Sara María Aldrete (born September 6, 1964 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico) is a multiple murderer known as "La Madrina". She attended high school in Brownsville, Texas, United States, while still living south of the border, and gained resident alien status so she could attend Texas Southmost College. She was known among her peers as a good student. She is 6ft 1in tall and studied physical education, preparing to transfer to a university to earn a physical education teaching certification.
She met Adolfo Constanzo, a Cuban American fortune-teller and religious cult leader, and he introduced her to witchcraft and dark magic. He gave her the nickname "La Madrina", Spanish for "godmother", and initiated her into his cult, which was a conglomeration of Santería, Aztec warrior ritual, and Palo Mayombe, complete with blood sacrifices. Costanzo sexually assaulted and killed drug dealers and used their body parts for religious sacrifice ceremonies in an old warehouse near Matamoros. Many of his victims' body parts were cooked in a large pot called a nganga. Costanzo made Sara Aldrete second-in-command of his cult, and directed her to supervise his followers while he was out shipping marijuana over the border into the US.
In 1989 the killings grew more frequent and gained attention when affluent American tourist Mark Kilroy was abducted. Costanzo, Aldrete and the rest of the cult went on the run. Police found their hideout on May 6, 1989, and killed several cult members, including Costanzo, in a shootout. Aldrete was convicted of criminal association in 1990 and jailed for six years. In a second trial, she was convicted of several of the killings at the cult's headquarters, and sentenced to an additional 62 years. If Aldrete is ever released from prison, American authorities plan to prosecute her for the murder of Mark Kilroy.