A family annihilation that shocked New Mexico.
Adlai Mestre claimed his family was "possessed"—but what deputies found told a different story.
On October 13, 2024, Bernalillo County deputies made a discovery so disturbing it would haunt even the most seasoned officers. In a case filled with mental illness, hallucinations, and brutality, 24-year-old Adlai Mestre is accused of murdering his parents and teenage sister in a frenzied and bizarre attack. This is a chilling deep dive into the crime scene, bodycam footage, interrogation, and psychological unraveling of one man who descended into madness—and dragged his family into a nightmare.
🔍 In this episode of The Dark Stories, we explore the events leading up to the massacre, Adlai’s psychotic break, and the forensic evidence that shattered his version of events.
💀 True Crime | Mental Illness | Triple Homicide | Bodycam Footage | Forensic Breakdown
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Adlai Mestre claimed his family was "possessed"—but what deputies found told a different story.
On October 13, 2024, Bernalillo County deputies made a discovery so disturbing it would haunt even the most seasoned officers. In a case filled with mental illness, hallucinations, and brutality, 24-year-old Adlai Mestre is accused of murdering his parents and teenage sister in a frenzied and bizarre attack. This is a chilling deep dive into the crime scene, bodycam footage, interrogation, and psychological unraveling of one man who descended into madness—and dragged his family into a nightmare.
🔍 In this episode of The Dark Stories, we explore the events leading up to the massacre, Adlai’s psychotic break, and the forensic evidence that shattered his version of events.
💀 True Crime | Mental Illness | Triple Homicide | Bodycam Footage | Forensic Breakdown
Don't forget to subscribe, like, and share to help us grow this community of true crime enthusiasts.
#TrueCrime #AdlaiMestre #FamilyMurder #CrimeScene #BodycamFootage #MentalIllnessAndCrime #TheDarkStories #TripleHomicide #RealCrime #DisturbingCases
True crime stories | Real murder cases | Unsolved mysteries | True crime documentary | Criminal psychology | Missing persons case | Crime investigation | Forensic evidence | Serial killer stories | Cold case files | Creepy unsolved mysteries | Real life crime stories | Crime scene investigation | Dark true crime | Crime and mystery documentaries
True crime stories that shocked the world | Unsolved true crime cases that remain a mystery | Chilling serial killer stories you’ve never heard | Real life true crime documentary full story | Dark true crime cases explained in detail | True crime mystery solved after decades | Unsolved murders that remain a mystery in 2025 | True crime stories with shocking twists | Full true crime documentary with narration | True crime YouTube channel for mystery lovers
#TrueCrime #UnsolvedMysteries #CrimeDocumentary #TrueCrimeCommunity #ColdCases #CrimeStories #SerialKillers #TrueCrimeAddict #TrueCrimeYouTube #DarkStories
true crime, true crime stories, real crime cases, crime documentary, unsolved mysteries, true crime YouTube, missing persons, serial killer documentary, cold case files, crime stories 2025, criminal psychology, dark crime cases, real life crime, solved and unsolved murders, forensic investigation, creepy mysteries, true crime explained, shocking true crime
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NewsTranscript
00:00Okay, let's dive in. Picture this. October 13th, 2024. It's the afternoon in Bernalillo County,
00:07New Mexico. A neighbor dials 911, hearing multiple gunshots coming from the Mistra family's house
00:14next door. Yeah, when deputies get there, it's clear pretty fast that something truly awful
00:20has happened. Right at the center of it is 24-year-old Adley Mistra, and the things he
00:24first said to the deputies, they were just deeply unsettling. Bizarre, really. Totally bizarre.
00:30He apparently said his family rushed him with weapons, but then almost in the same breath,
00:34he's saying their wounds had healed. And then he apparently mentioned shooting them in the head
00:39and watching them convulse. It makes no sense from the get-go. Exactly. It's just this immediate
00:43jarring contradiction. So we've been trying to piece together what we can about this case.
00:48Our main source for this deep dive is a YouTube video. It's from the Explore With Us channel
00:53called Cops Make the Worst Discovery of Their Lives. And it includes police records,
00:58some footage that apparently hasn't been widely seen before. We should also maybe mention the title
01:03for today's deep dive. It comes from the Dark Stories podcast. Good point. So our goal here is
01:09really to unpack the details we have from these sources, try to understand the sequence of events.
01:14And, you know, it's crucial for everyone listening to remember this is an active investigation.
01:19Adley Mistra is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Absolutely.
01:23So let's start with that 911 call. The neighbor, Daniel, I think his name was,
01:28he said he heard five or six shots first. Right. But that was apparently like an hour and a half
01:32before he actually called 911. Yeah, which is odd. Then he heard one more shot about 10 minutes later.
01:37He also mentioned trying to text and call the family first, even honking his horn outside their house.
01:42That delay. It does add a strange element to the timeline, doesn't it?
01:47It really does. So deputies finally arrive. It's about 2.50 p.m. And the first person they see
01:52is Adley. And his interaction is, like you said, just weird from the start. He tells them his
01:57family rushed him in his room, his dad with a knife, his sister with a sledgehammer.
02:01And then he says, I killed it. That specific phrasing, it.
02:07Followed immediately by that claim about finding their bodies, but their wounds having healed.
02:12It's just impossible. That's the thing. That detail is so far removed from reality.
02:17It immediately flagged something as being terribly wrong, even before they see any evidence.
02:22You can see why the deputies would be, you know, extremely cautious. They also noted blood on his
02:26hands. Right. And his explanation for that was apparently that his father rushed him. He hit him.
02:31And then his mother said something like, you need to die.
02:34So they secure Adley in their vehicle and then head inside the house.
02:37And what they find inside. Well, it tragically confirms their worst fears.
02:41The video footage shows pools of blood, smears of blood on the floor going up the stairs.
02:47Just grim evidence of extreme violence.
02:49And more than just blood, they find shell casings, a knife and a mop that's covered in blood.
02:56And there was some suggestion, wasn't there, about bleach maybe being used on the mop.
03:00Yeah. The video mentioned that possibility.
03:02Yeah.
03:02Which, if true, could point to, you know, an attempt to clean up afterwards.
03:06There's also the really sad detail about the family dog.
03:10It was found injured.
03:11Yeah. Injured by gunshots, unfortunately.
03:13Yeah.
03:14It had to be euthanized later, which is just heartbreaking.
03:17It is. And it also raises that grim question.
03:21Could some of the blood they saw initially have been the dogs?
03:25It just speaks to the chaos of the violence.
03:29It does. Another victim, really.
03:30But the most horrific discovery was still to come when they searched the backyard.
03:36That's where they found drag marks.
03:37Exactly. Drag marks leading away from the house.
03:40And at the end of those marks, they found the bodies of Adlai's father, David, his mother, Nancy, and his 17-year-old sister, Brill.
03:49So his earlier statement about burying them, which must have sounded like just more rambling.
03:53Tragically, it turned out to be true.
03:55He had apparently dragged their bodies outside.
03:57Which leads us to Adlai's interrogation.
03:59The part shown in the source video, his behavior just gets more and more erratic.
04:04Oh, definitely. He starts talking about seismic waves and cell towers, referencing landmarks like Big Ben, top of Seattle.
04:14Yeah.
04:14Targets.
04:15Yeah. And just these really disjointed stories, helping a woman pull coins out of her, well, out of somewhere private.
04:22Mentions of submarines, his family bowling and losing consciousness.
04:27It's like a word salad, almost.
04:29Completely disconnected from the reality of why he's there.
04:32He also apparently claimed he saw a major catastrophe happening on police cameras and thermal imaging.
04:38It just paints a picture of someone whose mind is, well, somewhere else entirely.
04:43Experiencing a profound break, it seems.
04:45Absolutely. And it makes sense that the detective decided, look, we need to Mirandize him right now.
04:50Given his state, ensuring his rights were protected was critical.
04:53Even after the Miranda warning, his explanation for the killings remained deeply disturbing and, frankly, illogical.
04:59He said he had to kill them, but only after they lost consciousness, which, again, makes no sense.
05:04And then that incredibly chilling, incomprehensible phrase, something like raising that, like, half an hour eating body.
05:12Yeah. Just horrifyingly bizarre. And he also admitted to shooting the dog during this.
05:18Adding to the physical evidence back at the house, they also found a bloody meat tenderizer.
05:22Right. So the investigation moves forward, the victims are formally identified, and then comes the task of delivering this devastating news.
05:30To Adlai's older sister, Nancy Jr., and also to Daniel, the neighbor who made the 911 call.
05:35And their reactions, as you'd expect, were just shock, total disbelief.
05:40It underscores how sudden and unexpected this was for those who knew the family.
05:43Nancy Jr.'s comment was particularly heartbreaking.
05:46She apparently said she expected Adlai might die, given his issues, but not the rest of her family.
05:51Wow. That says a lot about the underlying stress and perhaps the known volatility there.
05:56And then there's Adlai, back in interrogation, giving directions to where he buried the bodies.
06:00Like, specific details about a trail? Gates?
06:04Followed by that nonsensical reason.
06:06Lost consciousness, take pictures.
06:09It's that mix, again, moments of clarity or detail.
06:12Then complete delusion.
06:14And Nancy Jr. apparently shed some light on Adlai's references to possession.
06:19Yeah. She said their mother had sometimes dismissed his problems using that term, possession.
06:24Which could suggest maybe a lack of understanding within the family about the true nature, the likely mental health nature, of his struggles.
06:31It certainly points to a potential disconnect, adding another tragic dimension.
06:35This leads us straight into his documented mental health history.
06:39Right. There was discharge paperwork from a hospital stay ending September 27th, 2024.
06:45So just a couple of weeks before the killings.
06:47And it's stated he'd been admitted for psychosis.
06:50He reported auditory hallucinations, men telling him to kill himself, women telling him to surrender.
06:55And he said these voices had been going on for years, but he had just been ignoring them.
06:59Which is wild.
07:00He also apparently believed police had some kind of secret intelligence about his reality and expressed wanting to join the police academy.
07:07It's a really concerning picture.
07:08And Nancy Jr., his sister, she confirmed he heard voices.
07:13She believed he wasn't taking his medication consistently.
07:16Yeah. She said she'd found his pills in the trash sometimes and described his issues as a kind of schizophrenic break that seemed to have been building up, causing a lot of stress at home.
07:26While he was left alone in the interrogation room at one point, his agitation just seemed to skyrocket.
07:31The footage apparently shows him talking to himself using names like Officer Angel and Bloodline Jesus.
07:39And then giving commands to someone or something that wasn't there, like Angel Opened the Door.
07:43Yeah. Suggesting he was actively hallucinating or experiencing delusions right there.
07:47It got worse, though.
07:49He became physically distressed.
07:51Extremely.
07:51He tried to urinate in the corner of the room.
07:54Then got really frantic, begging to be let out, saying he was afraid of soldiers.
07:58That increasing paranoia, the detachment.
08:01It's quite clear he was in deep distress.
08:04And that distress culminated in violence.
08:06He actually kicked a hole through the drywall in the interrogation room.
08:09Seriously.
08:10He tried to escape.
08:11Apparently so.
08:12Deputies had to apprehend him again.
08:14And because the holding room was now damaged and maybe inadequate, they decided to secure him in a police vehicle instead.
08:22It just shows the level of volatility they were dealing with.
08:25So when you think about why this happened, what could possibly trigger such an event?
08:31Nancy Jr.'s thoughts about family arguments, maybe specifically with his teenage sister Brill over his medication.
08:37That seems like a plausible stressor, especially given his mental state and her belief he wasn't taking his meds.
08:43And then you have the stark contrast between Adlai's initial claim self-defense they rushed him and the actual evidence.
08:49Yeah, the autopsy results really undermine that self-defense narrative completely.
08:53They really do.
08:54David, the father.
08:55Gunshot wounds to his arm, chest, and crucially, the back of his head.
08:59Back of the head?
09:00That's not typically consistent with self-defense against someone rushing you.
09:03Exactly.
09:04Nancy, the mother.
09:05A gunshot wound to her back, plus significant blunt force trauma to her face, and bruises almost everywhere.
09:12And Brill, the 17-year-old sister, a gunshot wound to her eye, and blunt force trauma to her hand and face.
09:20The sheer brutality and the nature of these injuries, it points towards something far more complex and violent than his initial story.
09:29So based on all this evidence gathered?
09:31Adlai Mistra was charged with, well, a lot.
09:33Three counts of first-degree murder.
09:36Three counts of tampering with evidence.
09:38Plus the animal cruelty charge for the dog.
09:40Right.
09:41Extreme cruelty to animals.
09:42And also escape from custody for the incident in the interrogation room and criminal damage to property for kicking the hole in the wall.
09:50And again, just to be clear, as stated in the source material, at the time that information was current, he hadn't been convicted or sentenced.
09:57These are the charges?
09:57Correct.
09:58Presumption of innocence applies.
09:59So, wrapping up this deep dive, we're left with just this incredibly disturbing picture.
10:05Adlai's bizarre behavior and his conflicting statements from the very beginning.
10:09The truly graphic crime scene.
10:10The documented history of severe mental health struggles.
10:14And the absolute tragedy of the Mistra family being wiped out like that.
10:18David, Nancy, and young Brill.
10:20It's devastating.
10:21And despite all the details we've gone through from the sources, there are still so many unanswered questions, aren't there?
10:27The full picture is elusive, leaving this profound sense of unease.
10:31Which kind of leads to a final thought, maybe for everyone listening to consider.
10:34When you look at this case, the complex mix of mental illness, family dynamics, the sheer horror of the violence, what does it tell us about, I don't know, the fragility of normalcy?
10:45Hmm.
10:46And maybe about how unseen crises, these pressures building beneath the surface, can just erupt with such utterly catastrophic results.
10:54Yeah.
10:54It really forces you to think about the multiple overlapping layers of tragedy involved here.
10:59It's a deeply unsettling story.
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