As the bloody year of 1885 draws to a close and 1886 begins, the police are no closer to solving the vicious crimes that rattled Austin. Even more than a century later, no one knows for sure who killed these women or why. This episode explores the various theories, from the effects of the moon to the possibility that Jack the Ripper started in Texas.

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Austin’s city leaders begin to panic amid the bloodshed and bring in outside detectives to help the city’s underperforming police force. Although six Black women have been killed in less than a year, the city and the nation show much deeper concern when two white women are killed in just one night. The mayor, governor, the media and the Black and white communities desperately search for the killer … or killers.

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A few months after the death of the first victim, another Black woman working as a servant in Austin is killed. And then another. With three murder victims and a clear pattern, modern officials would know that a serial killer is likely behind the attacks. With few forensic tools at their disposal, Austin’s small and racist police force rounds up Austin’s Black men. The killings don’t stop.

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As the capital of Texas celebrates the coming of a new year with exuberance, a dark shadow eclipses the city as an unknown killer stalks the streets. A Black woman working as a servant to a rich white Austinite is murdered, and her boyfriend barely survives. In a city rife with violence, the brutality of the killing shakes up its citizens. And the terror has only just begun.

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Law enforcement officers close in on the cult leaders in Mexico City as fear spreads in the communities along the border. As they learn all of the horrible details of the cult’s activities, they turn to their religious faith and to superstition. Thousands gather to celebrate the life of Mark Kilroy, a college student who was so much more than just a headline in a story about a missing person.

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A mysterious young woman taking college courses in South Texas befriends a charismatic Cuban American. The two of them work their way into a drug gang in Mexico. In the aftermath of finding the bodies on a ranch, investigators seek the couple. They are focusing on Aldolfo Constanzo, the Cuban American who they believe is the cult’s leader. He keeps slipping out of their grasp.

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The bodies unearthed at a Mexican ranch and the people who buried them lead investigators to believe there’s something deeply sinister going on. While tabloids publish screaming headlines feeding into the “satanic panic” and the border communities fear who has been living alongside them, Mark Kilroy’s family offers forgiveness.

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Across the border from Matamoros, community members and law enforcement join Mark Kilroy’s friends and family in a desperate search. The friends go on the popular TV crime show, “America’s Most Wanted,'' and Mark’s father pleads on TV for anyone to come forward with information. Police set up road checkpoints, and a car blows right through it. The driver thinks he has powers that make him invisible to law enforcement. Police follow him to a ranch in Mexico … ending the search.

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A group of friends takes a break from the rigors of college by hitting the beaches of South Padre Island during spring break. Just a short ride and a bridge crossing away, the Matamoros, Mexico nightclubs beckon the partying students with cheap alcohol and nonstop dancing. The friends get separated amid a swarm of students. They can’t find Mark, their buddy who goes to the University of Texas. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/darkness-podcast/support

In March 1989, University of Texas student Mark Kilroy had everything going for him. He was preparing to take the MCAT exams and apply to medical school. He’d just turned 21. He was ready to finally take some time off from school and celebrate with his friends at America’s biggest Spring Break party spot…South Padre Island, Texas. In far south Texas, it wasn’t uncommon for students to cross the border into Mexico to continue the party. But after a night of partying in Matamoros, Mark Kilroy never came home. His family searched for him for a month until they learned of Mark’s grisly end at the hands of a cult led by the handsome and charismatic Adolfo Constanzo, or “El Padrino.”

In season three of “Darkness” from The Drag Audio Production House, which brought you “The Orange Tree” and “Darkness: Austin Bomber,” hear the story of how Mark Kilroy’s family maintained their faith while searching for their son, and the tale of “Los Narcosatánicos,” the drug gang behind his death.

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