BORN TO BE KILLERS (True Crime)

by Ray Black

  THE DRUG BARONS

  In 1986 Adolfo was introduced to the drug-dealing Caldaza family by Florentino Ventura. At the time they were one of Mexico’s most dominant narcotic cartels. Once more Constanzo won them over using his charm, his mumbo-jumbo and prophesies, profiting immensely from his acquaintance with the gang. By early 1987 he was able to buy himself an apartment in Mexico City, and also a fleet of luxury cars. If he was not working for the Caldazas he would carry out his own scams, once posing as a DEA agent to rip off a cocaine dealer in Guadalajara. His sold his rewards through his police contacts for the amazing sum of $100,000.

  No words can really explain just how powerful this man had become. It is not really certain at what time he started taking human sacrifices. There is no final tally of his victims, but there are twenty-three ritualist killings that have been recorded. Many men that defied Constanza ended up losing their life.

  In 1987, believing that he was the one responsible for the Constanza family’s success, he demanded to be made a full partner in their syndicate. His request was curly refused, and on the outside it appeared that Constanzo had taken the rejection in his stride.

  On April 30, Guillermo Calzada and six members of his household vanished under very peculiar circumstances. When they were reported missing on May 1, the police noticed melted candles and other evidence of some strange religious ceremony at the office of the syndicate. After many days of searching the area, the police eventually fished out mutilated human remains from the Zumpango River. Seven corpses were recovered in total all bearing the marks of sadistic torture. Fingers, toes and ears removed, hearts and sexual organs excised, part of the spine ripped from one body and a brain from another two. The body parts, as was later discovered, went to feed his nganga cauldron to build strength for future ceremonies.

  In July 1987 one of his disciples, Salvador Garcia introduced Constanzo to another drug family. This one was led by two brothers Elio and Ovidio Hernandez. In the same month Constanzo was to have another important introduction, this time to twenty-two-year-old Sara Aldrete, a college student in Brownsville, Texas, who was born in Mexico. Like everyone else he met, Adolfo charmed Sara, who at the time was having a relationship with a drug dealer named Gilberto Sosa. However, she soon ended up in bed with Adolfo and he quickly put a stop to her previous lover by making a phone call and telling him of her infidelity.

  Constanzo moved his headquarters to a plot of desert called Rancho Santa Elena, around twenty miles out of Matamoros. Now totally infatuated by Adolfo Sara entered his world of black magic. She became his high priestess and between the two of them they frightened their adoring disciples into organizing complicated and gruesome rituals. They chanted what he told them was an ancient African dialect while he blew marijuana into their faces.

  After the move to Rancho Santa Elena his ritual killings seemed to increase. On May 28, 1988, a drug dealer by the name of Hector de la Fuente and farmer Moises Castille were shot, but this did not seem to satisfy the bloodthirsty leader. He ordered his disciples to dismember a transvestite by the name of Ramon Esquivel, and his mutilated remains were left on a street corner for all to see. Constanzo saw himself as invincible, especially as he had narrowly escaped being caught following a drug raid on a house in June 1988. During the raid they had seized many items of occult paraphernalia and it what turned out to be the city’s largest-ever shipment of cocaine.

  On August 12, Ovidio Hernandez and his two-year-old son were kidnapped by rival drug dealers, and his family turned to Constanzo for help. That night there was another human sacrifice at their headquarters in Rancho Santa Elena, but this time the hostages were released unharmed. Constanza was becoming more and more intoxicating to his followers and he barely noticed when Florentino Ventura committed suicide on September 17, shooting his wife, a friend and himself in a burst of gunfire.

  In November 1988, Constanzo sacrificed one of his own followers, Jorge Gomez, who was accused of using cocaine, which was a direct violation of the cult’s ban on any form of drug use. In December of the same year Constanzo managed to cement his relationship with the Hernandez family, by the initiation of Ovido Hernandez as a fully-fledged cult member.

  HIS DOWNFALL

  Constanzo’s power just grew and grew and he carried out human sacrifice after human sacrifice. However, Adolfo started to become dissatisfied with the normal peasant, transvestite or small-time pusher who could disappear without causing too many waves, and he ordered his disciples to search the streets for an Anglo for his next ritual killing. They returned with twenty-one-year-old Mark Kilroy. Mark was a popular pre-med student from Texas and his disappearance marked the beginning of the end for Adolfo Constanzo and his ‘family’.

  Mark’s family and friends soon noticed that he had gone missing and they soon started a massive investigation into his disappearance. By late March 1989, Mexican authorities were conducting one of their regular anti-drug campaigns, erecting road blocks and sweeping the district for unsuspecting drug smugglers. On April 1, an ex-policeman turned gangster, Victor Sauceda, was sacrificed at the ranch. Constanzo claimed that the spiritual messages he received from this sacrifice were strong and this instigated the smuggling of a half-ton of marijuana across the border.

  On April 9, Serfain Hernandez, who had just returned from a meeting with Constanzo, failed to stop at one of the road blocks set up by the Mexican police. The police followed in hot pursuit, but Hernandez who totally believed in the el padrinos philosophy that he was invisible, didn’t take any notice. In fact, he appeared totally shocked when he was apprehended at his final destination of Matamoros. Thinking the was totally invincible, Hernandez became arrogant inviting the police to shoot him, convinced that the bullets would just bounce off his invisible protection. The police arrested him along with another cult member, David Martinez, and took the pair back to Rancho Santa Elena. They carried out a search and discovered drugs and firearms, and also two other family members Elio Hernandez and Sergio Martinez. They took all four back to police headquarters and started to interrogate them throughout the evening. They all talked freely and told of black magic, torture and human sacrifice with some sort of perverse pride.

  The following morning the police knew they needed to do a far more thorough search of the Ranch. This time they discovered the foul-smelling shed where Constanzo kept his nganga. It made the officers wretch when they saw that it was full of blood, spiders, scorpions, a dead cat, a turtle shell, bones, deer antlers and worse of all a human brain. The four captives, who were still talking quite freely about the activities of the cult, directed the police to Constanzo’s private cemetery. The police started to excavate the site and discovered the remains of fifteen mutilated corpses.

  Now the hunt for Adolfo Constanzo was well and truly on, and the police raided his luxury home at Atizapan, which was just outside Mexico city. On April 17 they came across a stash of gay pornographic literature and a concealed ritual chamber. The news of the evil goings-on at Rancho Santa Elena had reached international headlines and sightings of Constanzo were reported as far away as Chicago. He was actually hiding out in Mexico City in a small apartment, with his girlfriend Sara Aldrete and three other disciples. Sara was starting to panic that she would soon be killed and she threw a note out of window asking for help and giving the precise address of their hideout. Although it was picked up by a passer-by, he unfortunately kept the information to himself thinking that it was nothing more than a sick joke. However, on May 6, the police were called out by neighbours in the apartment block who were complaining of a loud and vulgar argument that had broken out in one of the flats. When the patrolmen arrived on the scene, Constanzo immediately opened fire, and the ensuing gunfight lasted for approximately forty-five minutes. Miraculously, only one of the policemen was injured.

  Constanzo, realizing that it was going to be impossible to escape, handed his gun to one of the other cult members, Alvaro de Leon Valdez (a professional hitman nicknamed El Duby) and ordered him
to kill himself and Martin Quintana. At first Valdez refused, but Constanzo struck him in the face and told him he would boil in hell if he didn’t carry out his instructions. Scared by his threats Valdez stood in front of the two men and shot them down.

  Constanzo and Quintana were already dead by the time the police stormed into the apartment. They arrested the remaining two, Sara Aldrete and El Duby. As a result of the raid and subsequent questioning, fourteen cult members were indicted on various charges, including multiple murder and narcotics violations.

  In August 1990 El Duby was convicted of killing Constanzo and Quintana and was given a thirty-year prison sentence. Cultists Juan Fragosa and Jorge Montes were both convicted in the Ramon Esquivel murder and were sentenced to thirty-five years each. Omar Orea, who was convicted in the same case, actually died of AIDS before he could be sentenced. Finally Sara Aldrete was acquitted of Constanzo’s murder but sentenced to a six-year prison term for her part in associating with known criminals. In 1994, when she was just about to come to the end of her prison sentence, she was tried again for multiple murder charges and received a further conviction of sixty years.

  IS IT ALL OVER?

  How can we be certain that the death of their leader, Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo, will be the end of the sadistic, ritualistic cult. There still remains a very gruesome list of cult-related crimes in Mexico, that have remained unsolved.

  Sara Aldrete told reports that she didn’t think the religion would end with the arrest of some of the members, because there were an awful lot of people who were members of the cult. Apparently a temple has been uncovered in Monterrey that isn’t even related to Constanzo’s cult. So it looks like the sick ritual killings may well continue. Between the years 1987 and 1989, police in Mexico City recorded seventy-four unsolved ritual murders, fourteen of them involving infant victims. Constanzo’s cult is suspected in at least sixteen of those cases, all involving children or teenagers, but authorities lack sufficient evidence to press any further charges.

  Although the authorities would like to say that Constanzo was responsible for all of the unsolved killings, the fact is that they can never prove it, and of course with his death a lot of the evidence has died with him. Of course if he didn’t carry out those sacrifices, it means someone else did, which is even more scary because they are still out there and free to kill at their will.

  Part Three: Women Who Kill

  Can Women Be As Cold-Blooded As Men?

  ‘Everyone starts out totally dependent on a woman.

  The idea that she could turn out to be your enemy is terribly frightening.’

  Lord Astor, a British philanthropist

  Although violent crimes are generally carried out by men, this doesn’t mean that a woman cannot be just as cold-blooded or dangerous. There are many incidents in life where a woman has shown more daring and fearlessness than perhaps Mr. Smith who lives down the road. But it is a common view generally held by most, and also of crime researcher Patricia Pearson who states: ‘Violence is still universally considered to be the province of the male’. Women, especially for men, still hold the image of someone who is vulnerable, soft and gentle – in fact the weaker sex. It is not surprising therefore, that based on the number of murderers who have been caught, it is still the men who greatly outnumber the women. However, when it comes to the death of children, women outnumber the men and, when it involves the killing of other family members, the numbers are about equal. There are many different motives that have been used by women who have committed a murder, for example:

  – Monetary gain,

  – Ridding themselves of a burden

  – Revenge

  – Dislike

  – Pressure from a gang

  – Seeking power

  – Following orders

  – Delusions

  – Pleasure

  – Self-defence

  – Acting out from a long history of abuse

  – Sexual compulsion

  – Team chemistry

  – Psychopathy

  – Misplaced mercy

  – Rivalry

  These cold-blooded murderers, whether male or female, share three common denominators of which one is the ability to portray a normal ‘persona’ – which is essential if they are to blend into the everyday crowd. Also these individuals are not classed as insane, but psychopaths, and so they know the difference between right and wrong. Thirdly, being psychopaths they have no conscience or remorse after their crime.

  With all this taken into account, there are also some very noticeable differences in behaviour between male and female serial killers:

  – While the length of time a woman’s killing spree may range, on average, from six to eight years, a man’s is shorter, varying from several months to several years.

  – Women tend to choose a method that is not easily detectable and less aggressive, such as poison or asphyxiation, whereas men tend to be more physical and often commit a stabbing, battering, strangulation or shooting.

  – Victims of women are quite often intimately close, such as family members or someone who is dependent on their care, while it is usually strangers that are often stalked by men.

  – When victims are killed by a woman, the motive is often for profit, revenge or control, but for a man, over half of the murders committed are sexually driven.

  Following the liberation of women in the 1970s, there seems to have been a noticeable increase in violent crime by women, although, generally not as brutal and torturous as men. However, one should not forget the deadly result of such abhorrent and atrocious motives. Amongst all violent offenders, it may be the psychopathic woman, being the most criminally versatile, who is most likely to repeat an offence – but this is still a much understudied subject. The most common age that the crimes of these wicked women are committed varies – even grandmothers have been found guilty – but it seems to be generally around the age of thirty. The longest length of time a killing period has lasted without the culprit being caught is thirty-four years.

  WOMEN SERIAL KILLERS

  At one time serial killings performed by women could have been put into two main groups. These being ‘Black Widows’ and ‘Angels of Death’. More recently, however, the list of groups has broadened to eight different categories.

  BLACK WIDOWS

  Usually starting their evil career after the age of twenty-five, this manipulative woman will kill their partner/s for monetary gain, usually committing this crime more than once and capable of killing children if needs be. The typical cycle is about six to eight victims over a ten to fifteen-year period. The preferred weapon of choice is generally poison.

  ANGELS OF DEATH

  Often beginning their criminal career at around twenty-one years old, seeks victims who are usually already on some form of medication, the elderly, or those who are in hospital. The victim is usually dependent on the killer and the method of death is hard to trace, such as a lethal injection of a chemical or a pillow used to suffocate the prey. A typical cycle is around eight victims over a one to two-year period, although if the offender is mobile the number of victims can be much higher.

  SEXUAL PREDATORS

  This crime, as the name suggests, is very rare. Whether being driven by the hatred of men, revenge or theft, the predator would be driven by sexual fantasy. These female predators are often middle-aged or in their thirties and usually have killed at least six victims before finally being caught. Their criminal career spans to around three years.

  REVENGE KILLERS

  Love, hate and jealousy being the most frequent motive, this crime is as infrequent as the sexual predator. Usually younger, around the mid-twenties to early thirties, these killers strike with a vengeance being strongly driven by obsession. Repeat offenders are rare, and when apprehended, show great remorse.

  PROFIT KILLERS

  Here the woman kills for others, usually to gain money. They are hired as ‘hit women’, for example, to kill the cheating
husband of a jealous wife, or a business competitor. Generally dispassionate about the murders they have committed and driven by greed, they may claim up to as many as twenty-five victims. These cold-blooded females are considered to be the most intelligent, resourceful and careful of all the serial killers.

  TEAM KILLERS

  This comes in three different categories, male/female, female/female and family. Team killings account for about one third of all female serial killings. Most common of these three teams are the male/female kind, with the crime normally being sexually driven. The female partner here is usually in her early twenties, whereas in the all-female team the members are generally older. Each of these three teams have an average victim count of between nine and fifteen, using a variety of killing methods including knives and guns.

  KILLERS WHOSE SANITY IS IN QUESTION

  Although women serial killers represent a small number, in general the insanity defence strategy is rarely successful. For example ‘angel of death’ offenders are most capable of launching a successful insanity defence, especially if the psychological disorder is Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a common symptom among this killer group.

  KILLERS WHOSE MOTIVES DEFY EXPLANATION

  These women are motiveless killers, therefore neither they, nor the authorities, can find any explanation of why they committed their crime.

  UNSOLVED CRIMES

  These are crimes, like the names suggest, where a women may have been suspected, but there is no proof or motive and these cases remain unsolved.

  These nine groups can be further categorized into murderers who act alone or those who work alongside others: