On April 6, 1984, more than 30 federal, state and local lawmen raided a 3,500-acre (14 km2) ranch near the Texas Hill Country town of Mountain Home. The officers were responding to reports that workers on the ranch were kidnapped from Interstate 10, forced to work and that at least one worker had died and was cremated on the premises.
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 ranchers were arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and the case became widely known as “the Texas Slave Ranch.”
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.
There was little physical evidence linking anyone in the death of Bates because a body was never found on the ranch and though multiple possible murder weapons were present it was impossible to determine what might have been used to slay Bates without a body. Though Bates has, to this date, never been seen or heard from since the day he was seen being accosted by the defendants.
Joyce Ellebracht, wife of Walter Jr., was also charged but succeeded in having her trial severed from her husband and father-in law.
Though Prosecutor Ronald Sutton sought life sentences for the three, 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.
In 2006, Glen Stephens directed the film Hoboken Hollow which is loosely based on the events that occurred at the Texus Slave Ranch. The film stars Jason Connery, Dennis Hopper and Michael Madsen.
Hendricks, Bill, "'Slave Ranch' convicts out of jail" - San Antonio Express-News, June 11, 1989
Kirkham, Cathy, "Attorneys: Ranch Search Not Legal" - Kerrville Daily Times, May 19, 1986
Associated Press, "Three are sentenced in Texas torture case" - New York Times, July 19, 1986
Link to original New York Times article dated April 9, 1984 [1]