0:00

You're listening to

0:02

the

0:05

drag.

0:09

Sarah Drate, matures in physical

0:11

education at Texas Atmos College in

0:13

Brownsville, Texas. It's a two year

0:15

college and Sarah's a model student.

0:17

She's got a job working in the physical

0:19

education or PE department to earn

0:21

some extra money. She helps

0:24

out with some of the PE classes. Part

0:26

of her job is checking out video materials from

0:28

the colleges media services department.

0:31

Instructions show videos in class like first

0:33

aid or childbirth videos. It's

0:35

the late nineteen eighties, so she physically

0:37

has to go check out the materials. And

0:40

the guy usually work in the checkout desk, retro

0:43

martinez My

0:45

name is Norberto Martinez.

0:48

And my connection with Sarah started

0:51

I

0:51

would say, like, in eighty six

0:53

eighty seven or eighty eight.

0:56

Nadret does his student too. He has

0:58

a work study job. You know, one

1:01

of those positions that many colleges provide

1:03

for long students to have an on campus

1:05

job to make some extra cash?

1:07

We used to handle the audio visual

1:09

department. We used to handle the

1:11

the films. audio cassettes,

1:14

BHS tapes.

1:15

Sata visits notebook at this desk

1:17

a lot. Again,

1:18

I got to know, Sarah, was because

1:21

she used to come, like, every other day

1:23

because she was very regular. She would

1:25

come to the media services, and

1:27

she would fill out the car, and she didn't want

1:29

to take. So what she recorded, instructed,

1:32

requested. There was there was always some

1:34

request as you will always come mostly

1:36

every day to sign the car

1:38

Take the film one second. I'm just outside the car.

1:41

Norberto notices Sarah's unique appearance.

1:44

She's tall and blonde. And like I've

1:46

said before, That's a combination you

1:48

don't often see in the program valley.

1:51

She was

1:51

very athletic. They

1:54

had had colorized, which was different

1:56

from her. but she was already talked

1:58

to the but she was talked to everybody very

2:00

friendly. And I said she was

2:02

from automotive, Mexico,

2:04

Soda lives in Matamoros, but she

2:07

crosses the border to Brownsville to attend classes.

2:10

The walk from the border bridge to the college

2:12

campus is just a few blocks so

2:14

it's an easy and common

2:16

commute.

2:17

We kind of build a we had a group.

2:19

We kind of build a bond. We speak

2:21

from Mexico and, you know, the language

2:23

barrier So it was it

2:25

was a small group, but we we cannot mute

2:27

each other. And

2:30

and this outcome and and use our ability.

2:32

Norecto Seysara is a pretty

2:35

normal college student just like him.

2:38

They spent weeks bonding over the language

2:40

barrier and my first work study students.

2:43

and she's popular, smart, she

2:45

plays volleyball. But

2:47

one day when she comes into reserve equipment,

2:50

something strange happens.

2:52

And she had a necklace and

2:54

it was a

2:56

necklace made out of string

2:58

a string necklace. It wasn't something fancy,

3:01

but I noticed that her necklace

3:03

was was kind of brownish brought me

3:05

to red, and I mean, stood out

3:07

right away. And

3:09

I I was about to touch and say, oh, look,

3:11

what is that? And she sat she

3:13

sat in my hand. I mean, it hit me hard.

3:15

And did I say something wrong

3:17

while I go, don't touch it. Don't touch it.

3:19

I mean, she changed her view freely too. predictive,

3:23

they don't touch it.

3:24

Norretos startled, to

3:26

say the least. He's

3:28

used to this super friendly woman and

3:30

he's never seen Sara this combative

3:33

before.

3:36

And then she reveals more

3:38

about the necklace. She

3:40

says, Norectal can't touch it because

3:42

it's been cleaned by her master. And

3:45

they say, what? Yeah. Yeah. It

3:47

has it's a you say this cake things

3:49

here. It's blood. It's a wild blood.

3:51

Yeah. They say yeah. It's blood from brewsters,

3:53

from animals.

3:56

and nobody's supposed to touch it

3:59

because well,

3:59

this is to protect me. If somebody

4:02

does it, tries to harm me,

4:04

Now if you were to touch it,

4:06

everything

4:06

that comes to me, it will it

4:09

will go forward to you because you're my

4:11

friends and, you know, I know you. I don't want

4:13

you

4:14

for you to have done anything to

4:16

you. So that's why I slap you up.

4:19

After that interaction, Norreto notices

4:21

Saras always wearing that string

4:24

necklace covered in animal blood. Sometimes

4:27

she hides it under her shirt, but

4:29

it's always there. And

4:31

as time passes, he starts to notice

4:33

even more behavior that he finds strange.

4:36

And we

4:36

noticed that she began to have

4:38

a car

4:39

drive a car.

4:41

And we're okay, well, maybe she

4:43

found a better job or she

4:45

found a sugar daddy because she was young and

4:47

beautiful. So we always thought that

4:49

she was getting a a guy

4:51

from a tomorrow, so some rich

4:54

guy from the customs because customs

4:56

used to be make

4:58

money like crazy. And we had the idea

5:00

that she was dating somebody, and

5:02

she and he would I bought her

5:04

a car. And later, she had

5:06

a phone. It was those

5:09

older in the back. They were

5:11

cell phone. Now cell phone were super

5:13

expensive. Only people

5:15

that I knew had cell phone were doctors or

5:17

liars, and they would carry them like

5:19

a purse.

5:20

So she had one of those and he said, wow,

5:22

man. they're only paying you really good.

5:24

Sarah's

5:25

definitely not buying a

5:27

car or a cell phone with the money she

5:29

earns from her part time job on campus.

5:32

Noretto thinks Sarah's a little odd,

5:34

but they keep hanging out as friends. He

5:37

figures whatever she gets up to in her

5:39

spare time is her business.

5:41

His view of her changes when Norreto

5:43

watches a movie overswing brake. It's

5:46

called The Believers. It's a new

5:48

movie. It came out in nineteen eighty

5:50

seven and Martin Sheen plays a psychologist

5:52

who works for the New York Police Department.

5:55

He's working a case featuring a series of

5:57

ritualistic child murder and

5:59

he finds out there's a cult behind it.

6:01

A cult practicing a specific

6:03

type of Bruhariya or witchcraft.

6:07

Even though it's spring break, Notrethe

6:09

still has to work, but things

6:11

are slow. So Notrethe and a friend decide

6:13

to watch the movie while passing time in

6:15

the AP department.

6:19

And

6:19

when we had Bora Muir, we're looking at

6:21

it. And we

6:24

were looking at one time where they were the

6:27

guy was doing was

6:30

pushing something. Right? but it was, like,

6:32

it

6:33

it wasn't Spanish. It was something different.

6:35

And we did not hear

6:37

her coming. And by the

6:39

time we knew she was repeating

6:42

the same thing as what the guy normally was

6:44

saying,

6:45

like an echo, you know. And

6:49

even with a cone, So he when

6:51

you kinda look back and they were silent

6:53

and and and and

6:55

say, hey. Have you seen the movie? He

6:57

said, no. this the and she said you're proud.

6:59

Doesn't that? That is my religion. This

7:07

is This is my my my religion. She

7:09

was, like, very proud of saying that.

7:13

This is when Norberto knew something. Definitely

7:17

isn't normal about Saradrante. She

7:20

doesn't say much about it, but based on how

7:22

she's reacting to the movie, It

7:25

seems like she's saying she practices this

7:27

religion called Paolo Maumbi. Normetto

7:30

doesn't know anything about it, but the

7:32

cult members in the movie are murdering children,

7:35

so it doesn't seem good. It's

7:39

off putting for Notre del. but

7:41

he still has to see her when she comes into his

7:44

office. She shows up again

7:46

over that same spring break. there.

7:49

They say, hey, guys. You know what?

7:51

This weekend, I'm gonna have a podium at the

7:53

morris. They say, oh, cool. This is

7:55

this is bad, but it's pretty brave. I know

7:57

That's why I'm inviting you. I wanna I want

7:59

I mean, by the personally inviting

8:01

you, you know, better put it right there,

8:03

my friend. So you can come to Motor Motors,

8:06

And we're gonna have a blast. I got some

8:08

friends that you you're gonna be

8:10

gonna enjoy it.

8:11

Norberto's not really into the

8:13

idea of going to a party in Matamoros.

8:16

He knows how the city gets during spring break.

8:19

Thousands of rowdy college students from the

8:21

United States flood the bars and streets

8:23

of the city to drinking party. Nagreto

8:26

doesn't drink, plus the crowds

8:28

don't sound appealing.

8:30

No. You know what? I I appreciate it,

8:33

but I don't I'm I'm not going.

8:35

and my friend was saying, hey, let's go man. It's gonna be

8:37

three boos and maybe girls and and

8:39

and and have a fun and you know what I know?

8:41

I'm not I don't care for a previous one. I

8:43

finally refused. I said, no. Thank you very

8:46

much. Maybe when this

8:48

happens, when the spring break is over,

8:50

we might go and, you know, have a beer

8:52

or something. And she

8:53

told me, no. I mean, no. Sorry. Look at the

8:56

therapist. You have no idea what you're

8:58

missing. And I go, well, it's okay. You

9:00

know? I'll pass.

9:02

Norberto didn't realize until

9:04

months later that by declining

9:06

Saratrada's invitation to party

9:08

in Matamoros. he made a

9:10

life altering decision, a

9:13

potentially lifesaving

9:15

decision. It was

9:17

spring break, nineteen eighty nine,

9:19

the

9:19

same week, Mark Halro disappeared.

9:23

Just a month before the Texas College

9:25

student was found in one of more than a dozen

9:27

graves at Rachosante Lena, just

9:29

outside Matamoros, and months

9:32

before Sarah would be arrested for her

9:34

involvement in the cult that killed

9:37

mutilated, and

9:37

RichardALLY sacrificed Mark Kilroy.

9:40

I'm

9:48

Dr.

9:48

You bought her, and

9:50

this is episode four.

9:56

Let's fast forward in time a bit.

9:58

All the way to two thousand

9:59

four, fifteen years after the

10:02

murders are around Rosante del Lima.

10:04

John Carlin is a freelance reporter

10:06

for advice, the second

10:07

biggest newspaper in Spain, but John's

10:10

based in Mexico City. As

10:12

a freelancer, his stories can take him

10:14

pretty much anywhere. So on

10:16

this particular day, he's in

10:18

a Mexican prison to interview a convicted

10:20

killer. he

10:21

was so I mean, he's

10:23

a prisoner, but she

10:26

clearly had

10:28

become, you know, the mistress, the

10:30

sort of commander of

10:32

that jail. You know, she she

10:34

she clearly had

10:36

enormous sway over

10:38

the other prisoners And indeed,

10:41

over the authorities. I mean, then she was in

10:43

this office sitting behind the desk because if she was

10:45

the governor of the prison, you know,

10:48

amazing. That's

10:49

John, talking about Sara Adrete.

10:51

Sara served in

10:53

a prison sentence for her involvement in the

10:55

death of Mark Kilroy and more than a

10:58

dozen others. In

11:00

the years since the murders, Sada's

11:02

face has been plastered across tabloids

11:04

around the world. The

11:06

tabloids claim she's the godmother, Nomadrina,

11:09

of the cult that killed Mark.

11:11

Yeah. Well, I

11:12

mean, there's a there's a particular

11:15

strain of sensationalist

11:17

press in Mexico, which

11:19

I

11:20

don't know about now, but in my day,

11:23

was

11:23

the stuff that sold most

11:25

copies. I mean, you know, kind of

11:27

daily newspapers with colored

11:29

pictures splattered on the

11:32

front page of blood spattered

11:34

body is freshly killed. I mean, there's

11:36

there's something really incredibly

11:37

gruesome

11:39

there. And and And

11:41

so

11:42

the the, you know,

11:45

conveying the perception of

11:47

that i agree that live not ago

11:49

satanic Sara's

11:51

thirty nine years old when John interviews

11:53

her in prison. She's

11:56

among four others who were arrested for the

11:58

series of ritual human sacrifices.

12:00

But

12:01

despite the fact that

12:02

she's just one of dozens

12:03

of people involved in these deaths, the

12:06

media fixated on her. And

12:08

so she was just perfect, you know, and she was

12:11

tall and browned and, you know, I

12:13

mean, it's just it's just absolutely as

12:15

if she was She'd be manufactured

12:17

the as

12:19

as a gift from God for

12:21

the sensationalist Mexican press,

12:24

you know. just such an

12:26

easy target. And not you know, and

12:28

and so we're not talking about a press here

12:30

that's very disposed to consider

12:32

Nuance. Let's just sell this

12:34

sensational character, and we'll sell more

12:36

newspapers through her. In

12:38

a

12:38

story for El paiz, John writes

12:40

that Sarah looks way

12:42

different than the other prisoners. Her

12:45

hair started blonde. She's wearing

12:47

sunglasses on her head. bright

12:49

pink lipstick, and a gold

12:51

bracelet. John

12:52

writes,

12:53

the news is that the letters and la palma

12:56

de la mano

12:57

which means

12:58

she has her jailers in the palm of her hand.

13:01

I talked to John in the fall of twenty

13:03

twenty two, eighteen years

13:05

after he introduced Ada. he

13:08

still can't forget meeting her. Like,

13:10

when I reached out to you,

13:12

kind of, what was that, like, first

13:14

or what did you Like, the first thing that popped into

13:16

your head when, like, her name was

13:18

in your inbox again. When

13:20

when

13:20

you mentioned her name to me, right, it's like a

13:22

sort of a ghost in the past because, yes,

13:24

mean, like I said, I've done so many stories around the

13:27

world since then that I had to sort of

13:29

dig into my, you know, mental

13:31

archive Well, immediately,

13:33

this the image of

13:35

this of this large

13:37

this is our Amazonian

13:40

blonde woman

13:42

came to my eye

13:44

as well. I remember, I I immediately before

13:47

I reread my article,

13:49

I remember the sensations that

13:51

came back to me were on the one hand,

13:54

it was

13:54

something a bit

13:55

intimidating about. there

13:58

was something sort of

13:59

southonic, human, ironic about

14:02

her. And at

14:03

the same time, terribly

14:05

vulnerable. And so

14:07

they're kind of subbing all that

14:09

up, the sense I had was that her I already

14:12

her sort of suddenly intimidating,

14:15

tough commanding

14:16

air were actually

14:18

a

14:19

mask for what

14:20

was, I think, a deeply

14:23

sad

14:23

and

14:24

troubled

14:26

Person. On the

14:28

day John interviewed Sarah, she

14:30

started her conversation with of

14:32

all things,

14:34

a joke. you

14:35

know, am I gonna wear bass today?

14:37

Am I gonna wear bass, bass, bass, bass, bass, bass, bass, bass,

14:39

or bass because bass is the color of the uniform,

14:41

just to wear as a prisoner. and so she was obviously

14:44

being funny, being ironic. But

14:45

John says she gets serious during the

14:48

interview. Sartato

14:50

John dash she's innocent of the crime she's been

14:52

convicted of, that her

14:54

only crime was meeting one man.

14:57

Adolfo Konstanto, the

15:00

godfather,

15:01

oh

15:02

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15:40

If

15:41

you're into True Crime, the generation y

15:44

podcast is essential listening. We

15:45

started this podcast over ten years

15:47

ago to dissect some of the craziest and

15:49

most notable murders crimes and

15:52

conspiracy theories together, and we'd love for you

15:54

to join us. Generation Y is one of the

15:56

longest running true crime podcasts

15:58

out there, and we are still at it.

16:00

unravelling a new case every week.

16:01

Follow the generation y podcast

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on Amazon Music or wherever you listen

16:05

to podcasts, or you can listen ad

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free by joining wondering plus in

16:10

the Wandry app. In

16:11

the late eighties, for

16:15

the first time. He's in

16:17

his mid twenties, a young

16:19

handsome charming Cuban American

16:21

man who's just moved from Miami

16:23

to Mexico City.

16:24

He was a a Johnnycom lately.

16:27

That's doctor Toni's Aveledaga again.

16:30

He's the former professor who taught Sarete

16:33

and he's an expert in various

16:35

folk religions.

16:36

He moved from Miami

16:39

to Mexico City And

16:42

because he felt that in Mexico

16:44

City, there were opportunities

16:46

for him and there were

16:49

So he he began

16:52

to who he he

16:54

presented himself, and

16:56

apparently, he was very successful. to

16:58

a lot of people

17:00

who were in the

17:01

arts and movie stars

17:04

and singers and people like that,

17:06

who would go to him asking

17:09

him to do certain things

17:11

for them. Monsanto

17:13

wants to make a name for himself

17:16

in Mexico. For years, he's

17:18

practiced as a central. That's

17:20

a sort of priest for the religion,

17:22

Andrea. Symphony

17:24

is popular in Mexico, and it's

17:26

a religion that's a sort of fusion between

17:29

Catholicism and a traditional African

17:31

religion. Santheria is complex

17:33

and I'll explain more about it later,

17:35

but essentially people who practice

17:38

Santheria worship various saints instead

17:40

of one god.

17:42

Constance has got a reputation for

17:44

being a really good centeno, and

17:46

he's kind of a big deal,

17:48

like Zama Linda just said.

17:51

He was such a big deal that he was sought out

17:53

by Mexican celebrities to perform

17:55

Olympias for them, which are a

17:57

taboo spiritual cleansing.

17:59

the concept Constanton net did

18:01

a

18:01

lot of cleansing and

18:04

stuff, the people in Mexico

18:06

City. he was he was pretty famously

18:09

known. Olympias

18:10

are a common practice

18:12

in Sanderia and Mexican culture.

18:14

In order to cleanse someone's spirit, Asandero

18:16

would grab some kind of blessed

18:18

object like plants or

18:20

herbs like rue or rosemary

18:23

and then use that object to help extract all the negative energy

18:25

a person might have. Other

18:28

times that sacred object is an

18:31

egg, I've had it done several

18:33

times with an egg in my family. Gonzalo

18:36

became so good at performing

18:38

Olympias that he made connections with some

18:40

very powerful people. On the

18:42

day he meets Saratore for the first

18:44

time, he's actually hanging out with

18:46

the commandante of the Mexican federal police.

18:49

No. Not the current

18:54

before him. So

18:56

according to the former Camden County investigator,

18:58

George Gavito. Consultanto comes

19:00

to Matamoros because he's been asked by

19:02

the commandante to provide protection against

19:05

the cartels. It's a little up in

19:06

the air about exactly why the

19:09

commandant wanted protection from the

19:11

cartels, but then a

19:15

tall, blonde, and young woman.

19:18

He's

19:18

got me though again.

19:19

He noticed this girl crossing the

19:21

street. he introduced himself

19:23

that was sada. So he

19:25

started talking to the sada. He started going up

19:27

with sada, saw a sada

19:29

start falling in love with this guy. I mean, this guy is

19:31

a good looking guy, you know. And

19:35

and and then

19:37

saw us starts talking to him and he says, well, all the

19:39

commandant is. He said, well, I

19:41

got some friends of mine that might

19:43

be able

19:43

to, you know, I

19:45

know that they're running narcotics and stuff and, you know,

19:47

my my knee, the protection of the garment that

19:49

did it, your your friend and everything.

19:52

So that's when he introduced them

19:54

to the to the around

19:56

this group and all that

19:58

in running dope.

20:01

This is

20:01

where the facts get a little

20:04

shaky. Reporting on a story based

20:06

in Mexico thirty three years

20:08

ago has been difficult

20:10

to say the least. Everyone

20:12

remembers what happened a little differently.

20:14

And like I've mentioned before,

20:16

The media sensationalized the heck out

20:19

of the story. You just

20:21

heard Gavito say that Sada fell in love

20:23

with Constance, but Sada

20:25

told the journalist John Carlin that

20:27

that wasn't the case.

20:28

It's hard to know

20:29

what the truth is here since the only person

20:32

who can really say whether Anashi

20:34

left Constantinople is Sara herself

20:36

and she denies it. But

20:39

regardless of Sara's feelings for

20:41

Constancia, romantic or otherwise,

20:43

it's clear the two at least had a close friendship

20:45

in the eighties. Remember,

20:47

Sada is classifieds with Cera Minera

20:49

Grande's and they're pretty good friends too.

20:53

Satisfying is a part of the family that runs that

20:55

big marijuana operation at

20:57

Elanco Santa Elena. So when

20:59

Constance will be friends Sarah and finds

21:01

out who she's friends with, Constanto

21:04

sees Dollar Science, and

21:06

he wants in. Here's Tony's I will

21:08

let that again. Again,

21:10

he he did that. And apparently,

21:12

he was he was successful.

21:15

But that wasn't enough.

21:17

He hooked up

21:19

with

21:21

people who were

21:22

trafficking drug because he was not

21:24

a drug trafficker. He hooked up with people

21:26

who are trafficking drugs and

21:29

transforming drugs all the way to the border

21:31

and then across the border into the

21:33

United States.

21:34

and and

21:37

he put

21:37

himself or proposed himself

21:40

as someone who could help

21:43

them not

21:43

to get caught, not to be caught. And so

21:45

they tried

21:46

him out. And apparently, they

21:48

they felt that it worked

21:49

Consanto uses Sara to

21:52

get in with the Ehrondi's family.

21:54

With his good looks and natural charisma,

21:56

it's easy to see how he starts taking power

21:58

within their organization. He

22:00

bonds with Sara over their shared interest in

22:03

Santarea, which he's extremely

22:05

skilled at, and he's really

22:07

good at avoiding law enforcement.

22:09

It hopes that he's prevented powerful people in

22:12

Mexico, but he's also managed to convince the

22:14

around his family and other members

22:16

of the cult that were soon become

22:18

known as does Nakos Santander

22:20

goz. That is invisible to

22:22

law

22:22

enforcement. He also

22:24

tells them that if they listen to

22:26

him, They too can become

22:28

invisible and for a

22:30

drug smuggling gang, being

22:31

invisible is exactly

22:34

what they needed.

22:35

they believed

22:37

that he in fact was successful

22:39

and that he could do it.

22:41

And

22:41

so then little

22:43

by little over a period of time, not

22:45

that much time. He he

22:48

became he became the

22:50

leader.

22:50

And they because they believed in him and

22:53

trust and trusted in in

22:55

him and

22:55

it works. Remember,

22:58

Cerafina Hernandez thought law

23:00

enforcement couldn't see him. That

23:02

is the whole reason got pulled over at the checkpoint in front

23:04

of Elanco Santander in the first

23:07

place. Consensio's basically

23:09

brainwashed a whole crew of truck dealers.

23:13

Gonzalo's power grows.

23:15

He introduces the drug game to something

23:17

called Balama Muyumbe. It's

23:20

sort of like that popular

23:22

religion practiced in Mexico.

23:25

Actually, it's often confused

23:27

with Santheria and Balama

23:29

Yombe are both African Cuban

23:32

religions, but they come from different

23:34

African nations. Santidea

23:36

originates with the Yuruba people

23:38

in Western Africa, whereas Balama

23:40

Yombe comes from the Congo region.

23:43

Both

23:43

religions were brought to Cuba through

23:45

the transatlantic slave trade where they kind

23:47

of fused with Catholicism in

23:49

order to survive. After the

23:51

Cuban revolution in nineteen fifty nine,

23:54

immigration from Cuba

23:54

to the US increased. So

23:57

both

23:57

religions eventually made their way to

23:59

the US. That's how

24:01

Adolfo Consanto became familiar with

24:03

the religions as a Cuban American living

24:05

in Miami, his mother practiced

24:08

Andrea. and Constenza himself practices

24:10

both religions. And in

24:12

both religions, there are multiple

24:14

deities called auritius rather

24:16

than one god. So

24:18

the two religions have similar origins and share other

24:21

similarities. But there are

24:24

big differences. Here's Dr. Toni

24:26

Zaviletta again. He's an expert on Sandera

24:28

and Balama Yamba, so he

24:30

understands the difference as well. follow

24:32

my

24:32

own man, and they're very they

24:35

uninitiated and uninformed as they put them

24:37

together, but they don't go together,

24:39

they're different. That

24:41

doesn't mean that

24:42

they can't be practiced by

24:45

one person because Constancell

24:48

did, and he learned that from his

24:50

mother. But

24:52

Paulo Myouma is the worship, not

24:55

of saints. but they

24:57

they believe in

24:58

the sanctity and

25:02

or

25:02

power of different plants.

25:05

and

25:05

branches. That's why it's called

25:08

Paolo. Paolo coming from a branch, a

25:10

stick. In addition

25:11

to being a Sandero or a

25:13

priest in Sandria, Gonzando is

25:16

also what's known as Eberneto, essentially

25:18

a priest in the Balama Llama

25:21

religion. In the Eberneto's main

25:23

source of power and worship is

25:25

called a Brenda or an in ganga.

25:27

We'll use the term in ganga in this

25:29

podcast because that's what most people

25:31

we interviewed called it. In

25:33

Ghana is nothing

25:35

more than a cast iron

25:38

cauldron. The

25:39

Paletto or priest foes

25:41

the in ganga with sticks made of various types of

25:44

wood. Usually practitioners

25:46

of Palomoyn Bay should collect the

25:48

sticks themselves, but Safatlanta says they

25:50

can be purchased at places like the Mercado

25:53

Sonora or the which market in

25:55

Mexico City. And and so

25:56

then the Palero begins to

25:59

nurture

26:00

the cauldron and

26:03

they believe bring bring the

26:05

cauldron to life. you

26:06

they would bring it to life

26:09

by placing

26:13

different things in the

26:16

cauldron

26:16

saying the

26:18

the magical fran

26:20

though

26:22

words of of magic.

26:24

The In Gunge

26:25

essentially acts as a shrine

26:28

to worship the various deities at

26:30

Palomoyambi and what goes into

26:32

the In Gunge depends

26:34

on what deities the bellow wants to

26:36

worship. The type of

26:38

wood will vary, but certain deities

26:40

require certain animal elements like the bones

26:42

or to the horse or feathers from

26:44

birds like parents or vultures. When

26:47

we were researching this episode,

26:49

my executive producer, Katie

26:51

Alka, read a book about Bola Muambe, written by a

26:53

Norwegian anthropologist, Nikolaj

26:56

DeMato's Friswold. He's

26:58

an expert and various spiritual practices,

27:00

including Balamayam Bay. In

27:02

the book, Friswold outlines the different

27:04

deities and what they require in

27:07

their incongas. but this isn't an

27:09

exhaustive list. According

27:10

to experts, Balomoumba is

27:12

a religion that's got a few guides

27:15

and a lot of the rest made up according to practitioners'

27:18

personal needs or traditions, which

27:20

could

27:20

explain a lot about why Constancia

27:22

was so successful and manipulating the ADNON

27:25

this drug gang into following him. So you

27:27

can take this with a grain of salt because

27:29

it's just Friswalt's interpretation of

27:31

Balama Yombe. but

27:33

only two DOTs listed in Friswalt's

27:35

book require human sacrifice.

27:37

One who essentially represents

27:39

feminine power, love and sexuality,

27:41

who acquires this call the sex worker,

27:44

and the lord of death Acadian

27:46

Pempe who requires an entire

27:49

human corpse. And based on what

27:51

we know about what was found in the

27:53

Inkanga, it seems

27:55

like the lord of death is who Constance

27:57

will build his Inkanga for.

27:59

It

28:02

was

28:05

believed that it was now a

28:08

living thing that the

28:10

Paletto could control.

28:12

So you could ask the spirits when

28:14

it had a spirit. And in some

28:16

cases, multiple spirits and that

28:19

you could ask the

28:20

spirits to do

28:22

something for you.

28:25

the win

28:27

the

28:27

lottery, cure the

28:29

illness, kill somebody,

28:32

destroy a marriage. I mean, anything.

28:35

There's no there are no exceptions.

28:37

They could all they're involved

28:39

in all those kinds of things.

28:41

So that's that's the Paul

28:43

of my own man. The

28:45

more items you put in the in gaga, the

28:47

more its power grows. And when

28:49

the in gaga's power grows,

28:52

so

28:52

does Constancos. So

28:55

sometime during the summer of nineteen

28:57

eighty eight, nine months before

28:59

Mark Carroy's body is found.

29:02

Concanto starts instructing the members of the

29:04

Hernandez drug game to do more

29:06

than just traffic

29:07

drugs. He

29:08

asked them to conduct people and bring

29:10

them to Rancho Santalena to be

29:13

sacrificed to the Inguanga.

29:15

one of the reasons he was abducting

29:19

and killing people and

29:21

putting their remains in

29:23

the cauldron was to increase

29:27

its power, you know, increase

29:29

its its power That's what he

29:31

that's what he was doing. What their

29:34

their back in the day, you know, eighty

29:36

nine, eighty yeah. Eighty nine.

29:38

eighty nine

29:41

was a was a very unusual

29:44

time in in Brownsville.

29:46

And by early nineteen eighty nine, Constance

29:48

was

29:48

looking for a very specific type

29:50

of person to feed us in Ghana.

29:53

We're

29:53

told he got

29:55

it in his head that he wanted a

29:58

gringo, un gringo, El

30:00

Lucado, Angeliciente. So

30:03

he he told his people

30:05

go out and find me a gringo,

30:07

an intelligent college student,

30:10

and and so that's and because

30:12

he felt he felt

30:15

that the the

30:18

spiritual essence and especially

30:20

the brain of

30:22

that kind of a person

30:25

would be very effective. And

30:27

I'm not sure why. I don't know if he was of his in

30:30

Congo was losing power or

30:32

whatever. We don't know that. I don't

30:34

know that. but

30:36

that's what

30:38

he was doing. Human

30:40

sacrifice isn't used frequently in

30:43

Balama Yombe. according to our research and to

30:45

the experts we've talked to you for this

30:47

podcast. It's mostly animals

30:49

and plants. Zavitha

30:51

says, Constantinople took the religion above

30:53

and beyond what everyday practitioners do.

30:57

Like I mentioned, The

30:59

person practicing the religion can adapt its

31:01

practices to their needs. I

31:02

think he took it well

31:06

beyond what was

31:06

acceptable even for

31:09

people in that in that

31:11

religion. But

31:13

Constance would go

31:16

into a trance, he

31:19

became a different person.

31:22

So during during the

31:25

the process, of sacrifice.

31:27

It wasn't

31:28

Konstantzo anymore. Was somebody

31:31

some spirit that would come

31:33

on into his body and

31:35

and he would speak or

31:37

told a

31:38

language that nobody could

31:41

identify which obviously would be

31:43

an African language. So he would

31:45

become a spirit a spirit

31:47

of one of these Orbanes

31:49

would come to him and

31:52

direct him in

31:54

terms

31:54

of what he was supposed to do

31:57

and that was quite common and happened many times.

31:59

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32:01

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32:03

by real criminologists. Amy

32:06

Schlosberg and cohost Megan Sachs

32:08

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32:10

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32:12

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32:14

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32:17

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32:19

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32:21

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32:24

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32:26

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32:28

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32:30

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32:32

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32:34

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32:36

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32:38

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32:40

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32:42

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32:44

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32:46

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32:48

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32:51

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32:53

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32:55

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32:57

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33:00

That's women a and d

33:02

crime. As

33:03

Constance instructs members of the court

33:05

to conduct people for their rituals,

33:07

Sara Adrete focuses on attracting

33:10

more members to the call. She's

33:12

going

33:12

around asking people to watch the movie, the

33:15

believers. the same movie she

33:17

walked in on Norberto Martinez

33:19

watching over Spring Break. She and I

33:20

found that very interesting because that's

33:22

in fact a way a new

33:25

religion or a cult would move into an

33:27

area of my educating

33:30

educating people. And she was doing and she was

33:32

doing that. But

33:34

all

33:34

of this comes to a stop once Mark disappears.

33:38

Everyone is looking for Mark and the prince

33:40

is crawling around about the motors.

33:42

So Sada and the rest of the coal have to wait for the heat to

33:44

die down so they can get back to business. Sada

33:48

even helps out with the surge. even

33:50

though his body is on the ranch the

33:52

whole time. Here's Notvetto

33:55

again talking about Sara, passing out

33:57

posters, looking for Mark.

33:59

And you know what? The

33:59

interesting thing is that she was very active

34:02

with her jewelry stuff. She will

34:04

be posting making posted,

34:06

making copies post

34:08

she really asked her permission, hey, can I put a poster here? What is her

34:10

about? But this guy that is a medical

34:13

student from UT that is a

34:15

career in medical, multimodals. So

34:18

I'm trying to see if I can help locate.

34:20

And she had posted, you know, eight

34:22

by ten, like, a right information, and

34:24

she would posted them in different

34:27

locations the college. Like I've told you

34:29

in

34:30

previous episodes, the Brownsville

34:32

community really came together to

34:36

find work. even one of the people who was involved in his

34:38

disappearance. She died. I'm

34:39

pretty sure she knew what had

34:41

happened. Or maybe she knew

34:43

the guy, but he

34:45

he was actually physically trying

34:48

to help try to

34:50

locate

34:51

Kilroy. There's

34:55

conflicting

34:57

information about how

34:59

deeply Sada got involved with the Iran

35:01

is trucking and with Instantos

35:04

cult. In the months

35:06

following Mark's death, the media

35:08

definitely played up

35:10

Sada's connections. calling her as siren and

35:12

Neapristhas. But even to this day,

35:14

Sada denies any involvement with

35:16

the murders. Here's

35:19

Tony's Evelyn Leggin. That's an important part

35:20

of this. All law

35:22

enforcement, being

35:26

law enforcement. were

35:28

concerned

35:28

were

35:30

were convinced

35:31

that

35:32

she was the

35:36

high priestess

35:37

of the cult and had

35:39

been directly involved

35:42

in the murders, human

35:44

sacrifice, And I

35:46

knew

35:46

that wasn't true. And

35:48

and she

35:49

told me it wasn't true.

35:51

But even

35:52

before she told me it wasn't true, I knew it

35:54

wasn't true, because does in this

35:56

cult of Follow my own

35:59

band, Andrea,

36:00

women are not involved are

36:02

allowed and women are not per do not participate. Since

36:04

he's an expert in

36:06

Bolomayong Bay, he feels certain that

36:08

Sada wasn't directly involved in

36:12

the killings. Instead, he thinks

36:13

the media had a right

36:15

call in her siren. She

36:17

lured men

36:18

to their

36:20

deaths. But Salvador says

36:20

she wasn't the one who killed them herself. They

36:24

simply are

36:24

not in involved. And in fact,

36:28

Constance's people said that

36:30

she

36:30

wasn't false. She wasn't there.

36:36

her job, the job that they had

36:38

for Sada was as

36:41

a temptress

36:43

to lure people,

36:46

in

36:46

this

36:47

case, Mark Kilroy,

36:49

into a car or van or

36:52

something to be taken to

36:54

the ranch. But

36:55

but there's absolutely

36:57

no way in my mind

36:59

and from from what

37:02

I know from the what

37:04

they do or don't do

37:06

that she would have been

37:09

allowed in in the

37:11

in the room, the

37:14

Shack, a dirt floor

37:16

Shack for the sacrifice

37:19

of Mark Hilla. She

37:20

is she innocent? Did she know that

37:22

these things were happening? Yes, of

37:25

course. And so she's as

37:28

guilty as sin

37:30

in that

37:31

sense, but she did not per

37:34

actually participate in

37:36

in

37:36

my opinion. in the

37:38

the murders and the human

37:40

sacrifice of Mark Kilroy

37:42

and others. Stefano

37:44

Hernandez,

37:44

the man who led police to

37:47

the bodies, himself

37:48

even said, Sarah wasn't involved. But she

37:50

she didn't she didn't tell us what to do.

37:52

I mean, but she was one of the

37:54

the one of the main persons

37:57

mean, but she's she was lucky. She was never in

37:59

modern feelings. Norbreto,

38:00

Sada's friend from college,

38:03

has conflicting feelings about

38:05

Sada's arrest. I really think I really think they they were trying to find

38:08

AAA scapegoat

38:10

in a sense that they

38:13

they they wanted to

38:14

find somebody to find a culprit for the mirror.

38:17

because he wasn't only what only him

38:19

to really find out a

38:22

different bodies. but they wanted to find out who actually did

38:24

that kill it. In in

38:26

fact, what bothered me a little bitty

38:28

was she was never found

38:30

guilty of

38:32

that. She was basically how do

38:34

you think of association, but within

38:36

the whole group that they got, no no one

38:38

came to be the one who did it.

38:42

or or they, you know basically, very powerful for

38:44

for people that are that they picked up,

38:46

they get torture, and, I

38:50

mean, They they'll tell you anything you wanna hear.

38:52

But III

38:53

don't think she ever said it

38:55

was me or was it was it was him

38:57

or was somebody else.

39:00

so

39:00

they could not pinpoint as who was responsible

39:02

for the murder. Norberto

39:04

Wachezada had

39:05

been charged with more

39:08

crimes, but even he

39:10

doesn't think she's a killer. I I

39:11

think she knew what what was

39:14

going on. I'm not saying she was

39:16

a within that call, she was

39:18

a eight. he did rent

39:20

because she she was very close to twelve also.

39:22

So

39:23

she knew what Hello.

39:26

what what was going

39:28

on. But

39:30

I don't think

39:31

she actually was involved in it. I don't

39:33

think she hit the guts. to

39:35

kill somebody,

39:37

archery

39:37

actually. Now

39:41

she

39:42

no she was just was just a Coop

39:44

girl

39:44

that got involved with the wrong guys. And

39:47

because

39:47

her beliefs made

39:50

it

39:50

made it worse worse, and she

39:53

fitted in with the

39:55

group. And my son-in-law

39:58

knew that she was she

39:59

was gifted.

40:00

the minute and

40:02

she she took she took a very sure for that. But

40:04

when we talked to George

40:05

Cabito, the Camden County

40:08

investigator, he

40:10

had some choice words about Sada. She was

40:12

a a

40:12

witch at night and

40:15

a student during

40:16

the day Last episode,

40:19

I told you about the

40:20

raid at Rancho Santa Linda where Santa

40:22

Fe Netuan this led investigators

40:24

to more than a dozen graves.

40:27

In the investigators uncovered the bodies, they've

40:30

been questioning every member of the

40:32

in on this game they

40:34

rounded up. but there are

40:36

two very important people. They hadn't managed to arrest you. Because we had concerns

40:39

on

40:39

missing. We had

40:41

side are missing.

40:43

So they check all

40:44

the usual spots first.

40:45

They they went to side us out. She wasn't

40:48

there. You know, they ran a search

40:50

warrant, a search warrant. They keep the door open search

40:52

warrant. It makes it went in they

40:54

went in the house and she had an

40:56

altar there, something that

40:58

he altar where she was practicing the whole

41:00

thing and everything. and the mother says we don't know

41:02

where she's at, the whole thing. So

41:05

Sada's

41:05

parents are in

41:08

absolute disbelief. Here's Letip

41:10

Fernandez, the TV reporter we talked to

41:12

in an earlier episode. I remember

41:13

interviewing her

41:16

parents and then they

41:18

lived across the river.

41:20

It was right by the

41:22

border.

41:23

Just elderly people in and

41:26

just you just knew they were very sweet people anyway.

41:28

But so we went to

41:29

interview them and they

41:32

were just I remember how

41:34

devastated they

41:36

that their

41:36

daughter had been involved in this. And and

41:38

then they just they just

41:41

couldn't believe it. Still,

41:42

do find

41:44

Sada or Constansel.

41:46

Sokavitha decides he wants to use

41:48

all the media attention the case has received

41:51

to his advantage. I

41:53

call America most won

41:56

it. And because they had

41:58

been at the at the news

42:00

conference and the one of the guys that gave me

42:02

a card, So we we got an American correspondent. When we got American

42:04

correspondent, we really they really

42:06

are good, man, about getting getting

42:10

calls since everybody. Yeah. They're in Mexico City and all this

42:12

stuff and everything. So

42:14

After America's most wanted features

42:15

the case again, a

42:18

manhunt then what ensues ensues.

42:20

Investigators get calls from all over the country,

42:22

all over the world from people

42:24

who think they've seen Constancia on

42:28

the run. Investigators will later find out that Sada and

42:30

Constancio were at a holiday inn in

42:32

Brownsville while law enforcement raided

42:34

the ranch. But for

42:36

four

42:36

weeks, they stay on Sarah and Constancell's

42:38

tales. Remember, Constancell

42:40

is well connected

42:42

and wealthy thanks to the Adnadis

42:45

drug money. So he's slippery. Over

42:48

and over again, the police get close to

42:50

catching him, then he

42:52

gets away. So govita decides,

42:54

let's go back to the ranch and see

42:56

what we can figure out there.

42:59

and he calls up a friend to join him. The first

43:02

guy

43:02

that I brought here

43:05

was doctor I he

43:07

was from from Miami,

43:10

Dade County. He he was a

43:13

he was a pathologist from

43:16

Dade County. and a professor for the University

43:18

of Miami, and

43:20

he was into center. He had part of my

43:22

own brain, all this stuff and everything.

43:25

The

43:25

Palomayo employee expert, Rafael

43:28

Martinez, starts taking items

43:30

out of the Inguanga and educating

43:32

investigators on what he thinks happened here.

43:34

is a

43:38

little superstitious, so he brings over a

43:40

brew hall.

43:42

That's essentially a witch or someone who practices suntaria to

43:44

check out the ranch too. He

43:47

does a few blessings to cleanse

43:49

the area of black spirits. And

43:52

then he turns to Gavido, and he says. And

43:54

the

43:54

Bruker said, look, the only way

43:57

we're gonna catch this guy is to

43:59

burn burn

43:59

down his

44:02

place. Now, there's an

44:03

idea, Gavito thinks. He figures

44:05

if Constancio and whoever he's on

44:07

the run with see video

44:09

on the news of their sacred place on

44:12

fire, maybe it'll agitate him

44:14

enough to

44:16

prevail himself.

44:16

Oh, sure enough. We got the Inganka. We drank

44:18

that out. We drank that out. We

44:20

pillowed the whole thing with

44:24

gasoline. He

44:26

you get a picture of of

44:30

Convencil, and you make

44:33

me sign it, and one minute to say, yeah, I'll sign

44:35

it. And we pulled it up, and we put it in these ganga

44:38

and filmed all this, and the

44:40

media was me know this and

44:42

everything, and it I mean, when

44:44

we need to say, y'all to go and and

44:46

burn

44:48

it.

44:54

We're at least six

44:54

hundred miles away in an apartment

44:57

in Mexico City. adults will

44:59

constancel watches as everything he's built, everything he's

45:02

worked so

45:04

hard for.

45:05

burns

45:08

to ash.

45:13

Next, on season three

45:15

of darkness. This guy is in

45:17

Mexico City, and he's

45:19

watching this on

45:22

TV. they were all in a in an apartment

45:24

in Mexico City hiding.

45:26

And he says there's

45:29

there's some TV and he goes,

45:31

bizarre. He goes, crazy. Exactly what the

45:34

Baruque said that this guy was gonna do.

45:36

He said,

45:38

when bizarre. So he gets one of the

45:40

machine guns, and he starts shooting out of

45:42

the room. So

45:44

the cops come and they show up and then

45:46

they see all these cop cars. So

45:49

he starts

45:53

throwing money.

46:02

This

46:02

season of darkness is reported

46:04

hosted and produced by me, Jackie Barra.

46:06

Katie Penchikalka and

46:07

Robert Quickly are the

46:10

executive producers. This podcast is

46:12

presented by The Drag, a student

46:14

run audio production house, the University

46:16

of Texas at Austin's Moody College

46:18

of Communication. Sailo Olivares is the lead sound designer and

46:20

editor for this season of darkness, and

46:22

the assistant editor is

46:24

Heather Stewart. thanks

46:26

to Maryann Navarro for being the lead reporter

46:28

on this story when this project first

46:30

began. The associate producers are

46:34

Emily Rubin, Meghan Kirby, Jay Herman,

46:36

Khadija Balde,

46:39

Bethany Stark, and

46:42

Miranda Vojtus. The artwork was designed by Helen Holsey

46:44

and Alexa Georgios.

46:46

Sofia Vargas Karam is the drag's marketing

46:49

and communications manager and Grace

46:51

Robertson is the drag's PR manager. Christian

46:54

McDonald is our technical

46:55

director. Special thanks

46:56

to Bob Buckaloo at K

46:58

View TV Austin for all his

47:01

time and effort finding archival footage for us to use

47:03

in these episodes. And thanks to K View

47:05

for letting us use

47:08

the audio. A

47:08

huge thank you to Leslie Schrock for all her

47:10

support and guidance.

47:12

We also want to thank Jay Bernhardt,

47:16

David Rive, Richard Davis Marcy, Alison

47:19

Dawson, and Kathleen Mabelie of the

47:21

Moody College of Communication.

47:24

The drag is a nonprofit educational organization that is

47:26

made possible by donors like you. Please support

47:28

our work by going to the drag

47:31

audio dot com slash donate. Every

47:33

dollar goes directly to producing more

47:36

content like this, while giving students like

47:38

me an amazing educational

47:40

experience. Thank

47:42

you.