He has already filed a number of motions in his clients case. Hendricks also is charged with possession of methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy and fentanyl with the purpose to deliver, according to Madison County court records. It is a great christian family environment for those interested. He'd take me on tours. Men held as slaves at the ranch endured a variety of tortures. According to information provided to KTLO, Classic Hits & The Boot News by the Texas Department of Public Safety in response to a Freedom of Information request, Lindsey and Cunningham were in separate vehicles. Finally, in 1984, the authorities raided the property on a tip. Walter Ellebracht, along with accomplices, had kidnapped, enslaved, and tortured people on the property. Home; Gal Behind the Blog; . According toMy San Antonio News, the cattle prod was a common battery-powered model called a Hotshot that produced 4,000 volts of electricity. On April 6, 1984, more than 30 federal, state and local lawmen raided a 3,500-acre (14km2) ranch near the Texas Hill Country town of Mountain Home. Bates was hitchhiking through the vast open spaces of west Texas when he was lucky enough to get a ride and a job offer. (renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax). Lindsey was driving a BMW Z4 convertible, reported stolen in Baxter County. According to the Baxter County Sheriffs Office, 52-year-old Lawrence Olson of Mountain Home has been charged with breaking into Cunninghams residence along Robinson Point Road. Kerr County Sheriff Cliff Greeson inspects a pit where slaves cooked their meals. The sparks came from an electric cattle prod used by the torturer. The feds pulled a mountain of incriminating evidence from the Ellebracht ranch, including the audiotapes, witnesses, human remains and various weapons. 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. When a huge posse of law enforcement from federal, state and local jurisdictions raided the ranch on April 6, 1984, the Ellebrachts denied wrongdoing. 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 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. Caldwell also was given a 15-year sentence, but since he'd served nearly three years while awaiting trial, he was released on mandatory supervision in 1988. 27 febrero, 2023 . Electronic court records show her with an active criminal case in Madison County. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Copyright 2021 by KSAT - All rights reserved. now = new Date She is accused of being in simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, a Class Y felony. 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. Mountain Home man accused of his wifes murder, extradited from Texas, held on $2M bond. Home >> Homicides - 2007 January 1 - December 29, 2007 (86 Murders) Date of Murder: January 2, 2007 Victim Name: Connie Whitson, 46 . No information is available as to what brought Brazil to this area. At one point, he was being supervised while on parole by the Arkansas Community Corrections office in Little Rock. In the background is the barn where the prisoners were chained to bunk beds at night. Erica Hernandez, Digital Journalist/Courthouse Reporter. 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. Olson is alleged to have told deputies he had permission from Cunningham to be in the residence, and that he had made entry on Christmas Day only to take a nap.. 2023 locality pay increase; aseprite normal map color wheel; FREE Case Evaluation. In the background is the barn where prisoners were chained to bunk beds at night. Ellebracht was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. On Tuesday, officers were sent to a. Even the date of the killing seemed ripped from a bad crime novel. This was the craziest case I've ever had, but these were drifters, and they were seen as less entitled to the benefits than the rest of us are. Houston attorney Dan Cogdell, who worked with Richard Racehorse Haynes on the defense, He would talk about some of the arguments and fights, but that wasnt his life. Every day of the widely publicized three-month trial, Sutton said, the 150 courtroom seats were filled with spectators, Wes among them. He was in court with his client during her appearance on Monday. Caldwell and another worker built a funeral pyre and, as a cassette tape of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire played, burned Bates' remains. When he started to walk away the next morning, he was accosted with ranch hands carrying rifles. The victim also has not been publicly identified. Erica Hernandez is an Emmy award-winning journalist with15 years of experience in the broadcast news business. Its not known just how many victims were part of the Texas slave ranch. Mountain Home, Texas, is nearly as isolated today as it was in 1984. Three of those being charged list Mountain Home addresses, but the fourth is a resident of Siloam Springs in Northwest Arkansas. 100 AVVA Dr LOT 16, TX 78058. Some of the torture sessions were even audio-recorded, and played later in court during the trial. Police say Armstrong shot Ann Moriah Wilson, 25, several times with a 9mm handgun on May 11, shortly after she arrive in town to compete in a mountain bike competition. Ellebracht Jr. never returned to live in Kerr County, and while at times he had been close with his only child, the two had grown estranged. Individuals from all over travel to visit the Y.O. AUSTIN, Texas The Austin Police Department has identified the man killed in Austin's first homicide of 2022. Haynes was a big name who showed up at the Kerrville County Courthouse every day driving a bright yellow Rolls Royce. 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. He cited thecase of Anthony Bates, who, due to an injured leg, was unable to work. They tortured a bunch of people, and it was unbelievable that stuff like that could happen, Sutton said. Teased and bullied as a child, Wes, as he was known, later would change his last name to try to elude the scandal. The three victims, two adults and one teenager . In 1990, the state bought 240 acres of the former ranch and the Ellebrachts' home, which has been used as temporary housing for the center's employees, including Bob Betsill, the research program director. While the recently released information on the Stradford murder does not spell out exactly what brought the four suspects together or what caused them to lure Stradford to Brazils residence, public records do show that Brazil and Hendricks lived in Siloam Springs at one time. They werent slaves. Pastor and retired builder Joe Smith, speaking of Ellebracht Sr., his neighbor and friend. It was also announced Monday that the death penalty will be sought for Lindsey and 42-year-old Allison Cunningham. theYear=theYear+1900 The Mountain Home time zone is Central Daylight Time which is 6 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). They offer 3-hour guided tours of the 50,00 acre ranch. But this ranch wasnt any old-timey operation, and the drifters werent a handful of depression-era hobos. I knew what I was doing; I had options. On April 6, 1984, Texans learned a horrifying secret in the tiny town of Mountain Home. She is also the only one of the four to list an address outside this area. Getting workers was a breeze, and once theyd transported the hapless hitchhikers to the ranch, their new employees found it impossible to leave. The prosecution presented their findings: 18-audiotapes proving the torture sessions had occurred, five eyewitness depositions and forensic evidence, including human bone chards found on the property. We used old inner tubes, cedar and gasoline. She is also currently pursuing her Masters degree in Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. While the beating was in progress and Stradford was crying out for help, Cunningham and 35-year-old Ashley Nicole Hendricks of Siloam Springs were alleged to have stood by looking on.. Family launches GoFundMe to help man shot during Fiesta in S.A. Man in critical condition after being shot twice in head in S.A. The cattle prod released up to 4,000 volts of electricity, according to an article by the online publication Ranker. Victims reported they werent allowed to leave, and violence was a normal course of everyday life. day! It was reported he was last seen at his parents residence in Mountain Home and later the same day in the Fayetteville area. Among the group was Bates, a 28-year-old, one-eyed drifter from Alabama. Front row L-R , Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr. Leona Ellebracht(mother of senior) Richard "Race Horse" Haynes. Authorities believed him, and they mobilized to rescue five men and one woman from the ranch, strewn with 55-gallon drums and trash. Boyd last remembered a knife held to his throat before he lost consciousness. She has degrees in journalism and criminology. taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway. The new workers often stayed because they had no way out and had no one to contact or believed conditions might improve. Ruiz-Ortiz was arrested in Pecos, Texas, shortly after Ruizs body was found. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. He was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. The recovered tape wasnt the only one. 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. Later a witness, Sheri Hamilton, said she saw a torture session involving 27-year-old Anthony Bates. Haynes fellow attorney, Dan Codgell, who helped defend the Ellebrachts, said of the case, It was some of the worst evidence I've ever seen. Individuals from all over travel to visit the Y.O. They offer 3-hour guided tours of the 50,00 acre ranch. 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. By then, according to court testimony, workers were being held at gunpoint and forced to write their own suicide notes and tie nooses and dig ditches in preparation for their own deaths, or so they were led to believe. You have permission to edit this article. He wasn't even 10 years old.. Create a bonsai tree out of bricks with this $40 LEGO set, Dyson's air purifying headphones have finally arrived, Save on AeroGarden indoor herb growing kits at Amazon. What happened at the Texas Slave Ranch? Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 15_5 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) GSA/219.0.457350353 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1, First United Methodist Church Mountain Home, Gardening in the Ozarks with Vicki Garner, Live in the Boat with Binks Guide Service. Cody Dennis has put in an appearance for Lindsey. Looking for a place to stay? Ironically, Cunningham was the victim of crime herself while sitting in the Texas jail awaiting extradition to Baxter County. The jurors compiled their favorite recipes, called it the Slave Ranch Cookbook, had it printed at the Kerr County Courthouse and sold copies. But was it the work of the Zodiac Killer? It is now being held by the Baxter County Sheriffs Office. In addition to the murder and car theft charges he now faces, Lindsey also had a criminal case open in which he is accused of being in possession of a motorcycle reported stolen in Mountain Home. SUGAR LAND, Texas (KTRK) -- Investigators with Sugar Land police are searching for a suspect accused of shooting and killing a member of his own family. His criminal history goes back to 2010, when he was a teenager. Few details were available Tuesday evening, but police said the death appeared to be the "result of domestic violence involving an estranged husband.". Others alleged that after Bates died, his body was doused in gasoline and set on fire while the father and son listened to Johnny Cashs Ring of Fire.. 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 addition to murder charges, the 42-year-old Cunningham of rural Mountain Home is accused of arson, as is Lindsey. All of his crimes were committed in Baxter County, although he had apparently been living in Little Rock for some period in the recent past. Lindsey is alleged to have told investigators he was in a gang and frequently beat people up for money. 19. He was found guilty and ultimately executed by the state of Texas in 1999. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Texas Slave Ranch - Horror In The Mountain Home : Texas Murders At The Ellebracht Family Ranch In 1984. According to the New York Times, Boyd was informed theyd be digging their own graves that day. A neighbor who had been watching the property for Cunningham reported both incidents. Hill Country, and we welcome you to our family. Nine people were initially indicted: Ellebracht Sr., Ellebracht Jr., Joyce, Caldwell and five ranch workers. Everyone knew the Ellebrachts drove a blue van and picked up hitchhikers to staff the key chain factory and do other work at the ranch. Hed take me on tours, and everybody was smoking, the sawdust was so deep. 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. Ranch for an experience you wont forget! They weren't slaves.. He was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. Once they got to the ranch, Boyd decided to only stay the night.
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