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Darkness

Darkness

By The Drag Audio Production House

In season three of “Darkness” from The Drag Audio Production House, which brought you “The Orange Tree” and “Darkness: Austin Bomber,” hear the story of how Mark Kilroy’s family maintained their faith while searching for their son, and the tale of “Los Narcosatánicos,” the cultish drug gang.
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Bonus: The bomber’s confession tape | Austin Bomber

DarknessDec 07, 2021

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Episode 4: The Light of the Moon | Devilish Deeds

Episode 4: The Light of the Moon | Devilish Deeds

As the bloody year of 1885 draws to a close and 1886 begins, the police are no closer to solving the vicious crimes that rattled Austin. Even more than a century later, no one knows for sure who killed these women or why. This episode explores the various theories, from the effects of the moon to the possibility that Jack the Ripper started in Texas.

Mar 09, 202342:54
Episode 3: Thirst For Blood | Devilish Deeds

Episode 3: Thirst For Blood | Devilish Deeds

Austin’s city leaders begin to panic amid the bloodshed and bring in outside detectives to help the city’s underperforming police force. Although six Black women have been killed in less than a year, the city and the nation show much deeper concern when two white women are killed in just one night. The mayor, governor, the media and the Black and white communities desperately search for the killer … or killers.

Mar 09, 202332:29
Episode 2: More Butchery | Devilish Deeds

Episode 2: More Butchery | Devilish Deeds

A few months after the death of the first victim, another Black woman working as a servant in Austin is killed. And then another. With three murder victims and a clear pattern, modern officials would know that a serial killer is likely behind the attacks. With few forensic tools at their disposal, Austin’s small and racist police force rounds up Austin’s Black men. The killings don’t stop.

Mar 09, 202334:25
Episode 1: Wicked Work | Devilish Deeds

Episode 1: Wicked Work | Devilish Deeds

As the capital of Texas celebrates the coming of a new year with exuberance, a dark shadow eclipses the city as an unknown killer stalks the streets. A Black woman working as a servant to a rich white Austinite is murdered, and her boyfriend barely survives. In a city rife with violence, the brutality of the killing shakes up its citizens. And the terror has only just begun.

Mar 09, 202343:30
Episode 5: Amid darkness, a blessing | The Mark Kilroy story

Episode 5: Amid darkness, a blessing | The Mark Kilroy story

Law enforcement officers close in on the cult leaders in Mexico City as fear spreads in the communities along the border. As they learn all of the horrible details of the cult’s activities, they turn to their religious faith and to superstition. Thousands gather to celebrate the life of Mark Kilroy, a college student who was so much more than just a headline in a story about a missing person.

Nov 15, 202247:55
Episode 4: Los Narcosatánicos | The Mark Kilroy story

Episode 4: Los Narcosatánicos | The Mark Kilroy story

A mysterious young woman taking college courses in South Texas befriends a charismatic Cuban American. The two of them work their way into a drug gang in Mexico. In the aftermath of finding the bodies on a ranch, investigators seek the couple. They are focusing on Aldolfo Constanzo, the Cuban American who they believe is the cult’s leader. He keeps slipping out of their grasp.

Nov 08, 202245:34
Episode 3: Feeling of evil | The Mark Kilroy story

Episode 3: Feeling of evil | The Mark Kilroy story

The bodies unearthed at a Mexican ranch and the people who buried them lead investigators to believe there’s something deeply sinister going on. While tabloids publish screaming headlines feeding into the “satanic panic” and the border communities fear who has been living alongside them, Mark Kilroy’s family offers forgiveness.

Nov 01, 202247:29
Episode 2: America’s Most Wanted | The Mark Kilroy story

Episode 2: America’s Most Wanted | The Mark Kilroy story

Across the border from Matamoros, community members and law enforcement join Mark Kilroy’s friends and family in a desperate search. The friends go on the popular TV crime show, “America’s Most Wanted,'' and Mark’s father pleads on TV for anyone to come forward with information. Police set up road checkpoints, and a car blows right through it. The driver thinks he has powers that make him invisible to law enforcement. Police follow him to a ranch in Mexico … ending the search.

Oct 25, 202243:26
Episode 1: Spring break in Mexico | The Mark Kilroy story

Episode 1: Spring break in Mexico | The Mark Kilroy story

A group of friends takes a break from the rigors of college by hitting the beaches of South Padre Island during spring break. Just a short ride and a bridge crossing away, the Matamoros, Mexico nightclubs beckon the partying students with cheap alcohol and nonstop dancing. The friends get separated amid a swarm of students. They can’t find Mark, their buddy who goes to the University of Texas.
Oct 18, 202247:51
Introducing: Season three of 'Darkness' | The Mark Kilroy story

Introducing: Season three of 'Darkness' | The Mark Kilroy story

In March 1989, University of Texas student Mark Kilroy had everything going for him. He was preparing to take the MCAT exams and apply to medical school. He’d just turned 21. He was ready to finally take some time off from school and celebrate with his friends at America’s biggest Spring Break party spot…South Padre Island, Texas. In far south Texas, it wasn’t uncommon for students to cross the border into Mexico to continue the party. But after a night of partying in Matamoros, Mark Kilroy never came home. His family searched for him for a month until they learned of Mark’s grisly end at the hands of a cult led by the handsome and charismatic Adolfo Constanzo, or “El Padrino.”

In season three of “Darkness” from The Drag Audio Production House, which brought you “The Orange Tree” and “Darkness: Austin Bomber,” hear the story of how Mark Kilroy’s family maintained their faith while searching for their son, and the tale of “Los Narcosatánicos,” the drug gang behind his death.

Oct 11, 202203:19
Sneak Peek: Devilish Deeds

Sneak Peek: Devilish Deeds

"Devilish Deeds" is out now wherever you get your podcasts!

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/devilish-deeds/id1616011815

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2NB2HT09wMWO7LbaXIEtJN?si=480c3136308547ac

About episode one, "Wicked Work":

As the capital of Texas celebrates the coming of a new year with exuberance, a dark shadow eclipses the city as an unknown killer stalks the streets. A Black woman working as a servant to a rich white Austinite is murdered, and her boyfriend barely survives. In a city rife with violence, the brutality of the killing shakes up its citizens. And the terror has only just begun.

Additional sounds from www.zapsplat.com

May 03, 202208:51
Introducing: Devilish Deeds

Introducing: Devilish Deeds

Coming soon: A new historical true crime podcast from The Drag

In 1885, a few years before Jack the Ripper went on a killing spree in London, an axe-wielding killer stalked the streets of the dusty frontier town of Austin, Texas. The victims, mostly Black women who worked as servants for Austin’s wealthy white residents, were brutally killed in the middle of the night. In a new podcast from the creators of the popular true crime series “Darkness,” host Megan Parker brings you back to the time when the first known American serial killer terrorized a community.

Subscribe to Devilish Deeds wherever you get your podcasts:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2NB2HT09wMWO7LbaXIEtJN?si=44af3ca91e9e45b3

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/devilish-deeds/id1616011815

Mar 24, 202202:40
Bonus: The bomber’s confession tape | Austin Bomber

Bonus: The bomber’s confession tape | Austin Bomber

In this bonus episode, host Ashley Miznazi and executive producer Katey Psencik Outka interview Paul Watler, a First Amendment lawyer and former journalist. In April 2018, nearly a month after the bombings, Paul wrote an opinion column published in several Texas newspapers urging law enforcement agencies to release the bomber’s confession tape.

Go to NordVPN.com/darkness73 to get 73 percent off your NordVPN plan, plus a bonus gift.

Dec 07, 202124:27
Episode 6: 19 days | Austin Bomber

Episode 6: 19 days | Austin Bomber

It has been nearly three weeks since the first bomb killed Stephan House, beginning an unprecedented time of terror in Austin. Law enforcement officials are closing in on the top suspect, and no one knows what will happen as the net closes around him.

Nov 16, 202145:23
Episode 5: Delivering Darkness | Austin Bomber

Episode 5: Delivering Darkness | Austin Bomber

At a FedEx distribution center near San Antonio, a package explodes. Law enforcement officials quickly realize that another package that likely has a bomb in it has also been shipped via FedEx, and they race to find it. An FBI agent works to match receipts for equipment bought in the Austin area that could be used to make a bomb with a database of vehicles. She finds a match and officials believe they have identified the bomber.

Nov 11, 202136:09
Episode 4: The Trip Wire | Austin Bomber

Episode 4: The Trip Wire | Austin Bomber

In a residential neighborhood on the other side of the city from where the three bombings had struck, a young man parks his truck and strings a wire across the sidewalk. The wire is connected to an explosive device, and the trap is set for random victims. As Austinites descend into panic, law enforcement officials get their first big break in the case.

Nov 09, 202130:36
Episode 3: Hope | Austin Bomber

Episode 3: Hope | Austin Bomber

On the day investigators work the scene of the bomb that struck Draylen Mason’s home, 75-year-old Hope Herrera spends the morning caring for her 93-year-old mother. Hope picks up a package from her porch, and it explodes. Six hundred federal agents descend on Austin to work the case and to try to figure out the bomber’s identity, and no one knows where the serial bomber will strike next.

Nov 04, 202138:08
Episode 2: Draylen's Story | Austin Bomber

Episode 2: Draylen's Story | Austin Bomber

Teenager Draylen Mason dreams of being a neurosurgeon, and he also excels in music, which draws an offer to study the double bass under world-renowned professors at the University of Texas. Ten days after the first bomb exploded in an Austin suburb, Draylen notices a package on the porch and brings it into his family’s home. The package explodes, and it becomes clear that the death of Stephan House, a 39-year-old Black man, was not an isolated incident. Since Draylen is also Black, the community fears that Austin’s Black population is being targeted by an unknown serial bomber.

Nov 02, 202138:03
Episode 1: The First Attack | Austin Bomber

Episode 1: The First Attack | Austin Bomber

On a quiet suburban street in northeast Austin, 39-year-old father and husband Stephan House prepares to go to work. He spots a package on his porch. The box explodes in his hands. His neighbor runs to his porch and tries to help the bleeding man as he talks to a 911 operator, but there’s nothing he can do. In the aftermath, the Austin police tell the public that the bombing seems to be an isolated incident and that there is no cause for alarm.

Nov 02, 202139:01
Introducing: Season Two

Introducing: Season Two

While just seniors in college, Haley Butler and Tinu Thomas started work on The Orange Tree, a seven-episode podcast about the life and tragic death of a young woman who was killed near the University of Texas. So many of you listened to and appreciated the work of The Drag Audio Production House that we decided to make a new season based on a completely different case. In season two, Ashley Miznazi examines a series of crimes that put the city of Austin on edge in the spring of 2018. And we have more true-crime seasons that we’ve started working on as well, so we have decided to make The Orange Tree season one of a new multi-season podcast that we’re calling "Darkness." Here’s a preview of the second season of Darkness, which is coming Tuesday, November 2.

Oct 26, 202103:41
Full trailer: 'The Orange Tree'
Aug 07, 202002:40
Episode 1: The Orange Door | The Orange Tree

Episode 1: The Orange Door | The Orange Tree


Sharon Cave knows something is wrong the second she gets a call from her daughter Jennifer’s boss saying Jennifer didn’t show up for her first day at work. When no one can give her an answer as to where Jennifer was the night before, Sharon and her family set out on their own investigation. They find themselves in front of the door of Jennifer’s friend Colton Pitonyak just a few blocks from the University of Texas at Austin. They can’t get in, but what’s behind that orange door changes their lives forever.

Aug 04, 202024:05
Episode 2: Jennifer’s Story | The Orange Tree

Episode 2: Jennifer’s Story | The Orange Tree


In 2005, Jennifer Cave was navigating through the best and worst parts of her early 20s. She moves to Austin after high school in hopes of figuring out what she wants to do with her life and gets caught up in a party lifestyle. One night, right before the start of a promising new job, she goes out with her friend Colton Pitonyak to Austin’s famous Sixth Street … and is never heard from again. In 2005, Jennifer Cave was navigating through the best and worst parts of her early 20s. She moves to Austin after high school in hopes of figuring out what she wants to do with her life and gets caught up in a party lifestyle. One night, right before the start of a promising new job, she goes out with her friend Colton Pitonyak to Austin’s famous Sixth Street … and is never heard from again.

Jul 28, 202034:38
Episode 3: Vacation | The Orange Tree

Episode 3: Vacation | The Orange Tree


Austin Police detectives search for a UT student wanted in connection with the death of Jennifer Cave. Colton Pitonyak, a promising business student and Jennifer’s friend, fled the scene of the crime right before her body was discovered at his condo. Since his Toyota Avalon is still parked at the Orange Tree Condos, police have to find out where he’s fled to but also how he’s getting there. They have reason to believe that he’s not alone.

Jul 23, 202039:02
Episode 4: Whodunit | The Orange Tree

Episode 4: Whodunit | The Orange Tree


It's January 2007, and Colton Pitonyak has been sitting in a Travis County jail awaiting his trial. His family didn’t post bail, so he has been behind bars since August 2005 when he was arrested after fleeing to Mexico for six days with Laura Hall. The Travis County Courthouse is packed for what everyone expects will be a sensational trial, and Court TV prepares to stream the details across the nation. A legendary Texas lawyer stands by Colton’s side.


Jul 21, 202031:10
Episode 5: Obsession | The Orange Tree

Episode 5: Obsession | The Orange Tree


A few days after Colton Pitonyak and Laura Hall were found in Mexico, Laura is called in to pick up her impounded car's keys at the Austin Police headquarters. When she shows up, she's led to a small room to be questioned by the police. Detectives are trying to figure out what her involvement is in the crime. She waives her rights to having an attorney present during an eight-hour interrogation. Her version of what happened the morning Jennifer Cave was killed sets in motion another major trial, and her lawyer worries that Laura’s own words might be her downfall.

Jul 16, 202049:17
Episode 6: Wild Card | The Orange Tree

Episode 6: Wild Card | The Orange Tree

Fellow inmates say Laura Hall has been talking in jail about her role in the Jennifer Cave case. She continues to talk when out on bond, others say. As Colton Pitonyak’s appeals lawyers look for an angle to try to get him a new trial, the lawyers convince several people to swear that Laura had a much larger role than anyone knew. Will it be enough to get Colton a new trial?

Jul 14, 202052:59
Episode 7: Fifteen Years | The Orange Tree

Episode 7: Fifteen Years | The Orange Tree

Laura Hall seeks to move on after her release from prison ... and she has a lot to say. Colton Pitonyak remains in a West Texas prison as his parents hold onto hope that he’ll someday return to Arkansas. Sharon and Jim continue to fight on Jennifer Cave’s behalf, and they also fight for strangers who find themselves in tragic and traumatic situations. Fifteen years later, the wounds have not healed.

Jul 14, 202030:54