0:00

You're listening to

0:02

the

0:05

drag.

0:07

It's

0:09

the spring semester at Texas Southmost

0:11

College in Brownsville. Dr.

0:13

Tony Zavaletta is teaching his intro to

0:16

sociology class. like he does every

0:18

semester. It's a big

0:20

class with well over a hundred students.

0:23

It

0:23

was not any different from any

0:25

other intro to sociology

0:27

large class in a in a large classroom

0:30

that I had taught. But

0:32

one student sticks out.

0:35

She and her two sidekicks

0:37

always sat in the very back

0:39

row.

0:41

And of course, I

0:43

wasn't happy about that.

0:46

And I would urge people in the back row

0:48

to move up, but there were so many students

0:51

in that class. It just was not

0:53

possible. But

0:54

that's not the only reason. She

0:56

was a rather tall you

0:58

know, as far as Hispanic

1:00

women go, who

1:03

are generally short, I know that's a stereotype,

1:05

but it's true. She was

1:08

tall, tall woman and looked

1:10

different.

1:10

She was different, so she stood

1:12

out. Her name is Sara Adrete.

1:15

Sauno that there was someone who

1:18

was known on campus.

1:21

She was known. She was Jim

1:24

Wright.

1:25

She was in we had some very

1:27

significant women's

1:29

volleyball teams, national champion,

1:32

volatile teams at Texas Soft Wings

1:34

College in the eighties. And

1:36

she

1:38

was kind of like I

1:40

don't know exactly what her position was,

1:42

but we'll say that she was kind of a a mascot.

1:44

She hung around with them.

1:46

She's also blonde. And

1:48

the thing about the Rio Grande Valley in

1:50

Brownsville, a majority Hispanic part

1:52

of Texas, is that Tom and

1:54

Blonde is not a combo. You see a

1:56

lot down here. And Sada

1:59

always shows up to class wearing these strange

2:02

dark red beaded necklaces, which

2:04

make her stand out even more. k?

2:06

So

2:06

shoes were in beads,

2:08

different colored santidea

2:11

beads.

2:12

And that that was unusual

2:15

for South Texas In fact, I don't

2:17

think I had ever seen it before.

2:19

somebody or beads cat shovel it as i

2:22

Because coincidentally, he's an expert

2:24

on the religion.

2:25

Folk medicine, Curandarizmo,

2:29

Santander, and so forth.

2:32

Southeasternia

2:32

is an African Arabian religion

2:34

that originated in Cuba as a result

2:37

of slavery. It's sort

2:39

of a fusion of Catholicism and a religion

2:41

from the Yaroo people in West Africa.

2:43

Sun City is popular in Mexico. The

2:45

country just across the border from Brownsville,

2:47

but it's practiced all over the world.

2:50

And in March nineteen eighty nine, Zavaritha's

2:53

just returned from traveling around the world

2:55

studying Suntaria.

2:56

I traveled to Miami,

2:58

a couple of times to study the

3:01

Botanikas.

3:03

I traveled to Puerto Rico

3:06

I

3:06

traveled to Los Angeles. I traveled to

3:08

Chicago. I traveled to San Antonio. I mean, I

3:10

was all over the Mexico city,

3:12

especially Mexico city. So

3:14

he's been spending a lot of time thinking about

3:16

and experiencing suntarilla.

3:19

And

3:19

now all of a sudden I'm seen

3:21

evidence of Santa Ria, like

3:24

Santa Alberto wearing Santa Rosa,

3:27

which

3:27

is very unusual.

3:30

Zaviletta doesn't ask Sada about

3:32

it because he didn't want to intrude

3:34

on his student's personal religious beliefs.

3:37

I

3:37

just I made note of it.

3:39

And I felt it was unusual.

3:42

It was it was strange on

3:44

that particular day. Xaviletta

3:46

says Sara was a good student

3:49

with a bright future ahead and

3:51

a lot of friends, including Setophine

3:53

and Elio Hernandez. They're

3:55

all inside one of those sociology class

3:57

together. Sethafin

3:59

is pretty quiet. He's

4:02

a small guy with a baby face.

4:04

He's studying criminal justice at Texas

4:06

Atmos College in Brownsville. He's

4:09

originally from Houston, Texas, but ended

4:12

up moving to Brownsville after high school to

4:14

pursue a higher education. And

4:16

he's always at Sata's side.

4:19

Like many college students, he and

4:21

Sata would cross the border into Matamoros,

4:23

just across the border from Brownsville. They

4:25

both go visit their families and they

4:27

meet up with their group of friends at Sarafim's

4:30

family's ranch outside of Matamoros.

4:33

Rancho

4:33

Santa Elena.

4:34

On

4:37

April tenth, in the spring of nineteen

4:40

eighty nine, Cetaphine's

4:42

driving down the country roads in

4:44

the rural area around Rancho Santa

4:46

Elena. It's not common

4:48

to see cars on the roads. It's

4:50

pretty quiet around here, mostly

4:52

farmlands. And it's

4:54

certainly not common to see a bright red

4:56

pickup truck like set of scenes speeding

4:58

down the dirt

4:59

roads.

5:00

Cetaphine notices a police roadblock

5:02

up

5:03

ahead, but he doesn't

5:05

slow down. In fact,

5:07

he blows right through the roadblock. like

5:10

the police aren't even there. He's

5:12

not really phased or even

5:14

scared by what he just did because

5:17

he thinks the police

5:19

can't see him literally.

5:22

You see, Cetaphine's fan

5:25

the ranch is

5:28

the home of a pretty huge illegal

5:30

marijuana operation. It's

5:33

also the headquarters

5:34

of a cult.

5:37

A cult that's responsible for the

5:39

ritual murder and sacrifice of at

5:41

least a dozen people.

5:50

I'm

5:50

Jackie Abarra, and this is season

5:52

three of

5:53

darkness. This is episode

5:55

two.

5:59

Mark Yeroy, the twenty one year old

6:01

University of Texas student who crossed the

6:03

border into Matamoros with his friends

6:05

during spring break. has been missing

6:07

in Mexico for more than twenty four

6:09

hours, and the search

6:11

has turned into an international one.

6:14

In the coming days, folks from both

6:16

sides of the border, from Matamoros

6:18

in Mexico and Brunswick in Texas,

6:21

will come together to search for work.

6:24

To understand what this would have been like at the

6:26

time, you have to understand a little bit

6:28

more about Brownsville and Matamoros.

6:33

Although Brownsville is

6:35

the largest city in the Rio Grande Valley,

6:37

it still manages to have a small town

6:40

feel to it. This mostly

6:42

Hispanic community is pretty tight

6:44

knit. It's the kind of place where

6:46

everyone seems to know everyone and

6:48

everyone loves the cheese knit.

6:49

or gossip. Last

6:52

episode, I told you how common it

6:54

is for people to cross the border between

6:56

Brownsville and Matamoros.

6:56

oh

6:58

But the two cities aren't just neighbors.

7:01

They're actually pretty good friends. There's

7:03

even a weeklong festival held every

7:05

February that celebrates that friendship

7:07

and commodity between brownsville and mother

7:09

models. It's called charter

7:11

days and it's filled with music,

7:13

food, and a parade that starts at

7:15

the heart of brownsville and ends in downtown

7:17

at the locals signifying that the

7:19

border isn't a barrier between the two countries.

7:23

And because of Brownsville's proximity to

7:25

Mexico, Bicultural experiences

7:28

are huge here. Who

7:30

definitely hear a lot of Spanglish, which

7:32

is the mingling of English and Spanish.

7:35

You'll see advertisements in both languages

7:37

and many of the restaurants in Brownsville serve

7:40

some of the most authentic Mexican

7:42

food you can get outside of Mexico itself.

7:44

But

7:45

another big thing about people in Brownsville

7:48

is their faith. Many

7:50

of Brownsville's residents are Christian

7:52

and there are a lot of churches here.

7:54

And I spent twenty three years

7:56

in Brazil. Brandsview

7:59

is very simple people.

8:02

is a people, a lot of faith.

8:05

I'll say the churches in Brazil

8:08

always are full.

8:09

That's

8:10

Montenior Juan Niccolo.

8:13

He's been apprised in Brownsville for years,

8:15

mostly at St. Luke's Catholic Church.

8:17

He's eighty four years old now, and even though

8:20

he's technically retired, he

8:22

still finds himself helping out with mass

8:24

and services at the basilica of our

8:26

ladies San Juan Belvaya. Monsignor

8:29

Nikolao is a pretty big

8:31

deal around here. He's been a pretty

8:33

familiar face in the Brownsville community

8:35

for a while and not

8:37

just within the walls of the church.

8:39

He's been recognized by the

8:41

pope. Thus his title, Muncinirod,

8:44

which refers to a priest that's been honored for

8:46

exceptional service to his church or

8:48

diocese.

8:48

At that time, I had a program

8:50

on TV and radio. that

8:52

the TV program lasted for

8:55

thirty years, every Sunday, every

8:57

Sunday, and pure radio. And

8:59

also, I used to have

9:01

an article on the newspapers in

9:03

the valley every Sunday in

9:05

English and Spanish. He

9:08

even

9:08

has five thousand friends on

9:10

Facebook. That shows just

9:12

how connected he is to the community of

9:15

Brownsville. Monsignonique Lau

9:17

is kind of a rock star around the

9:19

community and people tend to look to him for

9:21

guidance and answers, especially

9:24

in times of crisis. So

9:26

when he heard Mark Kilroy had disappeared in

9:29

Matamoros in March nineteen eighty

9:31

nine, he knew he and his

9:33

church had to help in the search for Mark

9:35

in any way that they could.

9:36

we had to help this man. We had to help

9:38

this man. And

9:40

thought this, we had to do whatever we

9:43

can in order to

9:45

to help him. And

9:46

that means coordinating a lot with the police

9:48

as they begin their search for work

9:51

and coordinating with the community.

9:53

They came only to know

9:55

to to find out what happened.

9:57

So they went to the church. And

9:59

we

9:59

started to pray, we formed a community,

10:02

prayers, and but we

10:04

thought it would be a matter which,

10:06

you know, when we

10:08

when we were mandated.

10:10

Mark wasn't from Brownsville. but

10:12

this is the type of city that goes out of their

10:14

way to help people. Even

10:16

if it's not someone the community necessarily

10:19

knows, That's because

10:22

the community is so faithful and

10:25

welcoming. We will

10:25

involve in praying,

10:29

and Denise to

10:31

look to find out what happened.

10:34

And we got together with the police.

10:36

The police got together with me. and

10:38

we got together the the pal the

10:40

pole the pole the pole

10:42

pole pole pole pole pole pole pole pole pole

10:44

pole pole pole pole pole pole valley valley all kind of

10:46

people involved in this

10:48

situation.

10:53

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12:04

It's Wednesday,

12:05

March thirteenth, for the time news

12:07

of March disappearance makes it to

12:09

Brownsville. Mark hasn't

12:11

been seen since two days earlier. If

12:14

you watched any crime TV show,

12:16

you know, that the first forty eight hours

12:18

after someone goes missing, are

12:20

vital to finding them alive. It's

12:23

been more than twenty four hours, but

12:25

more experience and family are holding out

12:27

hope that he's okay.

12:29

Mark's friends aren't partying on South

12:31

Padrait, Ireland anymore. Instead,

12:34

they're sitting at the Camry County Sheriff's

12:36

Department front of an investigator

12:38

ready to tell their story to a man

12:40

who they hope can help them. My name

12:42

is George Gavito.

12:44

I

12:45

was employed at

12:47

the time of the Mark Kilroy case by

12:49

the Cameron County Sheriff's Office.

12:51

I was the chief investigator

12:53

for Cameron County.

12:55

George Gavido strikes an imposing

12:58

figure. He's more than six

13:00

feet tall, but his personality is

13:02

even bigger. He's got a

13:04

booming voice that bounces off the walls

13:06

of his office. When he

13:08

talks, you can't help but listen.

13:10

When we interviewed him at his office in Brownsville

13:13

in twenty twenty one, he wore a white

13:15

button down, freshly showered after a

13:17

morning at the beach. Gabeco's retired

13:20

now, but he's busy.

13:22

He runs a nonprofit that focuses

13:24

on education and opportunity

13:26

in Brownsville. The afternoon we

13:28

interviewed him, he was fielding calls from

13:30

folks who worked for him on his ranch.

13:32

They'd been having problems with poachers.

13:36

But in nineteen eighty nine, Gavido

13:38

was the chief investigator for Cameron

13:40

County, and he's the one who got the

13:42

call when Mark Taylor wrote when missing.

13:44

I was

13:44

sitting in my office, and

13:47

one of the secretaries came in and said

13:49

that there was a couple of kids there.

13:51

that Brownzo PD had sent over.

13:54

They had gone to Brownzo PD to

13:56

report a missing person. And

13:58

they said, well,

14:00

It happened in Mexico. Why don't you

14:02

go talk to George Gavito. George Gavito

14:04

takes all kinds of cases. So

14:06

and that's exactly what the guys told me

14:08

when they got there. so they came in

14:11

and they started telling me the story

14:14

that they had a buddy missing.

14:16

I said, well, what happened?

14:20

were we were we were in in

14:22

Mexico, and

14:24

we started coming back. We

14:26

crossed the bridge and we waited and

14:28

waited and waited for him and he never came

14:30

over him, you know.

14:32

Mark's friends were desperate by

14:35

the time they connected with Gabbitl.

14:36

we've been waiting for him for a day

14:38

and a half, going on two days, and we

14:40

talked to the to his dad, and

14:42

that's it to come down and do a

14:44

a police report

14:46

and and that's why we're here. And I

14:48

said, well, to begin with, you

14:51

know, we

14:52

don't have jurisdiction He's

14:55

right. His department doesn't

14:57

have jurisdiction outside of the county and

15:00

certainly not outside of the

15:02

country. there. I can't do much.

15:04

This happened in Mexico. I can make some

15:06

a few phone calls to see if he's in

15:08

jail or you know, he

15:10

got beat up in the hospital or something, but,

15:12

you know, we really don't

15:14

have any jurisdiction in Mexico.

15:16

As he's talking to the boys about what happened,

15:19

Davido gets a call from a man named

15:21

Orin Neck. He's a US

15:23

customs agent in Brownsville.

15:24

I just got

15:27

a call from LA.

15:29

My

15:30

my my company

15:32

over there his nephew

15:36

is

15:36

missing. And I

15:38

said, oh, hold on. He's

15:41

missing

15:41

from birth. Well, he went to Matamoros.

15:43

He was down spring break. Hold on. Is his

15:45

name by any chance Mark

15:48

something? Yeah.

15:50

Yeah. That's it, Mark Kilroy. I

15:52

too know, well, I got two kids

15:54

here that that were

15:56

with him, his buddies,

15:58

Where

15:58

Gavito is a tall man with a big

16:01

personality, Nick is

16:03

more unassuming. He's serious

16:05

and straight to the point. Like

16:07

a veto or a neck is also a

16:09

valid native. So he knows

16:11

the community and especially the

16:13

border pretty well. And

16:15

it's unusual for him to be involved in

16:17

the search for Mark.

16:19

Customs agents don't usually get involved

16:21

in missing persons cases. But

16:23

since his good friend, Ken Kilroy caught

16:25

him up, he wanted to help. Ken

16:28

is Mark's uncle and godfather.

16:31

He's a fellow customs agent based in Los

16:33

Angeles, and when he got word

16:35

that his godson was missing in Matamoros,

16:37

he knew he had to call up

16:39

our neck. ORNEG

16:40

died in twenty fourteen, so

16:42

we couldn't interview him for this podcast.

16:45

But you'll

16:45

hear his voice from old news clips throughout

16:47

the spot cast and you'll hear

16:49

Gabitha talk about him a

16:50

lot. Here's

16:52

Gabitha talking about when Oren caught

16:54

him about the case. He

16:56

said, man, we gotta help

16:58

this guy. I said, well, let me see what I

17:00

can do. He says, man, I'll put some people

17:02

with you, to help you guys. You know, I'll

17:04

send two or three guys over there.

17:06

In fact, let me let me

17:08

send one over there right now and we

17:10

can start looking at

17:12

this. The law enforcement team begins to form.

17:14

Right now, it's Nick and Gavito along

17:16

with a couple of people from customs and

17:18

the county sheriff's office working together.

17:21

Together, they start gathering all the

17:24

information about Mark they can possibly

17:26

get. They hear about all the

17:28

bars the boys visited at Matamoros and

17:30

they get a description of what Mark was wearing

17:32

that night, a black, short

17:34

sleeve, button up shirt, light

17:37

colored pants with black, tan, and

17:39

brown

17:39

stripes, black

17:40

loafers, a gray belt, and a

17:42

gold chain and gold watch. They

17:45

also arranged to get Jim, Mark's

17:47

dad, to fax over a picture

17:49

of Mark. It's the one we mentioned

17:51

last episode where he's smiling

17:53

from ear to ear with his shaggy blonde

17:55

hair. But beyond that,

17:57

there's not much the boys can help law

17:59

enforcement with. right now. So

18:01

they go back to South Padre, Ireland while

18:03

George Gavido and her neck get to

18:05

work. At first,

18:07

Gavithua neck don't read too much into this random missing

18:09

college kid. They think he's in

18:11

jail somewhere or still sleeping off

18:14

the party. But

18:16

then, Gavito gets a phone call that forces

18:18

him to take this seriously. His

18:20

dad

18:20

gave me a rundown of

18:22

who Mark was. and

18:25

just

18:25

listening to the father

18:27

and the

18:28

mother on the phone on

18:31

what who

18:32

Mark was and and his buddies also to

18:35

seeing the type of kids they were, you know, you could

18:37

tell what type of

18:38

kid Mark was. and

18:40

and

18:40

I could see he wasn't a type of guy that he

18:43

was not gonna call his parents and

18:46

and just disappear. with

18:48

a woman or or five the

18:50

five million things that we could think that would

18:52

happen to him, you know, on his own, you

18:54

know, be in jail, get

18:56

drunk, you know, be with somebody, be doing drugs, all

18:59

that. It didn't fit. So

19:01

right there, I started saying, you know, something

19:03

happened here. This

19:04

is where things get messy.

19:06

Finding a missing person in a foreign country

19:08

isn't easy or

19:09

straightforward. They take

19:11

the logical first step They start

19:13

calling hospitals and jails in the area.

19:15

The American consulate does some searching

19:17

too, but they're not much help.

19:20

They say there aren't any Americans in jail anywhere

19:22

in Mexico, which seems

19:24

unlikely during spring break.

19:27

The continent also thinks Mark will show up soon, and

19:29

they end up telling investigators to leave

19:31

it to Mexican officials. So two

19:33

law enforcement

19:34

agents head into Matamoros

19:36

to check again in person, expecting to see

19:39

the cells full of students who got to

19:41

drunk or too rowdy with

19:43

Mexican police. But they only

19:45

find

19:45

one American in jail, and he's

19:47

from the University of Miami,

19:49

and he's never heard of Mark Kilroy.

19:52

Orenek himself decides to hit the streets

19:54

near where Mark disappeared. He waves

19:57

around a photo of Mark asking people

19:59

if they've seen

19:59

him, but

20:01

Nothing. He knew it was

20:03

a shot in the dark, but at this point, they

20:05

have no saw that leads on mark.

20:08

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20:08

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21:53

By Thursday

21:55

morning, forty eight hours after Mark

21:57

was last seen, Jim Kilroy shows

21:59

up in Brownsville. along

22:01

with a friend who volunteered to help with the search. His

22:05

wife, Helen, stayed behind in case

22:07

anybody caused their house with information

22:09

about Mark.

22:10

Jim's worried and

22:13

scared about what was happening. And

22:15

according to the book Jim wrote with

22:17

journalist Bob Stewart, Mark's friends are in

22:19

for a rough morning. Mark's

22:21

friend, Bill Huddlston, saw

22:23

Mark talking to a stranger before he

22:26

disappeared. so officials want to

22:28

hypnotize him to get information. Someone

22:30

from the

22:30

Texas Department of Health and Human

22:33

Services will put him in the trends

22:35

like state. which they

22:36

hope will unlock full concentration

22:38

and focus. In nineteen eighty

22:40

nine, hypnosis was just another tool

22:42

law enforcement officers used to

22:44

help solve crime. It was

22:47

a pretty common practice all the way up until

22:49

twenty twenty one when Texas passed the

22:51

law banning hypnosis and law enforcement

22:54

settings. But on this Thursday morning,

22:56

in March nineteen eighty nine, investigators

22:58

hope to search both subconscious

23:00

for an image of what or

23:03

who he saw the night mark when

23:05

missing. During the session, Bo

23:07

described the exact location where

23:09

Mark disappeared. In

23:11

his trans, he saw someone talking to

23:13

Mark that night, but he couldn't quite

23:15

make out what the person looked like.

23:17

So they

23:17

couldn't make a sketch to release to

23:20

the public. Investigators

23:20

decided to do the next best thing.

23:23

They put up a

23:23

reward. Five thousand dollars

23:25

to anyone with information about

23:27

what happened to Mark.

23:30

While they wait and hope the reward money

23:32

will bring someone forward, they look

23:34

for more help on the other side of

23:36

the border. It's a struggle

23:38

getting the Mexican authorities to

23:40

cooperate. Corruption runs rampant

23:42

in the local police departments, but

23:44

more This is a bigger case

23:46

for a small police department. So

23:48

Gavido brings in the big guns,

23:50

someone he knows and trusts. So

23:52

the only one that was helping us was

23:54

the

23:55

comandante.

23:58

Kabrito

23:59

there

23:59

introduces Jim Kilroy to Juan

24:02

Benita Sayela. the commander of the

24:04

Mexican federal judicial police

24:06

department. Basically, the

24:07

law enforcement agency that takes on

24:09

cases throughout all of Mexico.

24:12

Has

24:12

a reputation

24:14

for getting things done in Mexico.

24:17

He's cleaned up

24:17

a lot of the corruption in his department since

24:19

he got into and he

24:21

tells Jim that we're a translator that he'll

24:23

help him find his son. By

24:25

Friday morning, seventy two hours

24:27

after Marx disappeared. Law

24:30

enforcement knows they need a new plan of

24:32

action. The

24:33

spring breakers will leave town soon and

24:35

they need to know if someone saw something.

24:37

Here's

24:38

Gavito again. I

24:39

said, okay, guys. It's

24:42

important that we

24:44

hit the streets, and we

24:46

get flyers, and get this stuff on

24:49

TV and the whole thing. Because

24:51

all these kids aren't

24:53

gonna be here next week. And

24:55

all if we have any witnesses of any

24:57

kind, we gotta we gotta concentrate

24:59

right now. And

25:00

since Jim Carrolloy's in town, he's

25:03

the face investigators put in front of the

25:04

cameras. You

25:06

you appeal more to the public

25:08

when it's the parents.

25:09

that are that are doing, you know, I do the

25:12

interview, but but it was apparent, you know,

25:14

asking for help and everything. It was

25:16

important. And not only

25:17

was Jim more than happy to do it,

25:19

he was determined to help in any

25:21

way he could.

25:22

He would bring me a cup of coffee in

25:24

the morning, and he

25:25

would just stick around to see how

25:27

he could help. Jim makes his

25:29

TV debut on a local news channel

25:31

in the valley. Our

25:34

Mars

25:34

whereabouts are still in

25:36

men.

25:37

My name

25:44

is

25:44

Letty Fernandez. and

25:46

I was a reporter

25:49

at KGBT,

25:50

the CBS affiliate

25:52

in the Rio Grande Valley, covering

25:54

the

25:54

the Mark Kilroy case. We

25:58

had the law enforcement

25:59

people had told us

26:02

you know, that a student had been missing

26:05

and they wanted us to get the story

26:07

out. But really, the

26:08

first story that was

26:10

published about it was in the Brownsville

26:13

Herald. And the rep that

26:15

reporter Lisa Baker had

26:17

interviewed several

26:19

of the law enforcement people

26:21

and

26:21

mister Kilroy, Mark's

26:23

dad. And

26:24

then from that point on,

26:26

we

26:26

started covering

26:27

the story. the TV reporters. And

26:31

so from the onset, we

26:33

were there and even

26:35

the first time mister mayor came down

26:37

to start searching

26:39

for his son, we were covering

26:41

the I was covering the

26:43

story. Lithy

26:45

said

26:45

she didn't cover the story just because it

26:47

was a breaking news story. She

26:50

wanted to help. So

26:52

it was

26:52

a sense of not only covering

26:54

the stories as journalist, but

26:56

but also helping to

26:58

get the word out

27:00

and hopefully and hoping to find

27:02

his son. And the the

27:04

first time I interviewed him, that

27:07

was like the only time he had

27:09

ever really broken down emotionally.

27:11

then after that, he was

27:12

always very strong and very

27:15

but he just,

27:16

you know, was this this

27:18

it was just a apparent

27:20

wanting to find his

27:23

son. So

27:24

we just wanted to do what we could

27:27

to help get that

27:28

message

27:29

out there. This would

27:31

be the first of many times

27:33

Jim Kirroy would appear on TV.

27:36

pleading

27:36

for answers in his son's disappearance.

27:40

Lethey

27:40

would go on to interview him every

27:42

day during the search for And at

27:44

just one point, I think it was when he was

27:46

talking about Mark is when he he

27:48

broke down and and

27:51

he had

27:52

I mean, it

27:55

was very sad to see that because it

27:57

was a a

27:59

the father

27:59

father talking about his son, and he was

28:02

missing.

28:02

And and but

28:04

he but after that, he

28:06

never He was just very strong and very. He

28:08

would never he

28:10

didn't break down.

28:11

Letty got to know Jim and Helen

28:14

Kilroy pretty well throughout the search for

28:16

their son. especially Jim.

28:19

The fact

28:19

that their son was missing and was

28:21

seen in another country and

28:23

and

28:26

I mean, you felt his pain. You felt that

28:28

you felt his pain. They're

28:30

pain. And and I think a lot of

28:32

that's a lot of people in the community.

28:35

Felt

28:35

up. As led these

28:37

interviews with Jim aired on the news each

28:39

day, Brownsville residents began to join

28:41

the search for Mark.

28:43

That's That's kind of the

28:44

way Brownsville is. You know, if

28:46

we have a crisis, people

28:49

come in. People

28:50

really do come out and and

28:53

show their support for people. And

28:55

and I think he I know he felt that

28:58

and

29:00

I

29:00

know he did. A

29:02

local school helps the family by printing

29:05

flyers. Local church members form

29:07

committees and prayer groups. Monsenio

29:10

Nicolas' church leads the effort. Nicolas,

29:11

we have to help. We

29:13

have to get together.

29:15

The whole community Burda, even though

29:17

we did not know exactly what

29:20

happened, I preached that

29:22

that that we had to have faith.

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twenty two. When Jim Care Roy shows up

29:58

in Brownsville to look for

29:59

Mark, he's feeling

30:01

helpless. His son

30:03

is still missing and he's

30:04

nearly four hundred miles away from his

30:07

wife, Helen. So

30:08

he went to

30:09

a place, he knew he'd feel safe

30:11

and at home.

30:13

Church. As devoted

30:15

Catholics, Jim and the Carolinas were

30:17

the kind of family that go to church

30:20

every Sunday.

30:21

Helen was

30:22

even a volunteer Sunday school teacher

30:24

back in their hometown of Santa Fe,

30:27

Texas. And they instilled those

30:29

beliefs in their sons from

30:30

a young age. Here's

30:32

Ryan friendly, Mark's friend

30:34

who pulled out of the spring break trip at the last

30:36

minute to go snow skiing instead.

30:38

And

30:38

there was a time when his dad

30:40

walked in

30:41

the lunchroom and he was reading the bible.

30:43

And he's thinking,

30:44

well, he should be studying. He's got a exam coming

30:46

up. Were you gonna tell your son to

30:48

not read the bible? But that's the

30:50

way Mark was. He would he was

30:53

he

30:53

was

30:54

studious academically,

30:57

but he also

30:57

had strong

30:59

faith.

30:59

Everyone we interviewed for this

31:02

podcast told us that the Kilroy's Christian

31:04

faith was one of the first things they

31:06

noticed about them. Here's let

31:07

me again. Like I remember in the in

31:09

my stories, I would talk about their

31:12

faith and how important

31:14

it was that that was keep I think

31:16

even mister Kilroy talked about it and

31:18

those interviews about believing,

31:22

relying on his faith to help them get through

31:24

this. And and I knew that they were

31:26

that he was he was

31:28

going to mass a lot. at

31:30

one of the churches

31:31

there in town.

31:33

Even

31:33

Monsignor Nikolau, a priest with

31:36

decades of experience in

31:38

the church was amazed by the CareVoice

31:40

faith in such stressful circumstances.

31:42

I don't understand why they had

31:44

so much faith. that was

31:47

a miracle. The mother

31:49

that had moved to the marriage every

31:51

day and all

31:53

that is Tell me, well,

31:55

for the whole community, for the whole world,

31:57

it was was an

31:59

example

31:59

of faith. That

32:02

was a testimony. They

32:04

never lost hope.

32:07

Never. As a

32:08

community prays and passes out

32:10

flyers, investigators are still searching

32:12

for any information.

32:15

They think there's a break in the case when they

32:17

hear that two spring breakers had

32:19

been injured. one in the same

32:21

area where Mark was last seen. So

32:23

the investigators do another sweep with the

32:25

hospitals and jails for any sign

32:27

of Mark, but still Nothing.

32:29

The attacks weren't

32:30

related.

32:32

Investigators know the chances of finding Mark

32:35

alive are getting grim. They

32:37

started throwing around more theories.

32:39

Maybe he had a brush with the corrupt

32:41

law enforcement officer and was killed because

32:44

of it. but it's

32:46

unlikely. The area Mark was in

32:48

was frequented by spring breakers, so

32:50

it was somewhat of a safe zone for

32:52

tourists like him. I talked to Oscar

32:54

Gassadis, a novelist, an SAS

32:56

who writes primarily about the US Mexico

32:58

border, specifically South

33:00

Texas and the Rio Grande Valley.

33:02

Oscar referred to the area where Mark disappeared as

33:04

a, quote, green zone. It's

33:07

kind of like

33:07

arriving at the embassy.

33:09

you know, you're you're you're you're in the green

33:12

zone. If

33:14

if something happens there,

33:16

you know, I mean, if if you're

33:19

just toast because

33:21

it shouldn't I mean, it it shouldn't happen

33:23

there.

33:23

Oscar's talking about Garcia's, one of the

33:26

most legendary restaurants in

33:28

Matamoros. It's right by the bridge to

33:30

Brownsville and its right near remark

33:32

when missing. Oscar grew

33:34

up crossing over the border from Brownsville

33:37

to Matamoros and says in the years

33:39

before Mark's disappearance, he

33:41

never thought twice about it being dangerous.

33:43

You had been going there for

33:45

years and didn't think anything it

33:47

and then like, this happens. Right?

33:50

So even the

33:50

folks frequenting locomotives at

33:52

this time couldn't be sure what

33:54

the possibilities were. investigators

33:57

decide to start searching through all the

33:59

places they think a body might

34:01

be buried. And the

34:04

search turns from a missing person's

34:06

investigation to a homicide investigation.

34:08

investigation

34:12

On Saturday,

34:14

four days after Marx disappeared. Authorities

34:16

decided to search the Rio Grande River.

34:18

The river separates

34:19

Mexico and the

34:22

United States. More than fifty agents and a border patrol

34:24

helicopter look through the brush on

34:26

either side of the

34:28

Rio Grande. The

34:30

water's not too deep and it's muddy, but

34:32

it would be easy to spot

34:34

something floating in the water.

34:37

Jim

34:37

Kerr wrote joins in the search, peering

34:40

through the murky water for

34:41

his son's body. Here's

34:43

what Jim said about the moment

34:45

in his book.

34:46

So I prayed. I prayed to find

34:49

him. I prayed

34:50

to not find him. I prayed

34:52

that if he was found,

34:53

it would be

34:55

someone else.

34:56

And finally, I prayed that we would

34:57

not find him here, but that I would be

35:00

reunited with

35:02

him.

35:04

They return

35:04

to the river on Sunday. They fly with the search

35:07

and find nothing. So they go

35:09

back to fast enough

35:12

flyers. Mark's face smiles out

35:13

from the posters in black and

35:15

white.

35:15

Mornica Rodriguez Davis

35:17

remembers those

35:20

flyers. My

35:21

name is Monica

35:24

Rodriguez Davis. And

35:26

while they were searching

35:28

for Mark, his family, his

35:30

father

35:31

and his son and his mother at

35:33

one point stayed with us. We

35:36

opened

35:36

our home to them.

35:40

while they were searching for their son. In nineteen eighty

35:42

nine, Monika was seventeen years

35:44

old, a junior in high school

35:47

when Mark Carroy disappeared.

35:49

remember my

35:49

dad or my family used to go to Saint

35:52

Luke's Church in Brownsville

35:54

at the

35:56

time. And when the story

35:58

broke, I think it hit the newspaper. It

36:00

might have been on the news once or

36:02

twice. I don't I don't know,

36:04

but my father became aware

36:06

of it. And he

36:07

recognized mister

36:08

Kilroy at Mass

36:11

one morning, and he

36:14

approached him and told him that

36:16

he was aware of the situation and what was

36:18

going on with the sun and how he was

36:20

missing. And he just told

36:22

him, you know, you have a

36:24

home here until

36:24

you, you know, until you,

36:26

you know,

36:28

find

36:28

him. Jim

36:29

Kilroy

36:31

met Monica's father Joe

36:33

Rodriguez at church. Joe

36:36

or more affectionately known as coach

36:38

Joe in the community is the kind of

36:40

man who would help anyone in a

36:42

situation like this. But as

36:44

we've established, that's pretty common

36:46

down here. My

36:46

father had always felt that if I

36:49

can help, I'm gonna help, and I'm gonna help

36:51

in any way I can. whether, you know, he's just

36:53

gonna do it. And he was always that type

36:55

of person. And I think he was

36:57

a really good person to be involved

36:59

in this just because

37:02

he wasn't afraid

37:03

to go up to

37:05

people and

37:07

start a conversation. Over

37:09

the next month, Monica's house

37:11

turns into what was known as

37:13

the war room. In law terms,

37:15

I call it the war room,

37:17

you know, where they have everything there so they can

37:19

prepare for the case or the trial,

37:21

it almost felt like a war

37:24

room in that little table that

37:26

we had. Monica's

37:27

kitchen table would become the place where law enforcement agents such

37:29

as George Gavito and Oranek

37:31

would have meetings. Monica's

37:35

used to her house being

37:37

busy. After all, she said having people over

37:39

for Barbecco Atacos and a big red on

37:42

Sundays was normal for her

37:44

Mexican family. as it is in mind,

37:46

but

37:46

this felt different. This was serious. Throughout

37:48

the first two weeks of the search,

37:50

the Care Royce and the Brownsville

37:54

community stay in a constant loop of press interviews,

37:56

prayers, and passing out

37:58

flyers. The community's

38:00

efforts

38:00

work. The

38:02

case captures the attention of producers for the show America's

38:04

Most Wanted, who agreed to

38:06

do a segment on Mark's disappearance.

38:09

America's most wanted a national TV show

38:11

aimed at finding missing persons and

38:13

fugitives dedicated a five minute segment of the show

38:15

to the for twenty one year old Mark

38:17

Kilroy, a UT premed student who disappeared

38:19

during a spring break trip to

38:22

Mexico. The producers bring in the

38:24

three friends who were with Mark the night

38:26

he disappeared. to go to

38:28

Matamoros and reenact the night

38:30

exactly as it happened.

38:32

They even

38:32

hire an actor to portray Mark.

38:34

Here's

38:35

a clip of Bill. The last friend

38:37

to see Mark before he

38:39

disappeared. Buddy, I have to take

38:41

a quick glimpse to the right. and I

38:43

saw something in motioning March. That was the last time

38:45

I'd seen March. The show

38:47

airs on

38:48

Easter Sunday. It

38:51

features yet another plea from Mark's parents desperate to

38:53

find their son. Here's

38:56

his mom.

38:57

Helen. If anyone has

38:59

seen anything that comes to

39:01

their mind, please call us and

39:03

let us know. Going

39:05

into week three of the surge,

39:07

the America's most wanted broadcast gives the

39:10

case the attention

39:12

it needs. People helping with the surge back in the Kilroy's

39:14

hometown of Santa Fe hang yellow

39:16

ribbons to

39:18

raise awareness. They plan a

39:20

week full of, quote, more Kilroy

39:22

awareness

39:24

days. Law enforcement in the Valley reached out

39:26

to their connections in the

39:28

Mexican mafia. to see if anyone knows anything.

39:30

They assigned registered nurses to go

39:32

to every single hospital in the city

39:34

to search

39:36

for work. The Care Roy's meet with state representatives

39:38

and the governor's office, as well

39:40

as Texas Attorney General,

39:42

Jim Mattox. who sends one of his

39:44

aides to Matamoros to

39:46

investigate. The hotshot mayor, San

39:48

Antonio, Henricas Nettos, even

39:51

goes to Matamoros, to meet with Mexican

39:53

authorities. But despite the firepower behind the

39:56

surge, authorities still don't

39:58

have

39:59

any leads. which

40:00

is honestly fairly normal in a missing person's case

40:03

like this. Things move

40:06

slowly. But Jim

40:07

and Helen Carroy still

40:10

have hope. Welding up

40:11

well, but it's

40:13

a matter of what

40:16

can you do? You know, how how much

40:18

can you do and you start to run out

40:20

of things that you can do? to

40:22

try to find Mark. That's

40:23

the hardest thing is just not knowing what's happened

40:25

to Mark. You you

40:26

know what I mean? It

40:28

would be hard to

40:31

be at any kind of rest,

40:32

you know, and and not to keep

40:34

trying to find out what has

40:36

has happened to Mark because I

40:39

still feel that he's,

40:40

you know, he's being held somewhere

40:43

and,

40:43

you know, we

40:45

have to find him.

40:47

March turns

40:48

into April. It's been nearly

40:50

a month since March disappeared.

40:54

Some tips

40:54

trickle in, but they're mostly useless.

40:58

Properly, people

40:58

looking for a shot that reward money, which

41:00

has increased to fifteen thousand dollars

41:02

after some fundraising in Brownsville.

41:05

One promisingly pops up when Helen gets

41:07

a phone call at the Caroli Santa Fe

41:09

home from someone who knows

41:11

where Mark is. She even tries to meet up

41:13

with this person multiple times with the reward

41:16

money, but no one ever

41:18

shows up. one ever shows Nothing

41:20

else happens until that April

41:22

morning when the college

41:24

student said Afina Mández, blows

41:27

past the

41:28

police checkpoint, thinking

41:29

the police can't see

41:32

him. Here's George

41:33

Gavito again. They had a

41:35

robot. setup. They were checking

41:37

people going through, and

41:39

and and he

41:40

didn't stop at the roadblock. He

41:42

he just

41:43

just kept going. went right through it.

41:45

I mentioned earlier that

41:46

Sanofi was one of many students

41:48

who crossed over to MatHemoros regularly.

41:52

and that SediFene's family were known drug dealers in

41:54

the area. They've got

41:56

a multimillion dollar marijuana operation

42:00

and dozens of Sanofi's

42:02

relatives work in the family

42:04

business. One of them was just famously involved

42:06

in a fatal shootout Mexican authorities

42:08

at Matamoros Bar, so they're

42:10

known by law enforcement. They've

42:13

got this ranch. You're

42:15

already familiar with it. I

42:17

told you about enchos Antalena

42:19

in episode one. It's the place

42:21

where all those bodies are buried,

42:24

but authorities don't know

42:26

that yet. They just think they've caught a member of a

42:28

notorious drug family with a bit of

42:30

marijuana on him so they can search

42:32

the ranch.

42:33

So these guys chased them and he went

42:35

into the ranch. About a mile up, ran into

42:37

the ranch, drove all the way into

42:39

the ranch, and well,

42:44

come on and all these guys were right behind him. They round up

42:46

and

42:46

taken everyone they find there,

42:48

including the elderly caretaker.

42:50

They

42:51

find somebody one other wrench. So

42:53

they get the money one other, and that they have a caretaker

42:55

that takes care of the ranch. I need you. You

42:57

know, the poor guy just

43:00

feats and goats and everything, but they big they big came

43:02

up too, and they brought them both to the

43:05

office. The CAR T

43:07

speaker is only one who was in

43:09

arrested, but they questioned him anyway. So

43:11

I said, you know what?

43:12

We're gonna keep you here under house arrest. You're

43:15

gonna stay here in the office? that's

43:17

make sure you're not involved or everything. And if

43:19

you're not in the next couple of days, we'll let

43:21

you go. So he spends the

43:23

next couple of

43:24

nights in the Comenada's office.

43:26

He's

43:26

cleaning up, looking around, even sleeping on the

43:29

sofa before the caretaker sees

43:31

someone he recognizes.

43:35

saw He said, hey,

43:38

you look at

43:38

law school. He just took

43:40

the guard. He knows him.

43:43

The guard

43:43

who's watching the caretaker is

43:46

surprised. You know

43:47

him? Did he?

43:50

How

43:50

do you know? They had

43:52

them at the ranch. They had

43:55

them in this apartment.

43:56

They had them tied up. This

43:59

Are

43:59

you sure? Yes. Because I would give them

44:02

water and I would give them bread. They had them there

44:04

for two days to end up in

44:06

a suburb Are you sure it was

44:08

him? Yes. You know, what happened

44:10

to I don't know. They all

44:12

came, and then he was in the suburban. They

44:14

told me to go do some stuff,

44:16

and then you

44:17

know, what they did to him or whatever. I

44:19

don't know

44:19

him. The caretaker has just

44:22

pointed out a picture

44:24

of

44:26

Mark Kilroy. Next,

44:32

on season

44:33

three of darkness. You

44:36

know, there's

44:37

about twenty more

44:38

bodies right here. What do you mean?

44:40

Twenty more bodies? See, there's

44:42

this one here and you walk this through. There's

44:44

one there and there's one there and and oh, shit.

44:49

were all sacrificed.

44:52

A couple were shot. Some

44:54

of them

44:55

were hit the back

44:57

of the head with my Jetty's

45:00

and sledgehammers.

45:02

This

45:06

season of darkness is

45:07

reported, hosted, and produced by

45:09

me, Jackie

45:10

Buda. Katie

45:12

Pentjigalka and Robert Quickly are the executive producers. This

45:15

podcast is presented by The Drag, a

45:17

student run audio production house at the

45:19

University of Texas at

45:22

Austin's Moody College of Communication. Seyla Olivarez is the

45:24

lead sound designer and editor for this season

45:26

of darkness. And the assistant editor

45:29

is Heather Stewart, Special thanks

45:32

to Maryann Navarro for being the lead reporter

45:34

on this story when this project

45:36

first began. The associate producers are

45:38

Emily Rubin, Meghan Kirby, Jay

45:42

Herman, Khadija Balde,

45:46

Bethany Stark, and Miranda Villages. The artwork was designed by

45:48

Helen Holsey and

45:50

Alexa Georgios.

45:52

is the

45:54

drag's marketing and communications manager, and Grace Robertson is the

45:57

drag's PR manager. Christian McDonald

45:59

is our

45:59

technical director. Special

46:01

thanks to Bob Buckaloo at K

46:03

View TV in Austin for all his

46:06

time and effort finding archival footage

46:08

for us to use in

46:10

these episodes. and thanks to K View for letting us use the

46:12

audio. A huge thank

46:14

you to Leslie Schrock for all her support

46:18

and guidance. We

46:19

also want to thank Jay Bernhardt,

46:22

David Rive, Rachel

46:23

Davis Marcy,

46:26

Alison Dawson, and Kathleen Mabelie of the Moody College of

46:28

Communication. The drag is a nonprofit

46:30

educational organization that is made

46:32

possible by daughters

46:34

like you. please support our

46:36

work by going to the drag audio dot

46:38

com slash donate. Every dollar

46:40

goes directly to producing more content

46:42

like this, while giving students

46:43

like me, an amazing educational experience.

46:46

Thank you.