of friends. What they've had to go through. That all just started from A celebratory time in their lives. Bring a break, man. Like what Jesus, they weren't even doing anything wrong. No, they were just not like they were like getting into trouble, you know what I mean? No, They were just they crossed over the border. they had a fun night. Yeah like they just didn't I think they just didn't have the information. No, you know, like they were just Lacking information exxactly because of the time, Eactly. I mean, again, remember this was the eighties, It's not now. No So we can't judge it off of now where you know certain things. And even judging off of now, how many millions of kids go on sping break to Mexico true. You know? Yeah Like it's not like this is You should be able to. And this is like a this is one of those cases that it's like worst case scenario. It is, you know, It really is. It's the cases that you get warned about when you go on for sure. It's awful. Yeah So we will be back with part two and We will get a lot deeper into this and it's jarring. so act Apparently in Japan, if you're found drunk and violent, police will physically roll you up in a giant plastic sheet and carry you away like a burrito. onic. He said, we don't have time for this. I said burrito wrap. Burrito. L this. So don't get drunk and violent in Japan. Okay I won't. I mean, don't get drunk and violent anywhere, but definitely don't you don't want to become aurrito, wrap you up and take you away. Yeah, they'll just throw you over their shoulder. You heard it here first. Yeah. mayaybe not, but you heard it here, that's for sure. Maybe All right, boy heads, we love you. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it wed. But not's aird that you get crazy and violent in Japan, or in Mexico or in the US or anywhere. Don't be crazy. Especially anywhere you're unfamiliar. Be careful everybody everywhere