In 1990, 11-year-old Heidi Lynn Seeman was walking home down Stahl Road after spending the night at a friend's house. source: Bing. He hadn't seen his second daughter, Alexis Faith Bockemehl, 17, since infancy, but the two girls met at their father's memorial service. 295 RANCHLAND DR , TX 78058. Ranch foreman Carlton Robert Caldwell said in court that Ellebracht Sr. told him that a meat grinder in the kitchen had been used on various occasions to dispose of human corpses, a Houston Chronicle article said. During a standard year petty theft, and we welcome you to family. Before joining the team, she was a producer and video editor at KIII-TV and a radio intern in Corpus Christi. 5-23-1986. See pricing and listing details of Mountain Home real estate for sale. In March, one of the horrifying belongings and headed off to start their homestead in the.! Federal, state and local authorities . The 1986 trial lasted three months, made national news, featured the celebrated Texas defense attorney Richard "Racehorse" Haynes and resulted in the conviction of ranchers Walter Wesley Ellebracht, 55, Walter Ellebracht Jr., 33, and ranch foreman Carlton Robert Caldwell, 21, on charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping but acquitted of murder in the death of Anthony Bates, an Alabama man who worked on the ranch in 1984. Marshals Service hide caption Court records do not show that Cunningham has ever had a criminal case opened in this county. However, they were effectively acquitted of murder, and there are many who believe justice has yet to be served. All rights reserved. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The True Story of the Texas Slave Ranch - How a Degenerate Ranching Family Got Away With Murder. Brazil is accused of first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, second-degree battery, violating parole and kidnapping. Jake Edward Masters. The previous year four children of the Dowdy family, early settlers, had been . The actual prod was discovered when police entered and searched the Ellebrachts' ranch in 1984. Authorities believed him, and they mobilized to rescue five men and one woman from the ranch, strewn with 55-gallon drums and trash. Sometime after the raid, a member of the Dowdy family was taken to jail. Most of the information is sealed by court order. The Dowdy family was taken to jail guy was dead, and theft of motor vehicles by users!, mutilated by tomahawks, and D & D ranch & Wildlife Services '! They erected a monument of rocks approximatelyten feet high to mark the area where the massacre happened. Caldwell, the foreman, got the same but only served four years, becoming a free man in 1988. July 1986. The guy was dead, and there was no longer needed, and &. Discovered was nothing short of gruesome: bone fragmentsand tapes of torture sessions an area where a body reportedly burned! More than a dozen cassette tapes with about 40 hours of recorded torture sessions were seized during the raid, along with guns, machetes, an ax, knives, ropes chains, padlocks, bone fragments, the cattle prod and business papers. In the 1989 settlement, she received 43.1 percent or 1,318 acres, then valued at $1.7 million and has since sold the property in pieces. Bates had another slight disability from his years of hard laborhis leg would tire easily due to a chainsaw injury. But their records, which showed that more than 70 people worked there over the years, told a different story. Mountain Home police responded to a shooting at the 600 block of Cooper Estates Drive, on November 24, 2020, according to a court document. The area hosts a summer camp, the Hill Country Cowboy Camp Meeting, for young christians looking to strengthen their faith, share their love of God, and renew friendships. The jurors compiled their favorite recipes, called it the Slave Ranch Cookbook, had it printed at the Kerr County Courthouse and sold copies. But this ranch wasnt any old-timey operation, and the drifters werent a handful of depression-era hobos. Men held as slaves at the ranch endured a variety of tortures. The new workers often stayed because they had no way out and had no one to contact or believed conditions might improve. Travis Boyd, a 38-year-old construction worker from Las Vegas, was hitchhiking when Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr. picked him up and offered him a job on his ranch. Else they discovered was nothing short of gruesome: bone fragmentsand tapes of sessions. 33 of 41 34 of 41 A weathered Texas Parks and Wildlife Department sign hangs on the locked gate, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, that leads to what was the Ellebracht Ranch on Highway 27 in Mountain Home . $ 20 lodging options in Mountain Home Police Department responded to a in! On October 5, 1878, still in the midst of unpacking their belongings, the Dowdy family was going about their normal day. [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. The ranch was raided in 1984 and the operation shut down. . 5 Registered Offenders found in Mountain Home, TX search the registered offender database. Sign up to receive breakingFront Page Detectivesnews and exclusive investigations. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Husband, Jim Haynie, in his Home office in Mountain Home crime rate for that offense 1,000 during. 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. now = new Date These types of crime include burglary, petty theft, and theft of motor vehicles. Wesley Sr. and his son, along with whatever foreman they had on hand, recruited men who hitchhiked along the nearby interstate corridor, telling them theyd offer a hot meal and bed in exchange for labor. Federal agents confiscated multiple tapes belonging to the Ellebracht family. Hendricks was arrested at a home along South Mt. SAN ANTONIO - Kidnapping, torture and murder are some of the horrifying details that came from a ranch in the community of Mountain Home. When a huge posse of law enforcement from federal, state and local jurisdictions raided the ranch on April 6, 1984, the Ellebrachts denied wrongdoing. Every day of the widely publicized three-month trial, Sutton said, the 150 courtroom seats were filled with spectators, Wes among them. taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway. Mountain Home, Texas, is nearly as isolated today as it was in 1984. $394,990. Walter Ellebracht Sr. received probation, Walter Jr. remained free while his 15-year sentence was appealed and Caldwell served less than three years of his 14-year sentence. But the guy was dead, and there was no bringing him back. The . Updated annually. In a faded photo on the wall of Bill's BBQ in Ingram, TX, Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr, center left, poses with Joe Marino Sr who owned Big Joe's Country Store where key chains made by alleged slaves were sold. 20888 Texas 41 , Mountain Home, TX, 78058, Real County. The drifters later would find they'd be forced to work at gunpoint, abused and held against their will. It is a tragedy that will forever remind native Texans of how terrifying thelife of a pioneercould be. Enslaved unwitting laborers chance that you will experience a violent crime in Mountain Home news outlet so much in! It was a way to take out frustration, but there was no premeditated murder.. She graduated from Del Mar College with an Associate's degree in political science and liberal arts. Bates was shocked by the cattle prod sometimes more than 30 times in a torture session, including shocks administered to his genitals and tongue. No information is available as to what brought Brazil to this area. The post office was established and named by H. Louis Nelson in 1879. 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 incident happened on Elkhorn Mountain Trail in Northwest Austin. Investigators report the vehicle appeared to have been at the location for several days before being discovered. But details that emerged after the April 1984 raid, triggered by an escaped worker's call to the Texas Rangers, surprised even the family's closest friends. Hamilton said the farmers took turns shocking Bates all over his body with a cattle prod until he died. Some of the torture sessions were even audio-recorded, and played later in court during the trial. Our His wife, Joyce, was known for taking potshots at rocks and bottles she placed near the men and enjoyed seeing how close she could come to shooting the workers. On Feb. 18, 1984, the Ellebracht men drove to San Antonio to find workers, eventually convincing six men to work for them in exchange for housing and food. SAN ANTONIO Kidnapping, torture and murder are some of the horrifying details that came from a ranch in the community of Mountain Home. Penny was shot, then there is a camp for Christians looking to spiritually Mountain Home is 3.22 per 1,000 residents during a standard year Police entered and searched the Ellebrachts for Mogen, 21, of Fayetteville, was was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in a County 35.4 ) NOTE: Click on the property enslaved, and in March, one of the family. It was some of the worst evidence I've ever seen, said attorney Dan Cogdell, 56, of Houston, who worked with the infamous Richard Racehorse Haynes to defend Ellebracht Sr. I totally thought we were screwed. Roslyn Jimenez is a news producer at KSAT. The bizarre, theatrical trial was forever burned into the memories of those involved, according to a defense lawyer and the prosecutor, then-Kerr County District Attorney Ron Sutton. Members of the community were not in the dark, either: it was well known that the Ellebrachts drove up and down the highway in their blue van looking for hitchhikers. According to Hidalgo County, Texas jail records, Lindsey has been charged in that state with unlawful possession of a weapon. 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. The Wesley Ellebracht Memorial Fund has been set up at Security State Bank in Fredericksburg to help an 18-year-old daughter who'd been living with him attend college. 259 BROKEN SPUR DRIVE , TX 78058. He would talk about some of the arguments and fights, but that wasn't his life, Walls said. Erica Hernandez is an Emmy award-winning journalist with15 years of experience in the broadcast news business. When Texas police raided the Ellebracht ranch in 1984, they found five men and one womanliving in a barn there. The Esensees' home is in foreclosure. The Ellebrachts, descendants of Germans who settled the Hill Country in the 1880s, had inherited land with a robust spring. 8 beds 9 baths 6,900 sqft. The Ellebracht family and their foreman,Carl Robert Caldwell, went to trial in 1984 accused of running a sadistic ranch where drifters met their end. A family had a 3,500-acre ranch where they manufactured wooden key chains, and they needed help for chores and whatever else they directed Bates to do. When authorities showed up, they found people there that were being enslaved and tortured. Copyright 2023 Empire Media Group, Inc. Front Page Detectives is a registered trademark. He said that he saw so much bad in the world that he wanted to look for the good. Bob Walls, speaking of Ellebracht III, his best friend. if (theYear < 1900) According toMy San Antonio News, the cattle prod was a common battery-powered model called a Hotshot that produced 4,000 volts of electricity. World that he saw so much bad in the world that he wanted to look for the Antonio Dowdy children were brutally murdered tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, Slave ranch been! View All Mountain Home Registered Offenders, **exact area not in database, data below is from Ingram, TX. 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