Sara María Aldrete

Overview

Sara María Aldrete (born September 6, 1964 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico) was a multiple murderer known as "La Madrina". She attended high school in Brownsville, Texas, United States, while still living south of the border, and gained resident alien status so she could attend Texas Southmost College. She was known among her peers as a good student. She was 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) tall and studied physical education, preparing to transfer to a university to earn a physical education teaching certification.

Adolfo Constanzo introduced Sara Aldrete to witchcraft and dark magic, gave her the nickname "La Madrina" (Spanish for "godmother"), and initiated her into his cult. The cult was a conglomeration of Santería, Aztec warrior ritual, and Palo Mayombe, complete with blood sacrifices. Constanzo sexually assaulted and killed drug dealers and used their body parts for religious sacrifice ceremonies in an old warehouse near Matamoros. Many of his victims' body parts were cooked in a large pot called a nganga. Constanzo made Sara Aldrete second-in-command of his cult and directed her to supervise his followers while he was out shipping marijuana over the border into the US.

In 1989, the killings grew more frequent and gained attention when affluent American tourist Mark J. Kilroy, a University of Texas student on Spring Break, was abducted.

Constanzo, Aldrete, and the rest of the cult went on the run when detectives discovered their "shrine." They found human hair, brains, teeth and skulls at the site of the murders. Eventually, police found their hideout in Mexico City on May 6, 1989. After a shootout, Costanzo and one of his accomplices were shot and killed by another member of the cult, apparently at Constanzo's behest. Aldrete was convicted of criminal association in 1990 and jailed for six years.

In a second trial, she was convicted of several of the killings at the cult's headquarters and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Timeline

• September 6, 1964 — Sara María Aldrete was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
• 1983 — Aldrete married Brownsville resident Miguel Zacharias, 11 years her senior, on Halloween Day.
• late 1985 — Aldrete applied for and received resident alien status in the United States.
• January 1986 — Aldrete began classes at Texas Southmost College as a physical education major.
• By the end of her first semester — Aldrete stood out physically and academically, earning honor roll placement and being chosen for the Who's Who directory for 1987–88.
• 1987 — Aldrete was driving through Matamoros on July 30, 1987 when a Mercedes cut her off in traffic and the driver introduced himself as Adolfo Constanzo, a Cuban-American living in Mexico City; she was dating Gilberto Sosa at the time.
• November 1987 — Sara introduced Elio to El Padrino.
• May 28, 1988 — Constanzo shot drug dealer Hector de la Fuente and a farmer named Moises Castillo at Rancho Santa Elena.
• July 16, 1988 — Constanzo supervised the torture and dismemberment of Raul Paz Esquivel; the remains were dumped on a public street and found by children who summoned police.
• August 10, 1988 — Rival narcotics dealers kidnapped Ovidio Hernandez and his 2-year-old sons; Constanzo’s group kidnapped a stranger two days later and tortured him to death at Rancho Santa Elena.
• August 13, 1988 — The hostages were released without a ransom changing hands; Constanzo claimed full credit.
• September 17 — Constanzo’s disciple Florentino Ventura died by suicide in Mexico City after killing his wife and a friend with the same burst of gunfire.
• November 1988 — Jorge Valente de Fierro Gomez was killed after violating El Padrino’s ban on using drugs; Constanzo made him the next offering to Kadiempembe.
• Valentine’s Day 1989 — Ezequiel Rodriguez Luna was tortured to death at the ranch; two other dealers were added to the list.
• February 25, 1989 — The cultists accidentally kidnapped Jose Garcia, Elio’s 14-year-old cousin, and he was slain.
• March 13, 1989 — Another ritual was staged; the victim’s suffering was insufficient for Constanzo.
• March 28, 1989 — Gilberto Sosa died.
• April 1, 1989 — Police pursued and arrested Serafin Hernandez in Matamoros after a checkpoint outside Matamoros.
• April 8, 1989 — The marijuana was transported after the Gilberto Sosa death.
• April 9, 1989 — Four members of the Hernandez family were arrested.
• April 11, 1989 — The ranch began surrendering its buried secrets; the butchered remains of 15 victims were unearthed over the next six days.
• April 17, 1989 — Serafin Hernandez Rivera was arrested in Houston.
• April 22, 1989 — Nocturnal arsonists burned Constanzo’s bloodstained ritual shed at Rancho Santa Elena.
• April 24, 1989 — Police arrested cultist Jorge Montes.
• May 2, 1989 — Aldrete penned a note and tossed it from a bedroom window.
• May 6, 1989 — Police arrived on Rio Sena, a shootout occurred, and Constanzo and Martin Quintana were killed; Aldrete was among those arrested.
• 1990 — Aldrete was acquitted of Constanzo’s slaying but was convicted of criminal association and sentenced to a six-year term.
• 1994 — Aldrete and four male accomplices were convicted of multiple slayings at the ranch; Aldrete was sentenced to 62 years.

The offence

Constanzo’s cult used human sacrifices and ritual killings believed to provide protection for their drug-smuggling ring. The cult’s rituals involved human organs. Many victims were abducted and later killed, with body parts used for religious sacrifice ceremonies involving a nganga.

A set of killings at the cult’s headquarters occurred at Rancho Santa Elena, a ranch outside Matamoros. Police later unearthed buried victims, including 15 victims unearthed over the following six days after April 11, 1989, and additional bodies found in a nearby orchard. The victims included Mark Kilroy. Kilroy’s disappearance led to broader investigations, and the uncovered remains included human hair, brains, teeth, skulls, and other remains at the site.

Mark Kilroy, a University of Texas student on Spring Break, was abducted and later killed. Aldrete said she did not know about the killings until she saw news of them on television and said she did not see the shooting or the killings of 15 people whose bodies were found on the Santa Elena Ranch outside Matamoros.

Investigation

Investigators discovered a shrine and human remains at the site of the murders, including human hair, brains, teeth, and skulls. Authorities later found the hideout in Mexico City on May 6, 1989, where police conducted a door-to-door search.

Carlos Tapia described the smell and scene as police drew near to the graves and described a cast iron pot containing pieces of human bodies and a goat’s head with horns. Authorities discovered voodoo paraphernalia, including a blood-splattered altar of sacrifice, cheap rum, human body parts, animal bones, chicken and goat heads, and a witch’s cauldron filled with a foul mixture of blood and flesh.

The investigation also included information from witnesses and informers leading to the ranch and to arrests of cult members and affiliates.

Arrest

Sara Aldrete and five other cult members were arrested in a Mexico City apartment hideout after a shootout with police. The police arrived on Rio Sena on May 6, 1989, and Constanzo panicked and opened fire with a submachine gun, leading to an exchange that lasted some 45 minutes. During the shootout, the only person wounded was an officer struck by Constanzo’s first shots.

Constanzo and Quintana were dead when police stormed the apartment; Aldrete and the surviving members were arrested and rushed to jail.

Trial

1990 trial and criminal association

Sara Aldrete was acquitted of Constanzo’s slaying in 1990 but was sentenced to a six-year term on conviction of criminal association in 1990.

Second trial and multiple slayings

In 1994, Aldrete and four male accomplices were convicted of multiple slayings at the cult's headquarters, and she was sentenced to 62 years in prison.

Appeals

No appeal information was included beyond the conviction and sentencing outcomes.

Outcome

After the Mexico City shootout, 14 cult members were indicted on various charges including multiple murder, weapons and narcotics violations, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. El Duby’s case resulted in a conviction of killing Constanzo and Quintana, with a 35-year prison term. Cultists Juan Fragosa and Jorge Montes were both convicted of Raul Esquivel’s murder and sentenced to 35 years each. Omar Orea died of AIDS before he could be sentenced.

Sara Aldrete was acquitted of Constanzo’s slaying in 1990 but was convicted of criminal association and sentenced to a six-year term. In 1994, she was convicted of multiple slayings at the ranch and sentenced to 62 years in prison.

Aftermath

American authorities planned to prosecute Aldrete for the murder of Mark Kilroy if she were ever released from custody.

From prison, Sara Aldrete told reporters that she did not think the religion would end with them, stating that it had a lot of people in it and that it continued elsewhere. Mexican authorities recorded 74 unsolved ritual murders in Mexico City between 1987 and 1989, including 14 involving infant victims. Constanzo’s cult was suspected in at least 16 of those cases involving children or teenagers, but authorities lacked sufficient evidence to press charges.

Prosecutor Guillermo Ibarra told reporters:

“We would like to say, yes, Constanzo did them all, and poof, all those cases are solved. And the fact is, we believe he was responsible for some of them, though we’ll never prove it now. But he didn’t commit all of those murders. Which means someone else did. Someone who is still out there."

A note written by Aldrete on May 2, 1989, was later found by a passerby and read as follows:

Please call the judicial police and tell them that in this building are those that they are seeking. Tell them that a woman is being held hostage. I beg for this, because what I want most is to talk—or they’re going to kill the girl.

Other details

Adolfo Constanzo and Sara Aldrete were believed to have directed human sacrifices, mutilations and other rituals involving human organs in the belief that the rites would protect their drug-smuggling ring.

Alden’s reported age in connection with her confession and arrest in Mexico City was 24 in May 1989. Aldrete was described as exhibiting signs of having a split personality, with different aspects emerging in different contexts.

In May 1989, a source at the Mexico City attorney general's office said:

“I would say she has three personalities,” a source at the Mexico City attorney general's office, who insisted on anonymity, said in an interview. One personality comes out when she faces the cameras and denies any involvement in the human slayings, another emerges when she talks to police and "the third one comes out when she talks to herself," the source said.

U.S. Customs agent Oran Neck was quoted stating:

that Aldrete has "confessed to conspiracy and involvement" in the killings. Neck, who spent several days in Mexico City assisting investigators, told the paper that "Sara has kind of lost touch with reality. . . . Her dual personality is coming up pretty strong right now. When you talk to her without the TV cameras there, she's pretty truthful. "She's giving a lot of data with great detail to investigators. . . . It seems like when the cameras come on, she kind of reverts back to this nice, young, clean-cut kid from Texas Southmost College," Neck said.

Lt. George Gavito was quoted saying:

"When the cameras were there, she was real nice. When she was with us, she was the same ol' witch," Lt. George Gavito, a U.S. investigator who accompanied Neck to Mexico City, said.

In May 1989, Aldrete was quoted saying in the context of who killed Kilroy:

Asked who killed Mr. Kilroy, Ms. Aldrete said, ''Adolfo".

In the same context, Aldrete stated:

Appearing calm, Ms. Aldrete said she was sorry about the death of Mr. Kilroy and the others. ''If I had known it was like this, I wouldn't have been in it,'' she said of the cult.

A U.S. newspaper report on May 8, 1989 included statements by Ms. Aldrete and by Mr. de Leon Valdez. It included the following quotes from Mr. de Leon Valdez:

''He went crazy, crazy'' when the police came, Mr. de Leon Valdez said of Mr. Constanzo. ''He grabbed a bundle of money and threw it and began shooting out the window,'' Mr. de Leon Valdez said. ''He said everything, everything was lost.''

It also included Constanzo being referred to by Aldrete:

She referred to Mr. Constanzo, 26, as ''El Padrino,'' or the godfather.

That report also included Aldrete’s statement that she did not see certain killings:

Did Not See Shooting Ms. Aldrete said she did not see the shooting or the killings of 15 people whose bodies were found on the Santa Elena Ranch outside Matamoros along the border in April. She said she did not know about those killings until she saw news of them on television.

In May 1989, Aldrete’s public statements included:

''I don’t think the religion will end with us, because it has a lot of people in it. They have found a temple in Monterrey that isn’t even related to us. It will continue.''

In the New York Times report, Aldrete indicated she was unaware of the killings until she saw news on television, and she indicated she did not see the shooting or killings on the ranch.

The Matamoros Murders narrative included quotes from Chief Deputy Carlos Tapia:

"I thought in my twenty two years of law enforcement I had seen everything. I hadn't. As we drew near, you could smell the stench...blood and decomposing organs. In a big, cast iron pot there were pieces of human bodies and a goat's head with horns."

It also included a quoted warning attributed to Chief Deputy Carlos Tapia:

"Don't get caught unawares like we did... Do yourself a favor. Save your kids!"

The narrative included quoted remarks from Mark Kilroy’s mother:

"I think the suspects must be possessed by the devil. That would be the only explanation for such bizarre actions."

The narrative included quotes from prosecutor Guillermo Ibarra in connection with unsolved cases, reproduced above.