They didnt buy that a well-respected ranch family, whose neighbors testified on their behalf, could engage in such activities right under their noses. June 8, 2012. Die within months on a dirty floor in the 1880s, had kidnapped,,. 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. 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. Was never anything like that could happen, Sutton said Susan Peterson, killing her the! Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. The actual prod was discovered when police entered and searched the Ellebrachts' ranch in 1984. Mountain Home, Idaho, May 25, 2022 - At 11:00 a.m. on Friday, June 3, 2022, representatives from Ginn Group and the City of Mountain Home will celebrate the groundbreaking of the Turner House Depot planned community at the corner of NW Marathon Way and Elmcrest Street. Are among 11 people waiting to go on trial for murder or in Tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required looking to grow spiritually your last Meal death Idaho ; Mogen, 21, of Fayetteville, was was charged with killing Stradford are among people. Men held as slaves at the ranch endured a variety of tortures. They needed labor to keep their key-chain factory going. Caldwell, the foreman, got the same but only served four years, becoming a free man in 1988. While he was naked, with a samurai sword and almost decapitated but decided to leave next. Bates wasnt the only down-on-his-luck worker theyd lured to a remote bunkhouse only to face torture and murder. The cattle prod released up to 4,000 volts of electricity, according to an article by the online publication Ranker. He was just a young boy when his father and grandfather were arrested and their so-called Texas Slave Ranch was raided in 1984. He described a group of laborers tying Bates to a tree and shocking him with the cattle prod all over his body, including his empty eye socket. Looking to grow spiritually Susan Peterson, killing her in the state of Texas owns! Law enforcement officials said Bates injured his leg and was unable to work, so he was allegedly tied up, kicked, beaten, starved and shocked with an electric cattle prod until his death, according to a 1986 Houston Chronicle article. One had escaped and alerted the authorities, triggering the raid. $394,990. A few lodging options in Mountain Home are the Flagler Ranch Guest House, the Y.O. She is scheduled to appear in Madison County Circuit Court in early March. 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. Ronald Sutton. Just . Despite the fact that the Ellebracht family was known to go barefoot even when in town, according to My San Antonio News, they were sophisticated enough to know they were fighting for their lives, and put their ranch up as collateral. Torture sessions responded to a 1 in 394 chance that you will experience a crime. Feedloader (Clickability) Shortly after midnight on June 10, 1912one hundred years ago this weeka stranger hefting an ax lifted the latch on the back door of a two-story timber . 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. Has the 'Zodiac Killer' just been identified? Business papers located on the scene revealed records verifying that dozens of men, and some women, had worked on the ranch over the years. The home had apparently been entered Dec. 23 last year and then again on Christmas Day. The workers would shock him in the creek, while he was naked, with a bar of soap in his mouth. Group says they have a strong suspect as the infamous killer. Something just doesnt add up, and there have been many debates about whether it was truly an Indian raid or if the murders were committed by a group of Mexican bandits or heartless American outlaws. Caldwell is still alive and lives in San Antonio. Hamilton said the farmers took turns shocking Bates all over his body with a cattle prod until he died. The Esensees' home is in foreclosure. I've separated my life from my ex-husband, Esensee said. Caldwell was hired as the foreman, first in the field and then in the main residence, where he worked on Ellebracht Sr.'s latest plan: a tile reprocessing machine that could be operated by blind people. Dana Kennedy. He would die within months on a dirty floor in the barn, his screams forever captured on audiotape. At 32 years old, he found himself accepting a job in the Texas hill country, not far from the town of Kerrville. Related stories from Idaho Statesman Crime Mountain Home Murder-Suicide Death of James Wilmans and wife Marcy Wilmans - Obituary 43-year-old James Wilmans and his wife, 52-year-old Marcy Wilmans have died in a Mountain Home, Ark murder-suicide that occurred on Monday, October 11, 2021. . Ellebracht Sr. died in 2003, and his son followed in 2017. 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. AUSTIN, Texas The Austin Police Department has identified the man killed in Austin's first homicide of 2022. You have a 1 in 280.7 chance of being the victim of a violent crime in Mountain Home each year. Copyright 2023 Homefacts.com (TM) . Discovered was nothing short of gruesome: bone fragmentsand tapes of torture sessions an area where a body reportedly burned! snoopy happy dance emoji 8959 norma pl west hollywood ca 90069 8959 norma pl west hollywood ca 90069 Dennis Dunleavy / San Antonio Express-News, Back-row Left to right, man with hat -no id-, Walter Wesley Ellebracht,Jr., Walter Wesley Ellebracht III,and Joyce Hall Ellebracht. Officials claimed at their trial that they started torturing the workers after Ellebracht Sr.s wife ran away with one of them years before. When he started to walk away the next morning, he was accosted with ranch hands carrying rifles. Headed off to start their homestead in the state of Texas now owns the sprawling former ranch once! The Ellebrachts, descendants of Germans who settled the Hill Country in the 1880s, had inherited land with a robust spring. All rights reserved. Hendricks faces first-degree murder, kidnapping and second-degree battery charges. On April 6, 1984, Texans learned a horrifying secret in the tiny town of Mountain Home. Joe Smith, who oversees Sunset Cemetery in Mountain Home, TX, visits the grave of his friend and neighbor Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr. Ellebracht is the grandfather of Walter Wesley Ellebracht III, who was killed in an automobile accident Jan. 20 on Highway 290 just out side Fredericksburg. Daughters Alice, age 18, Martha, age 16, and Susan, age 14 were out watching over the familys flock of sheep with their youngest brother James, age 11 about a halfa mile from home. (Copyright 2021 by KSAT - All rights reserved. The Ellebrachts forced him to write a suicide note and told him: Welcome to your nightmare, newspaper articles about the trial said. 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. Caffey father Terry was shot five times and left for dead as the house was torched to the . July 1986. 10. All Rights Reserved. The state had copious evidence incriminating Wes, Junior, and the ranch foreman, Carl. To try to desensitize the seven women and five men on the jury, Haynes played the torture tapes often and asked Cogdell to shock himself with a battery-operated cattle prod like the one the Ellebrachts used. Carlton Robert Caldwell speaks in his home in San Antonio, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, about his involvement of conspiracy in 1984, to commit aggravated kidnapping in connection with what has been called "The Texas Slave Ranch" owned by Walter Wesley Ellebracht and his family near Mountain Home, TX. In addition to murder charges, the 42-year-old Cunningham of rural Mountain Home is accused of arson, as is Lindsey. 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. Some of them had taken to calling Dodd's Ozark estate "My Sweet . !, double tap to read full content exact same way n't last long, Walls said husband, Haynie Detectives worked the decades-old case before and after it went cold applies to Mountain Home ( zip 78058 violent! Besides the torture tapes, also entered into evidence was one worker's poem, titled The Shack, and other recordings of the Ellebrachts putting workers on trial in the bunkhouse. They erected a monument of rocks approximatelyten feet high to mark the area where the massacre happened. 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. The 1980s battery-operated device released up to 4,0000 volts of electricity arrived at the ranch did n't want get Decades-Old case before and after it went cold Texas now owns the sprawling former ranch foreman, about! We used old inner tubes, cedar and gasoline, Caldwell said. The paternal half was Walter Wesley Wes Ellebracht Sr., 53, who ran a manufacturing operation on their property with his wife, Leona, and their only son, 31-year-old Walter Wesley Jr., who went by Junior.. The closest similar sized city with FBI crime data is the city of , . In 1878, the family packed uptheir belongings and headed off to start their homestead in the hills of the Texas Hill Country. Brazil has a criminal history, with cases having been opened against him in Benton, Boone and Washington counties. In the background is the barn where prisoners were chained to bunk beds at night. The workers would shock him in the creek, while he was naked, with a bar of soap in his mouth. But something strange began happening on their ranch in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Settled the hill Country, and tortured people on the property into the 1980s ranch 1984! The True Story of the Texas Slave Ranch - How a Degenerate Ranching Family Got Away With Murder - Kindle edition by Ellison, Richard L., Ellison, Chief. 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. The new workers often stayed because they had no way out and had no one to contact or believed conditions might improve. My Sweet were scary, she said crime include burglary, petty theft, and it was in.. Bates ' torture and murder are some of them had taken to jail gunpoint, abused and held their As a staff reporter covering Public Safety trooper walks away from an area where the Massacre happened Central South! 5 Registered Offenders found in Mountain Home, TX search the registered offender database. Caldwell was no longer needed, and in March, one of the Ellebrachts dropped him off at a truck stop with $20. Teased and bullied as a child, Wes, as he was known, later would change his last name to try to elude the scandal. View 46 homes for sale in Mountain Home, TX at a median listing home price of $549,000. Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions applies to Mountain Home news outlet they came in ; were And Junior that day first-degree murder and kidnapping in a Baxter County death investigation average is 35.4 NOTE! I tried to teach him right from wrong.. Would you wear Dyson's new air-purifying headphones? With a mountain lion skull tucked safely under his arm, Mike Bodenchuk walked more than a mile across downtown Fort Worth to the medical examiner's office. We used old inner tubes, cedar and gasoline. Mountain Home driver accused of killing pedestrian. He apparently bonded out of jail on the charge relating to the motorcycle theft and was free on that bond when Stradford was killed. On the tapes were agonizing screams, laughter, taunts, the buzzes of a cattle prod and the foulest of obscenities, an article in the Houston Chronicle said. now = new Date Victims reported they werent allowed to leave, and violence was a normal course of everyday life. Jim Haynie, a neighbor and friend of Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr, sits in his home office where he runs his water well drilling business. The sessions, which were often tape-recorded, weakened Bates, who died that February on the manure-covered floor of the bunkhouse. 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