Episode 1 Part 5: Peraita's Journey from Promise to Death Row told by Eagle Rock Boys Ranch founder Scott Hilton

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Have you ever pondered the twists of fate that can send a life spiraling in unforeseen directions? Our latest conversation with Scott Hilton, founder of Eagle Rock Boys Ranch, presents a powerful narrative centered on Cuhuatemoc Peraita, a teen whose potential was eclipsed by misfortune and missteps. Scott unveils Peraita's story with a blend of regret and wisdom, detailing the misaligned stars that led a promising youth to a life of crime and, ultimately, to a cell on death row. Through the recounting of Peraita's journey, we come to understand the profound necessity of providing a firm foundation for our youth – and the terrible cost when we fail to do so.

We also step into the shadowed recollections of time, a figure synonymous with lost possibility and the haunting 'what-ifs' that accompany a tale of wasted youth. As Scott shares, the past may be immovable, but within it, we uncover glimmers of hope – the lessons borne from tragedy and the resilience of the human spirit. Through this episode, listeners are invited into a space of contemplation and called upon to acknowledge the ripple effects of our collective actions. Join us for an exploration of life's precarious path and the power that lies in redemption and support.

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Episode Transcript

Scott Hilton (00:00):
I'm Scott Hilton and I'm the founder of the Eagle
Rock Boys Ranch in Gadsden andAttalla.
So, my interest in talkingabout this story is I think we
can learn a lot from it.
I think a lot of young men canlearn a lot from it and I think
we as a society can learn a lotfrom the things that went wrong

(00:25):
with the unfortunate Popeye'sSlayings.
So back in the early 90's I hadto begin talking about opening
a boys' ranch for exceptionallydistressed kids, kids that
really weren't fitting in inother places, kids, kids that

(00:47):
really weren't fitting in inother places.
And as a result of that, workkind of got out that I was
thinking about doing that andsomeone introduced me to Temoc.
So, he was just a young man, Ithink 15, 16 years old at the
time, and we actually had a verygood relationship.
I thought I found Temoc to bepersonable.

(01:07):
I found him to be fairly humble.
He was a kid who came out of adifficult situation and was just
looking for somebody to stickwith him.
So I was toying with the ideaof opening a ranch just for kids
just like him.
And he was one of the kids.

(01:28):
There was three or four otherswho kind of pushed me over the
edge to say I've really got todo this.
I've got to get this donebecause I saw some of the kids
just kind of out therefloundering and unfortunately we

(02:06):
opened Eagle Rock Ranch onMarch the 17th of 94, and I
believe Temoc committed themurders on April the 16th.
I had not had any contact withhim that month.
You know, looking back on it, Ican't help thinking maybe we
would have gladly taken him intoour ranch because we weren't
established well enough at thattime and I lost contact with him
.
But I think the thing that Iwant to say is there's a lot of
young men out there who are justlike he was, and I've known a

(02:29):
lot of them.
As I said, he was a likable kid, he was intelligent, so he had
a bright future, and some ofthem along the line just gave up
, and I think a lot of peoplegave up on him, so he gave up on
himself.
I think a lot of people gave upon him, so he gave up on
himself.
And, as I understand it, he wasnot the sugar puller in the

(02:56):
incident with Popeye's.
It's hard for me to imaginethat this kid that I knew would
even think about doing that, buthe was involved in it.
So so you know lessons to belearned.
You can't even entertain thethought of being involved in
something.
Maybe in his mind it was just Ineed a little money and he did.
He was struggling as a youngman but it turned into a lot

(03:19):
more and his story just kind ofspiraled from there.
He killed somebody in prisonand is now on death row.
But it's a sad story of a kidwho could have done something
with his life and made some badchoices and it's a sad story of
we as a society not recognizingsome things and reaching out.

(03:43):
So that was kind of mymotivation for being involved.
But I also want to say that, ifanything good came out, that he
was one of the young men whoreally made me think I need to
do something.
Of course, that kind of pushedme over the edge to open Eagle

(04:06):
Rock Ranch, and Eagle Rock'sbeen home to over 400 kids now
for the last 30 years.
So if there's any good thatcould have came out of it, it
might have been that.
So that's what I want to sayabout the whole situation.
Obviously, there are a lot ofvictims to this day who are

(04:28):
suffering the consequences ofhis poor choices.
He did not have to make thosechoices and he's gotten what he
deserves.
Unfortunately, it still breaksmy heart to see, because I could
have seen his life growing in atotally different direction.
Did you see any kind of signsfrom his actions that might have

(04:52):
led up to this demise?
There was no indication that hewas going to do something like
this.
I was just pretty shocked.
But I think kids get frustratedwhen things continually go
wrong and we didn't have a lotof resources and I think he just

(05:13):
got frustrated and gave up.
So yeah, I was really surprised.
There was nothing that youcould tell just by being around
him, at least when I was reallypretty close at one time.
No indication that it would getthis way.
You said at some point you lostcontact.
Do you know if you had anyother outside sources possibly

(05:36):
related to gang activity or anyother knowledge of Robert Nelson
?
At the time that I knew him, Iprobably had not talked to him
in three or four months at least.
I think he'd gone to live withrelatives locally and to my
knowledge he wasn't involved inanything like that.

(05:58):
He had been.
I think his family was fromanother state.
So I don't know what he couldhave done.
That's the reason he's here.
Can you tell me as far as howthe ranch is set up?
You have a few differentlocations or houses.
The kids go to differentchannels.
Can you tell me where he mighthave been staying?
We opened the ranch just onemonth before he committed his

(06:24):
crime, so he never lived atEagle Rock.
But had he come there, one ofour focuses is that we at Eagle
Rock stick with kids.
He was a kid that didn'tsomebody who was really stick
with it At first.
He was a big one.
He wasn't the kind of kid whowas going to fit into a lot of
places and I think we would haveprobably stuck with him.

(06:47):
That's not to say he wouldn'thave gone on and made some bad
decisions, but I think heprobably got really frustrated
with people giving up on him.
I think that led to him givingup.
You know, making some choices,I don't care, I'm going to do
this.
I really don't think he wentinto that situation with the

(07:11):
intention of killing anybody.
I think he was.
From what I understand from thepolice officers, he was the
background worker, planned itall A lot of times kids think.
You know, as long as I'm justdoing that part, I'm not
involved in the violent partI'll be okay.
I've had other kids who werecharged with murder who weren't

(07:35):
even there.
If you're a part of a scheme ofany kind, you're guilty.
And finally, what are theoverall statistics of the
success of the children that arecoming out of the Eagle Rock
homes?
Well, it's a difficult questionto answer because everybody
defines success differently.
We like to kind ofsarcastically say it's 100%,

(07:58):
because every kid who comesthere is going to get an
opportunity.
When they take advantage ofthat opportunity, they do well.
When they don't take advantageof the opportunity, there's
nothing they can do about it.
So I don't know how to answerthe question.
We've had a lot of kids becomevery successful, good fathers

(08:19):
and good husbands, good citizens, and then we've had a handful
that have actually gone out andcommitted crimes, serious crimes
.
Depends on what they want to dowith it.
But from our perspective wedon't give up on them.
We don't just kick them out foranything.

(08:40):
We really try to work withpeople, try to hook them up with
people who are going to mentorthem and be their life, and it
works.
And be there for life, and itworks, I do.
I think about Temoc quite a bit.
You know it's been 30 years.
I'm sure he's totally forgottenabout me, but I do think about

(09:05):
him and just how sad it is thathe took this path because it
really didn't have to be thatway, that he took this path
because it really didn't have todo that with it.
He was a really decent kid whojust felt I don't want to use
the word victim, but he fellvictim to some poor
circumstances, and he allowedthose to take over.
Had he made some better choicesand had maybe had some people

(09:26):
encouraged him more, none ofthis would have happened.
So maybe that's something wecan all learn from unfortunate
events.
My heart goes out to thevictims because it's never over
and actually you never got toknow it.
Some of them you know there'sno excuse for what happened.

(09:49):
Maybe sun grill can come out ofit just a little bit.