On August 9, 2000, a 15-year-old boy was taken into the Santa Ynez Mountains in California and made to stand before a hastily dug grave. He had done nothing to deserve this except being related to somebody who had become mixed up in a dangerous world.
Before he found himself in this situation, the teenager had been forced into three days of drug and drink-fuelled parties. At no point had he expected what happened next. This is the tragic story of Nick Markowitz and the Alpha Dog murder.
Nick Markowitz
“The funniest person alive” was how Nick Markowitz’s mom, Susan, described him. Of course, she was biased, but there was no denying the Markowitz home was one filled with laughter and energy.
Nick was a lively character, he loved sports and theater and he was always active. Conversations were constant in the family home and Nick would do, “anything to make [his family] laugh.” At least that’s what his mom told the press later. He was brought up in West Hills, Los Angeles, and, at 15 years old, he was growing up fast.
Ben Markowitz
Nick’s older half-brother, Ben, was a different sort of kid. The boys’ dad, Jeff, had never managed to find a solid relationship with Ben and he was prone to getting into trouble. “Ben wasn’t really a troublemaker,” Jeff said. “But he was always there when there was trouble.” Nick idolized Ben and, when the older brother started to graduate from being in trouble at school to being in trouble with the law, Susan wanted to protect her younger son.
Eventually, Jeff told Ben that, if he couldn’t stick to the house rules, he would need to leave. “If I would have held onto Ben and kept him in my household, he wouldn’t have been on the street,” Jeff said later of that regretful decision. “He wouldn’t have been involved in, maybe, some of the other things that he got involved in.”
Jesse Hollywood
At the age of 19, Jesse Hollywood owned his own villa. He was a strong baseball player in high school, helped by the coaching from his dad, Jack. He was confident, well-spoken, happy to talk to anyone, and had a bright future ahead of him.
A back injury put an end to Jesse’s baseball days and he had to choose between college, like most of his friends, or joining the family business. He decided to go for the second option and it served him well. He was rolling in money and had an apparent great lifestyle. Some of his friends wanted to join him in this lifestyle, Ben Markowitz in particular. The only problem? The Hollywood family business was dealing drugs.
Complicated Relationship
Ben Markowitz and Jesse Hollywood had known each other for a long time. They’d played baseball together and been members of the same gym. They got on well until they began working together. “Ben was dangerous to Jesse Hollywood,” explained journalist Jesse Katz. “None of the others would stand up to him. None of them wanted to fall out of Hollywood’s favor. Ben Markowitz just didn’t seem to care.”
Jesse Hollywood’s tough-guy act didn’t work on Ben, even after Ben found himself in debt to Jesse. The amount was thought to be up to $30,000, but it could have been as little as $1200. Either way, it didn’t phase Ben. “Screw you,” is all he would say when Jesse mentioned the money.
Servants
Jesse Hollywood’s natural personality might have been friendly and welcoming but, when it came down to it, he was a drug dealer. He knew the way he had to be if he was going to keep control of his business.
If members of his crew brought back the money he expected from sales, everything was good. If they came to him short, they became his servants. Jesse would have people tidying his house, cleaning up after his dogs, fetching supplies for parties. If you were in debt to Jesse, you did whatever he instructed until that debt was paid.
Laying Down the Law
Despite his debt, Ben Markowitz would not be told what to do by Jesse Hollywood. Not only did he refuse to comply, but he was also disrespectful with it. Things began to escalate. Ben moved up from shooting his mouth off to making threats and damaging Jesse’s property.
Jesse had to do something about it. He collected together several members of his crew and set aside one Sunday to drive around looking for Ben so they could teach him a lesson. Only, the person they eventually found wasn’t Ben.
Abduction
“Something was definitely wrong. He couldn’t call me back,” said Susan Markowitz later. “That’s when I knew.” Jesse Hollywood and his hunting party had found one of the Markowitz brothers, but it hadn’t been Ben. It had been his younger brother, Nick.
The group of drug dealing enforcers had grabbed the younger boy, bundled him into their white van, and set off on a drive to Santa Barbara. After a couple of hours, Susan realized she wasn’t able to contact her son, and she began to panic.
Three Days of Partying
It wasn’t the sort of kidnapping you see in the tense TV dramas. Nobody was tied to a chair or handcuffed to a radiator. There were no torture or ransom notes. Nick had been scared, of course, and he’d pleaded with the boys to let him go. Instead, they gave him alcohol and drugs and took him to a party.
For three days. Nick, on the surface at least, was having a great time. Some people he met knew he had been taken there against his will, others didn’t, but nobody seemed to care. After all, there was partying to be done.
Strange Situation
The details about what was happening had quickly become quite blurred. Jesse Hollywood had left Nick and the rest of the crew to party while he went back to West Hills to look for Ben. He wanted to tell Ben they had taken his brother. Meanwhile, Nick was enjoying himself at houses across Santa Barbara.
Drugs, drink pools. Nick was even at some parties with other kid’s parents. It was tough to understand what the real situation was. “They didn’t really know what to do with Nick,” Jesse Katz said about the crew who had taken the teenage boy. “That’s why he really wasn’t being held captive in the traditional sense.”
A Real Problem
“I’m telling you—as a parent, right now—overreact. Don’t wait for a second,” Jeff Markowitz offers as advice to parents everywhere. it’s what he wished he’d done at the time.
Though they had been trying to call other people first, it was two days after losing contact with Nick that Jeff and Susan finally spoke to Ben. The older brother could only tell them he hadn’t heard from Nick either. “Okay we got a real problem,” the parents realized. They immediately called the police.
A Great Story
The problem with the unusual nature of Nick’s abduction was that he never believed he was in any danger, so he never tried to get help. He wasn’t under guard and he could have easily tried to leave, or at least signal for help. One of the parties was even at a motel where other guests were all around.
If Nick wanted help, he could have easily found it. Instead, he just decided to ride it out and enjoy himself until his big brother got everything sorted out and he was taken home. “This will be a story I can tell my grandchildren,” he was heard to say at one of the parties.
A Deadly Change
Nick Markowitz might have been enjoying his time as a “captive”, but Jesse Hollywood was not. He’d left the party behind and found himself stewing in West Hills. No matter what strange form it had taken, Jesse had been the ringleader in abducting and holding a hostage. This could get him in real trouble, even a lengthy prison sentence.
Jesse made a decision that would change the situation dramatically. He called Ryan Hoyt, one of the crew holding Nick and someone who owed Jesse a lot of money. He made Ryan an offer. He would write off Ryan’s debt if Ryan killed Nick Markowitz.
Shallow Grave
Ryan Hoyt didn’t waste any time. He grabbed two other members of the crew, Jesse Rugge, and Graham Pressley, and the three men left the party. They traveled into the nearby mountains, where they dug a grave.
The next day, they took Nick Markowitz to the gravesite, duct-taped his mouth, and tied his hands behind his back. After striking the now terrified boy with a shovel, Ryan Hoyt shot him nine times. They placed the gun between the legs of Nick’s body and covered him up with dirt.
Shock
“I remember sitting down, feeling like I was going to be sick,” Susan Markowitz said of the moment she was informed that police had identified her son’s body. It had taken them less than a week to find the improvised grave in a popular hiking area.
“I think I was thinking of crying but wouldn’t allow myself,” Susan continued. “And then it’s like I went into shock.” Susan and Jeff Markowitz were understandably devastated by the news they were given, but they weren’t the only ones it hit hard. Ben Markowitz was inconsolable. He blamed himself.
A Witness
“Don’t worry, you know, everything’s going to work out,” Nick had said to a girl at the pool parties. They’d been enjoying themselves together for three days and the girl had taken a liking to Nick. She found out he was officially the victim of a kidnapping but, when Nick made it clear that he wasn’t worried, she let things be and carried on partying.
When the news of his murder got to her a couple of weeks later, she was shocked. “Here’s this sweet, funny kid that I hung out with for three days a couple of weeks ago,” she thought. “Now he’s dead. They lied to me.” Unconcerned about what repercussions it might have for her, she went straight to the police to tell them everything.
Michael Costa Giroux
Ryan Hoyt and the other people involved in the abduction and murder of Nick Markowitz were quickly arrested. They were by no means professionals and, having spent three days partying with both the victim and any number of witnesses, it wasn’t tough for investigators to put everything together.
The only piece of the jigsaw police couldn’t find was the person who had given the order, Jesse Hollywood. This is where the family connection came in. Jack Hollywood, Jesse’s dad, was a professional, and he knew exactly what to do. The moment he learned what had happened, he arranged a new identity and a fake passport for his son. Jesse Hollywood no longer existed, but a recent immigrant to Canada named Michael Giroux bore a striking resemblance to him.
A Fresh Start
Michael – a.k.a. Jesse – didn’t stay in Canada for too long. He made his way south to Brazil and established himself in the beach resort of Saquarema. Making his living from odd jobs and a $1200 allowance from his dad each month, Jesse kept his head down and tried to blend in. “He was always wearing a cap and kept his face down, hidden away,” a neighbor said. “Even inside his home.”
Jesse learned Portuguese and, when visiting a bar in Rio de Janeiro, he met a woman. “With me he was wonderful,” Marcia Reis said. “He was very sweet, tender. He was very caring, attentive. Everything I wanted he would get.” Within days, Jesse had seduced Marcia. He intended to get her pregnant in the hope it would stop him from being extradited if he was caught.
Most Wanted
While Michael Giroux was most wanted in Brazil by Marcia Reis, Jesse Hollywood was most wanted by federal agents in the U.S. His picture was everywhere. His story and his image appeared several times in the television show America’s Most Wanted, and the mission to bring him to justice was relentless
Authorities in Brazil were cooperating with those in the U.S. and gradually a plan was hatched to capture the international fugitive. In March 2005, it was finally put into action.
Jesse’s Cousin
“No, this is not possible, we have a child together! This can’t be!” yelled Marcia Reis as Jesse was taken away in handcuffs. A few days before, he had received a phone call from a cousin he hadn’t seen in a while. The caller told him she was coming to Brazil and wanted to see him. Jesse agreed and took Marcia to the coffee shop where they’d chosen to meet.
Of course, it wasn’t any cousin, it was federal agent Kelly Bernardo. “He was surprised as I approached him, and as the authorities told him he was under arrest,” Kelly Benardo said afterward. “He kept saying he was someone else.” It was too late, the deception had been exposed.
Trial and Punishments
The courts passed two death sentences about the kidnapping and murder of Nick Markowitz. Ryan Hoyt, the man who pulled the trigger, was sentenced to death on December 9, 2001; he remains on death row.
Despite his defense’s pleas that he was not present for the killing, Jesse Hollywood was also sentenced to death after his capture but soon had this changed to life in prison at the recommendation of the jury. Graham Pressley, Jesse Ruge, and William Skidmore all received prison sentences for their parts in the abduction, but have all since been released.