In 1989, Mexican and American authorities searched for student Mark Kilroy for about a month and eventually discovered his body in a sacrificial ritual.
Mark Kilroy, 21 years old, a student at the University of Texas, on March 14, 1989, crossed the border from the US to the city of Matamoros, Mexico with a group of friends to have fun at a bar there.
Then Kilroy disappeared. About three weeks later, Mexican police arrested a man for marijuana use. Authorities searched his family’s ranch, about 20 miles from Matamoros, for more drugs. What they found was a tragedy.
Mark Kilroy. Photo: AP
On April 11, 1989, local authorities found an altar with candles, animal skulls, and human remains. Among the 15 victims was Kilroy. His body was dismembered, and parts were found in an iron cauldron. This was the ritual of a cult that believed that human sacrifice would bring them supernatural protection and help their drug trafficking operations run smoothly.
The sect, dubbed the NarcoSatanists by the media, used the farm near Matamoros as a base to smuggle about 450 kilograms of marijuana into the United States each month. Its leader, American Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, was known to cult members as “The Godfather.”
Constanzo was born in Miami, USA, in 1962. As a teenager, Constanzo studied with a local "shaman" and began practicing a religion called Palo Mayombe, which involved animal sacrifice. Constanzo's stepfather was involved in drug trafficking.
As an adult, Constanzo moved to Mexico City, where he founded a cult and recruited a number of followers. They offered good luck charms and practiced animal sacrifices. Many of his clients were wealthy drug dealers and assassins. Constanzo also met some corrupt Mexican police officers who introduced him to notorious drug cartels.
Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, leader of the NarcoSatanists sect in Matamoros, Mexico. Photo: Vocal Media
Constanzo believed that his “magic” helped drug cartels operate smoothly and became business partners with several major groups. The cult began infiltrating cemeteries to dig up human remains for ritual use. They then decided to kill people to do this.
Constanzo "practiced many forms of mind control under the guise of religion," journalist Gary Cartwright wrote in the June 1989 issue of Texas Monthly magazine.
Constanzo's henchmen kidnapped Mark Kilroy from outside the bar and took him to the farm. Constanzo targeted the medical student because he believed that his highly educated victim would be more powerful for his "magic".
After the incident was exposed, Constanzo and four followers fled to Mexico City. When surrounded by police in an apartment, Constanzo ordered his followers to shoot him dead in May 1989.
Kilroy memorial service in Texas in 1989. Photo: AP
Constanzo escaped punishment, but his followers did not. A Mexican government investigation into the killings resulted in 14 indictments, with five members serving decades-long prison sentences.
Meanwhile, Kilroy's parents, James and Helen, sought to channel their grief by founding an anti-substance abuse nonprofit named after their son.
"We're definitely putting all our energy into the war on drugs. For that reason, we don't look back. We try to just look forward," James said months after his son's death.
Vu Hoang (According to Washington Post )
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