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Kerrville, TexasCharges modified in‘slave ranch’ murderSome defendants still on the hook for drifter’s deathBy MICHAEL BOWLINTimes Staff WriterMurder charges have been dropped against two defendants in the so-called Mountain Home “Slave Ranch” case.But, Mark Hamilton and Darryl Hunsaker will still stand trial on an organized crime charge of conspiring to commit aggravated kidnapping and murder in connection with the bizarre kidnapping and death of a one-eyed drifter named Anthony Bates, said 138th District Attorney Ron Sutton.“All those cases are still pending. I haven’t dismissed any of them,” Sutton said in a telephone interview from his Junction office Thursday afternoon.Sutton explained that the murder charges against Hunsaker and Hamilton were dropped on June 6 “to clean up” the three-year Kld case.“Basically, by dropping the murder charges, we just straightened out the case,” Sutton said.“We indicted them originally for murder just so we could hold them in jail, then we re-indicted them on the organized crimecharge,” he explained.“I guess we should have gone in and dropped the (murder) charge right away — right after we indicted them on the organized crime thing, but we never did,” Sutton said.In April 1984, Kerr County lawmen charged six people with the February 28 murder of Bates — which allegedly took place on the Mountain Home ranch owned by Walter Wesley Ellebracht Sr. and his son Walter Wesley Ellebracht Jr.Indicted were ranch owners, Ellebracht Sr., Ellebracht Jr. Joyce Ellebracht (Jr.’s wife), Hunsaker from Wichita Falls, Hamilton from Los Angeles, and Carlton Robert Caldwell of NewMexico.The indicted ranch workerstold lawmen that the Ellebrachts forced them to participate in the gruesome killing and refused to let them leave the ranch.In handwritten statements, Hunsaker and Hamilton gave to Texas Rangers and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents shortly after their arrest, the two said they were forced toburn Bates’ body on a cedar brush pile after he died from “20 to 30 sessions of two hours apiece of torture with a cattle prod.”Statements made to lawmen by the pair —- as well as by other witnesses Marshall Van Scoyk of San Antonio, Howard Baily of Portland, Ore. and Travis Bovd — contained accusations that the Ellebrachts told some of the men who were being forced to dig a hog pen, that they were digging their own graves.One man said in his statement that the Ellebrachts were going to hang him. Two statements said Joyce Ellebracht showed ranch workers a plastic bag containing red jello and a hunk of meat and told the men it was blood and remains from a worker who tried to leave the ranch.In a widely publicized and lengthy trial that concluded in state district court in Kerrville in July 1986, a jury convicted both Ellebrachts and ranch worker Caldwell on the organized crimeEllebracht Sr. was given a five-year prison probated orison term. -......25 CentsTimes File PhotosDARYL HUNSAKERDistrict Judge Thomas Black-well ordered Ellebracht to a ‘shock” prison term before beginning his probation. The rancher, who was defended by famed criminal lawyer Richard “Racehorse” Haynes, was incarcerated at the Texas Department of Corrections in Huntsville from Jan. 20 to May 19 1988.Ellebracht Jr. received a 15-year prison term, but remains free on an appeal bond while his case is pending before the 4th Court of Appeals in San Antonio. Caldwell got 14-yearW.W. ELLEBRACHT JR.ence. He was granted parole and released from TDC April 12,1988.After getting out of prison Caldwell returned to Kerrville and worked briefly at a hamburger restaurant. He now lives in a shelter for the homeless in SanAntonio.Sutton said he doesn’t know when to expect a ruling on Ellebracht Jr.’s appeal.“The case was argued last December and the court hadn’t written an opinion on it yet. I ex-I -LTDIIR fall rate
Newspaper Details
Kerrville Daily Times
Kerrville, Texas, US
Mon, Jul 17, 1989
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Butt-Holdsworth M.
Texas, USA 11 Jun 2021
Other Publications Near Kerrville, Texas
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Kerrville Mountain Sun
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