And the victims were unsavory types whose testimony was suspect. 'Texas Slave Ranch' offspring made the best of life. They werent slaves. Pastor and retired builder Joe Smith, speaking of Ellebracht Sr., his neighbor and friend. City Summary On July 29, an autopsy concluded Ruiz was murdered. Copyright 2021 by KSAT - All rights reserved. He'd take me on tours. Ellebracht Sr is the grandfather of Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, who was killed in an automobile accident Jan. 20 on Highway 290 just out side Fredericksburg. According to the probable cause affidavit in the gun case, the weapon is the one that was in Lindseys possession when he was arrested in Texas. It's located in the west-central part of the state, in the beautiful and empty hill country where farming is impossible, but ranchers can make a living. What happened at the Texas Slave Ranch? There was little physical evidence linking anyone in the death of Bates because a body was never found on the ranch and though multiple possible murder weapons were present it was impossible to determine what might have been used to slay Bates without a body. [2] Among the items seized in the search were human bone fragments and audiotapes of torture sessions in which a cattle prod can be heard as it is used to shock the victim. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news reporter, originally from Colorado. He was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. Population:96 (2000) Not as Fiesta by the numbers: 2.5M people, 100K oysters and more, SAPD calls: Body in flooded creek; man dead after hit by train, San Antonio eyes stickers in fight against domestic violence, Man accused of strangling neighbor to death in apartment, SA's last Tuskegee Airman buried at Fort Sam. Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr. (from left), Walter Wesley Ellebracht Jr., Leona Ellebracht, the young Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, attorney Richard Racehorse Haynes and Joyce Ellebracht are seen in 1986. The closest similar sized city with FBI crime data is the city of , . However, they were effectively acquitted of murder, and there are many who believe justice has yet to be served. The raid on the ranch revealed charred human bone fragments around the property and audiotapes of the torture sessions conducted by the Ellebracht family. See pricing and listing details of Mountain Home real estate for sale. There are several day-hunting services in the aera. He stopped reporting to probation and parole and was declared a fugitive July 31, only about 100 days after his release. (The US average is 35.4) NOTE: The city of Mountain Home, Texas does not have FBI Crime Statistics. He was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. 5-23-1986. Moravec covered the 2015 Texas legislative session for the Associated Press and has freelanced for local, state and national news outlets, including the New York Times and The Washington Post. These Texas Slave Ranch facts illustrate a sordid chapter in the South's history. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Boyd last remembered a knife held to his throat before he lost consciousness. He was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. Trial underway for man accused of murdering landlady in Mountain Home Mountain Home man accused of his wifes murder, extradited from Texas, held on $2M bond. Mountain Home, Texas is an unincorporated community in Kerr County. But was it the work of the Zodiac Killer? March 17, 2023 . The work was hard, but he was used to manual labor. Cases have been set up and posted on electronic court records for Hendricks and Brazil. They all claimed that they had been brought to the property with the promise of a hot meal. Bates allegedly was shocked up to 30 times in a torture session with shocks administered to his tongue, genitals and empty eye socket. AUSTIN, Texas The Austin Police Department has identified the man killed in Austin's first homicide of 2022. The Texas Slave Ranch is the name popularly given to a ranch near Mountain Home, Texas where workers who had been abducted were forced to work without pay making cedar keychains that sold throughout the Texas Hill Country. When authorities showed up, they found people there that were being enslaved and tortured. Her bond was lowered from $500,000 to $250,000 and she was released from jail Jan. 28. Police: Estranged husband arrested after body found in Mountain Home - KTVB In the background is Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr. in front to the left is Walter Wesley Ellebracht Jr. in the middle is Richard "Race Horse" Haynes and to the left is Joyce Ellebracht. She is required to wear an ankle monitor and to live with a relative in Northwest Arkansas. The Esensees' home is in foreclosure. APD said on Wednesday, Jan. 5, at . Ellebracht Sr. is the grandfather of Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, who was killed in an automobile accident Jan. 20 on Highway 290 just out side Fredericksburg. There are several day-hunting services within the area. My son was a very caring person, and he did whatever he could to help anyone in need, said his mother, Joyce Esensee, 59, who was among those initially indicted for the crimes at the ranch. Ellebracht was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. She is accused of being in simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, a Class Y felony. Cunningham was in a blue Elantra. Walter Wesley Ellebracht III watched as his family was arrested and two years later heard the evidence against his father and grandfather horrifying torture tapes of an abducted drifter pleading for his life while being zapped with a cattle prod. 19. At the time, the Mountain Home Police Department said it believed the situation could be a result of domestic violence involving an estranged husband., Did you miss any crime and court news from last month? 'Texas Slave Ranch' raided 38 years ago - San Antonio Express-News These animals thrive in this area of Texas because of its close habitat to Africa. 259 BROKEN SPUR DRIVE , TX 78058. Walter Ellebracht, along with accomplices, had kidnapped, enslaved, and tortured people on the property. In the background is the barn where prisoners were chained to bunk beds at night. In an opening statement made . William Lesley Rushing. Ellebracht Sr. received probation, his son Walter stayed free during a 15-year sentence due to appeals and Caldwell only served less than three years of his 14-year sentence. This page is not available in other languages. There are several other property owners now around us, but there's nobody around from that era. A leader of the prison-based Mexican Mafia, Robert "Beaver" Perez was linked to more than 15 murders locally. Idaho resident found dead in Mountain Home - KIVI July 1986, Abbott calls Texas shooting victims illegal immigrants', Photos: Gregg Popovich's old Dominion mansion listed for $5.5M, Fiesta-goers blast King William Fair for wristband payment system, Here are 10 places you can fly to this month for under $100, The tragic case of an S.A.-area dentist and his Miami patient, Shooting survivors: San Jacinto family only sought small favor, SAWS will pay you to take nature walks, gardening classes, Air Force chaplain sent to prison for meeting minor for sex, forced them to stay without compensation or freedom, an article by the online publication Ranker. After that first brush with the law, he had other criminal charges brought against him in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021. Jim Haynie, a neighbor and friend of Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr, sits in his home office where he runs his water well drilling business. A few lodging options in Mountain Home are the Flagler Ranch Guest House, the Y.O. Here's a collection of the crime reports, notable arrests and important court hearings . In addition to murder charges, the 42-year-old Cunningham of rural Mountain Home is accused of arson, as is Lindsey. One of the slave ranch victims, Mark Allen Hamilton, claimed in a court deposition that even some of the victims participated in the tortureof fellow prisoners. APD identifies victim in first homicide of 2022 | kvue.com Some former neighbors still defend the family, despite the 1986 convictions of Ellebracht Sr., Ellebracht Jr., his only child, and Caldwell for conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping and murder for the death of Bates, a one-eyed drifter from Alabama. Benton County sheriffs deputies and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Hendricks in mid-December last year at her residence in Siloam Springs. Today, Eura is known as Mountain Home. Cunningham is an inmate in the Baxter County jail with bond set at $1 million. The feds pulled a mountain of incriminating evidence from the Ellebracht ranch, including the audiotapes, witnesses, human remains and various weapons. Raid and trial [ edit] Lindsey is also charged in Arkansas with possession of the stolen handgun. Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, was killed in an automobile accident Jan. 20 on Highway 290 just out side Fredericksburg. At one point, he was being supervised while on parole by the Arkansas Community Corrections office in Little Rock. Ranch. Murder victim Cody Stradford was alleged to have loudly begged two men to stop hitting him during a violent, and ultimately deadly, encounter at a Mountain Home residence on Dec.4 last year. Investigators added that the couple's children were safe and were found with the suspect, whose name has not been released. They were arrested in south Texas near the U.S./Mexico border about 900 miles south of Mountain Home and have been locked up in the Hidalgo County, Texas jail. According to reports, the vehicle appeared to have been there for some time. It was a way to take out frustration, but there was no premeditated murder.. However, he has been accused of other crimes, including theft of property and intimidating a witness. Every day of the widely publicized three-month trial, Sutton said, the 150 courtroom seats were filled with spectators, Wes among them. Lindsey is alleged to have told investigators he was in a gang and frequently beat people up for money. mountain home texas murders. Another former worker testified that he was forced to stand in a self-dug ditch with a noose around his neck while a coin was tossed to determine whether he would be hanged. FREDERICKSBURG He was only 9 when the law raided his family's Kerr County homestead in 1984 and their surname, Ellebracht, became synonymous with kidnapping and torture, and their sprawling. Its not known just how many victims were part of the Texas slave ranch. Brazil was arrested Dec. 16 last year after he was located at a local motel. Brazil is accused of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, second-degree battery, violating parole and kidnapping. Valley Regional Transit wants public feedback on new bus network design, 'Failure to provide safe and healthy housing': Tenants sue the Cambridge Square Apartments, Summer-like heat continues for a couple more days, before a return to spring conditions, Flood watch in effect for portions of southeast Idaho, Wood River Foothills, Boise police search for missing 54-year-old woman, 'It's a miracle I'm here': Elmore County man recovering after being shot during home invasion. The state of Texas obtained rights to it in 1925 and funneled the water through concrete canals to what's now the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife's Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center. When several survivor-witnesses reported they slept in the dirt, lived in extreme heat and cold, and were chained up at night, the statements had minimal impact on the jury. Lindsey is currently being held in the state prison system on a parole violation. Later a witness, Sheri Hamilton, said she saw a torture session involving 27-year-old Anthony Bates. Christopher Allen Whiteley, a chronic methamphetamine user with a long and violent criminal record, was found dead last December outside Lipan, a town of about 400. He was found guilty and ultimately executed by the state of Texas in 1999. In addition to charges stemming from Stradfords murder, Lindsey is also accused of stealing the BMW he was driving when arrested in Texas, which the victim says is worth about $18,000. According to the New York Times, Boyd was informed theyd be digging their own graves that day. and last updated 8:32 AM, Jul 29, 2020. Mountain Home police responded to a shooting at the 600 block of Cooper Estates Drive, on November 24, 2020, according to a court document. They rescued six people, but what else they discovered was nothing short of gruesome: bone fragmentsand tapes of torture sessions. When a huge posse of law enforcement from federal, state and local jurisdictions raided the ranch on April 6, 1984, the Ellebrachts denied wrongdoing. Elevation: 1,909 ft Hendricks was arrested at a home along South Mt. washington state missing child; oak island treasure update. Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, the son of Jr and Joyce, was killed in an automobile accident Jan. 20 on Highway 290 just out side Fredericksburg. On a lunch break from cutting wood at a friend's home in Stonewall, Ellebracht III was en route to Fredericksburg on Jan. 20 when he either fell asleep or was distracted by a pit bull in his SUV and veered into oncoming traffic. Federal, state and local authorities raided a 3,500-acre ranch about 20 miles northwest of Kerrville,. 5-23-1986. True stories from Mountain Home lay out the chilling details. One of the victims, Travis Boyd, told investigators they were tortured with cattle prods and chained in the barn at night. Authorities say a Hood County man was killed by a cougar. Texas Through the years, Lindsey has been charged with possessing a defaced firearm, being a felon in possession of a weapon, residential burglary, theft of property, possession of contraband in the Baxter County Detention Center, theft by receiving and possessing drugs. Cunningham was contacted and reported she had not given Olson permission to be in her home. A Mountain Home man who was charged with failing to report his wife's death last month has now been charged with her murder and extradited to Idaho from Texas, where I tried to teach him right from wrong.. When asked to help pay for his son's burial, Ellebracht Jr. reportedly told relatives to let the county worry about it, his ex-wife said. Lawyers have begun to formally enter their appearance for the defendants. He has a long criminal record stretching back to 2010 when he was a teenager. Three teenagers have been arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of a 17-year-old whose body was found in Pilot Mountain on Thursday morning . We are your resource for Hill Country travel, things to do, places to eat, From left, Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr., Walter Wesley Ellebracht Jr., Leona Ellebracht, the young Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, attorney Richard Racehorse Haynes and Joyce Ellebracht are seen in 1986. The charts below are detailed crime statistics for the city of , Texas. In the hardscrabble west, ranchers had to pull a living from the soil and hope the weather cooperated. The Ellebracht men and Caldwell were convicted in 1986 of aggravated kidnapping but were acquitted of murder in the death of a worker named Anthony Bates due to authorities failure to find a body or murder weapon. Mountain Home Texas - Texas Hill Country taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway. Mystery of Star Cyclist's Murder Deepens as Police Seek Suspect I totally thought we were screwed. After being taken into custody and read his rights, Brazil is alleged to have admitted participating in Stradfords beating. He said that he saw so much bad in the world that he wanted to look for the good.. People - mostly drifters - began disappearing around the property. Caldwell went on to report in a 20-page confession to the FBI that after Bates died, weakened by weeks of regular torture sessions, he and another worker burned his body in a homemade funeral pyre while playing theJohnny Cashhit Ring of Fire. They deposited the few bones that didnt burn, along with the ashes, into two 55-gallon drums. Editor's Note: This is the first in a five-day series recalling paroled sex offender Jerry Walter McFadden's murderous 1986 crime spree that terrorized a region and influenced the way Texas deals . Caldwell, the foreman, got the same but only served four years, becoming a free man in 1988. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Part of the ranch is now owned by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department which runs the nearby Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center. theYear=theYear+1900 The two Ellebracht men and 21-year-old Caldwell were arrested for conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping. He died on the spot. During their court appearances Thursday, 38-year-old Skylar Brazil of Mountain Home and 35-year-old Ashley Nicole Hendricks of Siloam Springs entered not guilty pleas to the charges against them. A suspect in the case has been arrested in Peco, Texas and is being held on a charge of failure to report a deceased person," police said. Updated at 4:10 p.m.: A Johnson County man pleaded guilty to facilitation of first-degree murder in a brutal 2012 double murder Tuesday, and the mother and daughter convicted of the crimes will. Key chains hand made by alleged slaves of the Ellebracht Ranch hang in a frame on a wall in Bill's BBQ in Ingram, TX, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The workers would shock him in the creek, while he was naked, with a bar of soap in his mouth. The new workers often stayed because they had no way out and had no one to contact or believed conditions might improve. Caldwell is still alive and lives in San Antonio. According to reports, the vehicle appeared to have been there for some time. Federal, state and local authorities raided a 3,500-acre ranch about 20 miles northwest of Kerrville, where they found that a father-son duo had been kidnapping, torturing and killing hitchhikers. 11 Horrifying Facts About The Texas Slave Ranch - Ranker Olson was found hiding under a bed in the residence, when deputies checked out the property on Dec. 25. According to information just released by 14th Judicial District Prosecutor David Ethredge, 28-year-old Ryan Lindsey and 38-year-old Skylar Whitney Brazil are reported to have beaten the 35-year-old Stradford for up to an hour while he begged for it to stop.. One had escaped and alerted the authorities, triggering the raid. The ranchers were later arrested on multiple charges including aggravated kidnapping and murder in Bates death. 295 RANCHLAND DR , TX 78058. I raised him the best I knew how. In 2006, Glen Stephens directed the film Hoboken Hollow, which is loosely based on the events that occurred at the Texas Slave Ranch. Finally, in 1984, the authorities raided the property on a tip. The City of Mountain Home is located in Kerr County in the State of Texas. Joyce Esensee and her husband, Art, now live in a mobile home in Fredericksburg. Not long after, Ellebracht Sr. and Jr. were torturing Bates, with help from the workers, who picked on him because they disliked his temperament and the fact that he couldn't do hard labor after he was injured by a chain saw, according to trial testimony. The ranch foreman, Caldwell, reported that torture did go on but claimed it was because the other workers hated Bates for being unable to do his fair share. The Chicago mayorslammed Abbott for the inhumane and dangerous effort. When Texas police raided the Ellebracht ranch in 1984, they found five men and one womanliving in a barn there. They were strange people, but they're not that kind of people, said Loraine Haynie, 86, who befriended Ellebracht Sr. as a child and cared for him over the years until his death in 2003. Ironically, Cunningham was the victim of crime herself while sitting in the Texas jail awaiting extradition to Baxter County. For years before the raid, Ellebracht Jr., his then-wife Joyce and Ellebracht Sr. peddled carved, wooden key chains to dozens of stores near their 3,500-acre ranch in Mountain Home, about 20 miles northwest of Kerrville. Texas Slave Ranch - Horror In The Mountain Home : Texas Murders At The Ellebracht Family Ranch In 1984 - Kindle edition by Rouge, Ronan. After that first brush with the law, he had other criminal charges brought against him in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and last year. The recovered tape wasnt the only one. Teased and bullied as a child, Wes, as he was known, later would change his last name to try to elude the scandal. This is a carousel. More details about a Mountain Home murder; victim shot in the forehead Unsolved Mystery of the Dowdy Family Massacre - Texas Hill Country Cunningham was returned to Arkansas Jan. 13 and Lindsey on Mar. Has the 'Zodiac Killer' just been identified? According to investigators, officers found the body inside a home in southwest Mountain Home while investigating a missing person's case. 'Texas Slave Ranch' offspring made the best of life - mySA Homicides - 2007 - NCCADV Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, was killed in an automobile accident earlier this month on Highway 290 just out side Fredericksburg. The mans family had posted notices offering a reward for information on his whereabouts and reported not having had contact with him since Dec. 4. Some of the torture sessions were even audio-recorded, and played later in court during the trial. I totally thought we were screwed. According to the probable cause affidavit, Lindsey was holding a pistol on Stradford and asked the victim if he had any last words. Finally, in 1984, the authorities raided the property on a tip. Sometimes, the smallest towns hide the biggest secrets. Ellebracht Sr. aspired to be the key chain king of the Texas Hill Country, but lost more than he sold, according to a 1986 newspaper article still displayed on the wall beneath four key chains at Bill's BBQ in Kerrville. Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_6) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/15.5 Safari/605.1.15, First United Methodist Church Mountain Home, Gardening in the Ozarks with Vicki Garner, Live in the Boat with Binks Guide Service. Joe Smith, who oversees Sunset Cemetery in Mountain Home, TX, stands near a landscaped section of the cemetery, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, where a stream runs through which is fed by a spring on what was the Ellebracht Ranch. Ellebracht key chains were selling at a premium, $2. They have since been placed with family members. MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho The Mountain Home Police Department is investigating a suspicious death that police say may involve an estranged husband who was arrested in Texas. She won, receiving nearly half the ranch, about 1,300 acres, which was then valued at $1.7 million. Mountain Home, Texas, is nearly as isolated today as it was in 1984. The battery-operated device released up to 4,0000 volts of electricity. A trial date of June 8 is now set in Madison County Circuit Court on those charges.