Sacrifice; The Tragic Cult Murder of Mark Kilroy in Matamoros. A Father's Determination to Turn Evil into Good

Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. xiv, 202 pages. Principal Characters. Maps. Illustrations. Inscribed on half-title page by Kilroy. DJ has slight wear and soiling. Pencil erasure residue on fep. On March 14, 1989, University of Texas at Austin student Mark Kilroy was kidnapped in Matamoros, Mexico while vacationing during spring break. He was taken by his abductors to a ranch where he was murdered in a human sacrifice ritual. Kilroy was killed with a machete blow and then had his brain removed and boiled in a pot. His killers then inserted a wire through his backbone, chopped off his legs, and buried him at the ranch along with 14 other people who had been killed there before him. Adolfo Constanzo, the leader of the cult, told his followers that human sacrifice granted them immunity from law enforcement for their drug smuggling operations. The killing drew worldwide media attention and an international police manhunt because of the unusual circumstances of the crime. After the bodies were discovered on April 11, 1989, Constanzo fled to Mexico City but was eventually tracked down. As the police surrounded his apartment complex, Constanzo died after ordering one of the cult members to kill him with a machine gun. Sara Aldrete, another high-ranking member of the cult, was arrested at the scene along with several others. In 1993, the cult members were found guilty of a number of charges, including capital murder and drug trafficking. Several of them, however, claimed they were not guilty of Kilroy's murder and told the press they were tortured to confess. Only two suspects remain at large. Here is the gripping account of a wholesome American family which elected to turn a son's tragic death as a human sacrifice into a positive program to fight substance abuse. Two months after Kilroy was confirmed dead, his parents founded the Mark Kilroy Foundation which promotes drug awareness, education, and prevention through the "Just Say No" campaign. Since Kilroy's dream was to become a doctor after college, his parents decided to help others and continue his dream through this program. Since 1994, the foundation has sponsored and worked alongside Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE), a non-profit community group that promotes awareness for substance abuse and drug prevention. Both of them partner with the Santa Fe local government, its school system, and the ones nearby, and with businesses and private donors, to provide programs for the entire year. The full-time and part-time counselors visit school campuses during the academic year in Santa Fe and Hitchcock to hold programs for approximately 800 students regularly. When students are gone for the summer, the foundation conducts programs in summer camps by partnering with volunteers. They offer free outdoor activities like archery, golfing, fishing, tennis, and swimming. An average of 550 youth participate in these programs every summer. According to Kilroy's father, the purpose of these summer activities is to keep the youth distracted when they are not in school so they do not get bored and think about consuming drugs. On September 1999, the foundation signed an agreement with the U.S. Federal government to receive ten yearly grants of $100,000. By the tenth year, the government intended to stop the funding and expect the foundation to be self-supporting. However, Kilroy's parents stated that the yearly expenses exceeded $160,000 and that they would need to find new ways to make up the deficit. The Mark Kilroy Foundation was one of the five non-profit organizations in the Galveston County that receives proceeds from a bingo place in La Marque, Texas. They also receive proceeds from sales of the book Sacrifice, written by Kilroy's father and Bob Stewart in 1990. Besides counseling kids and teenagers with drug advice, Kilroy's parents also advise young people who plan to travel for spring break. They advise people to stay in groups, keep an eye on each other, and not wander off on their own. They also suggest tourists to be aware of travel warnings and abide by foreign laws and regulations when they travel outside the U.S., though they reiterated that people can get hurt in the U.S. too. On the 20th anniversary of the murder, Kilroy's parents visited the Rio Grande Valley and Matamoros to thank the people who had supported them in their search for their son. Kilroy's father stated that people were supportive and called the police whenever they saw something suspicious that they thought was related to their son's disappearance. He said that it was easier to overcome their son's death because of the support they received.